Global standard in simulated learning for nurses takes first step
Thu, 19 Dec 2013 10:55:00 GMT
€250,000 Nurse Educator Simulated Learning (NEStLed) Project underway – partners meet in Huddersfield to test prototype “toolkit”
Conference delegates left to right: Andrew Bland, Andrew Sutton, Ave Kõrve, Merit Kotsar, Tina Hartvigsen, Steve Prescott, Leena Rekola, Rikke Buus Larsen, Jaana-Maija Koivisto, Annie Topping, Leena Hannula, Ari-Pekka Åker, Päivi Haho.
A MULTI-national educational research project which aims to set a global gold standard for educators who use simulation to teach nurses has taken a big step forward following a successful conference held at the University of Huddersfield.
The project is named NEStLed (Nurse Educator Simulated Learning) and is funded to the tune of €250,000 euros by the EU. The University of Huddersfield is a partner in the scheme because of its well-established expertise in the use of simulation technology, which enables trainee nurses to practise and develop their skills on fully-programmable electronic ‘patients’.
Simulation has been a key part of nurse education at the University of Huddersfield for more than a decade and the School of Human and Health Sciences has several fully-equipped virtual wards and other healthcare settings that use the latest technology, including the state-of-the-art SimMan® 3G manikin, supplied by the firm Laerdal Medical, which is an industry partner on the NEStLed project.
Huddersfield is partnered with Denmark’s VIA University College and Helsinki Metropolia University in Finland for NEStLed and there were Danish and Finnish participants in the four-day meeting and workshop. Also in attendance were nurse educators from Estonia.
The timetable included workshop sessions which tested for the prototype “toolkit” – which will include a teaching manual and access to online resources – that has been developed by the team at Huddersfield.
“The purpose was to see if the prototype was ready for live testing with students,” said Andrew Bland, one of the University of Huddersfield senior lecturers in adult nursing who are taking part in NEStLed. He is joined by Andrew Sutton and Stephen Prescott, plus former Huddersfield professor Annie Topping, who is acting as a consultant on the project. Also contributing, as Project Director, is Professor Janet Hargreaves, Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching in the University’s School of Human and Health Sciences.
A detailed review of the extensive academic literature on nurse simulation had been carried out, said Andrew Bland, and members of the research team would be authoring a series of papers for publication in international journals.
The next phase for NEStLed will be meeting of the partners to be held in Copenhagen in May 2014, after which the toolkit would be trialled by students in Denmark. Once it is refined further, it will be tested in Finland and Estonia.
Until now, nurse education using simulation has been widespread but ad hoc in nature, said Andrew Bland. Now the aim is to establish an international standard, and in addition to its European partners, NEStLed had formed links with educators in Australia, and the USA.
The origins of NEStLed are in a conference on simulated learning held at the University of Huddersfield two years ago. Experts held discussions and decided to collaborate on research. The two-year project is on schedule and is due to be concluded by October 2015.
