31st May 2024
The Southern Health and Social Care Trust has welcomed student nurses to four new practice placement areas.
The Trust recently expanded its placement area offering to include Armagh Treatment room, Corporate Liaison Team, Gynae, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Perinatal Mental Health Service, which means that they now offer a total of 100 placement areas throughout the Trust.
Student nurses spend a significant portion of their time on practice placements which are essential to completing their studies and undertake these across different hospitals, wards and community.
Gillian Henry, Interim Head of Nursing and Midwifery Education and Workforce Development, said:
“Despite ongoing challenges and the reconfiguration of service and pressures on staffing, student capacity has remained consistent and we are delighted to have facilitated over 3000 students on placement over the past 20 months.
“The Trust’s Practice Education Team are always looking for new and dynamic placement areas for our student nurses to gain their skills and competencies and we are delighted to have added four more areas.
“One of the most effective ways of evaluating practice placement areas is capturing student feedback, and we are delighted that our students have provided this in our newly opened areas.”
Armagh Treatment room
“Staff were so welcoming, always gave supportive and constructive feedback on tasks I completed, many learning opportunities outside of the treatment room, I got to attend different clinics within the health centre to widen my knowledge.”
Corporate Liaison Team
“Staff in the Corporate Liaison Team were very welcoming and made me feel a part of the team. They ensured that I felt comfortable with what we were doing, provided many learning opportunities like what an SAI is and how the corporate Liaison team support the service user and what they hope to implement in the future to support practitioners in a SAI Review. They allowed me to work with various parts of the team to see what they do, how they function and how they benefit service users. I would say that working with the Corporate Liaison team was interesting and has been valuable to me as a student as it allows me to see what the HSC do to support the service users who are part of an SAI and how the SAI process works.”
Gynae, Sexual and reproductive health
“I really enjoyed my time on this placement; it was nice to get time with a smaller team in an appointment-based clinic which I feel enhanced my learning. It allowed me time to ask questions and develop my skills on a one-to-one basis which I found very enjoyable.
“Small-specialised teams who were excellent at their jobs I was the only student, which made the experience more personal good to visit different departments and understand how they are all connected.”
Perinatal Mental Health Service
“I am currently on placement in The Perinatal Mental Health Team in Armagh and I am so thankful I have been given this opportunity to experience this practice learning experience.
“This is a great team consisting of a Consultant, Community Psychiatric Nurses, a social worker, a midwife and a health visitor, this has allowed me to work with multidisciplinary teams building my confidence in discussing care plans and service users with other health professionals.
“I believe that this placement has furthered my knowledge into mental health. And the holistic care required during pregnancy of service users.
“The team is great to work alongside and have continually offered support and reassurance during my placement. All the staff in the Perinatal mental health team have took time out of their work load to organise opportunities that I may not get on another practice learning experience and hence enhance my skills in clinical practice.
“It has been a privilege to be the 1st QUB Mental Health student nurse to have been supported in this new placement area.”