9th June 2020
During Covid19, the Practice Education Team has had to learn and question how to work differently in response to restrictions to continue to support development and education.
The team has relied on technology to overcome the challenges through a range of creative solutions. These included support clinics (via teleconferencing) for students and practice supervisors, assessors and sign off mentors. Teleconferencing with the Practice Education Facilitator, link lecturer/staff tutor and mentoring staff was also introduced to continue strong partnership working with our Universities. Team meetings have moved to Desktop client to facilitate the review of programmes and support during the pandemic. Training programmes such as Preceptorship and Preceptorship Supervision Workshops are facilitated virtually and Transition Training for current mentors, sign off mentors and Practice Teachers is delivered via an E-Learning Package hosted on HSC Learning Platform.
Due to redeployment the team had to reconfigure directorate alignments to ensure clinical areas had access to team support and advice, especially with the introduction and governance requirements of NMC Emergency Standards for Education.
Guidance to clinical areas was further supported with the publication of Preceptorship and Practice Education Hub Newsletters filled with relevant and up-to-date information for students and nursing and midwifery staff.
In addition, a bespoke model of support saw one team member provide frontline service delivery within Learning Disability whilst also serving as Practice Education Facilitator aligned solely to Bluestone to promote collaborative working and support staff in accommodating additional students as part of the workforce strategy to provide holistic care during Covid19.
The team has continued to support International Recruitment staff (INR) virtually via Desktop Client. International Recruitment Training via video link was also established in preparation for exams with timely feedback to promote learning. Visit https://bit.ly/2AVXyXj for an insight to what is was like for a recent INR colleague who made the journey during Covid19 and the support they received on arrival to the Trust.
