The Faculty of Health and Social Sciences has secured Health Education England funding and, led by Dr Ursula Rolfe, started to develop some simulation pilots. A faculty simulation event on 9th December encouraged staff to drop in, view the technologies used by the Clinical team, and the simulation pilots run by Social work and Nursing sciences. Early work with 360 cameras was on display, used for promoting and enhancing the curricula, which could be viewed in VR through the Oculus Quest headset. An Oculus Rift was also available for staff to try out the immersive nature of virtual reality and the depth it brings to educational content by engaging the senses and allowing exploration to a degree that would be difficult to duplicate within the confines of a classroom.
Heath Education England published its report ‘Enhancing education, clinical practice and staff wellbeing. A national vision for the role of simulation and immersive learning technologies in health and care’ in November 2020. The executive overview highlights three key strategic aims:
- Promote and strengthen the dialogue between different system and stakeholder organisations, networks, and communities to enable and evaluate opportunities for sharing intelligence and innovation
- To provide a platform for collaboration on common themes of work
- To generate evidence of impact that will help support the transformation in health and care that is required for the future needs of patients and society.
Learning Technologists from the Fusion Learning Innovation and Excellence team supported a number of the simulation projects showcased as well as bringing along some of the equipment to demonstrate these applications, allowing staff to see what might be achievable.
In particular FLIE colleagues worked with Heidi Singleton, Jo Staples, Prof Debbie Holley and colleagues from the NHS to assist in capturing, developing and hosting via the Nursing for Long Term Health YouTube page (links below).
https://youtu.be/2t1R7pSJXNs Dexter- An ABCDE assessment of an infant
https://youtu.be/_rwUBZaaXOY Robyn- An ABCDE assessment of an infant
https://youtu.be/34bfO8sYVFQ Thembe- An ABCDE assessment of a baby
Future plans include re-recording some of these examples with a higher spec camera for use within some of the FHSS communications units; to aid students’ communication skills ahead of placement and to give an insight into the patient perspective of the assessment.
Additionally, a small interactive simulation has been recorded as a proof of concept for social work assessment use. The ‘walk through’ risk assessment flat will allow students to navigate through a property and identify causes for concern and will include interactive elements.
