Will we all be wearing VR headsets and using AI to learn and upskill in the future…?
Coventry University have one of the most innovative and advanced nursing programmes in the country, within their new Alison Gingell building students can gain hands-on experience in a safe and controlled environment. This hands-on approach provides experience which includes simulated Hospital Wards, Operating Theatres, Ambulances, Therapy and Midwifery Suites.
Students can learn many practical skills in a safe learning environment before using these on real life service users. The nurses coming out of universities today are in a unique position to impart these skills to their peers and create a holistic approach of care for their service users.
I was very fortunate to visit the Simulation Centre at Coventry University and meet with Andy Winter who is one of the Professors at the University leading the change in digital advancements in health.
Virtual learning and bespoke artificial intelligence (AI), avatar computer systems aim to enhance distance learning and provide digital learning opportunities via laptops, tablets and mobile phones.
Student nurses, trainee nurse associates and return to nursing students are in the best position to gain from these digital advancements and Primary Care is in the best position to provide the support and guidance within their working environment.
As healthcare providers General Practice Nurses have been faced with different and often challenging digital advances and techniques, due in part to the Coronavirus pandemic that has blighted the country over the past few years. We are now using technology more than ever before and this is set to continue and become the normal state.
GPNs are becoming experts in the use of:
- Microsoft Teams for meetings and education
- Accurx for messaging service users
- The use of Accurx and Forms templates to manage conditions, medication and chronic diseases, receiving medical photos online, video consulting and using new and improved technology in practice such as cardiac monitors and cholesterol machines with associated software
We are consciously building on the work set out by the NHS Long Term Plan regarding ‘sustained advances in computing and the democratisation of information’*
Expectations are also high amongst the population we care for with information at their fingertips at any time of day, the pressure to keep up is felt all around Primary Care.
Please contact us if you have come across any digital or technological advancements that would be useful and informative to other GPNs and Primary Care.
Corinna Butler, Primary Care Transformation Nurse
* NHS Long Term Plan » Chapter 5: Digitally-enabled care will go mainstream across the NHS
