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A workforce for the future How training providers and practitioners are tackling new challenges in nursing and midwifery.
“ Our vision is that, on qualifying, nursing students will be authentic and courageous” Nursing education is constantly evolving, responding to shifting needs, expectations and priorities in health and healthcare. Dr Wendy Wigley, Head of PreRegistration Nursing for the University’s College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare explains how the College is equipping nurses with the knowledge and skills required to provide high quality care and support in a rapidly changing environment. Over the summer of 2017, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) started its consultation to identify what the public will need from registered nurses in the future and to develop an appropriate new standard for nursing proficiency. The need for a new standard reflects the fact that the health and social care needs of individuals, groups, communities, and the population as a whole do not remain constant. As healthcare research identifies new knowledge, those who provide healthcare are required to revise their own knowledge and skills to meet people’s expectations of the profession. Nurses are already now required to provide care across the individual's lifespan and in a variety of care environments including the NHS, and the private and voluntary sectors. Nurses assess patients, make decisions and provide treatment and care, not only in hospitals, but more frequently in communities, within primary care and in people's homes. Increasingly this treatment and care is becoming more technical and complex. After reviewing and commenting on the NMC’s draft standards, the College has designed and developed the vision for its Pre-Registration Nursing course. Starting in the academic year 2018/19, this will be offered in partnership with NHS Trusts and private hospitals in London, Thames Valley and surrounding areas. The new course will be flexible and enable the development of new nurses and also nursing associates. The role of nursing associate bridges the gap between health and care support workers and graduate registered nurses; it also offers an opportunity for healthcare assistants to progress into nursing roles. Our vision is that, on qualifying, nursing students will be authentic and courageous. They will be essential in integrated and interprofessional teams. They will have the ability to share vision, purpose, outcomes and values by building trust with the 14
people for whom they care, both individual patients and their families. They will influence the care environment to enable people to maintain their own health. Building upon the University’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Award 2017 of Silver, we will be exploring innovation in learning and teaching, looking to see where we can do things differently. The most important aspect of this will be to produce nurses who will have a positive effect on health and the social welfare of the public. To achieve this, the College has invested in high-tech simulation centres in our London and Berkshire campuses to provide students with a variety of ‘real life’ scenarios: from a complex cardiac emergency, to communicating with a person with dementia. Other learning will consider bioscience, genomics and the application to health and wellbeing to individual lifestyles. From the first year of their course, our nursing students will learn about the wider social and political context in which healthcare is provided, including learning about research and evidence, and how policy and governance influences the requirements of their job.
Dr Wendy Wigley is Head of Pre-Registration Nursing
Teaching – Our impact on society
“ As midwives, we are in the unique position not just to shape the maternity services, but to transform our society as a whole.”
As a practitioner working in the field, Clinical Risk Midwife Gergana Nikolova has witnessed first-hand the positive impact of mentoring on students, as well as the challenges facing the midwifery workforce. In healthcare, and in midwifery in particular, mentoring and training students is equally important as providing care to mothers. The student midwives today are the colleagues we will rely on tomorrow – therefore we not only have a duty to train them well, but to show them respect, professionalism and care. I took the Mentorship course at what was then Thames Valley University, in order to understand the link between the university curriculum and the practice placements at a deeper level. I then returned to do the MSc in Advancing Practice course. I can proudly say that the UWL students I had the pleasure to mentor are now well respected professionals working on the front line of our maternity services.
on the front line when it comes to promoting healthy lifestyle; supporting breastfeeding mothers in an effort to support the best possible upbring of our future generation. When I first started my career 25 years ago, I never thought that I would one day be a part of the life of thousands of families, as well as contributing to the lives of the future society. If I could make a wish, I would wish for more midwives now! To be a midwife is not the easiest profession in the world, but without doubt it is the most rewarding. Gergana Nikolova is a Clinical Risk Midwife for Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a Fellow of the Royal College of Midwives and a member of the UWL Alumni Board.
Our lifestyle is constantly changing and not always for the best. Midwifery today is facing ever greater challenges; we are looking after more women with diabetes, hypotension, mental health problems, obesity and other antenatal or intrapartum complications related to lack of physical activities, incorrect diet, smoking and language barriers. At the same time, the population of experienced midwifes is falling; the newly qualified midwives are experiencing greater pressure in the workplace. Managing a healthy balance of supporting student midwives, newly qualified midwives and service needs has become more and more difficult. However, as midwives, we are in the unique position not just to shape the maternity services, but to transform our society as a whole. Midwives are on the front line tackling female genital mutilation, campaigning for appropriate mental health services and constantly raising awareness of domestic violence. We are
Learn more about the College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare at uwl.ac.uk/nursing 15