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How eLearning Helps Personalize CPD for NHS District Nurses
Setting the Scene
NHS Education Scotland (NES) develop and deliver education and training to support NHS services and drive best practice. When Scotland’s Chief Nursing Officer established the Transforming Roles Programme to maximise the contributions of nursing, midwifery and allied health professions (NMAHP), NES played a key role. NES worked with district nurses, team leaders and educators to identify the essential knowledge and skills NMAHP required to assist district nurses to meet the current and future needs of Scotland’s health and care system. NES then needed to support the development of approximately 3,000 district nurses across Scotland.
The Challenge
There was a need to enable higher levels of autonomy, decision-making and judgement in complex clinical settings as well as improve professional leadership in integrated teams. To achieve this, NES needed to develop a training resource to provide district nurses with the relevant knowledge and skills for their continuing professional development (CPD). The resource had to cover the four pillars of practice, fourteen specific topics and needed personalised for each learner. There was a requirement for the knowledge and skills gained to be evidenced by practice reflection, activities in teams and in an ePortfolio system. It was important for NES to take into account the varying work settings, teams, and time commitments among the district nurses. To meet all of these requirements a CPD eLearning resource was the clear choice. However, for this to be successful, NES needed to take into account differing levels of confidence in using technology. With multiple user groups and subject matter experts (SMEs) providing their input, NES needed a clear view on the essential content and how this should be structured.
The Solution
eCom’s instructional design and learning consultants used their expertise to identify the needs of the diverse and dispersed audience. They undertook a thorough review of the content (ranging from video, other eLearning, digital articles and internal communications) to outline an overall framework. The CPD eLearning framework was then used in the early content development to provide clear guidance and structure. This made development more efficient, ensured consistency and ease of understanding. eCom’s multimedia designers worked closely with the instructional designers to create a visually appealing, easy to navigate module structure. This ensured the resource would be intuitive, familiar and would suit users regardless of their level of confidence in using technology. The personalisation in the eLearning resource ensures learners can access the content to suit their needs. eCom also introduced iconography throughout to provide visual cue points, to promote engagement, as well as easily editable PDFs to capture practice evidence. eCom remained in close and consistent communication with NES SMEs and user groups during storyboarding and resource development. This ensured the content was high quality, consistent and personalised to the needs of the district nurse.
The Benefits
In partnership with NES, eCom produced a creative, personalised eLearning resource that promotes engagement and widespread use amongst district nurses and their teams. The resource was developed in time to present at scheduled promotional events around Scotland. There was eager anticipation and many of the district nurses had already formed small learning groups to work through the resource areas together and share their evidence. Learners are able to engage with their personalised eLearning resource at a time that suits their needs and fits around their workload. With the clearly defined and familiar structure of the resource, they are able to complete topics in the best order for them.
