Finalist

Community Engagement Initiative of the Year Award

Virtual simulated programme for the development of leadership and digital literacy skills among global early career nurses and midwives

Finalist of the Community Engagement Initiative of the Year Award

Coventry University Simulation Team - United Kingdom

"Nurturing Leadership Excellence:Empowering Global Nurses and Midwives Virtually"


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The Award Ceremony for this entry (award category "Community Engagement Initiative of the Year ") will take place on 26 June 2023, 18:45 to 19:45 CEST.

Summary

Our collaborative initiative addressed the need for development of leadership and digital literacy skills of early-career nurses and midwives around the world. The virtual simulated programme (VSP) was co-designed by nursing and midwifery educators and healthcare practice leaders. These experts from the United States, Ireland, and Uganda were supported by faculty members from Coventry University in the United Kingdom, who brought in expertise in simulation-based education.

Our VSP transcended spatial boundaries by bringing together learners from diverse geographic locations such as Cincinnati in the United States, Dublin and Cork in Ireland as well as Entebbe, Holma, Masaka and Lira in Uganda. In doing so, it fostered the development of leadership and digital literacy skills, cross-cultural learning and global collaboration. Consequently, our VSP empowered early-career nurses and midwives to learn from diverse healthcare systems and cultures and to thrive in their respective healthcare environments. The virtual nature of our programme allowed for flexibility as well as accessibility, making it possible for learners to participate without physical limitations.

The global reach of our VSP promotes diversity, cultural exchange, and innovative approaches to healthcare leadership, creating a unique and enriching experience. Such a unique blend of cross-cultural learning, virtual collaboration, and leadership development can create a dynamic and inclusive experience for participants, and foster innovation and growth in the field of nursing and midwifery. Our initiative represents a contemporary, flexible, and scalable model for providing equitable and economical access for nurses and midwives around the world to develop leadership and digital literacy skills.

Key People


Abigail Green
Project Director and Assistant Professor in Healthcare Simulation
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences,  Coventry University



Dr Natasha Taylor
Project Lead and Curriculum Lead and Associate Professor Healthcare Simulation
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences,  Coventry University



Rosalind Alstead OBE
Project Manager & Health Envoy
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences,  Coventry University



Andrea Latham
Project Officer
Nursing Now Challenge



Kate Holmes
Director of External Relations (Maternity Cover)
Nursing Now Challenge



Hannah Finch
Director of External Relations
Nursing Now Challenge



Elizabeth Pearson
Uganda Project Partner
Founding Chair and CEO of National Health Care Conferences Uganda



Harriet Nayiga
Uganda Project Partner
Founding Director of Midwife Led Community Transformation Uganda



Dr Grace Edwards
Uganda Project Partner
Adjunct Professor of Midwifery Education and Practice East Africa & Visiting Professor Coventry University UK



Michelle Swartz
Cincinatti Project Partner
Education Consultant, Center For Professional Excellence and Education,  Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre



Julie Moody
Cincinatti Project Partner
Director Patient Services Education, Onboarding, Student Services and RN Residency Program Director, Center For Professional Excellence and Education,  Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre



Naomi Bartley
Ireland Project Partner
Registered Nurse Tutor & Adjunct/Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, University College Dublin,  Centre for Children’s Nurse Education and Children’s Health Ireland



Rosemarie Sheehan
Ireland Project Partner
Project Officer,  Children’s Health Ireland


Acknowledgements

We express our heartfelt gratitude to the Burdett Trust for Nursing for their generous funding that has enabled us to develop this impactful initiative.

Images

An overview of the virtual simulated programme for leadership and digital literacy skill development for early- career nurses and midwives

An example of a simulated patient scenario that learners worked on collaboratively across countries. This provided the context for the discussion regarding leadership skills needed in this scenario and how to develop these further for future similar scenarios

Rosalind Alstead (Project Manager), Abigail Green (Project Director) and Elizabeth Pearson (Founder and CEO of National Health Care Conferences Uganda and Uganda Project Partner) from left to right at The Burdett Trust for Nursing Digital Health Celebration Event in London in October 2022

Presenting our learning and outcomes of the project at the Burdett Trust for Nursing Digital Health Celebration Event in London in October 2022

Professor Dame Donna Kinnair DBE (Former Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing),Abigail Green (Project Director), Elizabeth Pearson (Founder and CEO of National Health Care Conferences Uganda and Uganda Project Partner) and Rosalind Alstead (Project Manager) from left to right at The Burdett Trust for Nursing Digital Health Celebration Event in London in October 2022 receiving a certificate of achievement

Atuhairwe Recheal, a midwife from Entebbe Referral Hospital, Uganda, who expressed her gratitude for her development of leadership and digital skills as a result of her participation in the programme

IMPACT STORY

Impacting lifes

Imagine a future where our communities face a shortage of 18 million healthcare workers by 2030, with low- and middle-income countries likely to feel this impact most acutely and with nurses and midwives making up half of this shortfall; the very ones we rely on for our healthcare needs. This bleak reality is predicted in the academic literature and paints a stark picture of a future where our healthcare systems struggle to serve our communities, highlighting the paramount importance of investing now in those who will be the backbone of our healthcare systems in the future.

The need for development of leadership and digital literacy skills for nurses and midwives is well-documented. Research shows that such investments can improve job satisfaction and staff retention, have direct impacts on patient outcomes and safety, and are crucial for addressing the coming healthcare challenges.

Most importantly, the outcome of such development opportunities can empower nurses and midwives to take on leadership initiatives and shape the future. Such an example is Atuhairwe Recheal, a midwife from Entebbe Referral Hospital, Uganda, who expressed her gratitude for the development of leadership and digital skills of our programme. In her words: “I cannot thank you enough, thank you so much for thinking about early-career nurses and midwives and the development of our leadership and digital skills and for having the heart to empower us. Our future is now, we are standing in our future, this is an opportunity to grab and shine. I cannot wait to shine!”

LEARNINGS

Lessons learned

At the outset of our project, there was a paucity of evidence supporting the feasibility of a programme for the development of leadership and digital literacy skills for early-career nurses and midwifes from diverse geographical regions and healthcare settings learning together virtually.

The evaluation of our initiative, however, demonstrated that learners relished the opportunity to be part of a community of global nurses and midwives, at similar career stages, to share experiences and ideas for improving practice regardless of region or healthcare setting. Our initiative shows that such a programme is feasible and that the challenges of healthcare provision requiring leadership and digital literacy skills are not limited to a particular region or country but are experienced globally.

The successful roll-out of the programme, showcases that is it possible for global learners to collaborate, share best practice, develop skills, and apply this learning to their own healthcare settings.

For others who are inspired by our initiative to undertake similar projects our advice would be:

1. Make sure that the involved partners have a shared understanding of the project’s purpose, goals and expected outcomes.

2. Establish effective communication channels and use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication methods to accommodate different time zones and cultural differences.

3. Anticipate potential issues, such as language barriers, cultural differences, time zone challenges, and technology issues, and proactively develop mitigation strategies to address them.

FUTURE PLANS

What's coming?

Our motivation to enable others to shape the future does not stop here. Sharing lessons learned and the programme’s impact through webinars, academic publications, and conferences is expected to inspire others to collaborate and develop similar initiatives to advance leadership and digital literacy skills among nurses and midwives globally, ultimately improving patient care and healthcare outcomes.

The partners of our project now have resources to continue delivering leadership and digital skill development programmes for early-career nurses and midwives in their healthcare settings. The programme has also enhanced partners' knowledge of pedagogy for virtual learning and simulation, informing future education initiatives.

The partners of our project are committed to an ongoing collaboration with international nursing educators and learners for leadership development initiatives, through established networks resulting from our initiative. Future programme delivery may focus on international nurses and midwives, who are new to healthcare organisations, and can benefit from leadership and digital skill development programmes.

The simulation team of Coventry University will continue showcasing their work, contributing to knowledge transfer in healthcare education. They also plan to continue bringing their in-house digital innovations to the global platform, fostering innovation in the healthcare education community. In addition, the involved technological and pedagogical principles of our initiative are largely transferable to other healthcare professions as well as other industries globally, offering thus fruitful opportunities for future iterations of similar initiatives.

KEY STATISTICS

8

Number of organisations involved in the development of the programme

48

Number of early-career nurses and midwives who completed the programme

£99,935

Investment bid granted by the Burdett Trust for Nursing in the United Kingdom to develop the programme/initiative

>90%

Percentage of learners who stated they would be able to implement their learning from the programme into practice within 1-3 months.

7

Number of global healthcare settings who enrolled learners on the programme

3

Number of global countries learners came from

Triple E Awards

The Triple E Awards are a global recognition of efforts toward the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. It is the first award to focus specifically on different dimensions of the universities' third mission. Implemented regionally, the Triple E Awards aim to foster change in universities and to emphasize their role in their communities and ecosystems.

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