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Continuing professional development opportunities for learning disability nurses

Posted on: November 1st, 2023 by Kieron Bradshaw No Comments

This year, Learning Disability Nurses Day is a double celebration for us as it also marks six months since the launch of a bespoke training package for learning disability nurses called the Learning Disability Nursing CPD Award.

The response to the training so far has been brilliant as almost 2,000 people have already registered to use it. If you haven’t already tried it, you can access the training for free on the NHS Learning Hub and we hope that it will support you in your career. We want the training to be as meaningful and valuable as possible for you, so please do complete the evaluation survey at the end of the training as well, to let us know what you think of it.

Covering the core principles of the profession, the training aims to help resolve any gaps in knowledge that colleagues already practicing may have; and it can also be used as an introduction to learning disability nursing for any healthcare professional with an interest in the area. The training can also help prepare you for specialising in key areas as it includes modules on inpatient settings, community, forensic and intensive support settings, as well as primary and acute care liaison.

This fantastic step forward is part of work to advance a dedicated career structure for learning disability nursing. The training supports the delivery of the All England Plan for Learning Disability Nursing, and aims to support those thinking about a career in this profession, as well as those in training and those currently working as a learning disability nurse.

Learning disability nurses are one of the most diverse and adaptable professional groups, working in a variety of settings and roles, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank every single one of you for the care and support that you provide every day.

Discussing the training, David Harling, National Deputy Director for Learning Disability Nursing at NHS England, said:

“The launch of the new Learning Disability Nursing Continuing Professional Development Award signals an important marker in both the evolution and investment in our profession. For over 100 years learning disability nurses have been providing expert care to people with learning disabilities and their families, and the advent of this programme will enable them to further their knowledge and skills.

“The programme has been created by learning disability nurses working in a variety of specialist areas of care and we hope it will become one of requisite benchmarks supporting specific roles, be this within job descriptions or as part of the learning disability nursing career framework.”

Ellie Gordon, Senior Nurse; Autism, Learning Disability and Mental Health at NHS England, said:

 “It has been a real pleasure to be part of this piece of work. Collaborating with learning disability nurses to progress from an ‘ask’ to a programme of continuing professional development that not only supports knowledge development, but also provides tools and resources to enhance nursing specific skills.

“When we first launched the All England plan for Learning disability nursing back in 2020, we had a clear vision that we not only needed to attract more people into learning disability nursing, but we also needed to develop those nurses who specialised in this area. We also knew that to develop such specialist nurses we would have to develop something that really spoke to nurses and nursing, and which showed how much we value and appreciate all that these great nurses do. I really feel that with this training we have started to do just that, and I look forward to continuing to work with learning disability nurses to develop and grow this great profession.”

Access the training

You can find out more and access the training now on the NHS Learning Hub.

Empowering patients to manage chronic breathlessness

Posted on: October 26th, 2023 by Kieron Bradshaw No Comments

Many people live with chronic breathlessness and often feel helpless, believing nothing can be done to relieve the symptom. However, there are many self-management techniques that can make a difference, allowing people to feel more in control, confident and able to get on with their daily lives.

A free online course is now available that aims to help health professionals understand how chronic breathlessness can still be improved even when the underlying condition cannot. The training takes approximately 20 minutes to complete and is relevant for any health professional who looks after people with long-term conditions causing chronic breathlessness. This includes nurses, therapists, advanced practitioners, doctors and psychologists working in primary care, community care and secondary care.

Long-term conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure can cause breathlessness that persists even when the underlying condition is being medically managed as well as possible. Upon completion of the training you will have learned some practical tips to manage the symptom, and you will have considered other sources of support for people living with chronic breathlessness.

The training has been developed as part of the NHS England Respiratory Long Term Plan Breathlessness Management workstream, to support colleagues with easily accessible education around non-pharmacological self-management support for people living with chronic breathlessness.

To find out more and access the training, please visit the Managing Chronic Breathlessness programme page.

Celebrating continuing professional development opportunities for all dental staff

Posted on: October 24th, 2023 by Kieron Bradshaw No Comments

As we reach the milestone of 60,000 registered users on our Dentistry (e-Den) elearning programme, we are celebrating by sharing the latest updates to the training and how these can support continuing professional development across the whole dentistry team.

This online training features opportunities for all dental professionals: from experienced colleagues seeking Continuing Professional Development, to new dental graduates looking for training to use throughout your two-year Foundation programme, as well as students preparing for Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (MFDS) exams.

The e-Den programme was created with the aim of delivering a high quality, interactive, online learning solution for dental professionals. It is available nationwide and is free of charge to all members of the dentistry team who are operating within an NHS contract. The curriculum is primarily based on the UK Dental Foundation Training curriculum, and is made up of four domains – clinical, management and leadership, professionalism, and communication.

We are incredibly pleased to share the following updates:

Enhanced CPD forms

 e-Den supports continuing professional development (CPD) for all dental care professionals and experienced dentists. As a learner you can plan and record your learning and work through any module that is relevant to your training needs, in any order you choose. Revised enhanced CPD forms are now available to support you with this.

All 13 modules within the training include an enhanced CPD form to be completed by the learner, which can be added to your portfolio with your elearning certificate as evidence to demonstrate your understanding of each subject area. The forms are downloadable and can be used as evidence of how you meet the criteria for the GDC’s development outcomes.

The enhanced CPD scheme is designed to support dental professionals to gain maximum benefit from CPD activities. The plan, do, reflect, record model encourages you to proactively think about your professional needs, field of practice and the Standards for the Dental Team before embarking on CPD activity. In this way, the activity becomes more meaningful and applicable to areas that you have identified to maintain or build on.

MFDS pathway reminder

If you are preparing to take your Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (MFDS) exams this autumn, a tailored elearning pathway can be found within the training programme to support you.

The pathway features short and focussed sessions that cover the whole MFDS syllabus and makes leaning more manageable for trainees who have multiple demands on their time.

The sessions cover all areas of the MFDS syllabus, including communication skills, clinical competence and clinical reasoning, and will prepare candidates for the professional skills assessments within the exams.

Module reviews and newly refreshed sessions

To ensure that training sessions remain valid and in line with current best practice guidance, we have been working with the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England to complete a review of all 13 modules within e-Den.

We are pleased to share that along with the Learning Paths, reviews have recently been completed for the following modules:

Module 1: Patient Assessment

Module 3: Anxiety and Pain Control in Dentistry

Module 5: Hard and Soft Tissue Surgery

Module 9: Replacement of Teeth

Module 10: Communication

Module 11: Professionalism

Module 13: Environmental Sustainability in Dentistry

Access the training

To find out more and access the training, please visit the e-Den programme page.

Adult Pathology and Orthopaedics updates to the Clinical Imaging elearning programme

Posted on: September 14th, 2023 by Kieron Bradshaw No Comments

Dorothy Keane, Clinical Lead at the Society and College of Radiographers, gives a brief overview of updates that have been made to our Clinical Imaging elearning programme.

The online training is free to access for healthcare staff and is the ideal resource to support all imaging staff.

Adult Pathology Sessions

“As radiographers, you are constantly looking at images of patients who have been referred from the emergency department, ward, outpatients, or a GP. Having the knowledge to recognise and identify bony changes which may represent a pathology will enable you to ‘flag’ the images to allow a faster report and quicker referral to a specialist”. Dorothy Keane, Clinical Lead

A new module has been developed to complement our Clinical Imaging programme. We have created 12 new sessions which give a general outline of a wide range of conditions and diseases and the related pathophysiological changes encountered on radiographs. These pathologies are commonly seen on radiographs and a knowledge of how bone and soft tissue changes manifest on radiographs will be discussed using images and diagrams. There is an opportunity to assess learning throughout each session which consist of 4 introductory sessions and 8 which focus on specific anatomical regions and discuss specific pathologies related to those regions.

Clinical Imaging – Orthopaedics

Have you looked at the 2 orthopaedic modules in elfh’s Clinical Imaging programme?

Our Orthopaedic Imaging modules explore follow-up images post orthopaedic surgery. The introductory session explains the post-operative plan for patients who have undergone orthopaedic procedures and why imaging is essential to assess the interventions.

Further sessions cover procedures involving the hip, knee, shoulder, elbow, ankle and foot, hand and wrist, long bones, vertebral column (spine) and pelvis in both emergency trauma and elective surgery. Each procedure is described with accompanying photographs of the prosthetics and instrumentation. The rationale for carrying out the procedure is discussed. Images are used to demonstrate post-procedure appearances and describe post-operative complications such as loosening of metalwork and infection.

The 2nd module, Orthopaedic Intervention, introduces the operating theatre outlining the environment, equipment, sterile procedures, infection control and staff roles. Radiographers often rotate into theatre and may have limited experience of certain procedures – this can, and often does, create an atmosphere of tension within the operating theatre for both the radiographer and the orthopaedic surgeons. These sessions have been designed to help prepare radiographers for theatre work. It provides detailed advice on the position and movements of the image intendifier for a range of orthopaedic procedure involving the upper and lower limbs and the vertebral column.

Accessing the training

To find out more and access the training, visit the Clinical Imaging programme page.

New elearning offers hot weather guidance for carers

Posted on: July 4th, 2023 by Vanessa Bassnett No Comments

Hot weather can pose a range of health threats to elderly and vulnerable people so new elearning has launched increase carers’ awareness of the risks and show how to protect themselves and those they care for.

Older people and those with underlying medical conditions are particularly vulnerable to the effects of high temperatures which include increased risk of heart attack, stroke, lung problems and even death. This means people living in care homes, those who are unable to care for themselves or those who require support in their day-to-day lives are more at risk becoming unwell in hot weather.

The elearning has been created in collaboration with NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and the UK Health Security Agency and is hosted on the Learning Hub.

It is intended for front line carers who are supporting elderly and vulnerable people both in domestic and care settings. The modules explain the health risks of excess and extreme heat in care settings and demonstrate quick and simple measures to reduce the health risk.

Modules include:

  • Heat exhaustion and heatstroke
  • How to cool down a home or care home
  • Prevent dehydration
  • Protection from the sun
  • Further precautions

The session is based on guidance published by the UKHSA on hot weather and health.

To access the training visit the webpage: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/hot-weather-guidance-for-carers/

New elearning modules to boost patient safety

Posted on: June 29th, 2023 by Vanessa Bassnett No Comments

No matter what your role or where you work, an understanding of the essentials for patient safety is important because we all have a role to play in supporting the NHS in keeping patients safe.

Colleagues across NHS England can now complete new patient safety training modules to learn about how and why patient safety incidents happen, and what we should consider in our own roles to support the NHS to improve safety. In response to feedback from users, updates to the patient safety syllabus training include improved usability, interactivity, and navigation and a certificate of completion. There are also five new sector specific patient safety case studies covering good practice, human factors, risk, systems thinking and safety culture in the following areas: Mental Health, Maternity, Management and administration, Primary Care and Acute Care.

The new modules support all colleagues, not just those who provide direct care to patients, as everyone can have an impact on patient safety through their decisions and actions. All of our roles in health and care, from office based to hands on care, impact in some way on the safety of patients. That is why it is important that we embed patient safety in everything we do.

The training has been introduced as part of the National Patient Safety Syllabus, with an aim that the entire NHS workforce understands how we all support patient safety, and consider this in their roles, no matter where they work.

Level 1 and 2 of the updated Patient Safety Syllabus training are available on ESR, Local Management Systems, and e-learning for healthcare.

Accessing the elearning

You can access the elearning here: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/patient-safety-syllabus-training/

Get in contact with the programme: patientsafety@hee.nhs.uk

Coping with long-term conditions: a patient’s journey

Posted on: March 2nd, 2023 by Kieron Bradshaw No Comments

A person living with one or more long-term condition(s) may access a combination of services from across the healthcare system: from primary care and community healthcare services, to outpatient appointments and acute hospital stays.

To highlight just some of the problems that people may encounter throughout their journey, they can often:

  • receive treatment that is not specific to their needs
  • be unsure of who to approach when they have a problem
  • have no access to their care records – or their records may be unavailable between healthcare settings
  • lack confidence to do daily activities and be unable to achieve their goals.

These are just some of the barriers to great care that occur, and they tend to be best summed up as failure to provide integrated or personalised care around the individual.

Although long-term conditions cannot at present be cured, people living with these conditions can be supported to maintain a good quality of life. We want to help healthcare colleagues to improve this patient journey.

Our PRosPer Long-Term Conditions elearning programme is available to assist all health and care staff to deliver more personalised care.

Developed from resources created by Macmillan Cancer Support, the online training can help you to move away services that only deal with one condition; and will help you to avoid single condition guidelines that carry attendant dangers of polypharmacy, and that exclude a holistic approach to service users. The training can also support you to identify vulnerable people who might then be given extra help to avoid hospital admission or deterioration/complications of their condition(s).

Training

To access the training today, simply visit the PRosPer Long-Term Conditions programme page on the elearning for healthcare hub.

Pharmacy Practice and Educational Supervisor Training - new elearning programme available

Posted on: August 11th, 2021 by Rachel Gowland No Comments

Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) with the University of East Anglia, De Montfort University and Keele University are delighted to launch new elearning sessions for pharmacy practice and educational supervisors.

The elearning sessions have been developed for those in the pharmacy sector who are involved in the training of others, ranging from supervising shadowing experiences, to having educational supervisory roles across a range of settings. This includes community pharmacies, primary care and health and justice pharmacy services.

These new resources aim to provide supervisors with the knowledge and skills needed to gain confidence and satisfaction from their practice and educational activities and enhance their contributions to the development of a highly skilled pharmacy workforce.

It also aims to improve the learning experiences of trainees and their contributions to patient-centred care.

This programme currently includes 2 modules:

  • Module 1, Core Skills: Introductory level topics relevant to practice and educational supervision. This module is recommended for all as an introductory module or to refresh existing knowledge
  • Module 2, Enhanced Skills: A deeper learning approach to topics relevant to practice and educational supervision, providing context for specific programmes/learner groups. This module is recommended for practice and educational supervisors involved in specific regulated pharmacy training programmes and those who wish to develop their skills further
  • The development of an ‘Advanced Skills’ module will be determined upon the workforce need.

Each module takes approximately 2 hours to complete and covers a range of topics with increasing complexity. Learners are asked formative questions to enable interaction and test their knowledge.

To learn more, please visit the pharmacy practice and educational supervision training programme page.

Paramedics are supported by a clinical decision making elearning resource

Posted on: July 28th, 2021 by Rachel Gowland No Comments

Health Education England worked in partnership with the College of Paramedics to develop a Clinical Decision Making for Paramedics module. The module helps paramedics to consider how they make decisions in different circumstances and discusses different theories associated with clinical decision making.

Sessions include:

  • Introduction to Clinical Decision Making
  • Metacognition
  • Novice to Expert
  • Dual Process Theory
  • Heuristics and Bias
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Hypothetico-Deductive Decision Making
  • Importance of Red Flags
  • Human Factors

This CPD module will be useful for experienced paramedics, students or assistant practitioners. The interactive, online sessions can be accessed on a variety of mobile devices and take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

To register for this elearning module, or for more information, please visit the Paramedics programme page.

elfh is a NHS England programme in partnership with the NHS and professional bodies