COVID-19 Archives - elearning for healthcare

Posts Tagged ‘COVID-19’

Stakeholder Briefing – Issue 48

Posted on: November 29th, 2021 by Rachel Gowland No Comments

Key Messages and links to 25 November 2021

Welcome to Health Education England’s regular stakeholder bulletin. In this bulletin we will provide:

Chief Executive updates
COVID-19 latest updates
Overview of HEE education and training news

Chief Executive updates

Creating a single, better organisation with workforce right at its heart
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has announced his decision that HEE will merge with NHS England and NHS Improvement to create a single, better organisation with workforce right at its heart.

HEE has long argued that the NHS needs to better align service, financial and workforce planning. This move means those systems will be integrated at national, regional and ICS levels, simplifying the national leadership of the NHS and creating greater synergy around the People Plan, education and training, our reform programme, and workforce transformation.

This will help us to better support colleagues to recruit the health professionals they need to deliver exceptional patient care, both now and in the future. The power to make this merger happen is currently working its way through Parliament as part of the Health and Care Bill so is subject to Parliament’s approval of that measure, expected in Summer 2022. Read more on the HEE website.

Doing the right thing isn’t always easy
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the extent of health inequalities even more starkly and has emphasised the need for us to improve fairness for everyone. This means ensuring we address ongoing health inequalities by investing the money we have in ways that best meet patient needs.

Our duty to patients, taxpayers and our NHS people is to ensure education and training funds are used effectively and distributed fairly in relation to patient need. Across the NHS, this means we must have open and honest conversations, based on evidence about effectiveness, outcomes, and value for money, about how this money is currently spent and whether it can be spent better. Read more on the HEE website.

HEE COVID-19 latest updates

We have created a COVID-19 update webpage that provides guidance and information from HEE, which applies to all students and trainees. This webpage also includes HEE COVID-19 surge guidance.

To keep up to date with plans for medical training recovery, visit HEE COVID-19 webpages.

We are supporting all professions to rapidly grow to meet the needs of patients:

Multi-Disciplinary Updates

Support available for disabled Health Professionals: ‘Find Your Way’ this Disability History Month
If you’re disabled, or have a disability, learning difference, or long-term health illness, including long-term effects of COVID-19 and mental health conditions, you have access to additional support. The process of applying for, and accessing, the support disabled people deserve can feel a little confusing and overwhelming. In partnership with HEE, the Find Your Way guide has broken down the process, so users know exactly to access the support.

Medical

Record number of 4,000 GPs accepted on training placements
A record number of new trainees have accepted placements to become GPs. More than 4,000 new recruits have accepted places to begin specialist general practice training in 2021/ 22. Read more on the HEE website.

Pharmacy

HEE trainee foundation pharmacist assessment strategy
A new edition of the HEE Trainee foundation pharmacist assessment strategy is available to download from the Trainee pharmacist foundation year website. Please continue to send your feedback to traineepharmacist@hee.nhs.uk.

e-portfolio orientation workshops
Join our November and December online orientation workshops for trainee foundation pharmacists, designated supervisors, and educational leads. There is no sign-up process. Check our website for Teams meeting details and click the link to join on the day. Please note that the trainee e-portfolio registration closes 12 December. Encourage your trainees to complete the HEE survey now to register.

Trainee wellbeing
As part of our support for trainee foundation pharmacists, we have curated a range of resources on our website to support foundation learning and development throughout the year. This month we are highlighting the Personal Wellbeing section of our Personal development and progression resources webpage. Please share any feedback on these resources with the team at traineepharmacist@hee.nhs.uk.

Mental health

Updated statement on funding for psychological professions training programmes
Since our published statements in September, HEE has released an updated statement with FAQs regarding the psychological professions training policy change.
This update confirms HEE will still implement a policy change for future eligibility on NHS funding specific psychological professions’ training programmes for individuals who wish to undertake more than one NHS-funded training. It updates the list of training programmes that will be affected and answers common questions asked throughout the stakeholder engagement activity. If you have any questions you can email mentalhealth@hee.nhs.uk.

Workforce and education initiatives

New workforce redesign tools to support ICSs
HEE has launched two new resources to support systems with their workforce redesign efforts: the Roles Explorer, a collection of resources for use when introducing new roles to inspire design of optimum skill mix, and the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) toolkit to support building and developing teams across professional groups and system structures.

Healthcare Support Worker Development Roadmap Launched
We have launched a learning and development roadmap for healthcare support workers (HCSW), educators and managers – which can help them identify learning and development goals and help improve their skills in order to deliver the best possible patient care. Access the road map here.

The roadmap brings together sources of information and resources to help HCSWs explore their own skills and support them with your ongoing learning and development. The roadmap is designed also to support educators and managers to have learning, development, and career conversations with their HCSW workforce. It contains tools to support these conversations and information about the training and professional development opportunities available for HCSWs.

Work Experience Leeds Deep Dive Research
We have worked with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) on research relating to the breadth and variety of work experience by speaking to those working in the trust. The research findings have now been published alongside HEE’s own recently published Future of Healthcare Work Experience Discover Report.

To view the research findings and the Future of Healthcare Work Experience Discover Report, visit the HEE website.

Initial findings from the economic evaluation of CLEAR published
Initial findings from the first independent economic evaluation of CLEAR show that HEE’s clinically-led national transformation programme is cost-effective, encourages retention and is more likely to deliver results than other complex change projects. CLEAR is a work-based learning programme that is sponsored by Health Education England, hosted by East Lancashire NHS Trust and delivered by 33n, a team of NHS clinicians, data engineers and scientists. Find out more about the economic evaluation of CLEAR on the CLEAR website.

elearning for healthcare

Keep up to date with all the latest additions to the elfh platform here.

FURTHER INFORMATION

By following @NHS_HealthEdEng you can keep up to date with new information and resources as they are published. Most importantly are the notifications of webinars being broadcast during the week.

New elearning session highlights dermatological side effects of COVID-19

Posted on: September 6th, 2021 by Louise Garrahan No Comments

A new session that highlights the effects of COVID-19 on skin has been added to Health Education England elearning for healthcare’s (HEE elfh) e-dermatology programme.

Dermatological Presentations of COVID-19 provides an overview of the skin symptoms associated with the virus and how to diagnose them.

The session lists these symptoms as follows:

Pseudo-chilblain/acral erythema
Papulo-vesicular eruptions
Urticarial lesions
Livedo/vasculitic lesions

The elearning session is aimed at a range of health and care professionals including GPs, nurses, specialty doctors and colleagues treating COVID-19 patients.

On completion of the session, learners will be able to describe the differential diagnoses of the skin symptoms of COVID-19, outline investigations and formulate a management plan.

The session has been developed in partnership with the British Association of Dermatologists. For more information and to access the resource, please visit the e-dermatology programme page.

New COVID-19 community contact tracing programme now available

Posted on: May 20th, 2021 by Louise Garrahan No Comments

Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) has worked in partnership with Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the University of Salford to develop a new elearning programme on contact tracing.

This important public health tool is used to control the spread of a variety of infectious diseases. During the Coronavirus pandemic, it has helped to break the chain of transmission within communities across the country and around the world.

To support this work, COVID-19: Contact Tracing at the Community Level has been designed to help colleagues and organisations, that are likely to be involved with contact tracing but may have little experience of how it works, understand the role of community-enabled contact tracing.

On a community level, COVID-19 has presented a range of unique challenges to the Greater Manchester population, due to the housing, employment and social geographic landscape of the city region, including how daily lives involve more mixing than other areas. In response to these challenges, Greater Manchester has been at the forefront of establishing a local contact tracing function as part of the delivery of Level 1 of the national NHS Test and Trace arrangements. Part of this response focused on health education and promotion.

The elearning programme aims to improve the effectiveness of this response within Greater Manchester but can be applied to any community across the UK. The resource comprises the following 2 modules:

Introduction to Contact Tracing
Introduction to Infection Control

On completion of the modules, colleagues should have a good understanding of contact tracing, infection prevention and control. They should also be able to consider the role of contact tracing in a variety of settings.

For more information and to access the programme, visit the COVID-19: Contact Tracing at the Community Level programme page.

New e-learning module to support detection of early deterioration of patients with COVID-19

Posted on: May 19th, 2021 by Leanne Hargreaves No Comments

Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) has worked in partnership with other NHS organisations, the West of England Academic Health Science Network, the Wessex Local Medical Committee and the TEL programme simulation and immersive technology team, to develop 2 free elearning resources to support detection of early deterioration of patients with COVID-19.

The NHS @home elearning programme consists of the COVID-19 Oximetry @home and COVID-19 Virtual Wards pathways, offering elearning resources to enable people to be confidently monitored in community settings such as care homes.

New COVID Oximetry module

The NHS @home elearning programme provides an overview of pulse oximetry and explains how to monitor oxygen levels at home or in a care home setting.

It is designed to be used alongside the NHS pulse oximetry documents.

People at high risk of becoming seriously unwell from Coronavirus are being provided with a pulse oximeter to monitor the oxygen levels in their blood at home for up to 14 days. This includes people who are clinically extremely vulnerable to coronavirus and includes people living in care homes.

A pulse oximeter is a small medical device that is put on the tip of the finger. By regularly monitoring oxygen levels it can be easier to spot if Coronavirus symptoms are getting worse and whether people need treatment or support.

People with COVID-19 may become very unwell if their oxygen levels fall too far. This elearning provides an overview of pulse oximetry for carers, including how to take the measurements and how to tell others if they are worried.

More information, including access details, is available on the programme page.

New NHS COVID Virtual Wards elearning module

The new COVID Virtual Wards (CVWs) elearning module has been developed to support the non-registered workforce with monitoring of patients on CVWs in community settings.

The COVID Virtual Ward – introduction to monitoring elearning resource explains who the patients are, how they are admitted, why monitoring is important, their role in monitoring, further considerations are also explored. It is designed to be used alongside call scripts.

It is likely that systems will adopt their own approach in terms of delivery of care and as such this learning should be used in conjunction with local training and policies.

More information, including access details, is available on the NHS @home programme page.

COVID-19 e-learning programme: 1 Year review

Posted on: March 19th, 2021 by Leanne Hargreaves No Comments

18 March 2021 marks 1 year since the HEE elfh Coronavirus elearning programme went live.

12 months on, and the wealth of COVID-19 resources available on the programme, including the vaccination elearning, continues to be a valuable resource for the health and care workforce and over 4.6 million sessions have now been launched.

The content remains free to access by people working in the NHS, the healthcare sector, the independent sector and social care and can be accessed on the HEE elfh Coronavirus elearning programme page.

The timeline below highlights a few key milestones from the last year.

HEE e-LfH COVID-19 vaccination programme launches hit 2 million

Posted on: March 4th, 2021 by Leanne Hargreaves No Comments

Health Education England’s elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) COVID-19 Vaccination programme has passed the milestone of 2 million session launches since going live.

The elfh COVID-19 vaccination elearning programme continues to be an essential part of the vaccination recruitment and training process. Health and care colleagues are using the resource to develop the knowledge needed to confidently promote high uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine and deliver the vaccination programme effectively.

The programme consists of a core knowledge session, the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 Pfizer-BioNTech session, the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca session and accompanying assessment sessions for each. New elearning sessions will be added as each new vaccine becomes available.

Since the COVID-19 vaccination programme went live, the content has been updated and amended as more information about the vaccines and the vaccine programme has become available. Further details about the recent updates can be found on the elfh news page.

The wealth of COVID-19 resources available on elfh, including the vaccination elearning, remain free to access by people working in the NHS, the healthcare sector, the independent sector and social care. The online learning resources have proved invaluable to new, existing and returning staff, particularly where traditional learning environments have been unavailable.

More details about the vaccination content can be found on the elfh COVID-19 vaccination programme page.

Rapid COVID-19 training and education resources for critical care

Posted on: February 2nd, 2021 by Alex Drinkall No Comments

To support staff being redeployed into critical care during the pandemic, the London Transformation and Learning Collaborative (LTLC) has worked in partnership with Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) to develop a range of resources to support staff.

This includes:

360-degree virtual ICU bed space
Toolkit for rapid cross-skilling
Just-in-time training for deployed staff
Skills passports for registered support clinicians and non-registered support staff (currently London only)
Short films on moral injury, preparing for deployment and more

Follow the links above to access each resource and visit the LTLC page on the elfh website for further support.

The website includes key resources to help individuals, educators and systems prepare for and work during surges in capacity. In recognition of the time pressure staff are under, these are designed to be short bite-sized learning that can be read or watched in advance, on the move or on the ward. The resources are for all staff, regardless of profession, and can be undertaken as self-directed learning or delivered by educators or trainers.

The LTLC was established in 2020, aimed at increasing the capacity of the critical care workforce in London to help prepare for a second surge in COVID-19 cases in the capital. If you need to get in touch, email ltlc@hee.nhs.uk. 

COVID-19 e-learning module available for paramedics

Posted on: January 25th, 2021 by Rachel Gowland No Comments

Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) and the College of Paramedics developed an elearning module which provides educational support for paramedics and emergency responders.

Supporting Paramedic Practice During COVID-19 is available within the paramedics elearning programme and includes interactive learning experiences that are accessible on mobile devices.

Supporting paramedic practice during COVID-19

Written by experienced paramedic elearning authors for the College of Paramedics, the module includes 5 sessions of varied lengths which learners can select individually, or complete as a whole module.

The sessions include:

the assessment and management of COVID-19 patients for paramedics
paramedic wellbeing during a pandemic
mechanical ventilators used in prehospital care
paramedic use of PPE
COVID-19 additional guidance for paramedics

By completing the module, you will achieve a greater understanding of virus transmission, assessment and management of COVID-19 patients and contribute to your Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Learners have found the COVID-19 module to be “a very good source of information”, “all very relevant and interesting” and commented that the elearning is “very clear and easy to understand” and they “will recommend it to colleagues”.

Other modules in the paramedics programme include:

clinical decision making for paramedics
mental health for paramedics
pain management for paramedics

Your feedback and accessing the module

As knowledge of the effects and management of the COVID-19 virus continues to evolve, we welcome your feedback.

You will be invited to rate and leave a comment at the end of each session. Leaving free-text comments helps us to develop learning resources which are relevant to you and your colleagues.

Visit the paramedics programme page for more information about the elearning modules.

COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca e-learning sessions now available

Posted on: January 1st, 2021 by Alex Drinkall No Comments

Health Education England elearning for healthcare has worked in partnership with Public Health England and NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop the COVID-19 Vaccination elearning programme. The elearning programme is designed to provide the health and care workforce involved in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme with the knowledge they need to confidently promote high uptake of the vaccine and deliver the vaccine programme effectively.

The programme consists of a core knowledge session, the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 Pfizer-BioNTech session, the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca session and accompanying assessment sessions for each.

All those undertaking this elearning should complete the core knowledge session as this is designed to provide essential knowledge about COVID-19 and the key principles of immunisation needed to deliver the vaccine. Learners should then complete both vaccine specific sessions as these provide more detailed information including how the vaccine works, how it should be stored, prepared and administered and any contraindications, precautions and potential vaccine reactions. The assessment sessions should be completed after each session.

The elearning sessions describe the national COVID-19 vaccination programme for England. Most of the information in the sessions will be relevant for those involved in the programme throughout the UK and Crown Dependencies. However, those undertaking the programme in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Crown Dependencies should be aware that some details as to how the programme will be delivered may be different. Vaccinators should therefore ensure that they refer to any country-specific information available, so they are familiar with the details of the programme for the country they are practising in.

This elearning programme provides theoretical training. Practical training in vaccine administration, and assessment and sign-off competency is also required before administering the COVID-19 vaccine.

For more information about the COVID-19 Vaccination programme, including details on how to access, visit the elfh website.

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