From virtual reality headsets where students can speak to virtual patients, and mannequins that can be heard to breathe, the TGI has adopted technology in a bid to make its clinical skills sessions as close to being on the wards as possible.
‘It’s a solid way of learning and a safe environment for them to learn in,’ said Dr Tracey McClean, head of TGI University Centre.
‘This is as close to what they are going to see on the wards. The set up is the same, and is great for them to practise, taking into account a patient as a whole when assessing them, rather than isolated skills.
‘Equipment is there to help but a lot of it is being able to use the senses, like hearing breathing that you shouldn’t be able to hear, so it indicates that something is wrong.’
The students currently have two beds for them to practise with.
Dr McClean said she hoped that this could develop and expand on when nurse education moves to the Les Ozouets campus once it is built.
‘We will have six beds there and the rooms will be able to be split into two so we can have more than one group in there,’ she said.
‘They can do up to 600 hours of clinical skills but it’s not near that at the minute.
‘Hopefully at the new campus we will be able to increase that.’
In one of the seminar rooms VR headsets are set up so the students can practise interacting with patients, and they are also able to access the platform remotely.
There are also dummies that the student nurses can use to practise skills, such as taking blood.
‘They are great for practising injections and urinary catheterisation,’ said Dr McClean.
‘It’s important for them to be able to practise these isolated skills.’
Classroom-based sessions are only part of what student nurses go through during their studies. They have regular placements in different areas from community to mental health.
Third-year student nurse Charlotte Fallaize said that the simulation helped when it came to placements.
‘It helps massively having a scenario where you have to be the registered nurse using your critical thinking,’ she said.
‘We learn it all in here so we can go out and do on placement.’
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