Page 22 - Community Health magazine - issue 38

Practice makes permanent: Clinical student
partner Sally talks Suzie through the signs of
spotting a chest infection on mannequin Jo.
Simulating

success

Simulation-based learning may have been around for decades, but it’s
set to play a more prominent role in clinical training in the community.
Kate Rumsby visited KCHFT’s first simulation training suite at the
Heathside Centre in Coxheath, Maidstone, to find out more.

eet Jo, who is tucked up in It’s all part of a simulation exercise can adapt this for our physios and
bed in a clinic at the Heathside to help students and clinical colleagues occupational therapists, who relate
MCentre, in Coxheath, breathing practice and hone their clinical skills in a more to being in a clinic environment.”
heavily, with a nasty cough. safe and experiential environment. The simulation room at Heathside
By Jo’s side is Suzie Sackey, a Julie explained: “As a community Centre looks like a normal clinical room
healthcare assistant and registered nurse trust, we are on the front-foot in using with a bed, a privacy curtain and an array
degree apprentice, who is listening simulation in our training practices. of medical equipment lining the wall.
intently to Jo’s chest with a stethoscope. What’s unique for us is we are able The simulation technology is not just a
But Jo is not real – it’s a sophisticated to create situations that students and safe space for students and apprentices to
mannequin whose symptoms are being apprentices are likely to experience apply theory and practice technique.
remotely triggered through a computer in the community. We’ll replicate a It can also be used by qualified colleagues
controlled by Julie Jeffries, Head of patient’s home environment for our who want extra confidence in situations
KCHFT’s Clinical Academy. student community nurses and we they may not experience very often.

22 www.kentcht.nhs.uk