Hexham General Hospital 20 - 25 January 2020

SMART Course Training

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"I am a Clinical Lecturer Practitioner in the Northumbria Trust and have used

the Melissa bus today at Hexham, to improve the learning experience of my

students.

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The SMART course, Scenario Mediated Assessment, Response & Treatment,

which I run, is a course for Staff nurses and experienced healthcare assistants

and is aimed at improving the early recognition and treatment of deteriorating

patients. A large part of the course is based around scenario work and the SIM patient

is a vital element of this.

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This course is particularly relevant to staff working on more physically isolated ‘Base site’ hospitals within the Trust and historically staff from these sites have struggled to access training which is often run from the DASH Unit at Wansbeck hospital in Ashington.

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I have previously attempted to use a Resus mannikin as the SIM patient when teaching the course at base sites.  This has had mixed results and I felt it decreases the level of engagement and realism that students with access to a fully-functioning SIM-patient have.

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Using the Melissa bus means I am able to re-introduce this important aspect of the teaching whilst keeping it locally based and accessible for staff at base sites.

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Student’s were noticeably more invested and engaged in the scenario work and fed back very positively about this when asked at the end of the session.  I was able to use the equipment myself with minimal training and found that the Melissa staff had an excellent understanding of the goals I was trying to achieve."

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Neil Harrison

Clinical Lecturer Practioner

SMART/NACAN Courses

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