HSC In-House Education Activities Review

Project Overview

Investment in continuous professional development activities for nurses, midwives and support workers is essential to maintaining and improving a professional workforce and modernising the delivery of care to meet the demands of a changing healthcare system. The Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts access a range of post-registration education programmes, from a variety of education providers including local Approved Education Institutions (AEIs), the HSC Clinical Education Centre and a range of other education providers both inside and outside of Northern Ireland. To further meet the learning and development needs of the nursing and midwifery workforce, the HSC Trusts also provide a range of their own ‘in-house’ education programmes. These are provided by HSC Trust staff members namely; nurses and midwives, medical staff, members of the multidisciplinary teams and external company representatives.

On behalf of the Chief Nursing Officer, NIPEC led a review to scope the range, type, volume and delivery methods of the in-house nursing and midwifery education programmes provided by nurses and midwives in the HSC Trusts and assess the quality assurance processes that are used.

Despite the limitations of this scoping review, the findings demonstrated that there are a large number and wide range of in-house education activities delivered within the HSC Trusts. These are planned to meet the changing needs of the healthcare service and are delivered by nurses and midwives who are experts in their specialist areas of practice. The review also highlighted aspects in the planning, delivery and evaluation stages that could be strengthened. This would not only improve the quality of the education provided but instill confidence in patients and clients, in that the care they receive is of high quality, evidence-based and person-centred.

The Final Report makes several recommendations which have been informed by the review that should be taken forward in the next phase of this work.

Resources

Contact

Senior Professional Officer for this project: Fiona Bradley