To develop leadership skills and digital literacy among early-career nurses and midwives

In partnership with Children’s Health Ireland, The Centre of Children’s Nurse Education (CCNE), Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, MILCOT and the National Health Care Conferences, Uganda, Coventry University and the Nursing Now Challenge are leading the development and implementation of a new Virtual Simulated Placement (VSP) to support the development of leadership skills among nurses and midwives, with a specific focus on the development of leadership skills and digital literacy.

Thanks to funding from The Burdett Trust for Nursing, this consortium of partners is working together to create and roll out a truly global learning experience for early-career nurses and midwives.

The aim is for this project to facilitate and improve global partnerships and placement opportunities for early-career nurses and midwives around the world.

What is a Virtual Simulated Placement?

Virtual simulated placement (VSP) is the use of browser-based virtual environments to simulate patients, clients, users and colleagues to develop proficiency capabilities by working through life-like, challenging situations. VSPs are the bridge between classroom learning and real-life clinical experience and perhaps the most exciting aspect of VSPs is that they allow nurses and midwives equity of access. All nurses and midwives can experience all clinical contacts equally, rather than what clinical contacts are available at a given time. This means that virtual placement becomes truly equitable and truly global.

Who is taking part in this project?

Children’s Health Ireland, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, MILCOT and the National Health Care Conferences, Uganda will be the first to pilot this VSP, with the hope of one-day offering exchange opportunities to nurses and midwives having completed the VSP.

This project will empower early-career nurses and midwives to develop their leadership capabilities by:

• Enabling early-career nurses and midwives to make independent and autonomous decisions in a safe virtual environment
• Providing the opportunity to learn from role models to inspire early-career nurses and their confidence in leading teams
• Providing the opportunity for professional socialisation through mentoring in different geographical and cultural contexts
• Providing detailed, immediate performance feedback that enables early-career nurses to feel valued and encourages further learning, which may not be possible in a real-life environment
• Enhancing their digital literacy skills, capabilities and confidence which will increase creativity and innovation

Download project resources below.