Skills Labs

Within the Faculty of Health there are a total of 5 clinical skills laboratories, two at the Shrewsbury site and a further three at Stafford. The laboratories are used for per-registration and post registration course. The clinical skills laboratories are a safe environment to teach practical skills and are aimed at enhancing the confidence and ability of student nurses performing core clinical skills.

The use of clinical skills can bring many benefits including experiential learning in a safe environment therefore improving patient safety and reducing anxiety of the learner. It allows a number of clinical procedures to be simulated on mannequins in the first instance therefore enabling students to reach a level of confidence and proficiency before carrying out procedures on real patients. Examples of clinical skills include Basic Life Support, naso-gastric tube insertion, urinary catheterisation and wound care.

Skills Lab and Community House

We lay particular emphasis within the social work programme area upon giving students the opportunity to develop their social work skills, and particularly the active listening and interviewing skills that are at the heart of social work practice.

We help our students to develop these skills through our Skills Lab programme. This involves members of our Service User and Carers Group (SUCG)  working with students on an individual basis to help them develop their telephone and face to face skills.

 
On the Stoke campus we have a social work skills lab which is equipped with video recording equipment and telephones. There is a one way mirror enabling staff and students to observe practice, and a recording suite where copies of interviews are made for students to take away and reflect on their practice.

The facilities at Stoke also include our Community House which has become a significant aspect of our work with students. Students are able to ‘get the feel’ of working with someone in their ‘own home’ in ways that are more realistic than the classroom simulations. Members of our Service Users and Carers Group role play scenarios to help students gain confidence in these skills, and provide feedback afterwards.

Service User and Carer Involvement

 
Throughout this process students will be developing partnership working with service users and carers, and exploring how they can work effectively and creatively with them.  This is a very important dimension for the Award as a whole, and we expect all our students positively to welcome, and to work in partnership with, members of our Service Users and Carers Group who are involved in the teaching on the programme.