Overview
Practice based learning in the work place is an essential aspect of the education of
health professionals. It is only through exposure to patients that students are able
to develop the skills and attitudes that are required for effective care.
Managing practice placements is a complex process. In London there are 10 Universities who are contracted to deliver education for seven Allied Health Professions (AHPs) and there are more than 3000 students undertaking
placements at several placement providers.
The existing approaches to managing placements across the different AHPs within the universities were ad hoc and required considerable administrative input from academic staff lacking any real integration. Furthermore, placement providers had to respond repeatedly to requests from multiple universities in different formats. As a result, the various systems were sub-optimal, or even inefficient, for both universities and providers. Consequently, a new solution was needed to address inefficiencies and promote a networked system between the different AHPs.
The Placement Management Partnership, developed and delivered by Tribal, comprises an online system for logging all aspects of placement management; and a management team that deals with administrative functions.
Benefits
The Universities are now working together with Tribal to establish a shared service to manage this activity in a more efficient and effective way. The benefits of this approach are beginning to emerge.
For the first time there is a single database of the placement providers available to all users. Students and practice educators are informed of dates and locations
of placements by electronic communication and they are able to evaluate their experiences through on-line questionnaires. Intelligent matching suggestions can be made by the system for students across seven Allied Health disciplines, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and podiatry.
Auditing of placement quality and reporting of placement activity is available through the system enabling quality assurance processes to be put in place in a responsive
way. The system is designed to be completely extensible so that additional courses can be easily accommodated – for example, nursing – or additional HEIs can be added to the consortium.
This project, funded by NHS London is being achieved through collaborative working between Higher Education, placement providers and Tribal. Once fully established we anticipate that efficiency savings from shared services will be achieved and effectiveness of this management function enhanced.
Project Update
The project is well into its first full year of operation and is already proving itself by making placements “live” much earlier than was previously achieved. Other achievements to date include:
- over 1200 placement providers are live in the system
- over 3000 placements have been requested and filled in the first 2 terms, with all shortfalls being managed by the Tribal team
- there is a single Strategic Health Authority (SHA)-wide view of all 1200 providers, without the errors that come with duplication
- offers have been made to HEIs by previously-unseen providers
- reporting by students, clinical educators, and auditing of placement providers, to NHS standards
Some of our partners include:
- University of East London
- Brunel University
- CCU Canterbury
- London South Bank University
- Oxford Brookes
- King’s College London
- Kingston and St George
“We have chosen Tribal to oversee this project because they have the in-depth expertise to tackle what is a very complex brief. The database will make the organisation of students’ placements much more efficient for the academics within the universities, the placement providers, and the students themselves.
By centralising details of students at all these universities and contacts at placement providers, the system will allow universities and students greater choice and flexibility in their choice of placement, and will take an administrative burden off the shoulders of academics.”
Jacqui Potter, Principal Lecturer in Professional Health Sciences at the University of East London and project champion.