Project Description

Context

The motivation that backs up the Innovative Skills for Nurses project is related structural issues with national healthcare systems that came to light, with the COVID pandemic. Relevant to this project is the case of Specialist Nurse (SN) and the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN). Whereas the concept of SNs and APNs has recently evolved as a response to healthcare needs, there is currently no convergence in terms of higher education since the curriculum structures, length of educational programs, and learning outcomes differ among European countries, as well as their practical training in their respective clinical field.

Aims

The Innovative Skills for Nurses project has the aim to develop innovative nursing student-centered curricula in order to better meet their learning needs and to reduce skills mismatches for the training of Specialist Nurse (SN) and the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) in a wide-spectrum of specialties with crucial impact on healthcare systems which will be extremely relevant for the labor market and for the wider society.

The specific aims of the project are:

• Develop an innovative Curriculum to be implemented in all partner universities for the training of Specialist Nurses (SN) and Advanced Practice Nurses (APN)
• Provide trainers and lecturers of in-service and student nurses with innovative digital teaching skills and methods
• Create an online Repository of digital and virtual reality based scenarios and diagnostic challenges to be used as teaching and learning sources to qualify nurses

Activities

The following activities will be implemented:

• Transnational research activity comparing existing curricula for training Specialist Nurses and Advanced Practice Nurses
• Creation of a joint curriculum for training Specialist Nurses and Advanced Practice Nurses
• Creation of an online training package to train trainers and lecturers on the implementation of digital based education and training methodologies and solutions
• Collection, documentation and analysis of case studies and diagnostic challenges for nurse trainin

Results

The main project results include:

• An innovative Curriculum for the qualification of Specialist Nurse and the Advanced Practice Nurse
• An online e-learning package on the application of modern online digital teaching techniques, on the use of medical virtual reality techniques to qualify Specialist Nurse and the Advanced Practice Nurse
• A Repository of digital and virtual reality based learning scenarios and problem solving diagnostic challenges to allow the development of important practical skills