Virtual simulation training for nurses and midwives wins award

Coventry University’s virtual simulation experiences (VSE), which allow healthcare students and qualified practitioners to experience real-life situations in a virtual world, has won a European award.

Co-designed by nursing and midwifery educators and healthcare practice leaders from across the globe, the VSE uses browser-based virtual environments to simulate patients, clients, users and colleagues to develop learners’ capabilities by working through life-like, challenging situations and acts as a bridge between classroom learning and real-life clinical experience.

Its benefits have now been recognised at the 2023 Triple E Awards, which are billed as ‘recognising efforts toward the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education’, winning the European Community Engagement Initiative of the Year award.

The VSE was recognised for its capability to help address predicted shortages in healthcare workers worldwide over the next decade through the development of leadership and digital literacy skills among early career nurses and midwives which is critical to addressing issues such as staff retention and patient outcomes.

Project Director and Assistant Professor in Health Simulation, Abbie Green, attended the awards ceremony in Barcelona to accept the award on behalf of the project team.

She said: “It gives me great joy to accept the prestigious 2023 European Community Engagement Initiative of the Year award, representing the Coventry University Simulation team and our invaluable collaborators.

“I am immensely proud of every individual involved who played a vital role in the successful implementation of this initiative, and their unwavering commitment truly deserves this recognition.”

Other organisations involved in the project include Children’s Health Ireland; the Centre of Children’s Nurse Education in Ireland, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in America, and Midwife Led Community Transformation and the National Health Care Conferences, both in Uganda.

Dr Natasha Taylor, Coventry University’s Curriculum Lead for Healthcare Simulation, said: “This award is testament to the innovative nature of the virtual simulated experiences we offer our learners, here in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health.

“To work with global collaborators towards the common goal of sustainable healthcare development has built relationships and improved the nursing community both in the UK and around the world.

“We look forward to working again with our collaborators and bringing the lessons learned back to our School and the range of healthcare learners we have.”

Find out more about the university’s health simulation course.

About Coventry University

Coventry University is a global, modern university with a mission of Creating Better Futures. We were founded by entrepreneurs and industrialists in 1843 as the Coventry School of Design and we continue to have strong links with the public and private sector, providing job-ready graduates with the skills and creative thinking to improve their communities.

With a proud tradition of innovative teaching and learning, Coventry University has world-class campus facilities, the UK’s first standalone 5G network and a digital community of learning. Our students are part of a global network that has 50,000 learners studying Coventry University degrees in more than 40 different countries and partnerships with 140 higher education providers worldwide.

We have greatly increased our research capacity and capability with a focus on impactful research, delivered for and with partners to address real-world challenges and support business and communities to grow. The depth and breadth of rapidly growing research portfolio was validated by the latest UK research assessment, which saw us jump 22 places in the research power rankings.

Over two centuries, we have flourished in Coventry and Coventry University Group now also delivers access to our range of high-quality services and partnerships through bases in London, Scarborough, Belgium, Poland, Egypt, Dubai, Singapore and Africa. We will be teaching students at a new campus in China in a joint institute with the Communication University of China in the near future.

In April 2022, we were honoured with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the category of International Trade, the UK’s most prestigious business award. In recent years, we have won many awards and vastly improved our rankings in the league tables that matter to students – but what matters to us is delivering transformational change for our students, partners and communities around the world as we continue to evolve into a global education group.