Simulated Research Placements: Empowering Students to Embed Physical Activity in Their Practice
Throughout May, the AWRC’s Training and Education team helped to inspire the next generation of healthcare workers by delivering simulated research placements to over 500 final-year mental health, adult and child nursing students from Sheffield Hallam University’s College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences.
Each session kicked off with a lecture which provided insight into the work and purpose of the AWRC. Delivered by members of the training and education team alongside current PhD students, the lectures highlighted the importance of movement especially amongst the most inactive members of the population. The co-location model of the AWRC (across both SHU and NHS services) and case studies of co-produced research were showcased as examples of best practices.
Following this, students were split into smaller groups in order to participate in interactive workshops led by current PhD students. Within these workshops students were encouraged to explore and share their own experiences of physical activity in hospital settings, gather and discuss insights, and identify potential areas for future research.
The students enthusiastically contributed to the sessions, sharing their experiences of promoting physical activity within inpatient settings and providing novel suggestions to for better enabling movement. While students had a good awareness of the benefits of physical activity, they recognised that there can be barriers to its facilitation such as the lack of staff time and patients’ differing abilities. Students identified many different ways to champion movement including improving processes, educating staff and patients, and better developing facilities.
The workshops were designed to increase students’ awareness of research opportunities in physical activity, health and wellbeing and increase their confidence to consider how services can be improved, and were well received by the students.
Student feedback suggested that the sessions were “positive, interactive, interesting, informative and engaging”, with one student commenting that “as children’s nurses we don’t really focus on physical activity. It’s good to be informed of the benefits and look it from a different perspective”.
Feedback from Bev Kilner, a SHU lecturer and senior research sister was also positive. Bev said “there was great engagement from the students and some great ideas for research questions and service improvements. Emily facilitated the session and enabled discussion and debate around the barriers and the potential improvements for this aspect of patient care in the future. It was a really enjoyable session.”
At the AWRC we are proud to work alongside the next generation of nurses and hope that our simulated placement opportunity helped to build confidence to promote movement and consider involvement in research in the future.
Seminars were facilitated with the support and expertise of AWRC PhD students Nik Kudiersky, Elysa Ioannou, Megan Garside, Samantha Welfare, Amy Murray-Evans, Abbie Griffith, and Allison Dunne. We would like to offer many thanks for their help.
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About the Author
Emily Newton is the AWRC’s Training and Education Co-Lead