Reporting back from #poEducate

Can online patient and carer feedback be a valuable resource in educating our future health/care professionals?

Yesterday, a diverse group of service users, educators and clinicians met at #poEducate in Birmingham to share ideas and experiences of using Patient Opinion across a range of nursing and allied health professional courses. And, given the extraordinary energy and enthusiasm in the room, the answer was clear: yes, it can!

Our discussions were informed by five very different presentations (all the slides are linked below):

Networked patients and networked professionals: educating for the future

James Munro (that’s me!) started the workshop with an overview of Patient Opinion and why online patient feedback matters to professionals now, and in the future.

james-munro-po-educate.pptx

How do we know our care is patient centred?? @patientopinion#poEducate@RWT_DignityCarepic.twitter.com/t3FSByM5aL

— RWT Nurse Ed (@RWT_NurseEd) July 20, 2016

Using Patient Opinion in inter-professional education

Helen Bywater, head of inter-professional education at Sheffield Hallam University, shared how the faculty was using online patient/carer feedback across 15 nursing and AHP courses to support student learning about professional roles, identity and communication.

helen-bywater-po-educate.pptx

Helen from @sheffieldhallamuni presenting how they are integrating @patientopinion. Great sharing at #poeducatepic.twitter.com/sbAvXfbxtj

— Patient Opinion Scot (@PO_Scotland) July 20, 2016

Online feedback about clinical placements in mental health nursing

Anderson Pustam presented work from SW London and St George’s Trust, in partnership with Kingston University, on using Patient Opinion to enabling mental health nursing students to give feedback on placements.

anderson-pustam-po-educate.pptx

Next up is @AndersonPustam discussing feedback from students in mental health nursing #poEducatepic.twitter.com/CPLQzuu8Rr

— patientopinion (@patientopinion) July 20, 2016

Hearing, listening and responding to stories in pre-reg nurse education

Pam Nelmes and Ray Jones shared progress in bringing online patient feedback into the undergraduate nursing curriculum at Plymouth University, in the context of wider innovative use of social media with the students. Kim Young, also leading this work, sadly couldn’t be present.

pam-nelmes-ray-jones-po-educate.pptx

"The gift of feedback" a big driver for @Pam007Nelmes#poeducatepic.twitter.com/q1Gq0uc7zD

— Patient Opinion Scot (@PO_Scotland) July 20, 2016

The power of stories: connecting through compassion

Dorothy Armstrong, visiting fellow at the University of Edinburgh, showed how a single story from Patient Opinion could be used very powerfully in teaching to deepen conversations, share feelings and evoke compassion and connection.

dorothy-armstrong-po-educate.pptx

How a clinician felt about listening to stories & responding on @patientopinion@dorothy_DAprof#poeducatepic.twitter.com/wQekINusvH

— Patient Opinion Scot (@PO_Scotland) July 20, 2016

In conclusion

There was strong consensus at the workshop that there was as yet enormous untapped potential in using online patient feedback with students (and also with post-registration staff) in a wide variety of innovative ways.

Stories can be powerful in themselves. Online, where they are shared across a health economy of commissioners, providers, regulators and patient organisations, they gain additional power and impact for students who can see how shared experiences are leading to learning and tangible change in services.

Personally, I found this first ever workshop on Patient Opinion in education inspiring and energising. The possibilities here challenge us to develop our online platform further to create more value for learners at every stage. That’s definitely a challenge I am up for.

If you’d like to know more about using Patient Opinion in education, please get in touch.