Heartbeat: Fundamentals of care training for student nurses and midwives

February 10, 2023

SWB’s nursing and midwifery clinical education team work to provide education, resources and support to nurses and midwives across the Trust. Recently, Heartbeat covered nursing associate apprentice training, and the team have gone on to roll fundamentals of care training to student nurses and midwives on placement at the Trust.

We spoke to Aaron Bertram-Miller and Stacey Clarke, Nursing Associate Practice Educators, who are behind the formulation and delivery of the training.

Stacey commented, “Usually, nurses and midwives would receive separate training, they’re not usually included in the same group. We’re really excited to be bringing our student nurses and midwives together for fundamentals of care training. This was a big milestone for us as a team.”

Aaron added, “The training goes back to basics, sometimes we can be so busy that we forget about the little things. Something as simple as a cup of tea can make a difference to someone in hospital.”

The training, coordinated and delivered by the team, takes place from 9am – 5pm and includes sections from Chief Nursing Officer Mel Roberts and Group Director of Nursing Di Eltringham, as well as Head of Patient Experience Jamie Emery and Deputy Group Director of Nursing Charles Chambara. It covers the three dimensions of fundamentals of care and explains the importance of many different aspects of care.

Though the training is optional for students, uptake has been excellent. The team have delivered one session to around 80 students and have two further sessions planned so far. Feedback has been excellent, with attendees calling it “educational and informative” and stating “the fundamentals of care session was very good with great interaction from others”.

Aaron and Stacey hope that educating student nurses and midwives, who may go on to have long term careers within the Trust, will ensure the fundamentals of care approach is embedded into the care we provide across all wards.

“By providing fun and engaging training, we hope we can help future nurses and midwives to provide all patients with personalised and compassionate care. Fundamentals of care is such a relevant approach to both groups and we hope the attendees become advocates of the approach in their future careers, wherever they end up working.”