International Experience and Collaboration
In 2016, Western Cape Colleges of Nursing (WCCN) with three research universities in South Africa and three European universities of Applied Sciences established an international partnership in the fields of healthcare and wellness. The European partners include: Avans University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Lahti University of Applied Sciences (Finland), and Karel de Grote Hogeschool (Belgium). The South African partners are: the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). Read more about the project here.
In 2016 Shihaam Barnes (Metro West), Molefi Dexter Shebi (Southern Cape Karoo) and Philicia Bloom (Boland Campus) were selected to participate in the first student mobility exchange programme of the EU funded capacity building CASO project. The programmes was hosted at the Karel de Grote University, Antwerp, Belgium and in Netherlands at Avans University. The students had the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary professional health teams that aimed to improve the social well-being and health of patients. Read about their experiences here.
In 2018 Stef Janssens and Veronique Fromont (Nurse lecturers from Karel de Groote) in collaboration with WCCN and the Department of Health hosted a two day workshop on Inter-profession Communication Workshop and CRM training
The first day covered:
- Understanding the principles and the theoretical background of SBAR
- Integrating SBAR into practice
- Understanding the CRM
- principals
Thereafter, ten nominees took part on Train the trainer course the next day. This consisted of
- Integrating CRM principals into practice
- Participating in actively scenario-based training
- Giving immediate feedback
- Debriefing a simulation training/real situation using the “Debriefing with good judgement”
- Clinical simulation scenarios training to practice skills a safe learning environment as close as possible to the real context
The aim of this training was to strengthen meaningful and effective communication in all directions between clinical staff and patients, between members of the multi-disciplinary teams, between staff at different institutions, between management and clinical staff, between line function and support service staff and between the Department and the strategic partners and stakeholders, by applying and linking practical skills to the theoretical knowledge learned.
The end of the CASO project culminated in a large end symposium and the launch of the new open educational resource (OER) created together with all project partners. These resource can be used as part of teaching curriculum, short courses in higher education or as materials for self-study. The course contains three modules and can be used in teaching and learning processes and.
The OER is situated at the following url: https://mooc.lamk.fi/
- Please choose Caring Society (CASO) https://mooc.lamk.fi/course/index.php?categoryid=4
- Then the module “Empowered Social, Health and Lifestyle Professional”
- After this section opens, you will need to create a free account to obtain access to the module content.
The participation in this collaboration endorsed the view that students and academics need to stay motivated and continue to strive to develop skills and competencies that are needed nationally and internationally. Find out more about the project here.