‘Their online learning improved our patients’ safety’

The vital role of Guy’s Cancer Academy in Guy’s and St Thomas’ COVID response.
When the pandemic hit hard in 2020, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust moved quickly to ensure that it could provide the best possible care for patients with COVID.

As a vital part of this, Guy’s Cancer Academy was tasked with supplying online learning for clinical staff who were being moved into COVID-related roles and quickly needed training. 

Leading the development of online learning across the Trust, Bhav Radia, Head of the Learning Lab at the Academy, worked closely with clinicians and educators to develop high-quality online resources.

These included an induction to intensive care units, overviews of how to use anaesthetic equipment, safety training, and explanations of regularly-changing protocols.

The Trust’s clinical staff accessed online learning created by Guy’s Cancer Academy over 10,000 times. 
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There was an incredible sense of urgency and cooperation to ensure that we were fully prepared for these patients
BHAV RADIA, HEAD OF THE LEARNING LAB

Informative and engaging learning

There was an acute shortage of doctors to work in critical care during COVID, so there was a need to rapidly train more than 200 clinicians from other specialties.

The Academy helped develop training in basic critical care, including reworking existing PowerPoint lectures and webinars into engaging and efficient online modules.

Grateful clinicians were able to take in the information at their own pace, while the highly regarded modules also remained available after staff had started in critical care. 

This work with the Academy also meant that the Trust was likely one of just a few in the country with a record of exactly what training each staff member who was redeployed during COVID had completed. 
The doctors really appreciated these excellent resources. The training lowered their stress levels, improved patient safety, and enabled a consistent experience of care. 

Bhav was incredibly efficient, with phenomenal turnaround times. He really understood the needs of our learners and was adept at creating informative, concise and visually engaging learning material.

At a stressful time, I found his support invaluable.
DR ROS TILLEY
ONE OF THE EDUCATION LEADS FOR CRITICAL CARE AT THE TRUST DURING THE PANDEMIC

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Improving the quality of care

As a Practice Development Nurse in critical care during the pandemic, Nordeya Gilbert was teaching and supporting nurses working on intensive care and high dependency units.

She needed to create a collection of resources - including guidelines for essential procedures - for non-critical care nurses who were becoming ‘surge’ nurses to support COVID patients.

Staff found the resources extremely useful and informative, which led to better quality care for patients who were seriously ill with COVID.
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I worked very closely with the Academy, who were very helpful. They filmed and edited training videos for ventilators, the anaesthetic machine, the haemofiltration machine, and chest drain devices.

Colleagues said these were very good resources for the clinical skills that they were less confident in. Even existing staff commented that they would’ve benefited from them when they were new to critical care.

The surge nurses were able to remind themselves of key clinical skills, such as how to remove an arterial line or care for a person with a chest drain, so the benefit to patients was great.

Since the pandemic, the use of these resources is still being encouraged for all staff, especially those who are newly recruited, as part of their clinical induction.

Working with Bhav during one of the most stressful periods in history was amazing. He took a lot of the pressure off by ensuring that any requirements and amendments were completed in a timely manner. A massive thank you to Bhav.
NORDEYA GILBERT, PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT NURSE for CRITICAL CARE