Involvement in Nursing Education

Service User and Carer Involvement in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy at the University of Nottingham

Self Help Nottingham has worked in partnership with the School of Nursing over a number of years. One of the joint activities has been the role of the User Involvement Development Worker, Joan Cook. Joan is employed by Self Help Nottingham, funded by the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy and reports to a steering group with members from both organisations. Her role is to develop and support user and carer involvement in the activities of the School of Nursing.

Examples of service user and carer involvement with nursing education

Developing the School Strategy

Service users, carers and voluntary organisations contributed to development of the 2001 School Strategy 'Towards 2012', and the Service User and Carer Advisory Group set up in 2005 then developed a Strategy for Service User and Carer Involvement, agreed in 2007 and revised in 2010. Members of the Advisory Group are service users and carers with experience of a range of health services, and staff with experience of involving patients, service users and carers in their work. The Strategy looks at developing involvement in areas of work such as teaching and learning, recruitment and assessment of students, staff recruitment and development, and research and scholarship.

The Service User and Carer Advisory Group has its own website pages at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/nmp/about/service-user-carer/index.

Influencing what nurses learn

Consultation about what different courses should cover includes service user, carer, parent and voluntary sector representatives working with health and social care professionals (as members of course advisory groups). Other consultations include commissioning a report on mental health nursing curricula from the service user training and research group Making Waves in 2003-4, reviewing case studies for the new Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing at Derby in 2008-9, and focus groups with a wide range of people linked to reviews of the BSc/Diploma in Nursing course in 2004-5 and in 2011.

Teaching and speaking to students

Many courses include regular and occasional sessions where service users, carers or parents teach or speak to students. In particular, local group Making Waves, works with the School on the Participation in Nursing Education Project (PINE) (see more on the website at: www.makingwaves.org/current-work/participation-in-nurse-education), training and supporting group members to teach on a range of mental health subjects.

Other forms of involvement

Service users teaching on some mental health courses are involved in assessing students' presentations, and adults with learning disabilities contribute to auditing some practice placements. Making Waves worked with the School of Nursing to research the impact of teaching sessions developed and led by service users, and the School’s research work includes projects where service users and carers are involved in various ways. During their practice learning (work placements) students spend time with and learn from service users, patients, families and carers. In 2010-11 service users and carers took part in interviewing prospective students, and facilitating group supervision of mental health nursing students.

The School of Nursing Midwifery and Physiotherapy at the University of Nottingham

The School's headquarters are in the Queen's Medical Centre campus in Nottingham, with education centres at Boston, Grantham, Derby, Mansfield and Lincoln. There is more information on the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy website at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/nmp.

Changing roles of Nurses, and the role of Patient and Public Involvement

As well as keeping up with new knowledge and with changes in the NHS, nurses are taking up more and more different roles. This often includes taking the lead in developing new community health services, where public involvement is crucial to ensure these are appropriate. With the involvement of service users and carers in nursing education students can learn to treat people as individuals and work with them as partners to support their health. They can also recognise the value of patient and carer experience alongside broader medical evidence become well prepared to work in a world where patient and public involvement is a normal part of how health services are run.

Linking up with other groups and universities

Joan Cook is a member of the DUCIE network (Developers of User & Carer Involvement in Education), which  links people working in similar roles with other universities, involving service users and carers in a range of  health and social care courses.

In 2010 Making Waves and Self Help Nottingham were funded by the Ian Light Award to develop a teaching policy to support Making Waves’ teaching. The award is named after the late Ian Light, who was a Service User Consultant and lecturer at City University, London (and a founder member of the DUCIE network). The award was supported by City University London, Mental Health in Higher Education, the Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health at the University of Birmingham, and East London NHS Foundation Trust.  There is more information about the award on the website at: www.mhhe.heacademy.ac.uk/ian-light-award.

Would you like to get involved?

There are a number of ways in which you could get involved with our work at the School of Nursing - click on the following link to request further details.

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Page updated: 4 October 2011