A leading light in
simulation-based education (SBE) at Northumbria University, Newcastle, has been
awarded a prestigious Fellowship for his contribution to healthcare education.
Alan Platt, who is
Academic Lead for SBE and Clinical Skills at Northumbria, was awarded the
Fellowship by the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH) for
his renowned work in using healthcare simulation to educate.
Alan qualified as a
registered nurse in 1988 specialising in adult intensive care and was appointed
as a charge nurse critical care in 1998.
During this time, he
developed a keen interest in healthcare education and in 2001 he was appointed
as a lecturer practitioner in critical care, working across Newcastle upon Tyne
Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria University.
Alan was appointed
by Northumbria University as a senior lecturer in adult nursing in 2006 and as
the lead for SBE development for undergraduate teaching. He has developed a
national and international reputation for the development of SBE as a learning
and teaching methodology and its integration into the University’s nursing
programme.
Alan served on the
executive committee of the ASPiH from 2010 to 2014, and as National Simulation
Development Officer (SDO) from 2012-to 2014.
Speaking about his
award, Alan said: “I am passionate about simulation-based education and I feel
honoured that colleagues, who I have held in high esteem, awarded the
Fellowship to me.”
SBE is frequently
used in healthcare teaching. It encompasses a broad range of methods from task
training to develop specific skills to actor and manikin-based approaches.
Learners can then
practice and perform many skills and emergency procedures in a safe
environment, ensuring they are competent, safe and confident to deliver high
quality care.
In 2011, Alan was
appointed programme leader with responsibility for the advanced critical care
practitioner (ACCP) programmes, and was awarded the title of Teaching Fellow in
2014 for his innovative work in SBE.
Based on this work
in June 2016 he was appointed as an Associate Professor and the academic lead
for SBE within the Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health. He is currently
undertaking a Professional Doctorate on the use of SBE in healthcare education.
The
Clinical Skills Centre at the University is used to teach a range of healthcare
professionals; it has been at the forefront in the advances of simulation-based
education as a learning and teaching methodology.
The
Centre underwent
a £750,000 make over in the summer of 2017, which saw the facility become one
of the biggest and best in the country.
It
is used extensively in Northumbria’s programmes for
undergraduate/pre-registration students, as well as for postgraduate/post
qualified medical, health and social care professionals as part of their
continuing professional development.
