Simulation-based learning award for Alan

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.