Innovation
This innovation project set out to include service users in the recruitment and selection of children’s nursing students to the BSC and PGDip programmes with registration as a children’s nurse. Involving service users in pre-registration nursing curricula is a key NMC requirement. Standard 5 1.2 states that programme providers must clearly show how users and carers contribute to programme design and delivery (NMC 2010). The NSF for Children, Young People and Midwifery Services in standard 7 also sets out a requirement for the involvement of children and young people in the delivery of services to them. Historically it has been challenging to develop strategies for user involvement in children’s nursing that target the children and young people themselves rather than their parents or carers (Fletcher et al 2011). The project also addressed the role of the School of Nursing and Midwifery in widening participation and community engagement.
The plan for the project was to incorporate the views of children and young people into two aspects of the admissions process:
- The initial shortlisting of candidates.
- The refinement of a group task that candidates invited to a selection day are asked to undertake. This involves the planning of a party on a children’s ward.
The widening participation aspect of the project was to spend some of the allocated time with the children discussing health careers and university study.
Schools local to the University were approached and asked if they would like to participate in the project. This ensured that the children and young people involved were potential local applicants to the university and also users of the healthcare providers in which students were placed. Six focus groups were held in schools that involved children aged from 9 to 16 years. The focus groups were run jointly by academic and admissions staff and the format involved the children and young people identifying what the attributes of a children’s nurse should be and then commenting on the group task and identifying what they felt would be the ideal party plan.
The responses to the discussion at the focus groups have been analysed to identify common themes and these will be used to refine the shortlisting criteria used in particular when looking at personal statements and to refine the scoring sheet used for the group task undertaken at selection days.
The information gained from the children and young people has been very rich and insightful and has helped both admissions and academic staff to focus on what children and young people feel is important about those caring for them.
The widening participation aspect of the innovation was also very successful with the children and young people identifying very focused information that they required to make decisions about careers and university applications.
What prompted innovation?
The development of this innovation was prompted by the need to include actual service users of children’s services in the selection of the nurses who will be potentially caring for them. Often user involvement in children’s’ services is focused on parents and older children. This project enabled the participation of younger children and provided an opportunity for engagement with approximately 60 children and young people.
What makes innovation different?
What makes this idea different is that it focuses on selection of candidates and looks at attributes of candidates that children and young people themselves have identified. It also combines this with widening participation so exposing children and young people to the opportunities available within health related careers and to the idea of study at university.
Changes in practice
This innovation has resulted in:
- Refinement of the shortlisting criteria for potential candidates focusing on the language used in personal statements and the qualities and attributes that candidates identify in their personal statements. As this work is undertaken by admissions staff against set criteria this has been a very important change.
- Refinement of both the group task used at selection days and the scoring system used to assess candidate’s responses and behaviour during the group task. It is interesting to note that some things that candidates may discuss at length were not identified as being important by children and young people therefore this will help staff involved in selection days to be focused in their scoring.
Impact
Currently we have no evidence of impact on the selection of candidates as the refined criteria will be used for the 13/14 recruitment cycle. The response of the children, young people and the schools involved in the project has been overwhelmingly positive and has strengthened widening participation links in the local area. There has also been an impact on admissions staff who are not from the professional background of the academic staff. They have really valued the interaction with children and young people that the project has brought and they have stated that it will help in their shortlisting of candidates as they more fully understand what type of candidate we are seeking in children’s nursing.
Dissemination
This innovation will be implemented across the other fields of nursing within the School to ensure that the user voice is present in selection for these areas.