Partners of the Erasmus Plus Clinical simulation practice-based learning in nursing (CLINICALSIM) project have had their first meeting to share the objectives of the project and to establish collaborative work tools.
The project, led by the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (European University of the Atlantic, UNEATLANTICO), involves several Angolan institutions: the Universidade José Eduardo dos Santos (José Eduardo dos Santos University, UJES), the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (International University of Cuanza, UNIC), and the Ordem dos Enfermeiros de Angola (Nurse Association of Angola, ORDENFA). The Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre (Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, IPP) of Portugal is also a partner in the project. The Iberoamerican University Foundation (FUNIBER) and the Universidad de Valladolid (University of Valladolid, UVa) in Spain, as well as Jan Kochanowski University (UJK) of Poland will collaborate as associated partners.
CLINICALSIM is a capacity building project targeting higher education institutions in Angola with the objective of improving the practical training of nursing professionals.
The project is aimed especially at nursing students and university professors, clinical simulation confederates, counselors and managers of higher education in healthcare sciences, healthcare policy makers/public administrations/nursing associations, and the general public (as potential patients).
Angola’s healthcare problems are related to the high maternal and infant mortality rate, the high incidence of infectious and parasitic diseases, respiratory and diarrheal diseases, child malnutrition, malaria, and HIV. Primary care continues to be the main problem of the national healthcare system, while the lack of human and technical health resources is relevant.
Nursing professionals are the main focus of healthcare challenges because they are at the center of the healthcare system in Angola and contribute -alone- to remedy the aforementioned diseases, taking into account the absence of physicians. Thus, nurses are in great demand as healthcare professionals, while their practical skills are very difficult to acquire.
In light of the circumstances listed above, the consortium considers it relevant to improve the training processes of these professionals, filling the gap in practical skills (decision-making, interpersonal/coaching skills, human nutrition) and, at the same time, promoting the social commitment of higher education institutions.
In this sense, simulation suites and multimedia digital tools will be used to deploy experiential learning and promote Community Service/Service-Learning in universities.
Experiential learning will take place in three different scenarios: simulation rooms, digital multimedia, and real patients. A reflective practice methodology with a debriefing process will be followed.
In the context of Service-Learning, the social objective of this approach is also introduced by considering people with socioeconomic obstacles and health problems and the promotion of better nutrition habits.
The kick-off meeting of the project will be held in February at the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (UNIC), coinciding with the inauguration of a simulation center at the university. In addition, Dr. Francisco Rodríguez Martín, an expert in emergency medicine from the University of Valladolid, who has collaborated in the acquisition of a simulation dummy to be used at UNIC for this project, is scheduled to visit the center.
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