Hi readers and welcome to the September blog!

What a month August has been!

Successfully connecting with other innovators and suppliers of tech, it’s been a whirlwind!

I’ve been working on a scope of works document for the project’s Oversight & Governance Board which explains what the testing is hopefully going to prove; its about why we’re testing out these new digital tools, how we can use them in real deliverable learning sessions and how much it would cost us to adopt these as the status quo.

One particular issue that this document has highlighted is that fact that the training requirements for each role within Primary Care isn’t mapped or listed, it isn’t recorded or maintained. Luckily, we have The Primary Care School and HEE colleagues who have also recognised the need for it to be compiled so are commissioning this piece of work. Without knowing what is required and subsequently what is out there in terms of provision, how do we understand what gaps there are? Also, how do we know what ‘good’ looks like and what we need to aspire to? Ultimately, we are on a voyage of discovery right now!

This voyage though has led me to speak with others who are doing something similar. Some are working on smaller scale projects, concentrating on one single piece of kit or online content, some are creating scenarios in simulation for Primary Care teams to train and learn together by following simulation directions they act out what they would do in ‘real life.’

Still, I’ve not met anyone doing what we’re trying to do on this sort of scale. While there is so much activity on different levels and scale it would be foolish not to learn from one another. With that in mind and with the help of Elaine our communications lead and Dom Patterson the Primary Care Lead for Technology Enhanced Learning Team at HEE, we are launching a Twitter campaign!

Look to see how you can join a forum for Primary Care professionals to share ideas, pitfalls, failures, successes and suppliers whilst gaining the insight direct from the TEL team leads!

We’re almost finished with our 360VR Virtual Treatment Room!

With the help of a local company called UI3D we have recreated a treatment room, nurse’s consultation room, reception area and clinical corridor in navigable 3D. At the moment we are adding descriptive annotation and links to further reading on around 20 points of interest within the environment. Items like the vaccine fridge, sharps bin, waste bins, hand wash station and couch will each have its own information about it and links to the important guidance you’d need to know as a practice nurse.

I’ve shown this to some of our well known, established nurses who have expressed their excitement and thoughts on how this can be used so I’m taking every comment and suggestion I can to make this incredible. I have plans to test this with undergraduate nursing students, perhaps the VTS and nursing associates whilst also looking at schools’ engagement through SYREC. I hope that using a tool like this can not only engage people who are about the embark upon their careers enough to come to Primary Care but to also try and relieve anxieties for students before they take on a placement.

More exciting things have been happening with avatars! I’ve been turned into one!

My next blog will actually be a vlog! I’ve recorded an interview where I explain why we’ve selected certain pieces of content, or online tool. I’ll explain what we’re hoping to achieve and what we believe is the right direction and what will be the right thing to do for the future of Primary Care.

In the process and to illustrate the effectiveness and potential realism of an avatar, I’ve been turned into one! On the video “Liz 2” will be placed in the room with us, she’ll move around and listen showing what is possible with a few simple tools and techniques. I hope that you’ll tune in for that one!

Below is the start of that process. An in-detail scan of my head and facial features. A recording of my face as I speak so it can be tracked and mapped against the digital 3D image… then, brought to life.