International Journal of Healthcare Simulation

Background and aim:

Simulation based education (SBE) has been used to help attract school students into healthcare previously but commonly this is in a try it and see format using manikins to gain insight into history taking or physical examination. Also traditionally we tend to focus on more traditional healthcare professions such as nursing medicine and physiotherapy as common examples.

In our region we have been working closely with our national youth academy looking at novel ways to attract and recruit our young people into more difficult to fill roles within health and social care such as home care roles and healthcare support worker roles.

There are many good examples across the general workforce where simulation training can aid successful transition into the work place [1]. We are aware that certain areas of health and social care are more difficult to recruit to and wondered if values-based simulation could aid successful recruitment in this area?

Activity:

An immersive simulation session was designed based on 2 scenarios with space for reflection on who am I and what matters to me as a human. The first scenario was based on a reablement opportunity and focussed in on mutual goal setting giving space to express needs in the social care environment. The young learner was able to explore what skills they had and whether they were true to their own values. The second scenario was based in a hospital and looked at a health care support worker accompanying a patient to theatre. The school students had a chance to practice active listening and looking after a person who was anxious. It was amazing to see the skill set that the young people brought to both scenarios.

The session has been delivered in schools, colleges and a national event. There are plans to bring the immersive simulation session to recruitment fairs.

Findings:

The take home messages from the sessions have been in alignment with the individuals and social care core values reflecting compassion, motivational techniques and mutual goal setting. Comments such as ‘I am astonished that I could make a difference to that person’ and ‘I hadn’t thought about a career in social care before but now I know how rewarding it feels I’m considering it’ reflect these findings. We will also look at the effect on recruitment as we roll out and scale up the work.

Conclusion:

Immersive simulation respects the young person’s core values when enabling them to make meaningful and lasting choices about careers in health and social care.

Ethics statement:

Authors confirm that all relevant ethical standards for research conduct and dissemination have been met. The submitting author confirms that relevant ethical approval was granted, if applicable.