Plymouth nursing students praised for patient engagement

Nursing students at Plymouth University have been praised by Health Education England (HEE) for their pioneering methods of encouraging wider patient engagement with health services.

Students have been working alongside patient representation organisations and have been using social media to engage with patient groups who can be difficult to reach.

The innovations have been included in an education framework at the university.

HEE senior policy nurse Ruth Auton, who visited the university looking for positive examples of nursing education, highlighted the students' engagement with patients.

The students worked with the Patients Association and Patient Opinion and have been raising awareness of vaccination programmes. 

The tag @PUNC14 (Plymouth University Nursing Cohort 2014) was used on Twitter so that students could receive feedback from online patient forums. 

Megan Betts, a third-year adult nursing degree student, who presented her work to HEE, took part in a pilot project at a local GP surgery.

She helped promote health services for young people in the community through social media, blogging and leaflets. She also designed a poster advertising healthcare services which was printed in local magazines and newspapers.

‘This has given me a much broader experience, developed confidence and interpersonal skills, and I am learning a lot from enhancing patient engagement,’ she said.