A new elearning tool has been launched to better support NHS clinicians in how to meet the diverse needs of all patients and families.

The new learning resource, entitled Cultural Competence, aims to support clinicians in the NHS to gain knowledge and understanding of the issues around culture and health; and how this might influence health care outcomes.

Funded by Health Education North Central East London (HENCEL) and developed from work initially undertaken as part of the Mary Seacole Awards, the new resource has been created to improve communication between patients and clinicians and enhance staff confidence in navigating and responding to the varied needs of their patients. Cultural competence supports the provision of quality and safe health services and this elearning tool aims to highlight the key issues relating to culture which may influence the uptake of health care and treatment options.

The resource, developed by Health Education England’s elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) programme, includes animation, interactive activities and opportunities for self-reflection and evaluation. The elearning programme covers three modules, the first two for all health professionals and the third specifically aimed at midwives. It was developed through exploratory and development work examining midwives’ knowledge, understanding and experiences of providing culturally sensitive care as well as the needs of black and minority ethnic service users’ and their experiences of maternity service provision.

For more information about Cultural Competence and to access the elearning visit http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/cultural-competence/

NHS Digital, in partnership with Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh), has developed an elearning programme on safety, risk management and risk mitigation.

The elearning resource is designed to support health and social care organisations and manufacturers of Health IT products with training in the principles of safety, risk management and risk mitigation, all within the context of Health IT by implementing the safety standards, SCCI 0129 and SCCI 0160.

The safety standards provide a framework that supports a systematic approach to clinical risk management during the development and use of Health IT systems. The standards establish the need for organisations to establish a clinical safety case to support the development and use of such systems.

The core course comprise seven sessions and one assessment session as follows:

• Session 1 – Introduction to Clinical Safety and Safety Standards
• Session 2 – Clinical Risk Management System
• Session 3 – Clinical Risk Management Process: Activities
• Session 4 – Clinical Risk Management Process: Deliverables
• Session 5 – Hazard Assessment
• Session 6 – Deployment, Use and Decommissioning
• Session 7 – Clinical Safety Incidents
• Session 8 – Assessment Module

In addition there are two ‘best practice guidelines’ sessions that are designed for health and social care organisations as follows:

• Session 1 – Telehealth
• Session 2 – Safety Critical Systems

The elearning is supplemented by a one day class-based course which will provide the knowledge and tools to support compliance with the safety standards and empower clinical safety officers to sign off and approve safety documentation.

For more information and to access the elearning programme for free click https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/clinical-risk-management-training

The author of a new MRI safety course, which has been developed in partnership with Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh), which could prevent injuries and save lives by reducing adverse incidents, is calling for volunteers to take part in a pilot of ‘Managing Patients Undergoing Anaesthesia in the MRI Unit’.

Barbara Nugent, a team leader at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh and a project lead for MRI safety at NHS Education for Scotland, has been actively trying to create a global database of MRI adverse events. The evidence compiled supports the need for introducing minimum levels of safety education to the MRI workforce. To satisfy this requirement some of this data has been used to reinforce the need for elearning modules for MRI staff at the frontline of MRI safety: including radiographers, radiologists, physicists and clinical scientists.

Developed in collaboration with Health Education England’s elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) programme and with the support of other professional bodies and organisations across the UK (SCoR, BAMRR, MRAG, IPEM (MRSIG), MHRA, BIR, RCR, HFS, AAGBI and ISMRM) the first module of the MRI safety course is now ready to be tested.

Once this first module has been evaluated, it is intended to be one of a suite of online MRI Safety Programme learning modules designed to share fundamental MRI safety knowledge while also developing professional expertise in the areas of:

• MRI safety hazards and risk management
• MRI safety guidelines and legislation
• MRI adverse incident management and reporting

For more information about the MRI Safety elearning session and to evaluate the pilot please click https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/mri-safety.

Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) has added the elfh Hub and its thousands of elearning sessions to the list of OpenAthens resources to make it easier for certain groups of the health and social care workforce to access elfh’s elearning.

HEE elfh works in partnership with the NHS and professional bodies to support patient care by providing elearning to educate and train the health and social care workforce.

HEE elfh’s programmes cover subjects from audiology to anaesthesia, dentistry to dermatology, electronic fetal monitoring to end of life care, primary care to prescribing, safeguarding children to statutory and mandatory training. All content is nationally quality-assured and available 24/7. The online training sessions enhance traditional learning, support existing teaching methods and provide a valuable reference point.

OpenAthens is a service that allows people to access a series of online resources free of charge with just a single OpenAthens account.

The OpenAthens eligibility criteria, which are managed by NICE, cover anyone working directly with NHS patients and anyone working directly on the development and/or delivery of training materials for either NHS staff or NHS patients within an organisation that provides NHS-commissioned care or commissions care for NHS patients in England. This includes charities, voluntary organisations, local authorities, arm’s length bodies and healthcare students.

For more detailed information on the eligibility criteria please visit: www.nice.org.uk/about/what-we-do/evidence-services/journals-and-databases/openathens/openathens-eligibility

To register for an OpenAthens account please visit: https://openathens.nice.org.uk/ or for more information about accessing elfh resources via OpenAthens visit: http://support.e-lfh.org.uk/get-started/openathens/

The elearning for Health Image Interpretation programme is currently developing Multiple Choice quizzes (MCQs) for specific modules.

Click the following link to access our full publication: Image Interpretation.

To access the elearning programme visit: http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/image-interpretation.