supporting nursing and midwifery students with dyslexia on clinical placements
TRANSCRIPT
Supporting nursing and midwifery students with dyslexia
on clinical placements
Location
Nursing and Midwifery
Burton 141
Sandwell: 154
Wolverhampton 149
Dudley 168
Walsall 162
Social Work
Approx 50 placements
Length of placement
Nursing and Midwifery
• Equal value 50/50• Midwifery – up to 60/40• Nursing up to 300 hrs
simulation
Social Work• 200 days
– Yr 1 30 days
– Yr 2 70 days UG
– Yr 3 100 days
– Yr 1 80 days PG
– Yr 2 120 days
Key Drivers
• Concerns about managing failing students
• Suitability Panel Remit
• Legislation
• Local Research
“Dyslexia” is• “A specific learning difficulty which mainly affects the
development of literacy and language related skills”• “Likely to be present at birth and lifelong in its effects”• Information processing difficulties: working memory,
phonological processing, processing speed, automatic skills development.
• Often resistant to conventional teaching methods, “but its effects can be mitigated by appropriately specific intervention”.
(Ref: British Dyslexia Association www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/faqs.html [accessed 07/03/11].
Study Aims: opening phase
To identify • -the main challenges to dyslexic student nurses in
achieving the professional standards of competence relating to record keeping
• - how they can best be supported in the development of these skills
• -what interventions that would be most acceptable and effective
• -who should be involved in this process• -where it should take place
Gaining perspectives and ideas
Student nurses with dyslexia
10 individual semi-structured interviews
• Midwifery: 2• Mental Health:2• Adult: 6• Poster adverts / tutoring
system
Placement mentors
Focus Group interviews• Acute Hospital (4)• PCT • 2/6 have dyslexia• PPMs as co-facilitators
Students: perceived strengths
• Practical tasks (8/10)
• Communicating with patients; putting at ease, extracting information, listening, people reading (10/10)
Disclosure
Students
• 5 reported told all mentors irrespective of anticipated response
• 5 disclosed selectively• General response: +ve• A few less helpful
responses and actions
“Oh, but you have such a pretty face”
Mentors
• Highest number of mentees with dyslexia reported by the 2 mentors with dyslexia
• All believed had mentored several students with dyslexia who had not disclosed
• Belief : willingness to disclose related to life stage
Key difficulties identified by students• Knowing what to write and where to write it• Visual stress: clinical forms• Identifying key information and prioritising order• Learning and using professional terminology / phrasing in different
areas• Recording handover information• Admission forms: multitasking involved• Interruptions• Retaining information until time to document this• Correct spellings • Identifying “goalposts”
Key difficulties identified by mentors• Varied with area and nature of clinical documentation
used• Learning of correct spellings of drug names and medical
conditions• Longer to complete records• Handovers: speed and accuracy issues• Identification, selection ad ordering of relevant information• Short-term memory issues• Sentence structuring
Intervention proposals
• Notion of a blank sheet
• Consider where interventions should take place
• What these should consist of
• Who should be involved
• Ideas raised for both university and placement settings
University based: students
• Clinical record writing introduction early in 1st year• Clarity on standards required: examples• Introduction to common documents• Generic skills development: e.g. writing succinctly, spelling
strategies, identifying and documenting key information from scenarios, mock handovers
• Open to all, not just those with dyslexia
University based: mentors
• Provision of a mentor awareness sheet.
• Advance notice of students’ additional support needs to allow time for preparation and consultation.
Students: placement setting
• Lists of common terminology, key phrases, correct spellings
• Document templates for each area and useful phrases for each section
• Opportunity for repetition• More time for completing records• Better dyslexia awareness among mentors• Provision of an awareness sheet to give out
voluntarily
Mentors: placement setting
• A “specialist” mentor in every work area as a point of reference / adviser for other mentors in the area and students experiencing difficulties.
• Dyslexia awareness and support training for all mentors.
Actions so far to encourage disclosurePlacement Awareness Sheet
• Baseline list of reasonable adjustments
• Option of adding further adjustments
• Fluid throughout course
• Decision to pass to placement mentor lies with the student.
Actions so far to encourage disclosureCAPD booklet statement to
• encourage disclosure• make reasonable adjustments• share placement awareness sheet
Actions so far to encourage disclosure
Handbook to enhance support for students with dyslexia
• Tips for students
• Tips for mentors
• General information
• Signposts additional support
Dyslexia Champions Training Day
• Open initially to practice placement managers / supervisors
• Positive attributes of dyslexia• Locating dyslexia in neurodiversity arena• Information processing differences• Strategies to enhance reading speed accuracy and
confidence• Strategies to aid clinical record writing• Dyslexia simulations• Posters to identify “Dyslexia Champions” in work areas
Actions in the pipeline
• Evaluation of Dyslexia Champions training
• Posters to advertise Dyslexia champions
• Follow up meetings
• Generic skills development
• Monitoring student disclosure through our ‘Suitability Panel’