HSJ Awards 2010: Patient Safety

2009 Winner - London Deanery

“This is an outstanding area of work and so much more than a training tool,” said the judging panel of STeLI, the £13.5m simulation and technology-enhanced learning initiative workforce development project from the London Deanery and NHS London.

The capital’s postgraduate medical school has been using STeLI to promote patient safety and simulate real life challenges across London’s 32 acute trusts, 31 primary care trusts and all its mental health trusts since 2008.

Faced with limits to working hours posed by the European working time directive, the project introduced state of the art educational technology enabling high quality training.

This is achieved through computer controlled patient simulators, surgical and task based simulators and advanced behavioural and educational techniques.

All of the London Deanery’s 15 postgraduate schools are incorporating these learning opportunities into their training programmes. The initiative supports team based training across the professions in a number of high risk areas, including critical care.

Resources include 17 fully simulated clinical training environments allowing healthcare workers to develop crisis management, team work and leadership skills. Scenarios are explored without clinical risk while prioritising awareness of patient safety.

“It changes culture, improves teamwork and enables staff to finesse skills in a unique way,” said the judges. “It moves the steep part of the learning curve away from the patient and will help in reducing harm while improving quality, productivity and innovation.”

Sponsored by St Andrew’s Healthcare