Tuesday 17 October sees the launch of the VOICE toolkit, designed to improve the use of simulated patients in training healthcare professionals. Simulated patients, where actors take the role pf patients, are widely used in healthcare training, but have been criticised for their lack of authenticity. However, alternative methods do not incorporate aspects that trainees report finding particularly useful, particularly the need to think on your feet, in real time, with a real person in front of you.
VOICE (VideOing to Improve Communication Education) offers a different method for training simulated patients, grounded in patients' real interactional practices as observed from video data. The toolkit has been developed using ESRC Impact Accelerator Funding, led by Professor Alison Pilnick, based on research funded by NIHR and led by Professor Rowan Harwood. It is free to download (PDF) subject to the completion of a feedback form (Word).
The launch is part of the 'VOICEs in dementia' conference being held at the Institute for Mental Health, University of Nottingham, to mark the end of the NIHR project to improve communication in acute dementia care. NIHR funding has seen the successful implementation of the VOICE process in dementia care, led by Becca O'Brien.
Posted on Monday 16th October 2017