As the staff and students begin to trickle back to a ‘new normal’ way teaching and learning, I met with Beth Spencer, one of our Clinical Skills Support Co-ordinators to find out how setting up and breaking down sessions has changed as new COVID measures are introduced.
Beth explains that the biggest challenge is the decrease in the number of students able to practice skills at any one time. ‘We would regularly have 10 to 20 students per session but now we can only accommodate a maximum of 6 around any workstation’
Other changes include the following:
- All staff, students and visitors are asked to wash their hands upon entering the building and are encouraged to use the hand sanitisers located throughout.
- The doors all remain open to avoid touching the handles.
- The windows remain open to provide ventilation, however there is air conditioning units in all rooms which provide freshly circulate air from outside.
- All staff and students must wear PPE which is provided upon entering the room, this includes a disposable apron, gloves and face mask. All PPE equipment is disposed of and students wash their hands before leaving the room.
- Students only bring the equipment needed for the session, all other belongings are left in lockers.
- The surfaces and all equipment are fully sanitised before and after each session. Alongside Facilities Management staff who regularly clean the building throughout the day.
- The room is then aired for an hour after each session and before the next group of students are allowed in.
- To further help with social distancing, each floor of the building is on staggered start times so traffic on the corridors and in communal areas is kept to a minimum.
Watch as Beth demonstrates setting up equipment for day to day clinical skills sessions such as venepuncture, injection technique, cannulation and catheterisation in the clinical skills labs.