Background: Digital solutions have the potential to radically transform education. Using virtual reality as a primary tool for leadership training can improve healthcare systems by broadening the experiences of healthcare leaders thus providing better outcomes, services and quality to patients across the EU. Virtual reality simulation offers educators the chance to provide students with experiential learning that would otherwise not be available to them. This project uses virtual reality to increase the leadership capabilities of future healthcare managers and policy makers using public health crises as the key theme of the training programme. Leadership education within healthcare is vital to healthcare systems. Health professionals are dealing with constant changes to both the systems they work in and the patients they serve. Equipping the health workforce with the skills to deal with this change is of pressing importance for educators, researchers and policy makers. And further to this, the interconnected nature of global society has highlighted that healthcare leaders increasingly face common challenges and require similar skillsets, creating an urgent need for transnational coordination of healthcare leadership which is currently severely lacking. Objectives: The project aims to facilitate the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes relevant to leadership and management in healthcare, incorporating human resource management, financial management, disaster management and quality processes. The project aims to encourage understanding of the impact of leadership and effective management on healthcare systems, and the positive change that it can have. For this reason, public health crises, with their numerous complexities, will be used as the key topic for the project´s virtual reality based educational toolkit. The project objectives are: • To develop a multifaceted toolkit to support healthcare educators teach leadership to healthcare professionals across Europe • To test and implement innovative virtual reality practices in healthcare leadership education • To develop a leadership curriculum that can be used for online, blended and distance teaching and learning • To develop a 'train the trainers' e-learning platform that supports teachers and trainers in adapting their leadership courses to online & distance learning • To test, evaluate and peer review the toolkit in multiple EU countries • To disseminate and exploit the project results for maximum impact Methodology and Preparation: This project will create an innovative and highly essential educational tool to increase the leadership skills of healthcare professionals when dealing with public health disaster events. The project builds on experience gained through a pilot event, CovSim2018, which provided the project with a case study overview of a cross-faculty interprofessional simulation experience which aimed to develop practice-ready graduates. CovSim2018 involved developing a series of six individual but interlinked simulation stations with a linear major incident narrative to help contextualize the learning outcomes. These simulations comprised immersive elements which used both novel, innovative technology as well as being underpinned by existing, evidenced pedagogical tools and structures. The pilot and project proposal benefited from detailed feedback from delegates of the European Conference of Health Workforce Education & Research (Athens, Greece, May 2018) as well as during a full demonstration held at the same conference in Dublin during January 2019. Partners: The project brings together a consortium of 6 partners in 4 countries who specialise in the key areas of leadership, public health and virtual reality technology. All partners have extensive experience in health workforce education and pedagogical change. Results and Impact: Overall, the project will develop a Leadership Academy toolkit that can be used through online/virtual, blended or face-to-face training and learning. Specifically, this toolkit will involve standard videos and presentations, virtual reality in the form of both realists 360 degree video and computer-generated environments, along with other associated training and learning resources. Additionally, a 'train the trainer' e-learning platform will enable educators to understand how best to incorporate the toolkit and other digital online technology into healthcare leadership teaching, training and learning. All resources will be fully tested and peer reviewed by two higher education institutes. The project is designed so that the toolkit has scope to be taken up by higher education organisations across the EU and beyond. The toolkit will be fully open access and free to use. The multifaceted nature of the learning tools will allow for the products to be adapted to educators' specific needs, thus enabling them to deliver high quality inclusive digital education on leadership in healthcare.
The aim of the project was to promote the development of leadership and management skills and attitudes that were relevant to healthcare. The project sought to achieve this by integrating several areas of expertise such as human resource management, financial management, disaster management, and quality processes. The focus of the project was to facilitate the understanding of the impact of leadership and effective management on healthcare systems, and the positive change it can bring. To accomplish this, the project used public health crises, with their multiple complexities, as the key topic for the virtual reality-based educational toolkit. The project goals included developing a multifaceted toolkit that supported healthcare educators in teaching leadership across Europe. The project tested, evaluated, and peer reviewed the toolkit in multiple EU countries.
The decision to apply for this project was driven by the belief that digital solutions have the potential to revolutionise healthcare education. Utilising virtual reality as the primary tool for leadership training is an innovative approach that can lead to improved healthcare systems across the EU. By exposing healthcare leaders to a broader range of experiences, we aimed to achieve better outcomes, services, and quality for patients. Through virtual reality simulations, we provided learners with the opportunity to engage in experiential learning that they otherwise wouldn't have access to. Our project focused on using virtual reality to enhance the leadership capabilities by using public health crises as the main theme of our training program. The importance of leadership education in healthcare cannot be overstated since healthcare professionals are dealing with constant changes in both the systems they work in and the patients they serve. Educators, researchers, and policy makers are acutely aware of the pressing need to equip the health workforce with the skills to adapt to these changes. By addressing these needs, we aimed to create a positive impact on healthcare systems in the EU.