Ilkley (UK), April 2014 - In direct response to a National Patient Safety Agency patient-safety alert in 2010, highlighting a lack of sufficient training in the use of insulin, NHS Diabetes chose Virtual College to help improve the training of healthcare professionals. This resulted in the creation of a number of free online courses, The Insulin Safety Suite, that have helped to up-skill professionals such as doctors, nurses, and carers in the safe use of insulin.
Rod Knox, Virtual College’s Chief Executive commented, "The take up has been phenomenal and the results have been staggering. The model is built around Virtual College’s pioneering VOOC® (Vocational Open Online Courses) concept in which free bite-size courses are promoted to a targeted audience. A fast take up of this VOOC® was essential, so the ability to self-register for the courses was developed."
"The learners proceed through the course at a pace, place, and time to suit themselves and undertake an online e-assessment so that they can demonstrate good understanding of the patient-safety topic. Once the e-assessment is successfully passed, they are awarded their e-certificate. Learners can obtain CPD accreditation and are asked to complete impact evaluations, which are automatically triggered on a three and six-month timescale."
Rod stated, "We are really proud to have worked closely with NHS Diabetes to play a major part in helping to educate almost a quarter-of-a-million people in patient-safety issues, with around 10,000 new learners a month. I am sure that this action has helped to dramatically reduce errors. As a company we have always been a pioneer within the eLearning sector, and the application of our VOOC® model to patient safety has been a huge success."
In addition to the Patient Safety VOOC®, Virtual College has been working on developing its VOOC® concept further and are planning to launch a suite of ten Career VOOC®s by September 2014. These are specifically aimed at helping school children develop a better understanding of career opportunities in a number of key growth sectors.
The Career VOOC®s will provide them with guidance on the most appropriate skills and qualifications to support their career choice. Furthermore, Virtual College are planning to link this career guidance to real skill-development opportunities and job vacancies by networking with employers, training providers, awarding organisations, professional bodies, and sector skills councils.
Rod Knox proudly announced, "Virtual College is investing over £1M in its VOOC® model, and the Career VOOC® will bring career guidance into the 21st century, something that our digital natives need and I am sure will enjoy. We have already established strategic partnerships with the first two career VOOC®s, which will be piloted next month, but I am keen to hear from any organisations that would like to get involved in helping drive our other eight planned Career VOOC® topics."
