Case Study – Supporting General Practice Nurses

Case study provided by Katie Edwards, Knowledge Manager, NHS Education for Scotland

Project outline:

The Knowledge Network platform is the national knowledge management platform for health and social care delivered by NES Knowledge Services. It provides high quality knowledge support for delivery of health and social care through access to journals, books, databases and point of care resources subscribed to by NHS Education for Scotland.

NES Knowledge Services have created a range of tailored support for a wide variety of health and care staff to help them get the most from The Knowledge Network and to find the information they need as quickly as possible. One of these projects involved working with National Coordinators for General Practice Nursing to create an online community to provide General Practice Nurses throughout Scotland easy access to the education and training from NHS Education for Scotland which supports your professional development.

It is hosted on The Knowledge Network and includes access to:

• Course information and materials
• Latest newsletters and updates for GPNs in Scotland
• Useful links to supporting materials and websites
• A Resource Library where documents can be easily uploaded and shared
• Discussion space on People Connect to ask questions connect with colleagues across the country

Communities of practice allow people to come together to share experiences, learn about a topic and to solve problems together. Knowledge Services offer the guidance needed to build and maintain the online space as well as advice to help users share information and good practice, promote events, connect with colleagues and build personal learning networks.

Knowledge Services continue to support promotion of the community through presenting regularly at GPN events, as well as providing guidance on using The Knowledge Network, and on finding, sharing and using knowledge to be included in programme handbooks and handbooks for new GPN students. The National Coordinators for General Practice Nursing at NES have been enthusiastic and supportive of this project and have ensured that the staff they are working with are aware of the benefits which the service can offer them. We aim to continue to foster a close working relationship with our colleagues at NES to provide whatever support they may need.

Quote from service user:

“The Knowledge Network hosts an incredible variety of resources for National Health Service Staff in Scotland. The General Practice Nursing Communities of Practice provides the only national resource platform available to all practice nurses across the health boards. It is brim-full of current advice; courses; presentations and links to learning as well as newsletters past and present. Log in and learn!”

Quote from staff member:

“This project allowed our team to work closely with colleagues at NES to better understand how we can support them. It has also given us many opportunities to speak with General Practice Nurses who will be using the resource and raise awareness of the other services available to them.”