Completing the Circle

The NET2013 conference for heath professionals from across the world was a fitting event at which I was able to talk about for the first time, the recently announced acquisition of a majority share holding in this company by the VIA partnership.

At the conference it was clear that there was substantial interest in the presentation of the e-AoPP e-portfolio we have developed with Southampton University, for the assessment of nurses, midwives and other health care professionals when they are on placement. This interest was generated by the early results from the roll out of the system which indicates that users are finding it easy to use and difficulties accessing the system have been overstated not least because of the range of devices being used to access it. The quality of assessments are being enhanced because practice educators have more time to reflect on their judgements and tutors are alerted when target dates in the placement are not being met.

The e-AoPP also has an innovative way of capturing feedback from other professionals and patients. They are invited by student nurse/midwife to make a comment by e-mail and this is then seamlessly added to the correct section in the portfolio.

The delivery of the project comes at a time when there is a national interest in creating records of competence and linking these to the introduction of national standards. There has been an announcement from the Nursing and Midwifery Council today, confirming that nurses and midwives will be required to gather and submit their evidence of their professional development online.

As a result we find ourselves back at the place where the company first started, which is to be engaged with a project that has the potential to make a significant impact on the care delivered by nurses and midwives.

Over 10 years ago we were contracted to deliver what became recognised then, as the largest e-portfolio project in the world, which was the Learning Zone created for the Royal College of Nursing. It was a visionary project designed to enable nurses to meet their regulatory requirement. For various external and internal reasons its impact was not as great as first hoped. Being involved in the work with Southampton and seeing its potential has brought us back to what has often felt like unfinished business.

At the time we created the Learning Zone we had access to the resources of our then parent company Axia Netmedia Corporation. It is therefore fitting, as we stand on the brink of developing similar work, we have again formed a partnership with a larger company and we now finally have the opportunity to close the circle.