Accessible new learning resource launched for multiprofessionals in early career stage
4th December 2023
Teenagers and Young Adults with Cancer (TYAC) and Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) have released the first in a series of eLearning units to aid the development of multiprofessionals in the early years of a career in children or teenage and young adult cancer services.
The full set of nine units form a foundation course called ‘An introduction to cancer in a child, teenager or young adult’, though they can be taken individually. The aim is to improve options and access to foundation level learning in a timely way, in a format where learners can choose their own schedule of learning.
Though the units don’t have university accreditation, they’ve been developed and reviewed by experts working in the specialty.
Jeanette Hawkins, Chief Nurse at CCLG, said:
"We’re excited to launch this new product which supplements work-based education and learning.
We know that access to such education may be variable around the UK, and that during the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the cancer workforce missed out on underpinning education, while clinical care and clinical training was prioritised, and that’s why resources that will help them catch up and reduce variability, like this, are so important."
Jeanette explained how the course, and its component units, aren’t completely new, but builds on a previous and well-utilised eLearning course called ‘Caring for a child or young person with cancer’.
She said: “We undertook a scheduled review of that course which included scoping the current needs for foundational level learning. Scoping informed this new eLearning and has been extended beyond children’s cancer care to teenage and young adult care, too.
“It’s also expanded beyond a nursing target audience, to include multiprofessionals due to identified gaps in these areas.”
Jeanette added: “Developing the content for this revised course has been an exciting and collaborative process working with 39 multiprofessional cancer experts from across CCLG’s expert membership.
“We’ve listened to what health and social care professionals feel they need to support their learning in cancer care, whether that’s in a new career as a junior nurse or an experienced physiotherapist rotating into an oncology service for the first time.”
Below is a list of the units to be released in the coming months, with the full set expected to be available by the end of spring 2024:
- Unit 1: An introduction to cancer in children, teenagers and young adults (TYA)
- Unit 2: An introduction to cancer services and the cancer multiprofessional team
- Unit 3: The diagnosis of childhood, teenage, or young adult cancers
- Unit 4: Cancer treatment modalities
- Unit 5: Treatment side effects and emergencies
- Unit 6: Holistic cancer care for children, teenagers and young adults and their families
- Unit 7: Nutrition in children, teenage and young adult cancer – what everyone needs to know
- Unit 8: The importance of physical activity in children, teenage and young adult cancer care
- Unit 9: Introduction to palliative and end-of-life care
To access the Learning Hub, you will be prompted to set up a user account. Once you have logged in, you will be able to browse the available content.
This project has been supported by joint funding from CCLG and Young Lives vs Cancer
