Access to Schwartz Rounds in Higher Education Institutions to be extended in the South of England
24 March 2022
The University of Surrey has received funding to increase access to Schwartz Rounds for Higher Education Institution students across the South of England.
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A new project – ‘Schwartz South’ – has recently received funding to increase access to Schwartz Rounds for Higher Education Institution (HEI) students and newly qualified healthcare staff across the South of England.
Schwartz Rounds in HEIs are structured forums, led by trained facilitators, where healthcare students can come together regularly to discuss the emotional, social and ethical aspects of working in healthcare.
The School of Health Sciences at the University of Surrey began running Schwartz Rounds for their students in 2018. Building on a national evaluation of Rounds in the NHS, the University of Surrey recently secured funding to extend access to Schwartz Rounds to other HEIs in the South of England, in addition to offering them to newly qualified healthcare staff.
This funding will allow the University of Surrey to provide Schwartz Rounds expertise, consultation and ongoing mentoring support for each HEI recruited into the scheme.
Surrey’s co-lead, Professor Jill Maben (Professor of Health Services Research and Nursing at the University of Surrey) said:
…Our national evaluation of Rounds showed improvements to the psychological wellbeing of practitioners who attended Schwartz Rounds and our students report greater connection and feeling less alone, gaining important peer support from Rounds attendance. We are delighted to have received this funding to allow us to share our expertise and spread Schwartz Rounds across the South of England.”
The University of Liverpool has been running a similar project, ‘Schwartz North’, since 2019 and has successfully supported nine other HEIs in the North of England to run interprofessional Schwartz Rounds for healthcare students.
Our Chief Executive Bev Fitsimmons, said:
“Since we brought Schwartz Rounds to the UK and Ireland in 2009, we have seen them spread to over 250 health and care organisations. We are keen to attract higher education institutions to establish Schwartz Rounds for their students, as we believe that early engagement with Rounds can bring benefit to people throughout their careers, support students’ wellbeing and enhance their experience at university, and encourage interprofessional understanding. We’re delighted that the Schwartz South project is expanding access to Schwartz Rounds to more students of health and care professions.”
It is anticipated there will be up to seven new sites offering Schwartz Rounds across the region, and Rounds will continue to develop and grow in Health Sciences and across the University of Surrey.
The Schwartz South project was launched on 22 March 2022 with a presentation at the Schwartz North conference in Liverpool.
For further information about Schwartz Rounds in Higher Education Institutions, visit: https://www.pointofcarefoundation.org.uk/our-programmes/staff-experience/schwartz-rounds-in-higher-education/