Nursing academics from King’s College London shared their expertise with nursing leaders from China at a specially designed continuing professional development (CPD) course in London in September.

Eighteen Head Nurses and Directors of Nursing from hospitals in China’s Shenzhen province came to King’s for the Nursing Leadership Programme, a custom-made CPD course which is helping to meet the demand to expand the clinical and management capabilities of nurses in Shenzhen city.

With the healthcare needs of populations becoming more complex, nurses are playing an essential role in transforming healthcare and health systems to provide holistic, high-quality care. Professional development courses in leadership are an important way of boosting the skills of qualified nurses, empowering them to take the lead, and ensure nurses voices are heard in informing and designing health services delivery, decision making and policy development.

The Nursing Leadership Programme was designed and delivered by academics in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care, which runs an established programme of CPD courses for healthcare professionals in the UK and abroad. The Faculty worked with the Shenzhen Nursing Association to create a programme tailor-made to meet the nursing leadership needs of the region.

The course provided the group with a detailed understanding of the context of nursing and how care is organised in the UK. Using key areas of nursing practice, the course also took an in-depth look at holistic, mind and body care. This drew on the expertise from within the Faculty in areas of child and family centred care, care of the elderly and end of life care, mental health, and midwifery. Visits to clinical services showed attendees how research, education and practice are brought together to provide quality holistic care for patients.

Over the course of the two-week course, attendees had the opportunity to take part in a community nursing simulation session and visit clinical services local to King’s. This included services at our partner NHS Foundation Trusts of Guy’s & St Thomas’ and South London and Maudsley, as well as the Royal Trinity Hospice and the Dementia care unit at Nightingale Hammerson residential care home.

This collaboration is the latest between King’s and healthcare organisations in Shenzhen. Other initiatives include working towards establishing a joint medical school in Shenzhen with the Southern University of Science & Technology (SUSTech).