Organizing education at a university hospital

The HUS Group management is responsible for education and research and for managing the relationships with the University of Helsinki and other educational institutions. The organization of the training of students with a university background is based on a framework agreement between HUS and the University of Helsinki, agreeing on the organization of medical and dental medicine, as well as, if applicable, psychology, logopedics, health care science and possibly teaching and research in other fields.

The Chief Medical Officer is responsible at the Group level for research, education and development as well as for university cooperation.

The Chief Nursing Executive is responsible at the Group level for the promotion of education and research in nursing science and for agreements made with educational institutions.

Research and education management coordinates and facilitates the education, theses and research for students and specializing professionals who have a university background.

The role of the director of a division is to lead and advance university-level health research and medical education and university collaboration in their department.

In the departments, the task of the Chief Nursing Officer is to ensure the training of the staff under their management and to monitor the development and research work of their employees, as well as to advance and develop research and teaching.

The person responsible for education and research (TOP) is responsible at the department level for preparing the financial plan for research and education and for the implementation of the research and education budget.

The task of the Chief Nursing Officer of a department is to ensure the training of the staff under their management, to oversee the development and research work of their employees, and to arrange for the practical training of students in the health care field and other similar fields.

Clinical teachers in nursing promote the activities in accordance with HUS’s strategic priorities for nursing and HUS values by developing clinical learning environments in accordance with HUS’s evidence-based work model and by conducting learning environment research. 

The tasks of a clinical teacher in nursing includes

• Guiding the traineeship of health care students and supporting the development of professional competences throughout the traineeship process
• Strengthening the study-guidance and professional skills of the nursing staff
• Evidence-based development of expert work, teaching and the health care field
• Working at the interface of health care and an education organization in order to achieve strategic goals
• Promoting professional excellence

Unit manager

The unit manager is always responsible for ensuring the quality of the learning environment for each unit. The manager is responsible for ensuring that the unit has a designated person in charge of study guidance, i.e. a student instructor. 

Student instructor

The goal of the manager, in consultation with the student instructor, is to create a positive atmosphere for study guidance in their unit and to allow the entire staff to participate in the guidance. The student instructor supports the persons providing study guidance throughout the student’s traineeship process.

The role of the Study guidance expert group (OPAS) is to develop learning environments based on research evidence, to strengthen instructors’ pedagogical capabilities, to promote the adoption of new training methods, and to promote the quality of the provided guidance in a multi-disciplinary manner. The OPAS group networks with various actors in education and study guidance in the HUS area and nationally, and works in accordance with HUS’s nursing strategy in cooperation with the nursing executive group in advancing student affairs. 

The national development network for study guidance (ValOpe) promotes and strengthens the quality of study guidance in social and health services systems and various learning environments. The aim is to nationally harmonize study guidance based on evidence and to share good practices. The purpose of Valope is also to foster cooperation between work life organizations and training organizations and other stakeholders.

The HUS multidisciplinary teaching panel is part of the development of the quality of the hospital’s teaching and study guidance. The members of the panel have access to HUS teaching activities through their own knowledge base and experience. 

The panel includes a student representative from each university of applied sciences in the Helsinki metropolitan area, the University of Helsinki Faculty of Medicine, a student in further vocational education and from two secondary education institutions. 

We collect feedback on the quality of study guidance at HUS systematically. Through feedback received from the study guidance quality survey, we are developing our clinical learning environments and the study guidance work provided in them. In addition, the quality survey responses will be used in the national peer review between the hospitals.

In addition to the development work, the responses to the HUS study guidance quality survey can be used in research for which appropriate HUS research permits have been granted.

The quality survey consists of questions to chart the student’s background and statements related to the learning environment, the role of the institution’s teacher in the training, the student’s relationship with the patient, and the learning during the traineeship.

The survey contains the following metrics for different student groups:

• Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision + Teacher -Scale © Saarikoski M. 2002, Saarikoski M. et al. 2008, Strandell-Laine C. 2019
• Oppiminen harjoittelussa -mittari © (Learning in Training indicator) National study guidance development network ValOpe 2021/Specializing professional’s section
• Student-Patient Relationship -Scale © Suikkala A. 2019
• Development of medical/dental competencies

You can find the feedback survey link on the Teaching front page. 

Apply for a data access permit for teaching to HUS registries in the Tutkijan työpöytä system, where you will also receive a decision on the granted permit. Appendix required for the application for a data access permit for teaching: