Undergraduate students often seek voluntary placements in diagnostic laboratories in order to gain work experience to enhance their employment prospects. A combination of resource and legislation requirements limits the number of employers able to support such voluntary placements in the current climate. The Workplace Simulation Project is a summer course for second and final year undergraduates, which assists in the development of employment skills of those participating. The course is designed to include core elements of employment within the science and healthcare sectors, with generic aspects being common to all forms of employment.
The laboratory where the course is based possesses small workload clinical chemistry and haematology analysers. Those attending will follow the requirements of the workplace, such as attendance, punctuality and professional behaviour. They will gain skills in the maintenance and quality checks of equipment, running of equipment, laboratory health and safety, internal quality control and external quality assessment, results reporting and dealing with unexpected or problematic situations. In addition there will be an introduction to external accreditation services as a small service run by the laboratory is currently being assessed by UKAS and a document management system operates. Learning will be facilitated through instruction, performance, competency assessment and regular verbal feedback. On successful completion of the course students receive a final report and a certificate. Likert-scale analysis of the student experience has shown a favourable response to the course
