VŠPJ responds to the current challenges of society such as the ageing population and the shortage of non-medical health personnel

The Polytechnic College Jihlava is preparing to increase the number of students in non-medical study programmes such as General Nursing and Midwifery in the next few years. This is in response to the growing social demand for non-medical health personnel, which according to available data is expected to decrease in the future. On the contrary, the number of those needed is expected to increase with increasing age.

Simulation room of the ICU of the Department of Health Studies of the S.P.H. Photo: VŠPJ

Providing adequate teaching infrastructure is also part of this plan. In line with the latest educational trends and increasing demands on the quality of teaching, the VŠPJ has built completely new simulation specialist classrooms, namely the intensive care unit classroom and the delivery room. "These practical classrooms are equipped with state-of-the-art hospital equipment and learners can try out real procedures on real devices, using a wide range of nursing, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, including the application of drugs and monitoring their effect in real time. The classrooms will thus help not only the students, but in the future also those doctors who want or need to improve their qualifications in various fields," says the Vice-Rector for Internal, External and Foreign Relations, Václav Báča, who is also a lecturer at the Department of Medical Studies at the University of Applied Sciences. The Jihlava Polytechnic University cooperates very closely with the Vysočina Region and the hospitals it establishes. Together, they create a living ecosystem of medical education depending on the changing needs of the region's population.

Simulation classroom of the delivery room of the Department of Health Studies, P.H.S.J. Photo: VŠPJ

The Polytechnic University of Jihlava also reflects the increasing demands for adequate staffing in the field of social work from health and social service providers across the Czech Republic. Therefore, it has accredited the follow-up Master's programme Social Work in Mental Health Care. "The programme has been developed on the basis of practice requirements and covers the needs arising from the reform of psychiatric care in the Czech Republic. The latter is faced with an extreme shortage of specialists in this field, especially in view of the current very unfavourable situation and the continuing trend of long-term increase in certain mental illnesses such as dementia, anxiety disorders, depression, addictions and others," says Markéta Dubnová, head of the Department of Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences. The content of the curriculum and the focus of the core courses are designed to expand the competencies and specific skills of existing social workers to perform social work in the field of mental health care and thus meet the needs of an aging society.

This article was written as part of the Czech Rectors' Conference (CRC) "Universities for Society" initiative.