We are honoured to receive this recognition which highlights the impact of interdisciplinary collaboration and the success of team working to deliver a scalable and sustainable innovation in nursing education. The initiative addresses the ongoing challenges of placement capacity whilst enhancing learners clinical preparedness through immersive simulation. The integration of diverse simulation modalities enhances learner autonomy, clinical reasoning, and decision-making to prepare nursing students for the complex realities of modern healthcare practice.
Aby Mitchell, Senior Lecturer in Nursing Education
31 March 2025
King's educators win British Journal of Nursing Educator Nurse of the Year
Aby Mitchell and Behnam Jafari Salim won for their work on virtual placements.
On Friday 21 March 2025, the British Journal of Nursing held their 2025 Awards.
Aby Mitchell, Senior Lecturer in Nursing Education, and Behnam Jafari Salim, Digital Learning Specialist, won Educator Nurse of the Year for their work on virtual placements in the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care.
Placements are a vital part of nursing training, they help student nurses get practical experience in health and care environments. Expanding placement opportunities is a key national strategic priority, aligning with the government’s goal to significantly grow the nursing workforce by 2036. The Nursing and Midwifery Council revised its standards, allowing Higher Education Institutions to incorporate a portion of practice learning through simulated practice.
To expand placement capacity, Aby and Behnam have been working on a bespoke virtual placement. Their solution has delivered more than 10,000 hours of simulated practice learning to first- and second-year nursing students since its launch in July 2024.
The King’s simulated virtual placement provides students with a valuable opportunity to engage in digital health, offering a learning experience that mirrors the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. It enables students to develop key skills in telehealth, digital health and virtual care.
A student testimonial from a current Adult Nursing student says of the virtual placements, "They’re a really valuable balance of practical and theoretical experience. Lectures and seminars can only take you so far in such a practical profession, but there aren’t always opportunities for real-world practice, and when there are, they can sometimes be intimidating. The virtual placements help bridge this gap by providing an opportunity to apply my learning in realistic cases. I appreciate being able to experiment and make mistakes while having difficult conversations, managing workloads and creating plans and documentation. This makes me less likely to make the same errors in the future and improves my confidence that I can handle similar scenarios."
We are deeply honoured to receive this award, which celebrates the role of meaningful innovation in transforming nursing education. This initiative brings together AI, data, digital technology and pedagogy with the irreplaceable value of human connection to create scalable, high-impact experiential learning. It stays true to the essence of nursing—compassion, critical thinking, and care—while offering a flexible, standardised, and future-ready model that enriches learning across disciplines and beyond borders.
Behnam Jafari Salim, Digital Learning Specialist
In this story
Digital Learning Specialist
Senior Lecturer in Nursing Education