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Abstract
During the Health Visitor Implementation Plan (DH, 2011), health visiting teams were flooded with high numbers of health visitor students and, as a result, pre-registration student nurse placements for both health visitor and school nurse placements were reduced or temporarily suspended until its conclusion in 2015. Since then, pre-registration placements within health visiting and school nursing have been reactivated, and pre-registration students are once again able to join the clinical learning environment of specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN). The reintroduction of student nurses to some clinical areas and first-time introduction in others has generated questions from health visitors and school nurses about pre-registration nurses and their learning needs. This article aims to answer some of the queries we have encountered about developing the quality of the practice learning environment, so that student nurses' development is supported in accordance with the NMC Standards for pre-registration nursing education (NMC, 2010). This article may provide the opportunity for professional development, reflection and learning that can contribute towards revalidation.
Key words
Mentor, learning, pre-registration student nurses, SCPHN, SLAiP
INTRODUCTION
Following a gap during the completion of the Health Visitor Implementation Plan (DH, 2011) in 2015, most health visiting and school nursing services will now be experiencing the reintroduction of pre-registration nursing students to the clinical environment. Pre-registration students differ in their regulatory and learning requirements from those of specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN) students. Within our role of supporting mentors and students in practice, we have sought to resolve and answer queries that have arisen as practitioners seek to (re) acquaint themselves with the requirements for supporting pre-registration students on placements in SCPHN practice settings. This article seeks to share issues raised about the reintroduction of pre-registration student nurses by mentors, managers and students, during mentor forums and updates, student forums and from placement evaluations. Queries have primarily focused on how to interpret the standards to support learning and assessment in practice (SLAiP) (NMC, 2008) and how to meet students' learning needs with regards to assessing practice and supporting learning within SCPHN settings. For the purposes of this article, we will be referring to nursing students who are undertaking a pre-registration nursing programme at a higher education institution (HEI).
WHAT ARE SLAiP AND WHAT DOES...