Practice Experience 1 Introduction

Key Guidance for the use of the Practice Assessment Record Year 3

The new standards for Pre-registration Nursing require Mentors/Sign-off Mentors to plan practice learning experiences with students, especially those where the student works in a different environment from their Mentor/Sign-off Mentor, to support the achievement of the practice competencies.

It is the mentor/sign-off mentor's responsibility to ensure they meet the NMC requirements of mentor update and triennial review. It is the Supervisor's responsibility to ensure that they have had suitable preparation.

Hub Practice Experience

Each student must achieve all the competencies in the Professional Values domain by the end of practice experience 1.

Each student must achieve all competencies in all domains by the end of practice experience 2.

The Sign-off Mentor is responsible and accountable for making the final overall practice assessment decision by confirming that the student has successfully completed all practice requirements. This includes year 1 and year 2 competencies in addition to the final summative assessment for year 3.

Sign-off Mentors are required to have the equivalent of one hour a week of additional time to undertake the reflection feedback and record keeping associated with mentoring a student approaching registration.

Sign-off mentors must be on the same part of the NMC register that the student intends to enter.

If at any time a student requires additional support the mentor can agree learning opportunities on the student's developmental learning plan.

OR

If at any time a supervisor/mentor/sign-off mentor has concerns about a student's progression an action plan must be initiated and the Practice Education Facilitator (PEF) and appropriate Academic contacted at the earliest opportunity.

Spoke practice experiences

A spoke experience is defined as a period of 1-4 weeks and adds value to the learning experience. Each spoke Supervisor/Mentor is expected to provide comments which are considered as contributing evidence by the hub mentor towards the student's overall achievement of the practice competencies.

Short Visit experiences

A short visit experience is defined as a period of less than one week and adds value to the learning experience. Each short visit Supervisor's comments will contribute evidence towards the overall achievement of the practice competencies.

Guidance on using the competencies to assess the student

Each domain comprises of numbered competency statements in bold type, against which the student is assessed.

The bullet points in bold type form part of this competency statement and require assessment.

The bullet points not in bold are the Essential Skills Clusters (ESCs). These contribute to the supporting evidence of the student's achievement appropriate to the context of the learning environment.

Student guidance and responsibilities

It is a programme requirement that information about practice assessment is accessible from placement to placement; this is to assess fitness for practice (NMC Circular 33/2007). It is the student's responsibility:

• To provide all relevant practice documentation for discussion with all Supervisors/Mentors.
• To be proactive in arranging timely progression meetings, including preliminary, interim and final progress interviews.
• To actively engage in the construction of their developmental learning plan.
• To ensure PAR is fully completed in accordance with the deadlines as detailed in the module handbook assessment schedule.

Retrieval

In the event of a student not achieving the required competencies, the Mentor is responsible in collaboration with the Student, University and Practice support networks, to complete a collaborative action plan.

These statements describe the expected level of performance at each progression point.