Suitable Preparation Reminder

The 2018 standards for student supervision and assessment (SSSA) are very clear that the two roles of supervision, and assessment, should be independent of each other, therefore the initial interview should be wherever possible completed by a Practice Supervisor (PS) and act as a supervisory interview giving support and coaching to the learning needs of the student.

A student is not required to spend a set amount of time with a PS, they should spend their time with registered professionals and Healthcare Assistants as relevant to their required learning outcomes. Whilst Healthcare Assistants cannot sign students off for the required proficiencies, they should give testimonies where appropriate, denoting their qualification for the proficiency and the testimony should then be signed by a PS/PA.

Practice Assessment is separate and is conducted by a Practice Assessor (PA) utilising testimony from others and students’ reflection, together with question and answer within the mid and final interviews. It is the student’s responsibility to gather this information and provide proof of proficiency. It is the responsibility for the PS to inform the PA if there are any concerns with students during the placement.

The PA does not need to work directly with the student, other than to sign off medicines management and episodes of care. All other areas and proficiencies can be signed off using the methods as described above, utilising other evidence gathered. If the PA feels there is not enough information gathered to sign off the proficiency, they can request to work with the student for this skill or choose not to sign them off. Hopefully any deficits would have been picked up at the intermediate interview.

Students should be assessed against the definitions for each part and against Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes & Values for all learning objectives.

It is important to remember we are not preparing the students to be at a level of proficiency that we would expect from our own independent practitioners in Trust. Our aim is to prepare them to enter the nursing profession with the knowledge and skills they can then build upon to become independent practitioners of the future.

“These proficiencies will provide new graduates into the profession with the knowledge and skills they need at the point of registration which they will build upon as they gain experience in practice and fulfil their professional responsibility to continuously update their knowledge and skills.”

NMC 2018 Future Nurse: Standards of proficiency for registered nurses