22/2/23: NEW CONTENT COMING SOON!
Please note the content below is being reviewed and may be out of date.
Now that all nurses are required to revalidate to maintain their registration, library services have a role to play helping them locate evidence, record CPD activities, understand reflective writing and generally get through the revalidation process.
Several services have presented Revalidation and/or Reflective Writing workshops - presentations are linked below from BSUH, EKHUFT, ESHT
Nurses can demonstrate current awareness through use of Athens journals and resources, and UpToDate, Dynamed and ClinicalKey all provide the option of recording activity and generating a pdf certificate showing CPD hours and topics searched.
London Deanery provides a Reflective Writing Module, aimed at doctors but equally applicable to Nurses and other staff. The 20 page downloadable booklet covers the topic in (very clear) detail (also downloadable from below).
The NMC Code underpins the whole process, so it can be useful to have copies available when running a workshop.
It's worth noting that although nurses are encouraged to create a portfolio with their evidence of activity and reflective pieces, there is not a formal marking process - a colleague (typically another nurse, sister or departmental/ward manager) 'confirms' their submission, and it is an online process. The reflective pieces, sometimes seen as the most challenging part, can be as short as a couple of paragraphs, so a good part of our training workshops can be managing fear and trepidation as much as imparting literary or research skills.
Full details are available on the NMC Revalidation Site, with examples, resources and templates.
Nurses in acute hospitals are generally quite well supported by their education and training leads, whilst nurses from smaller groups - practice, district, community, mental health etc - may welcome this opportunity for support.
Also below, two examples of promotional leaflets.