NMC Boosts Student 'Hands On' Skills, UK

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 15 Feb 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Nursing students will have more varied opportunities to develop direct care skills, following the Nursing & Midwifery Council's (NMC) decision to promote simulated practice learning for better preparing students for practice.

The move comes after joint working between the NMC, the Council of Deans of Health and the Nurse Directors' Association, whereby a project involving more than 6000 students from 13 pilot sites from UK universities tested out principles for the safe and effective use of simulated practice learning using some of the time normally spent learning in the clinical area.

Read the Simulation and Practice Learning Project report

"We have tried and tested these principles in a range of settings and the results show that students have a much better experience during practice after first rehearsing their skills in a simulated environment," said Garth Long, NMC Education Adviser.

Paul Turner, Executive Officer for the Council of Deans of Health welcomed the new opportunities, he said,

"Simulated learning provides students with learning opportunities that are not available in the clinical setting. For example, teachers and mentors are able to 'freeze the frame' and feed back to the student straight away, which would not be possible in a real situation as the focus would be on the patient and not the student. Ultimately, students will feel more confident in approaching clinical situations and will be able to use time in practice more effectively."

Commenting on the initiative, Sarah Thewlis, NMC Chief Executive and Registrar said,

"Working in close partnership with the Council of Deans on this project is another way we can ensure students are fully equipped with the hands-on skills necessary to practise safely. Protection of the public is the NMC's first and foremost concern, and this development will help ensure students are fit to practise when they register with the NMC."

The latest development enables universities to use up to 300 hours previously set aside for learning with patients, to learn instead in a safe simulated practice learning environment, where mistakes can be made without risk of causing harm to patients.

Using simulation in this way will not be compulsory, but those universities who do choose to incorporate this into practice learning will be subject to NMC auditing requirements.

Notes

- The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) is the UK regulator for two professions, nursing and midwifery. The primary purpose of the NMC is protection of the public. It does this through maintaining a register of all nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses eligible to practise within the UK and by setting standards for their education, training and conduct. Currently the number of registrants exceeds 682,000. The Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 (The Order), sets out the NMC's role and responsibilities.

- The Council of Deans of Health has 87 member universities throughout the United Kingdom. It is the principal source in higher education of collective views on education and research for nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions. The Council works to maintain and enhance the quality of nursing and health profession education, and acts as a forum for the exchange of information and good practice.

- The report of the project, produced by Professor Donna Mead, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sport and Science at the University of Glamorgan, and Professor Maggie Nicol, Director of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and learning at City University, is available on the NMC website.

- The Nurse Directors Association (NDA) is an independent organisation with membership open to Nurse Leaders in health care organisations throughout the UK, including the NHS, Independent, Charitable, Voluntary and Commercial Sectors, Prison Health Care and the Armed Forces. NDA provides an independent view on nursing policy for senior nurses. It facilitates existing and future executive nurses to have the competence, credibility and authority to deliver excellence in care.

Nursing & Midwifery Council