Preparation for placement learning

3 Preparation for placement learning




Introduction


You are now aware of what a medical ward is and how it works but what can you do in preparation for your medical ward placement? This chapter aims to give you some tips and preparation activities to ensure that you start your medical ward placement feeling confident and ready to learn. Remember that your practice learning opportunities make up 50% of your nurse training programme and you need to recognise the importance and value of this learning opportunity. You are an adult learner and there will be an expectation that you take personal responsibility for directing your own learning and making the best use of the learning opportunities available. You may worry that the medical ward may not be the right place for you to achieve the learning outcomes, however let us reassure you – care is always taken to place students in wards that allow them to meet their learning outcomes and placements are linked very closely to your curriculum.




Practicalities


First of all, when you find out the name of the ward and the location, the Website at your university will probably have placement profile information. This may contain information about the ward, who to contact, phone numbers, shift times and general advice. Do they advise any special preparation activities? It is important to contact the ward at least 2 weeks before your placement to ensure that you know when to start and, even better, if you can arrange to visit the ward before you start (Sharples 2009).


Once you find out the shift times, you need to think about the practicalities of getting to your placement on weekdays and weekends and for the inevitable early starts and late finishes. For example, what are the transport links like and is there parking available for students? You may care for someone at home such as a relative or a child and need to make arrangements for this while you are on placement. It is important to clarify what the expectations of you are regarding attendance in placement and you will find this information in your student handbook. In some universities you will be expected to work the shifts that the ward staff works, and in other placements this might be more flexible.


If you are a more senior student, you may need to work some night shifts or weekends to cover the expectations of your professional body for registration. Ward managers will need to know if you have any special off duty requests so that they can ensure you are allocated to an appropriate mentor who can work with you for the required amount of time to facilitate learning and assessment in practice. Even though you are supernumerary, nursing is fundamentally a practical job and you can only learn with hands-on practice and will need to be there for patient handover to ensure you are fully informed of the patient caseloads.


The university will probably have an identified lecturer who will link with your ward and it is important that you know how to contact this person and the times and dates that they visit the ward. It is also important to consider whether you have any learning needs that require discussion prior to your placement to enable the ward staff to support you appropriately. You will need to find out if there is a planned induction or welcome meeting that you need to attend and if there is a student notice board somewhere locally or centrally within the hospital. The ward will want to keep you safe while you are in your placement and you need to inform them of any adjustments or risk assessments that need to be carried out. For example, if you are pregnant you will be able to achieve your learning outcomes but will need a risk assessment outlining any adjustments required.


If this is your first placement, this is a good time to look through your learning outcomes and consider what your priorities might be and if you have any transferable skills that you can bring to the placement. If this is not your first placement, you should look at the feedback you received from your mentors in your last placement, focusing on areas of strength and areas for development, and consider what your learning objectives are for this ward.







Professional standards and behaviour


As a student nurse you will not only be expected to develop clinical skills but also a certain level of professional attitude and behaviour (Parker 2009). These attributes will be assessed as part of your course and your mentors in the clinical environment will play a key part in your assessment in this area.



It is expected that, as a student nurse, you will act in a professional manner at all times. This means not just within the clinical area but in public places as well. It is essential that people feel they can trust nurses, and any behaviour which may damage the respect and credibility of the profession in the eyes of the general public could be detrimental to how safe patients feel when they are admitted to hospital (Levett-Jones & Bourgeois 2009). This may sound daunting but there is plenty of guidance and support available to help you. This chapter aims to help you understand what is expected of you and how to use the support of your mentors in the clinical area to help you develop your professional behaviour.



Good health, good character and fitness to practise


The NMC sets out what they expect from student nurses in their Guidance on Professional Conduct for Nursing and Midwifery Students (NMC 2009). At the end of your nursing course your university is required to inform the NMC that you have not only met the educational and clinical requirements of your course but also that you are in good health and are of good character. It is essential that you read this and adhere to it, and discuss it with your mentor at the start of your placement learning experience.


What does good health mean? It means that you are capable of safe and effective practice without supervision. It does not mean the absence of any disability or health condition.


What does good character mean? It is based on your conduct, behaviour and attitude. It takes account of any convictions and cautions you may have that may bring the profession into disrepute.


Both of these elements are required for you to be deemed fit to practise and join the nursing register.



The areas of concern highlighted in Box 3.2 are also cited by the NMC as aspects of your personal life that may influence your ability to be judged as having good health and good character.




The NMC Code (2008a) in the UK is a set of strict standards that registered nurses must adhere to. The sooner you become familiar with these, the easier it will be to ensure that your practice and behaviour are meeting the standards required for registration. Other countries will have similar guidance and standards, so ensure you are familiar with the requirements of the country you are registering in.



Accountability


Accountability is a word you may hear your mentor and other registered nurses use. It is integral to nursing practice and, although the level of accountability expected of you as a student differs from that which will be expected of you as a registered nurse, it is important that you understand what it means to you and to your practice.


Accountability can be described as (Thompson et al 2006, p. 84):



Registered nurses are accountable in four ways:




Professional accountability


The NMC Code (2008a) states that:



Your mentors are accountable for passing or failing you – they need to be able to justify their decisions. At the heart of their decision will be patient safety. Patients have expectations of nurses – that we are registered, educated to a certain level, keep up to date and that we will not harm them. Patients do not expect us to know everything but they expect us to acknowledge when we cannot do something competently and to seek assistance and advice if we are ever unsure.


In our daily lives we have expectations of other registered practitioners. For example, if a gas fire is not working we would only employ someone who is a registered up-to-date gas fitter to come and fix it, as anyone else could harm us and our families.


So what should patients expect from a registered nurse? This is a good starting point:




The roles and responsibilities of those who can support you doing your medical practice placement



The mentor


During your practice placement, your learning outcomes will be assessed by a registered nurse who is a qualified mentor who has undertaken a specific course that is recognised by the NMC (NMC 2008b). The mentor who assesses you must be registered within the same field of practice as you and have attended a mentor update within the last year. The placement holds registers of mentors and their updates and is expected to be able to produce this evidence for the NMC. Each mentor also has a triennial review to ensure that they are meeting the NMC Standards and a record of this is kept by each placement. Your curriculum documentation will often have a section that requires the mentor to print and sign their name, year of registered mentor course and the last update they attended to ensure the validity of your assessments.


You are expected to work with your mentor for 40% of your placement time and this must be evident through the duty roster (NMC 2008b, 2011). Your mentor may work weekends, nights, 7.5-hour or 12.5-hour shifts and your allocated duties should follow this. Mentors will also have annual leave and study days themselves, so sometimes this will be difficult to achieve and you may be allocated more than one mentor. Sometimes a team of mentors will support you and this may also include co-mentors or associate mentors who have not undertaken the recognised mentor course but are expected to contribute to your learning (NMC 2008a). Associate or co-mentors are registered nurses who you will often work with and learn from, and they will often provide feedback on your performance to your main mentor. They may do this verbally or by writing in your record of achievement, for example in a mentor comment page. However, they will not be able to assess you until they have undertaken the recognised mentor course.

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Feb 25, 2017 | Posted by in NURSING | Comments Off on Preparation for placement learning

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