De Montfort University (DMU) and Student Nurses in General Practice

As part of training future nurses at DMU, we look for high quality placements to compliment theoretical learning. Practice Nursing is viewed as an area where nurses are highly skilled, autonomous workers. We believe that the qualities of this group would lend themselves well to the learning of student nurses. 

The information below has been collated for General Practices in order to gain an understanding of the pre-registration nursing degree course and considerations for their practice before agreeing to take nursing students.

The programme:

• The pre registration nursing programme is an all degree programme which is approved by the NMC 
• Students study a 3 year programme in one of the following fields of practice; adult, mental health, child or learning disability. 
• The programme consists of 50% theory and 50% practice
• The first year of the programme is focused on the fundamentals of care. This is built upon with further skills and experiences in year 2 and 3. 
• Student nurses have 3 placements in year 1 and two placements in year 2 and 3. These include community and in-patient settings.  
• The duration of each placement will be approximately 6 weeks in Year 1 and approximately 11 weeks in Year 2 and 3.

Placements in General Practice:

• Student nurses placed in general practice may be first, second or third year students
• To start, only one student nurse will be placed in any one general practice at any one time. However, there may be overlap between one student finishing and another student starting. The number of student nurses placed at any one time can be negotiated once experience has been gained.   
• The General Practice can expect to have between 3 – 5 student nurses per year. 
• The working hours are 40 hours per week. Within in this time, 5 hours per week must be allocated for reflection. 
• There are no study days allocated by DMU during the placement. 
• All student nurses are supernumerary throughout the placement working under the supervision of staff in the general practice. 
• The practice will assign student nurses a Practice Assessor who has been suitably prepared for the role. The practice will use other registered health professionals to be Practice Supervisors as per the NMC (2018) SSSA standards. DMU will assign an Academic Assessor to each student and there will be liaison as to progression of the student with this practice assessor. 
• The General Practice will provide appropriate professional development opportunities for the student nurse including access to multi-disciplinary learning. These opportunities will be discussed prior to the student nurse starting. 
• A partnership agreement between DMU and the General Practice will be entered into.  
• DMU will work with the General Practice to undertake a short educational audit against agreed criteria prior to student placement to assure the quality of the placement 
• Student’s evaluation of the placement will take place at DMU and fed back to the General Practice.
• DMU will hold initial practice specific discussions to ensure all relevant staff are aware of the process and documentation to be completed. 
• Appropriate public, employer and professional indemnity insurance needs to be in place. 

NMC SSSA standards:

• Support of the student nurse is via three roles; Practice Supervisors, Practice Assessor, and Academic Assessor. 
• The Practice Supervisors will be a registered health professional eg medic, paramedic, pharmacist, registered nurse, physiotherapist etc. They will support the nursing student day to day. 
• The Practice Assessor will be a Registered Nurse with a mentor/equivalent qualification and experience in their area of practice. They will assess the student at three points during their placement. They will complete documentation and liaise with the Practice Supervisors and Academic Assessor.
• Practice Assessors cannot, at the same time, act as the practice supervisor or academic assessor for a specific student.
• The Academic Assessor will be allocated by DMU. They will liaise with the Practice Assessor to assess the student nurse. The allocation form will include contact details of the student’s Academic Assessor
• DMU holds a database of all Practice Assessors in General Practice and it is the practice responsibility to update DMU with any changes. 

Assessment Documents:

• Practice Assessment Document (PAD): This contains the competencies to be achieved by the student. There is one PAD for each year of the programme.
• Ongoing Achievement Record (OAR Book): this is a summary of placements over the three years
• Clinical Skills Log
• Service user questionnaire
• Inter-professional working diary

Personal Tutors:

• Student nurses are allocated a personal tutor who provide pastoral support
• Practice Supervisors, Practice Assessors and Academic Assessors can liaise with the personal tutor if there are any issues or concerns.

Other support:

• Practice lecturers are available for supporting placements and can be contacted if you have an issue relating to practice. 

Funding:

• The General Practice will receive ‘tariff money’ for supporting a student nurse. This is to support the maintenance and enhancement of placement quality. 
• The tariff is approximately £83 per student per week (this is the same as an acute hospital Trust) It is paid in arrears.