Quality Assurance

Without assured quality of experience in learning environments, healthcare students could not be expected to progress. Delivery of education in practice to healthcare students is under constant scrutiny to ensure that delivery meets the very rigorous standards demanded by the educational partners and the Regulatory Bodies. Quality assurance of healthcare education needs to be constantly effective and meaningful to the students that access these areas. A shared quality assurance system will integrate the common elements of fitness for purpose, fitness for award and fitness for practice. Regular assessment and robust audit of practice placements are an integral part of ensuring that the needs of students are met and that the learning that takes place is sound and appropriate. Quality is determined by the evidence provided by staff in practice placements to demonstrate that the area meets the required standards. Verification of this evidence is the responsibility held by the Higher Education Institutions. This evidence is updated annually with a monitoring form but a full verification - with visits to practice areas by academic staff - takes place every 3 years.

Discover here what the standards for practice placement are and how rigorous the process of providing the evidence is. What examples of good practice can you use, and what can't you use? The information to help you succeed is here and you will also find examples of the sort of evidence needed along with ideas you may not have thought of before.

Learn about the Major Review process currently in progress by the Department of Health, and the sorts of questions mentors may be asked when the Review Team visit. Be in at the beginning of the developments of Ongoing Quality Monitoring Enhancement (OQME) and what it means to you and your placement area. As OQME is introduced, you will see changes in the way that self evidence is gathered, as learning environments are assessed as appropriate placements for any healthcare student, regardless of profession. Therefore placements will only be audited once but evidence will be gathered on an ongoing basis and used by all the Higher Education Institutions utilising that area.

In fact, everything of importance relating to quality in practice placements may be found here.