Students

Students are our future. In order to maintain an adequate workforce for the future, there are many more students accessing healthcare programmes all the year round than ever before. In the North West the number of students enrolling on pre-registration nursing programmes was 7510 in 1995/6. By 2002 this figure had risen to 16,270 and in 2004. This trend is set to continue as 25per cent of the workforce is due to retire and you will be asked to mentor even more students.

All students, before entering their placements, are prepared in campus-based sessions. Preparation includes factors relating to skills, health and safety, ethics, reflective practice, and professionalism. The students learning experiences are designed to ensure that the prospective client is central in the learning process. This is reflected in module specifications and teaching materials. Each pre-Registration and undergraduate programme has learning outcomes which relate to inter-professional working and other care settings. In order to facilitate the necessary student learning experiences you will need to know the rules and regulations regarding their allocations to placements in practice. You need to know what information they are given but also what is required of you as a mentor. A programme of clinical skills is integrated throughout the diploma and undergraduate pre-Registration programme and it is important for their practice that you understand when the students have accessed certain topic areas. Here you will find out all the information you need about student guidelines, protocols and policies from the Higher Education Institutions. You can download items for your resource file and can see at a glance what is expected of the student on placement. Find a copy of the student handbook or the induction booklet given to students on day one. You can check out what "Spectrum" is and you can see the teaching programmes for students running in the PCT on a rolling programme. A flexible approach is taken on placement, where possible, to maximise learning for students who have particular needs, by negotiating flexible hours, although legally students work an agreed number of hours.

What can students do and what can't they do?
All your answers are here - check it out.