A quick video guide to the new NMC standards

A guide to the new NMC standards for nurses. How they affect pre-registration standards and what the new roles of practice advisors / supervisors and practice assessors mean.

Topics covered in this video

0.00 Introduction

0.33 Pre-registration standards - what's unchanged

1.52 Pre-registration standards - what's new

2.28 Why has the NMC changed its standards?

3.05 The new mentorship: practice supervisors and practice assessors

3.50 What is a nursing practice advisor / practice supervisor?

4.20 What is a nursing practice assessor?

5.00 Practice education

6.07 Possible change to amount of time spent with your mentor / supervisor

7.00 Conclusion

0.00 Introduction

Hello and welcome back to another vlog. So my name is Claire Carmichael, and I have just qualified as a newly qualified nurse. I am currently waiting my PIN, so I'm not an official nurse yet. But once that comes through I'll be official.

So today I'm going to talk to you all about the new NMC standards, what they are, what it means, what's been added made simple, easy to understand so that you get it.

0.33 Pre-registration standards - what's unchanged

The first part I'm going to talk about is all about students and pre-registration standards. Then the second half of this will be all about the practice supervisor role, which is the new mentorship role.

[Ed. Chloe published a video this week about mentorship - Advice from a qualified nurse mentor to student nurses.]

Let's get started with students.

Firstly, all students must successfully complete an NMC registered course at a university, which will be your nursing degree that you're on at the minute or looking at going on. That is the first requirement.

The second one is you have to follow the NMC code [a new window will open where you'll be taken to the NMC's website so you can download the PDF] to the T.

Make sure you follow this code no matter what in everything you do out there, because these things are put in place because you are dealing with real-life people, real-life emergencies sometimes.

Patients are literally ... Their lives are in your hands. So you have to be registered, you have to be regulated in a way that is safe for you to go out there and practice as a nurse, and save lives instead of making a negative impact on someone's life. That's why these things are put into place.

The main things that are kept the same is nursing is still 50% theory, 50% practical. In total, you do 4,600 hours. Half of that, 2,300 hours, is at university and 2,300 hours is out there physically doing the work in practice, wherever you're placed.

1.52 Pre-registration standards - what's new

Some of the new things that are being put in place in the new standards is that student nurses will now learn to do venipuncture bloods.

They will be able to do IVs, they'll be able to do cannulation, and they will be able to do an element of prescribing as well.

It's all amazing, I think.

These are skills you weren't previously allowed to do as a student nurse, but now they are rolling it in.

These new changes from the NMC standards, they are all officially rolled out as of January. All of the nursing degree courses should have implemented the new standards by September 2020. So have a look, ask your universities what standards they go under and what changes they've made, and look into each university yourself to find out more.

2.28 Why has the NMC changed its standards?

I personally think that this is an amazing thing. I love that the new standards have changed and things are slowly changing because time has changed, things have changed, population is growing.

The demands on nurses is growing. We need to be upskilled so that we can meet those demands basically. I think it's a great thing to put in place.

You might not think so, but I think it's amazing, and it's always nice to learn a new skill.

3.05 The new mentorship: practice supervisors and practice assessors

Now the second part of this vlog is all about practice supervisors and practice assessors. What it all means, what is the new mentorship, and all of that jazz, I'm going to tell you now.

Again, patients' needs have changed. This whole world of nursing has changed, and we have to change with it. Student nurses have to change with it. Education and standards have to change. It's just the way it is and it has to be that way.

So they have now erased the mentorship course. They've erased the term "mentorship". Now instead of being a mentor, you are going to be a practice supervisor, and everyone that qualifies with the nursing degree will have the practice supervisor rolled out into that, so that when you qualify, you will also be a practice supervisor.

3.50 What is a nursing practice advisor / practice supervisor?

Basically the practice supervisor is the person that coaches nursing students, teaches students, becomes that role model for a student, is making sure that they're doing things right, getting the book signed off, all of that sort of thing.

Now what is a practice advisor?

I have ... This is my certificate because we did it on our final day at university. I'm now a practice supervisor ready to have a student.

I'm excited about that. Some people might not be, but I am all for having students. I can't wait.

4.20 What is a nursing practice assessor?

As a practice supervisor, I can do all of that, but I am not a sign-off mentor. So to do that, you have to be a practice assessor. It's a different type of training and experience that you have to undertake to be a practice assessor.

But once you've done that, you can sign off students to say, "Okay, you've finished. You're done. Carry on," sort of thing.

Just as being as a supervisor, I can do all the teaching and bits like that and support, but then they will go on and be signed off by the practice assessor.

You have to work together as a team, practice assessors, practice supervisors, to get that student sign-off and get the best outcome for that student and for the patient.

5.00 Practice education

Not only do you have the practice supervisors and practice assessors, you will also have then the ... I think it's called the practice education side of it, so someone that's in between the placement and the university that oversees everything to make sure that everyone's on target, everyone's doing what they should be doing, that there's no discrimination, there's no favoritism, and that students are looked after, as well as the assessors and the supervisors are being looked after as well. It's like an overall body seeing it so that nothing goes wrong.

Hopefully things are going to be better on this new practice supervisor-assessor pathway. I personally think it's a really, really good thing. I love that everybody can be a supervisor now. Everybody can sort of put their initials on the book and sign off certain skills wherever they go.

I think that's amazing because it is a struggle at the minute with the old mentor system. Not many people are mentors. Not many people wanted to be mentors. I think it's an amazing idea. I think it's going to be fantastic, hopefully. But in my mind, everything's always fantastic, so we'll see.

6.07 Possible change to amount of time spent with your mentor / supervisor

Also, another thing that's changed, so on the old standard, you had to work with your mentor for 40% of the time.

It looks like they've scrapped that now. I'm not 100% sure about that, so I need to look into this, but there was an article about it.

You don't have to work with your mentor or practice supervisor for 40% of the time now. You can see, observe them for a day or an hour or a few hours, make sure that they're doing that skill properly, and then you can sign your name against it to say, "Yeah, I've seen them do this. They're confident and competent to do it," and sign your name next to it.

I'm not sure what I think of that part, but I think, again, that's just the way it is. It's short-staffed out there, the time constraints and everything like that. I'm assuming the NMC wants students signed off as quickly as possible. I don't know. I'm not sure about that.

7.00 Conclusion

All in all, I think the implementation of the new standards is a massive win. I personally think it's a bonus. Whether you think so or not is another matter. Let me know what you think in the comments below, though.

I just wanted to add as well at the end that even though these new standards have been put in place, universities will do as they wish with them. Some universities will do different things with placements and university time. How they teach you these skills will be completely different depending on which university you attend.

So if you want to find out more about that, then contact the university you're interested in applying to or the university that you're currently in to see how they're going to meet those new NMC standards and what they're doing with their course and how it's changing. That's the best thing you can do if you want to find out specifically what's going on each university.

Watch more videos by Claire

Like this? Subscribe to the Nurses Weekly