Quality assuring nursing education

As I sit in the midst of my institution’s NMC Annual Monitoring visit, I am reflecting on the ways in which organisations work to ensure that the quality of their courses is of the highest standard. While the Monitoring Visits, and the other organisational quality assurance processes, are of absolute importance, I would suggest that quality assurance is an embedded feature of our everyday working lives. As an educator - whether in the university, in practice or both – we will all work towards the enhancement of the delivery of an educational experience for students that aims to prepare them as effective practitioners. I’m currently delivering a Clinical Leadership Masters module – an online module – and have worked very hard to provide creative learning materials and activities that will inspire the students to engage actively in the learning experience. Quality assurance for this comes through peer review, technological support, and external validation. Most importantly for me, the students’ responses to the activities and their ongoing feedback keeps my feet firmly on the ground, and my mind firmly focused on quality assurance and enhancement.

My own view is that the monitoring of quality is a learning opportunity – as well as an opportunity to celebrate what others tell us we are doing well. I personally experience this in my work life every day.

Welcome to new bloggers! And thinking about pre-registration nursing education

I have had a number of queries from people about this blog – how to sign up. All you have to do is click on the ‘sign in’ on the top right of the blog page. If you don’t have a Google account, you will be asked to sign up but you can use your work or home email – no need to create a new email! I hope that works but email me outside of the blog if anyone is still having problems.

For those of you who are not used to the world of blogging I am pleased to be engaged in this new venture with you! If you’re familiar with blogging, I’ll look forward to sharing discussion and debate with you. If you are interested in having a ‘guest’ blog – just let me know. The greater the debate around the issues that affect nursing education, the better from my perspective.

As we embark on a new academic session, it is always pleasing to see the new students (keen and enthusiastic, finding their way), and the students who are entering into a new academic year. In my institution, we are currently developing the pre-registration programme for the implementation of the new NMC standards. We have been engaging with students, clinical staff, service users, and academic staff with the aim of having early conversations so that we can take on board views, evidence, feedback in a meaningful way. This aspect of the development work links directly to the focus for my Seattle visit (mentioned in an earlier blog) in which I aimed to come to a stronger understanding of how approaches to partnership, collaborative working relationships can blur the boundaries between the groups of people who are working towards a common goal (in this case the development of a curriculum that is fit for purpose and which ‘produces’ graduates who can take on the evolving demands of working in the future healthcare environment). What I learnt in Seattle was this (amongst other things): we need to find ways to celebrate the good that we do, the progress that we make, the leadership that we see across organisations, and the ideas that we have. Partnership working is such a complex area – one which is dependent on so many variables – that making them work is sometimes a challenge. I am pleased to be working in an environment where we can have open conversations with the relevant people, and where we are all working towards a common vision – of the development of practitioners who make a positive impact on practice.

Blogging confidence

After a short break from the blog having been away in Seattle, I plan to increase the blog membership through wider dissemination to colleagues locally, nationally and internationally. As a relative newbie to the form, blogging takes some commitment, a focus, and confidence! If I'm hoping to engage in wide debate, I had better get the blog 'out there', or I will be writing to myself:-)

So, if you are reading this, and you feel there is scope for more of us to get talking here, do feel free to pass the blog address on. Let's see if we can create some notable debate!

Seattle - but not sleepless

I'm in Seattle at the moment as part of my FNF leadership scholarship. I have had three fantastic days with faculty from Seattle University, University Washington Bothell and Renton Technical College. I had the privilege of being invited to the Puget Sound Consortiuum which is working to achieve a streamlined approach to clinical placements (as well as finding ways to increase capacity and deal with quality issues). They were fascinated to hear about the UK system but, despite the very different contexts we operate in, we are facing many of the same issues. I'm hopeful that we can sustain ongoing connections so that we can learn from each other. One of my areas of interest is retention and selection of student nurses - we had some valuable discussions about the contexts of nursing education, the impact on retention, and the factors that affect students in the States. Again, a different context but broadly similar issues.

I had an amazing day at RTC where I was invited into a reading programme for new student nurses which aims to connect students with academic reading and concepts. I'll be looking into this when I come home as there is much to learn from the approach. My favourite part of the day was when I was taken into a completion ceremony for (the equivalent of) the nursing auxiliary course. The people that I met have overcome major domestic, financial and learning barriers and it was an emotional ceremony that saw them receiving their certificates and looking to a future that they could only have dreamed of before coming into the college and being taught by their inspiring teachers.

I feel that I have caught something of the American positivity in the few days that I have been here. The welcome I have been given has been immense and I hope to continue the conversations that we started when I get back to the UK.

Globalisation

I'm off to Seattle next week to meet with academics from two universities. It's a real opportunity to compare their healthcare issues and nursing education with what's going on in Scotland and the UK. Having read the document that is proposing the way forward for nursing in the States, it is clear that (while there are some contextual differences) the key issues are the same. The drive for safe, efficient and person-centred care seems to lie at the heart of the debate, as it does here. The shift towards degree education (with an aim of 80% degree output for the States) mirrors the policy shift in the UK. I will be interested to talk to Seattle colleagues about curriculum, selection of students, and the future of healthcare. Interesting times, and a real opportunity to learn something more about international healthcare.

Reflection on curriculum development

With the new NMC standards, we are all embarking on (or have completed) curriculum developments which aim to enhance the education that we offer. We have many drivers - the NMC requirements, service requirements, policy drivers, student experience and feedback...... How we manage all these is a matter of developing approaches to communication that enables all of the stakeholders to meaningfully engage in the discussion and critical debate that enables the development of curricula that will impact positively on practice. My own experience is one where we aim to diminish the boundaries between practice and university learning through the development of great working relationships with our stakeholders. After all, we are all aiming to do the same thing - provide students with an excellent education that will enhance the service delivery both in the short term and in the longer term. The ever-evolving nature of healthcare requires that we produce graduates who can take forward practice innovatively and who can contribute to the evidence-base that will ensure that nursing practice continues to evolve positively.

Getting older.....

Having just had another birthday I started thinking about getting older and where the healthcare system will be when I am in need of it. As an educator I feel that I am in a position to influence the healthcare of the future, but we will have to work together towards a coherent vision for the future. Blogs and other social media are one way to generate ideas and vision - I plan to engage with others in similar educational roles and pursue a national conversation on nursing education and the key issues that excite us.