Students leading care on placement

Recently, the School of Nursing, AHPs and Midwifery at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust has begun leading the way for a change in clinical practice learning for student nurses, Allied Health Professional (AHPs) and midwives, as well as trainee nursing associates (TNAs), in the West Midlands.

A surgical ward at Solihull Hospital has been transformed into a new student-led clinical learning environment (SLCLE) which provides a unique opportunity where students – including our own student nurses – get first-hand, practical experience of running a ward and caring for its patients.

Working alongside a dedicated clinical educator, students are taking responsibility for the assessing, planning and delivery of care to an identified group of patients under the supervision of a registered practitioner who will act as a coach.

One of our Adult Nursing students, James, has spoken about his experience of being on placement at the SLCLE:

“A typical day is two shifts – a morning one and afternoon one. On both shifts we have a handover, which identifies the tasks that we need to do for the day.

We are closely supervised by registered nurses, and we have control over our patients with their direct supervision.

The difference between this and other placements is that here we get to work together as a team; we’ve become a close team with our colleagues. We’ve got third years looking after second years and we really feel like a team.

I really enjoy working with other students from other universities and other year groups and we all get on really well and we support each other. We often go to each other first asking questions before we go to one of the nurses.

This placement gives me more chance to learn, empowerment to do things by myself with the guidance of the nurses around compared to my previous placement where I was shadowing my assessor and my assessor was the one leading the care. With this placement I am the one leading the care.

You have a lot more independence in the SLCLE, that’s the big thing. You’re not thrown into the deep end because you still have a lot of support behind you, but you do need to step up to the plate. You need to work independently. Obviously, you’ve got the other students by your side so you can chat to them if you have any concerns or questions or things like that but the big thing is the autonomy.

The benefit that really stands out is the fact that you’re given more responsibility to do things on your own rather than always being told to do certain things and you just watch your registered nurse or a supervisor.

Now I’m ready for my third year. I will step with caution of course but, rather than having someone behind me looking at what I’m doing like at the start, I can now show an assessor or the nurses that I know what I’m doing, that I’m confident and I will never ever put my patient at risk. And if I’m in any doubt, I can come to them, but I’m ready.”