Frequently Asked Questions - Staff

As a mentor, before you support a student as a practice assessor you will need to complete the practice assessor transition training to update you on the new NMC Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment (SSSA) (2018).  More information on the transition training can be found in the Mentor to ‘Practice Assessor & Supervisor Transition’ section. 

To become a PS you will need to complete practice supervisor preparation. For nurses who work for a Hospital Trust or the Haxby Group, please contact your Practice Education Team to complete your supervisor training or you can use the University PS preparation. Please remember that you will need to send your PS certificate to your Practice Education Team to register your PS status. For PIVO (Private, Independent and Voluntary Organisations) please access your PS preparation via the University webpages and send your certificate to the PLL team dohs-pll@york.ac.uk

In order to upskill to the role of PA, PS must have experience in their role of student support under a PS capacity. PS’s with one years experience of supervision to students may be eligible for Practice Assessor Preparation (PAP). For staff working within Hospitals Trusts/ Haxby Group please contact your Practice Education Team to confirm your eligibility. For PIVO (Private, Independent and Voluntary Organisations) staff, please contact dohs-pll@york.ac.uk

Practice assessors have several tasks to complete when it comes to PAD documentation. They will likely complete all the interviews, including the midpoint professional values (though practice supervisors can complete initial interviews if required), they must complete the summative episode of care and sign off the students' proficiencies. Practice assessors will also be involved in any performance management issues requiring an action plan and sign off the students Ongoing Achievement Record (OAR) at the end of the stage. Practice Assessors are also responsible for completing medicines management and summative episodes of care.

Practice supervisors are expected to leave feedback for students on their progression towards achieving competencies, this can be written in the ‘Record of working with and learning from others’’ page. Feedback should be specific and with examples given, demonstrating which competencies have been achieved by the learner. Additionally, supervisors can record any additional meetings that occur in the ‘record of additional communication/feedback’ page. Finally if required, supervisors can complete the initial interview for students.

We have some really excellent resources to assist you in troubleshooting common PebblePad issues or concerns with videos to talk you through and written resources. We hope you find these helpful and they can be accessed on the PebblePad webpage.

We strongly recommend looking through all of the student proficiencies at the start of placement to see which proficiencies may not be able to be achieved in your area of practice. Proficiencies can also be achieved in spoke experiences or static spokes can be planned and arranged in agreement with the student and PA to enhance learning, meet learning outcomes and achieve proficiencies. These would need to be evidenced by specific feedback from the PS in the spoke area in order for the PA to mark them as achieved.

Students in stage 2 of their programme will have some proficiencies that are asterixed (*), these are proficiencies that can be achieved over stage 2 or 3.

Failure to achieve all required proficiencies by the end of each stage will result in an action plan and if not achieved through this will impact on the students ability to be able to progress with their programme.

Episodes of care (EOC) are formative and summative assessments to show student learning and understanding of a particular task appropriate to the student's stage of training. 

The practice assessor and student will identify an appropriate episode of direct care involving meeting the needs of a group of people receiving care or in caring for an individual with complex health care needs. Within this episode students should demonstrate skills to undertake a comprehensive assessment and understanding of commonly encountered presentations. Professionalism underpins all aspects of the students' performance. 

Examples could include the students role in: care planning, documentation, nursing assessment. 

EOC are assessed formatively and summatively in EACH placement for Nursing and in each stage (year) for TNAs. EOC are not part of the midwifery student assessments. 

Failing an EOC summative assessment will lead to an action plan, failure to meet the action plan will impact the students ability to progress with their programme. 

EOC should be set early in the placement to allow students to practice to understand the assessment requirements and undertake these skills under supervision, the initial interview is the perfect opportunity to discuss this with your student.

A medicine management assessment should be complete by the end of each stage (year) of the students programme. The student should demonstrate safe administration to a group or caseload of service users/ patients within the clinical setting. Students should have the opportunity to practice the safe administration of medication under supervision within their practice area before completing the summative assessment. Guidance for this assessment, for each stage, is available at the top of the medicine management assessment page within the students electronic PAD (PebblePad). The student must work within the legal and ethical frameworks that underpin safe and effective medicines management and work within national and local policies. 

During the assessment students should complete appropriate drug calculations. The type of drug calculations set by the Practice Assessor will vary, depending on the placement setting. It is important, however, to ensure that the calculations set for the student represent the student's stage of the programme. Practice Assessors will need to use their clinical experience and skill to set appropriate drug calculations for the student they are assessing. The calculations set should be appropriate to the service user/ patients within the clinical area so that students can practice these skills. Throughout the programme, students increasingly develop their ability to safely undertake drug calculations and, at the end of the final practice module, are summatively assessed (via SafeMedicate) in order to satisfy NMC requirements.