Frequently Asked Questions for Students

We recommend you get in touch with your named practice contact around four weeks prior to the start date of your allocation. This will allow you to introduce yourself and discuss shift/meeting time etc. If you contact them too soon, they may not have received your information or had the opportunity to allocate your Practice Assessor.

It is your responsibility to make contact with your placement to arrange your shifts. Try to call placement mid morning or early afternoon as this will tend to avoid the busiest times of the day. If you have made several attempts to arrange shifts with your placement and have been unable to get in touch with them please contact the PLLs for support. dohs-pll@york.ac.uk

This will depend on each individual placement. You will have one allocated PA and the amount of PS’s you work with will depend on the number of available within your practice environment. You should work a range of PS’s where possible to gain a bredth of learning experiences and to gather feedback to evidence your professional values and proficiencies for your PA.

Good quality feedback will be specific and link to your proficiencies, professional values and formative assessments to provide evidence to your PA on how these have been achieved or what skills you have demonstrated. The feedback given by PS’s should be constructive to allow you to build on your knowledge and skills. Students are required to support PS feedback by using the reflection boxes to also provide evidence to PA’s.

Feedback can be obtained a number of ways. All PS’s that have undertaken preparation will be able to access PebblePad to provide feedback directly into your PAD under ‘record of working with others’. For PS’s wanting access to PebblePad please contact the PebblePad team on: dohs-pest@york.ac.uk.

PS can also provide you with written feedback and there are printable versions of the ‘record of working with others’ page within your PAD. These written sheets should be uploaded as assets for your PA to view and to prevent you from losing them.

PebblePocket can also be used to gather feedback. Your PS must provide their email address so that we are able to verify their PS status. 

You should negotiate with your PS how often feedback can be obtained. If you are spending time with a PS for the day, i.e with a physiotherapist or specialist nurse you will need to gather evidence at the end of your shift. If you are spending a week with a PS you may wish to obtain feedback at the end of the week or each shift, for example. Communication is key!

Student Services have produced a very supportive and informative document for student on placement travel which can be found here: https://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/student-intranet/support/student-services/travel-guide/

For students travelling to distant placements, please find our position statement here: Position statement regarding travel to placements (PDF , 61kb)

The following websites may help you with planning your journey:-

Traveline – searches Yorkshire bus services / rail services / combinations of both, plus walking

First Bus York – bus services in and around York

Yorkshire Coastliner – helpful with bus services around the East Coast, Scarborough / Whitby / Malton

Car Share Schemes– please register if you can offer lifts too!

• http://www.carshareyork.com/Default.asp?uxi=&cr=check
• http://www.harrogatecarshare.com/Default.asp?uxi=&cr=check 

Remember the people best equipped to discuss local services can often be the staff working in the practice settings.

If you have concerns about something you have witnessed in practice or behaviour and attitudes towards you. Please see further information here and follow the raising concerns policy. 

If you feel you are struggling to meet proficiencies or summative assessments please do not leave it until the end of placement to raise your concerns. The sooner concerns are raised the sooner we can support you to address these. The Practice Learning links can support you with any of these issues dohs-pll@york.ac.uk. 

During your placements you will need to complete:

• Your initial, midpoint and final interviews (each placement)
• Orientation (to each placement/ spoke visited)
• Midpoint and final professional values (each placement)
• All required proficiencies (by the end of the stage/ year)
• Episodes of Care - formative and summative (each placement)
• Feedback from PS’s
• Practice hours (verified by your PA on each placement)
• Medicines management (once in the stage/year)
• On-going Achievement Records (OAR) (at the end of each placement)
• Service user and carer feedback (5 pieces over the stage/year)

For further support on completing the sections of your MYEPAD, please see the ‘My Placement’ guides. Please remember, as with any theory assessment, that it is your responsibility to have your Placement Assessment Documentation completed on time, to allow for progression. If you are concerned that you are unable to do this, you should contact the PLLs or your Academic Assessor as soon as possible. 

During your placements you will need to complete:

• Your preliminary, intermediate and final interviews (each placement)
• Orientation (to each placement/ spoke visited)
• Students must have their grading completed in the formative and summative sections of their PAD.
• All required midwifery competencies by the end of the stage/ year. Confirmation of competencies to be completed by practice assessor.
• Student reflections.
• Feedback from PS’s
• Practice hours (verified by your PA on each placement)
• Medicine and Surgery placements (nursing- once in the stage 1)

Episodes of care are formative and summative assessments to show student learning and understanding of a particular task which is appropriate to the student's stage of training. (Further details on this are available on the Episode of Care page within the MYEPAD). 

Please also see the ‘My Placement’ guides for further details on Episode of Care, and all other MYEPAD documentation requirements.

Your proficiencies reflect the seven NMC platforms of the Future Nurse Standards (NMC 2018). Your proficiencies specify the communication, relationship management skills and nursing procedures expected of registered nurses. Your proficiencies will be appropriate to your stage of training and the feedback you receive from your PS will demonstrate that you are meeting these.

You must complete all of the required proficiencies by the end of each stage in order to progress with your programme.

Please also see the ‘My Placement’ guides for further details on proficiencies, and all other MYEPAD/ NAPAD documentation requirements.

If you are unable to meet some of your proficiencies in your base placement these should be prioritised for spoke placements. Please discuss your progression with proficiencies with your PA regularly so they can support your achievement of these. If you continue to have difficulty meeting proficiencies you must seek support from the PLL’s dohs-pll@york.ac.uk as soon as possible. Failure to meet proficiencies by the end of the stage will result in an action plan in your next placement or mandatory use of the retrieval placement at the end of the year. Failure to meet proficiencies by the end of the stage will impact on your ability to progress with your programme.

Please see placement support web page.

Placement allocations are provided to give you a wide and holistic view of nursing care to prepare you for your future careers. Whilst you may be allocated a placement which is not in your ideal place of work in the future, each placement will provide you with transferable skills and experience essential to your programme and safe practice as a registered professional. Your experience may also change your perception of a practice area and lead to a career path for you!

The safety of patients, students and staff is our highest priority and a number of complex factors are considered when planning allocations. Therefore, no changes will be possible unless there are exceptional circumstances. If you feel you meet exceptional circumstances for a placement change, please read and follow the Placement Change Request policy.

Whilst we understand the challenges students can face financially, your programme does need to take priority over part-time jobs. Part-time work can often be negotiated with your PA, however you will need to work a range of hours and shifts to understand clinical decision making and challenges outside of normal working hours, for example. You must remember that you should not exceed The Maximum Weekly Hours (Gov.uk)   The Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC) of 48 hours per week (average over a 17 week period).

Please see the PebblePad pages with further information and contact support here.

During each placement allocation you will receive base and spoke practice experiences. Your base placement will be where your PA is based. 

Allocated spokes are the experiences arranged by the allocations team and can be within any field of practice. These spokes will support a breadth of holistic learning experiences and support you in meeting your proficiencies.  

Static spokes refer to learning opportunities you can arrange with your PA in base to enhance your base learning. Examples of static spokes could include, a day spent with a member of the MDT in your base (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, specialist nurses, doctor) or a visit to a related placement to your base to understand the patient journey. For example if your base was in Theatres you may spend a day on the pre-assessment unit, PACU and a surgical ward. Static spokes must be negotiated with your PA to ensure this is appropriate for your learning, and can be risk assessed and support your learning development (including identifying appropriate proficiencies you may work towards during your static spoke.