Preparing Nurse Educators for the Nursing and Midwifery Council Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment: An Evaluation of Impact Four Years On

Abstract

Four years on from its launch in 2018, we provide an up-to-date efficacy assessment of the ongoing implementation of the Nursing and Midwifery Councils’ Future Nurse: Standards of proficiency for registered nurses (NMC, 2018a). Although these standards have comprehensively transformed the mentorship practices of nursing education courses within Higher Education, this article provides the first attempt to gauge and synthesise attitudes towards their roll-out. Presenting the results of an evaluative survey which collates educators’ current views on the implementation of these new NMC standards, we detail and analyse the past and continuing impacts of this paradigm shift upon staff, students, and practice. The findings primarily cluster around four interlinked themes: slow acclimatisation to new models of assessment and supervision; variation in levels of preparation; prohibitive workloads; and skill mix. We conclude by providing a recommendation that more robust training resources around the NMC’s new standards are implemented nationally, in order to provide consistency of delivery by educators across the sector.