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The pre‐registration house officers′ year has a dual purpose. On the one hand, there is the basic service requirement for long hours of routine assistance to senior medical staff. On the other hand, there is the educational component of the job as seen in the GMC and post‐graduate deans′ objectives. Reports on a study which shows there is considerable tension between these two objectives. Examines the extent and nature of this divergence. Suggests that there are two problems to be addressed: how best to generate a sense of ownership and affinity to the trust hospital, and even more fundamental, requires a strategic audit and reappraisal of the purpose of the pre‐registration year and strongly suggests the desirability of reprofiling it in order to provide a rich working experience and learning environment.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery at De Montfort University has been consistently successful in producing student midwives who are, by the end of their chosen programme, fit for practice, purpose and award according to the DMU. This paper aims to investigate this claim.

The paper looks at De Montfort University where an innovative tripartite assessment process has been developed to support midwifery students in practice. This involves the student, his/her personal tutor and his/her clinical midwife mentor. All three are involved in the planning of appropriate learning experiences to facilitate the student in meeting the clinical learning outcomes, utilising a personal professional portfolio.

The paper finds that the close working relationships between the placement providers and the university have improved the assessment of practice and enhanced the student experience. Clinical midwife mentors have commented on how well the tripartite approach works and they appreciate the clear lines of communication that this relationship provides. The personal tutor role is well established in the School of Nursing and Midwifery and the midwifery team have developed this role to include the assessment of students within the tripartite structure. This is beneficial from a quality perspective; while clinical midwife mentors will obviously change due to differing student placements, the personal tutor is the variable that is the constant through the student's progression on the programme.

The tripartite approach to the practice assessment of pre‐registration midwifery education investigated in this paper has proved to be a robust approach to ensuring students are fit for practice, purpose and award at the point of qualification and eligible to register as a midwife with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The paper comprises an evaluation of the inclusion of art‐related education within a health promotion course for student nurses, which ran for four cohorts from 2001 to 2005, and a description of a project to introduce art into a clinical skills laboratory as part of the course.

The art‐related aspects of the course were evaluated by analysing qualitative comments from a questionnaire completed by a total of 83 students from the four cohorts. In addition, lecturers were invited to write their reflections. Only the 2003‐2004 cohort worked on the clinical skills laboratory art project in which students acted as a focus group, and later carried out interviews with patients.

The art‐related education was positively evaluated by most students, and appeared to have increased their awareness of health care environments. For some, it had promoted emotional awareness, empathy for patients and had been a therapeutic and enjoyable experience. A specification for art work to be introduced to the university's clinical skills laboratory was produced.

Using the arts in pre‐registration nurse education is relatively new in the UK, and this work provides an example of its potential to encourage empathy among student nurses for the experience of patients in health care settings. The paper provides an example of how art work could be introduced into health care settings.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate undergraduate pre-registration mental health nurse’s satisfaction with problem-based learning (PBL), in light of the dearth of such studies and to influence future teaching and learning strategies within Cardiff University.

Totally, 16 students from three cohorts were interviewed in two focus groups. Data analysis was consistent with Seidel and Kelle (1995) which involved noticing relevant phenomena, collecting examples of these phenomena and subsequently analysing these to find commonalities, differences, patterns and structures.

Student experiences were categorised in five themes indicating that they perceived PBL as a novel, flexible approach to adult learning, which fostered decision making and critical thinking. Student engagement with the process was heavily influenced by the contribution of the end product to their degree classification. They also expressed concerns about working in groups and whether the depth of learning was comparable with traditional methods. However, they presented well-considered recommendations for future practice to address the perceived deficits of PBL.

This was a small scale study undertaken in one institution. As such the views expressed by students relate to the approach to PBL used in this institution.

This study adds to the body of research relating to the application of PBL in mental health nurse education. Well considered, student generated recommendations are presented which can enhance student motivation, engagement and learning. These are arguably of value to other educationists interested in this approach to teaching and learning.

Outlines the development of the profession of podiatry, and its regulatory bodies. Highlights areas of podiatric practice which are currently under scrutiny in terms of the quality of care being delivered to the patient. Considers the position of this profession in relation to the recent changes in health care in the United Kingdom and the possibility of changes in the finding of podiatric education, these changes being a direct result of the 1989 NHS Review. Finally, makes certain recommendations designed to inform and assist the profession of podiatry in the development of a cohesive quality assurance strategy, such a strategy being central to the effective delivery of health care in the NHS of the 1990s.

The purpose of this case study is to detail the development of a bespoke programme of learning for Support Workers employed in the mental health sector.

The programme was designed to serve three purposes: to offer a route into mental health nursing; to upskill those who wanted to remain as a Support Worker; to improve the quality of care provided.

The paper shares the perspectives of the local Partnership Trust, a Support Worker on the programme and the Programme Director.

Employers within the mental health sector are encouraged to develop their own staff and universities are urged to think differently about curriculum design.

As with many professional programmes, nursing students in the United Kingdom spend a significant proportion of their time ‘on placement’ – applying their theoretical learning to the clinical area.While off campus and at a distance from their peers and university staff, however, they must continue to study and complete assessments. This creates enormous complexities for nursing students; issues of retention and success, anxiety and isolation are well documented in the research literature relating to this particularly diverse group. Emerging technologies offer opportunities to increase engagement between nursing students and faculty, thus potentially eliminating many of these difficulties. At Glasgow Caledonian University, a blog was developed to provide new students with remote support and a virtual community while on their first placement. The open access resource offered a link between faculty and students and a forum for peer support among the cohort. Student produced materials, such as ‘talking head’ videos and placement diaries, were posted alongside assessment-specific learning resources developed by staff. The blog was fully interactive and participants were encouraged to comment on and respond to posts in order to increase engagement. A thorough evaluation of the continuing initiative highlighted the success and further potential of the resource but also suggested limitations in terms of interactive engagement and issues of digital literacy among some learners. This chapter will discuss the use of technologies such as blogs in providing remote support to learners, using the student nurse blog as a case study.

Against a backdrop of concerns regarding the quality and equity of the final practice-based pre-registration training year, the purpose of this paper is to examine how robust and equitable current education and training arrangements in Great Britain are in preparing newly qualified pharmacists (NQPs) for practice.

In addition to considering relevant regulator, policy and research literature, this paper presents findings from a longitudinal qualitative study that tracked 20 pharmacy trainees and their tutors during pre-registration training and early registered practice. Trainees were interviewed four times over a 12-month period; tutors were interviewed twice. Semi-structured interviews explored learning and development, work environment and support received. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically using template analysis.

Currently, there are no requirements tor training pre-registration tutors, or for accreditation or quality assurance of training sites. Longitudinal interview findings showed that community trainees developed knowledge of over-the-counter and less complex, medicines whereas hospital trainees learnt about specialist medicines on ward rotations. Hospital trainees received support from a range of pharmacists, overseen by their tutor and other healthcare professionals. Community trainees generally worked within a small pharmacy team, closely supervised by their tutor, who was usually the sole pharmacist. NQPs were challenged by having full responsibility and accountability as independent practitioners, without formal support mechanisms.

The variability in trainee experience and exposure across settings raises concerns over the robustness and equity of pre-registration training. The lack of formal support mechanisms post-registration may pose risks to patient safety and pharmacists’ well-being.

Objective — On the basis of previous research funded by the NHS Executive into management education for clinicians it seemed possible that a gap existed between the house officers' perceptions or experience of the pre‐registration year and the educational objectives of the GMC. This study explores the nature of the gap between house officers' perceptions and the GMCs expectations. Design — Observation through job‐shadowing of two individual housemen covering surgery and medicine and in‐depth semi‐structured interviews. Setting — Five hospitals in five regions of which three are teaching hospitals. Subjects — Twenty houseman comprising ten from medicine and ten from surgery, four ward nurses, a Trust Hospital Chief Executive, two Medical Directors, one clinical tutor and a clinical sub dean. Conclusions —The picture of haphazard training and education opportunities of pre‐registration house officers suggests that there are two fundamental problems to be addressed. One is, how best to generate a sense of ‘ownership’ by and ‘affinity’ to a corporate organisation. The second is even more fundamental and requires a strategic review of the purpose of the pre‐registration year and strongly suggests the desirability of re‐profiling the house officers job in order to close the gap between expectations and the reality of current experience and produce better medicine.