1. Mentor Update
March 2015

2. Maintain Mentor Status
NMC Standards to Support Learning and Assessment In Practice (2008)
‘Initiate and respond to practice development to ensure safe and effective care is achieved and an effective learning environment is maintained’
Attend an annual Mentor Update
Mentor a minimum of 2 students every 3 years
Complete a review every 3 years with your manager, to appraise your performance as a mentor – triennial review
Can only do this by keeping updated in issue which effect nurse education
Keep your triennial review documents safe as you may be asked for them in an audit

3. Mentor Update –NMC requirement
Discuss major changes in nurse education affecting students in practice placement.
Explore complex or challenging situations involving students in practice through scenarios
Demonstrate how mentors can fulfil their role set by the NMC by keeping up to date between annual updates through the website
support
Plan to spend approx. 1 hour on changes in nurse education/MNC/university/local issues and 1 hour on scenarios.
Discuss the role of the mentor in relation to the individual mentor’s responsibility to keep themselves up to date with current issue affecting nurse education at a national and local level.
Discuss the impossibility of including all mentoring issues in one hour session
Therefore to help mentors keep up to date in between the annual mentor updates and to help with any questions or challenging situations mentors or students may come across in practice placement the Department of Health Sciences have a website with a specific area for ‘Practice Support for Mentors and Students’. The website is available from any computer with internet access so is available at work, library or at home.

4.
Information for students to prepare them for practice
Dates for mentor updates and sign off mentor workshops
Mentor Preparation Programme overview, dates and application pack
Practice Education newsletters
Explanation of the Education Audit Process
E-portfolio information including PebblePad Learning and Support Team contact details
Contact details for practice education support team
Useful links to the NMC, RCN, RCM and Healthcare Professional Council websites.

5. Practice Education Support (PES) area of the website – the following slides will give the mentors an overview of what information is available on the website. Screen shots are too small font to be able to read on a PowerPoint or handout but it will give an idea of what the site looks like and how to navigate the site so they can find the information they need.
The ‘overview’ tab will give them the information regarding what this section of the website is about and who it has been designed for
This area on the website is for students and mentors in practice placement

6. ‘Preparing for practice’ section gives the information to help understand the allocations process, sickness & absence reporting, travel, accommodation and the common questions students ask about their practice placement
Discuss the FAQ section. Many of the question asked by students and mentors while the student is on placement will be answered in this section.

7. Mentor tab has information becoming a mentor and practicing as a mentor
Newsletters – these are sent out to all LEM’s three times a year. The newsletters give news on any current issues both nationally with NMC and government level and at a local University level
Newsletters

8. Base and spoke handbook

9. Base and Spoke
Period of introduction to base area (at least four weeks) to include tripartite meetings in PE1,2 & 5 and identification of potential spokes
SPOKE
SPOKE
Combination of attendance at base placement (at least 50%) and spoke experiences.
SPOKE
SPOKE
SPOKE
SPOKE
Period of consolidation within base area ( at least 2 weeks) , consolidating learning, addressing any outcomes not achieved and identifying areas for development and growth

10. Had a Fab Student????
Entries are now open for the 2015 Student Nursing Times Awards. The awards are not only about students but also mentors and placements. For more information visit
The closing date for entries is 9th January

11. Ensuring our placements are safe and suitable learning environments
Quality in Practice -
Ensuring our placements are safe and suitable learning environments
Link to Healthcare Placements website
Discuss the importance of having a robust process for escalating concerns in practice placement in view of the findings of the Francis report
Link to ‘escalating concerns’ policy and flow chart

12. Is this practice placement suitable for students?
NMC quality assurance framework (2013) requires that each practice placement has an educational audit that will support an effective practice learning culture
Confirms the required levels of supervision and mentorship
Planned experience supports the intended learning outcomes set by the NMC

14. Educational Audit Regional Education audit tool (REAT)
Every practice placement
Every 2 years or earlier when adverse incidents impact on safe and effective learning
Carried out in partnership with LEM, link lecturer + Practice Learning Facilitator(PLF) and Practice Placement Facilitator (PPF)
Highlights areas for potential concern
Improves the contact and partnership between education and practice learning

15. Outcome of Educational Audit
Agree on the maximum capacity for all learners for the placement
Confirms that resources are available to support learners to achieve their learning outcomes
Records action plans, ongoing monitoring, follow up outcomes and deadlines.
Recorded on the PPQA website
Learners might be student other than undergraduate nurses

16. How important is feedback from your students?
Mentors must discuss and encourage the student to evaluate the practice experience at final interview
Students feedback about their learning experience in practice on the Healthcare Placements website.
A hyperlink is built into each Practice Experience workbook in PebblePad to make the evaluation easy to find

17. Student Evaluation Students get an email reminder on the VLE
The LEM in each placement can view the evaluation in real time
A process is in place for the Link Lecturer to feed back evaluations
Mentors can use the evaluations in their triennial reviews

18. New PebblePad webpage, jam packed full of information and advise
support
Click on ‘PebblePad (e-portfolio)’
Section for mentors
Section for students
PebblePad training sessions
PebblePad newsletters
Mentors will find details on:
How to log in
How to find your student
Where are the workbooks?
Practice Experience Workbook
How to complete a workbook
Medicines management
PAR
NMC outcomes & performance criteria
Spoke experience workbooks
Mandatory training workbook
At the end of placement info.

20. What’s new in PebblePad?
Merge the ‘Final Interview’ and ‘Statement of Achievement’
Electronic identifier – after each entry the name, date and time of the entry will be added
Changes to the electronic link between the mentor and student
Workbook changes
While using the current version of the Practice Experience workbooks we recognised that they could be more streamlined with less repetition so we have made some changes:
Combined the ‘Practice Experience’ with the ‘NMC Outcomes and Performance Criteria’ workbooks so that all the students CAP documents can be found on a single location
Merged the ‘Final Interview’ with the ‘Statement of Achievement’ as these documents contained much of the same information
Electronic identifiers
By the end of July, every time a mentor, Personal Supervisor or Link Lecturer enters comments or feedback in a student’s portfolio, their name, the date and time will be automatically added to the entry. This will allow the student, the University and the NMC to identify who made the contribution and when it was made.
The Student and Mentor Electronic Link
We are in the process of making a significant change to the way an electronic link is established between a student and their mentor in a practice experience placement. From September 2014 onwards we will be grouping all the mentors in a practice experience area into a set. Our Allocation Team will place each student into the practice experience set at the point of allocation. The advantages of this are:
We no longer require LEM’s or mentors to contact us with the name of the student’s mentor, as all mentors within the practice experience area will have access to all students on allocation to that area
If a mentor is absent or unavailable to contribute to a student’s PebblePad portfolio another mentor will still be able to access the students work 
This does, however, mean that if a mentor is not on the local mentor register they will not have access so CHECK you are registered!!!

21. Support for PebblePad Users
PebblePad Learning and Support team
Fiona Powling, Jonathan Ayto and Danielle Simpson
Phone
01904 (32)1540
Visit
University of York, Seebohm Rowntree building office ATB/025 on the ground floor
Help and support is available from the PebblePad Learning and Support Team – Fiona Powling, Jonathan Ayto and Danielle Simpson.
s and phone messages will be answered ASAP and usually within 24 hours
There is usually someone in the office Monday to Friday – 16.30
If you are planning to visit it’s best to check that someone will be at home!!!!!

22. Where is the sign off evidence?
Practice Experience 1 and 2 in paper CAP version and Practice Experience 4 to 6 on PebblePad
EU directives (Adult Field of Practice ONLY), paper version for PE1 and PE2 then in ‘mandatory training’ workbook in PebblePad for PE4 to PE6
Elective Practice Experience – some on paper and some on PebblePad (dependant on the location of Elective)

23. Final step from student to NMC register – Sign Off Mentor
Sign off mentor must review ALL past practice experience documentation, including:
EU directives (Adult field of practice students ONLY)
Medicines Management calculations are complete and correct
Elective Practice Experience
Statement of Achievement to progress to the NMC register is completed AFTER Elective Practice Experience
Sign off mentors are responsible for checking that the student has completed their EU directive hours (Adult field of practice students only) and checking that the medicines management calculations are complete and correct in all workbooks.
Make sure that the student has made arrangements for you to sign them off AFTER the Elective Practice Experience. This MUST NOT be done BEFORE or during the Elective as the student muight be issued with an action plan if the have not demonstrated professional values and behaviour.

24. Who can help? Practice Education Support Team
Based at the University of York, Department of Health Sciences
Support for mentors and students in practice placement
Allocations of students to practice placements
Mentor Preparation Programme
Website- support -

25. Practice Education Conference 1st June 2015. Book the Date!!!
The planning for next year’s Practice Education Conference is underway. Dr Peter Carter the Chief Executive and General Secretary of the RCN is already confirmed as a speaker.
Keep an eye on the website for further details.

26. NMC Standards to Support Learning and Assessment In Practice (2008)
NMC requirements are that mentors are competent in the following 8 domains
Establishing effective working relationships
Facilitation of learning
Assessment and accountability
Evaluation of learning
Creating an environment for learning
Context of practice
Evidence based practice
Leadership
Scenarios are based on the 8 domains that the NMC have identified as attributes needed for mentoring students. While discussing and considering the scenarios try to link them to one of the domains (more detailed descriptions of the domains are on the back pages of the scenario hand-outs)