Student nurses to qualify 6 months early. Would you?

[DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou]

There's big talks of letting 3rd year student nurses qualify 6 months early to cope with the current situation. I think the initial idea of asking retired nurses to return was bloody abominable and unrealistic.

Our uni has emailed us putting word out that they may be asking us soon.

Anyone in the same boat? Or have feelings on this?

To process the checks faster will requre lots of admin staff... whose children may not be at school. There's no spare capacity in the civil service 2 make this happen.
I looked at volunteering for my nearest large hospital but told they won't be processing any new applications for many many weeks to come.

Sidge, there is ready two tier nurses. Band 4s are now the new enrolled nurses, only they are called nursing apprentices or nursing assistants.

There is talk of suspending final exams and medic school for final year doctors and chucking them out onto the wards as 'sort of' doctors. The NHS is not prepared.

It doesn't help that so many of our doctors have left the country due to the contract debacle.

@Pandoraslastchance yes I suppose, but I wouldn’t call them nurses. Another reason why I think nurse should be a protected title.

Having things like nursing assistants, nursing apprentices, physicians assistants etc really muddies the waters. Of course there’s a need and a place for clinicians that are skilled and qualified in other ways but IMO having the word “nurse” or “nursing” in their job title is wrong.

I think this is why we moved away from using the term nursing auxiliary in the 90s (to HCSW or HCA) and I fear we are moving back towards such confusion.

Presumably there needs to be a detailed plan of what the expectation would be for those qualifying early and being put on the wards. If the biggest increase in need will be cardio respiratory support, surely you can't expect newly qualified to take that on ? You also need to have a certain skill mix on the wards. You can't just pull the most experienced staff for increased specialist nursing requirements in other areas, and leave newly qualified with minimal or no support.

@YeOldeTrout if this situation arises it will be all hands to the pump. There are some civil service departments which have the capacity, it's not ideal to be done outside the team who usually do it but it would be possible. This scenario is unprecedented, and there are ways.

Personally I would not have felt ready at all. Going into my final placement (which was in a&e) I was not confident that I was going to be 'ready' by the end but I was. That last placement is absolutely vital for consolidating learning and developing key leadership and management skills. I worry that those who were not 'ready' would do it and struggle.
I feel opening the register to those no longer on it (obviously with some form of competency assessment first) would be a good idea. I know a couple of ex nurses who left to pursue other careers that have said they would help out wherever possible, even as an advanced HCA type role.

I think it's a terrible idea. The last placement was so important to consolidate all the knowledge, no way I would have been ready at that point in my training, i barely felt ready when i did finish.
I'd also question how effective it would be anyway... supervising preceptors is very time consuming in my opinion, they may have a pin but they still (in my trust at least) need signing off to be competent to give meds, do procedures etc and need a lot of support and guidance still. I cant imagine how much harder that would be if they had 6 months less training than usual.

From what the NMC and RCN have said I don't think it would just be "OK you're qualified band 5 now" I suspect there would be limits on what 3rd years could do within their "registration" and they've not guaranteed band 5 pay, just said "band 5 type pay" possibly.

Both NMC and RCN have indicated the need for students to work within competence (in line with the code) and with appropriate supervision.

Realistically I think they would end up in more of a band 4 type role supporting under supervision. Offering that supervision will be an added pressure to qualified nurses but might be less pressure than having no staff, which could be the alternative depending on how many are off due to childcare / sickness etc.

For students, I wouldn't take on band 5 responsibilities without being fully qualified - if you make errors because you are practicing outside your level of competence that is your pin on the line. The code is very clear, you are responsible for that. The final placement is where your sign off mentor would assess if you are safe and effective to practice without the supervision given to students, its an important placement.

The final placement is where your sign off mentor would assess if you are safe and effective to practice without the supervision given to students, its an important placement.

This so much. It's not just a box ticking exercise. Theres a reason the final sign off mentor must be an experienced mentor, they basically get to decide if you are competent to join the register.

I've come across students that would jump at this chance... sadly most of them I wouldn't want nursing me or my family.

I dont have any issue bringing in nursing students to help with the workload at this time. I don't think they should qualify early they would still require more supervision and should not be referred to as qualified until all necessary processes are complete.

Absolutely agree with PP. I am an RN working outside the NHS, more than willing to help where I can, if there were a central sign up I would join. My DBS is subscribed to the update service and it would take minutes to check that and my registration online.

I'm in NI and my friend told me the other day that final year nurses wouldn't be qualifying early, but will be doing a 2 week intensive course on caring for a ventilated patient.
My unit have been told we will close and also be shown how to care for ventilated patients. I haven't a clue how to , and am very nervous about this!
Also, was told by a doctor the other day that the final year med students here are doing their finals this week, not June to have them qualified more quickly.
So,you know, all should be fine....!

2 weeks to care for a ventilated patient? Our new nurses have 6 weeks classroom and 6 weeks working alongside a qulified nurse before they go into the numbers to care for the most basic ventilated patients. Theres no way someone with 2 weeks experience can safely care for ventilated patients. You need more like 6 to 12 months ICU experience before you can start to take the sicker patients and no way are they capable of taking patients with multi organ failures

Reese It'll be that or nothing! There will be nowhere near enough nurse, fact.

I'm not a healthcare professional, but perhaps the midpoint would be to allow students to defer the last 6 months of their studies. In the meantime, give them paid roles as HCAs, phlebotomists, or whatever it is that they can usefully do without needing close supervision. Then give them a financial bonus when they go back and finish off their degree in respect of the fact that they've not been able to earn a band 5 salary as early as they normally would.

This is the only information that has been released so far:

www.nmc.org.uk/news/coronavirus/temporary-registration/

In times of crisis, you have to do what you have to do

@avacadobeforebeans that's really daft.

Do you not think that the majority of the students already work as careers and HCA's? And they would take a pay cut by doing what you suggested, and prolong their course by 6 months?

No student in their right mind would do that.

That would never be suggested.

Unbelievably dangerous!!!
The management placement is the most important, it's where you learn how to throw everything you've learnt together and become a well rounded nurse.
As a NQN support from peers is everything, this won't be as readily available due to the scale of Covid 19. Add into that the fact that these nurses will be requiring more support due to having no management placement.

My advice to any student nurse would be, do not accept this, finish your entire 3 years. Do not put yourself in a difficult position and risk your pin to cover the governments back. This is the mess the government has got us in due to funding cuts to the NHS and the cancelling of the Bursary.
Do not cover there backs, they will throw you under the bus the first mistake you make.

Ok so how about defer registration, have student nurses on a band 3 working as Hcas and when the crisis is over give them £10,000 tax free as a thank you for deferring their registration.

I wouldn't have thought hiring HCA,s would be a problem ,and lots of student Nurses already work on the Bank as HCA,s anyway ,and whilst yes Band 3HCA ,s have more responsibility than Band 2they would still need to be supervised .

@DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou
Go back and read the second half of my post

Those in their 60s, however...

I know someone who retired from nursing within the last year - after nigh on 50 years with the NHS. She is past state pension age and has had some chest infections in recent years so no way should she be stepping up.

I can see that from the point of view of a student it is not ideal to have their training cut short like this but, in the case of a national emergency, I think it makes good sense to make use of this resource.

Go back and read the second half of my post

Go back and read the second half of mine. It still stands.