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To help students prepare for their practical training, we have provided them with an induction form for use with the clinical coach at their first meeting. Students have been asked to complete the first section of this which provides the clinical coach with details about the students learning and any NPL tasks in which they have previous experience. We hope that this assists clinical coaches in the early planning stages and getting started with the NPL.

Whilst this new version of the NPL contains a reduced number of tasks, the actual requirements for completing some tasks are quite considerable. In our experience students can find this confusing, so guidance from the clinical coach regarding task expectations, (based on the case load in your practice) may need to be clarified.

Many sections incorporate a mixture of what we would consider to be basic and more advanced skills so, (depending on the level of experience your student has had prior to placement) it may be unlikely for any sections to be completed in this first placement block.

We have suggested to students that they look at the NPL and identify 10 tasks that they feel they may be able to complete during this placement. This helps to provide focus and familiarity during this initial block. Other tasks can of course be opened, but clinical coaches may need to advise students that due to amount and variety of experiences associated with many tasks, being declared competent during this block placement may not be possible.

Where this occurs, it would be really useful for the clinical coach to write a comment at the end of placement, noting the student’s progress.

We do ask that students only attempt those tasks for which they have covered the underpinning knowledge for at university, as this underpinning knowledge will ultimately form part of their overall competency.

The table below details those tasks which we feel that students should be able to attempt during this first ten week block placement. We are not expecting that all these tasks be attempted; this is simply a guide of what could be done based on what the student has done at university in their first year.

In their first year, students will cover the underpinning knowledge to enable them to start the following tasks:

Upon completion of 10% of the NPL, the student is notified that they need to undertake the first part of their behavioural evaluation. This will include gaining feedback from both the clinical coach and a nominated peer regarding the student’s professional development.

It has long been acknowledged that training student veterinary nurses should be a team effort and not solely on the shoulders of the clinical coach. The clinical coach is responsible for the facilitation of training and ultimately making the decision regarding student competence in a skill, but the journey to achieve this will likely to include lots of the practice team. This section outlines how witnesses can and should be used to support our student veterinary nurses training.

Who is responsible for determining the suitability of a witness?

The clinical coach should be making the decision as to who are appropriately qualified witnesses for supporting the student in any given skill. This will likely include utilisation of staff with particular expertise, for example:

• An experienced receptionist to support the student whilst undertaking reception duties.
• An experienced consulting RVN supporting the student learning how to support clients in clinics.

The clinical coach is expected to liaise with staff members to ask them to act as a witness and what this will involve for the relevant skill(s). This may include discussion and/or provision of written information regarding the skill guidance and skill expectations in line with the practice case load.

How should use of witnesses be logged in the NPL?

If a witness is used to demonstrate a skill to the student, and/or observe the student demonstrating this back, the clinical coach should log the name of the witness in their comments and the rationale behind use of said witness.

In logging their experiences, the student should note either in their case description or reflective comments the name of the witness(es) used.

In making the decision regarding student competence, the clinical coach will then liaise with the relevant witness(es) and reach a decision regarding overall task competence which should then be recorded in their decision of competence.

Do witnesses need to write up formal witness statements?

We do not require witnesses to write formal witness statements. However, where witnesses are used to support training, we do expect transparency of the witness process to be visible on the NPL as detailed above.

Upon internal quality assurance of the NPL, if this is found not to be the case, the internal quality assurance verifier, (IQAV) may request written witness statements.

It is usual that during the course of NPL completion, there are some tasks which students will struggle to gain experience in because cases are few and far between. A typical example would be first aid cases.

It can be useful to plan for this from the start of training – making a list of tasks which are deemed ‘rare’ so that the team can be made aware that if such a case comes into the practice, the student can be called to get involved. Course providers do usually ask clinical coaches to wait until a student has learnt the necessary underpinning knowledge at college/university before opening a task, but where rare cases are concerned, the more cases a student can get involved in, the better.

Simulation

Simulations are also a very good way for the student to gain experience. However, these need to be carefully managed to ensure the simulation is as realistic as possible, and that it does not turn into a question and answer session.

Table: Ideas for simulations in areas where cases may be rarely seen

Professional Discussion

Where indicated on the NPL, it is possible for some tasks to be evidence by professional discussion. This is usually for tasks that are very rarely seen, but it is still important the student knows how to deal with them, e.g. reporting incidents that come under RIDDOR.

Reflective comments are an essential part of the NPL. As well as allowing students the opportunity to reflect on each experience, good use of the reflective comments box can also prevent students from over-logging unnecessarily.

Prior to logging an experience, the student should ask themselves:

• Why am I logging this experience, what does it show?
• Does this experience show anything different than the experiences already logged for this task?
• Which task guidance notes / clinical coach requests have I covered?
• Am I showing progression; have I had previous difficulties with similar experiences?

Students should reflect on:

• How well the skill went
• Was it successful or un-successful (both should be logged to show learning and progression)?
• Was anything new learnt?
• In reality has the student carried out this skill before?
• Are more experiences required?
• Is the student confident / competent with this aspect of the skill?

The reflective comments box should NOT be used as an explanation / narrative of how the skill was executed. This detail should be in the patient description box, and the reflective comments should be purely reflective and suggestive of how the student progresses with this skill moving forward, e.g. add further experiences (what might these be) or is the student ready to claim competence.

Examples of reflective comments (2016-2022 NPL)