Practice makes perfect?

Applications for nursing programmes in the UK are reported to have risen by 32% this year, with more than 60 000 people expressing an interest in joining our profession (Ford, 2021). Mark Radford, the Chief Nurse of Health Education England (HEE) said:

‘The tireless and outstanding commitment of all our nurses over the past year … is the best advert for the nursing profession.’

HEE, 2021

This interest is very encouraging, and it will be key that the increase in applicants translates into students and then, ultimately, an increase in registrants. The question is how we might ensure that this increase in demand for nurse training can be supported, particularly in the area of practice placements.

The pandemic has disrupted education, but this has also opened our eyes to different ways of working. Student nurses' clinical placements have been particularly affected. However, we must not forget that prior to COVID-19, improving clinical placements was an area that we were all focused on, in terms of the opportunities for both quality and capacity for increased placements.