Pick ‘n’ mix teaching: a solution to learner engagement?

Within the fast-changing landscape of modern health care, there is an increasing need for nurses to continually upskill themselves, yet a decreasing capacity to release the workforce from the clinical area for education sessions and learning opportunities.

The needs of the contemporary NHS demand the nursing workforce to be competent in complex clinical skills, while also being critical thinkers making complex decisions. This is a widely accepted requirement to ensure practitioners provide safe and effective care.

Indeed, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) specifically focuses on this within the revalidation process by requiring each registrant to provide evidence of 35 hours spent on continuing professional development (CPD) over a 3-year period (NMC, 2019). Where nurses have cumulative demands on their clinical time alongside their needs to balance this with their personal time, education providers must consider the values and perceptions of CPD and what factors influence the individuals.