Midwifery Sign-off mentor
update
June 2014
1
Thank you for completing the
Mentor Evaluation Form.
2
On line information
To support this presentation please access the
link below for the information and guidance
included in this presentation
www.anglia.ac.uk/mentors
3
Embracing the “NHS Values” within
mentoring
Positive role modelling
• The NHS Constitution Values
• The 6 “C’s”
• The Essential Skills Clusters.
4
Mentorship of Student
Midwives
• Student midwives must
have a named sign-off
mentor to support them
through each of their
midwifery placements.
• All midwifery mentors
have to be a sign-off
mentor or working
towards becoming a signoff mentor.
• Students must work with
their sign-off mentor for
40% of their placement –
minimum of 2 shifts a
week or 15 hours.
• Midwifery mentors
working towards
becoming a sign-off
mentor must be
supervised by a sign-off
mentor when mentoring
students.
5
Entering and Remaining
“Live” on the mentor register
1.
NMC approved mentor preparation programme.
2.
Been supervised mentoring students on 3 occasions ( or done 2
simulations and 1 supervised sign-off).
3.
Have completed the Midwifery Sign-off Verification Document to
enter the register.
4.
Annual mentor update (within 12 months of last update)
5.
Triennial review (within 3 years of last triennial review.)
6.
Supported and summatively assessed two students within the
three year cycle.
6
Triennial Review
•
Three yearly cycle of reflection of mentor practice against NMC standards.
•
The process is a self assessment of your skills as a mentor.
•
Complete “Triennial Review for Mentors” document available on the Mentor
Portal or Trust equivalent
•
This provides evidence of your on-going updating of your mentoring skills
•
Meet with your line manager or appropriate other to review your evidence.
•
The Mentor Register is then updated.
7
Quality assurance
The HEI and Placement Providers work together to assure the quality
of the student practice learning experience through the process of:
• Audits
• Practice Education Committees
• Student/Mentor Evaluations
• Moderation of Practice Assessment
• External reviews from CQC, Monitor, PQAF, Professional Body,
NHSLA
8
New Curriculum Sept 2014
• The September 2014 cohort will commence a new
curriculum.
• New curriculum will have a new Practice
Assessment Document.
• New curriculum has a new Grading in Practice Tool.
• September 2012 and 2013 cohorts will remain on
the old curriculum, but will use the new curriculum’s
Grading of Practice Tool.
9
Content of New Curriculum
Trimester Three
Fundamentals
of Midwifery
Practice 2
(30 credits,
Standard
Module)
Fundamental
Midwifery
Skills (30
credits,
Placement
Module)
Breastfeeding
OSCE(Fine
graded)
MCQ paper
(including A&P/
Breastfeeding;
Fine graded)
Practice
Competencies
(Pass/ Fail)
Placement
Assessment (
Fine Graded)
Safe Medicate
80% pass
4800 word
critique of
research
paper (Fine
graded)
Year Three (Level 6)
Midwifery Care
for the woman
and infant with
complex needs
(30 credits,
Standard
Module)
Promoting
Health &
Wellbeing in
Midwifery Care
(30 credits,
Standard
Module)
2 hr Multiple
choice exam
(pass/fail) & 3
hr written exam
(Fine graded)
5000 word
essay(Fine
graded)
Emergency
Midwifery Skills
(30 credits,
Standard Module)
OSCE NLS
Pass/fail Random
OSCE (Fine
graded)
Developing
professional
midwifery skills
(30 credits,
Placement
Module)
Practice
Competencies
(Pass/ Fail)
Placement
Assessment (
Fine Graded)
Undergraduate
Major Project
(30 credits,
Project Module)
Newborn Infant Physical
Examination
(30 credits, Theory/Practice
Module)
10,000 word
major project
(Fine graded)
NIPE practice document
Pass/fail
OSCE (Fine graded)
Collaborative
professional
working
(30 credits,
Standard
module)
Advancing
Midwifery
Practice (30
credits,
(Placement
Module)
Annotated
PowerPoint
(Fine graded)
Practice
Competencie
s (Pass/ Fail)
Placement
Assessment (
Fine Graded)
Safe
Medicate
100% pass
Start caseload
10
PROGRESSION POINT (NMC)
Small Group Presentation(Fine
graded) & 1800 word reflective
account(pass/fail)
Knowledge,
research and
evidence in
midwifery
practice
(30 credits,
Standard
Module)
PROGRESSION POINT (NMC)
Trimester Two
Trimester One
Fundamentals of Midwifery
Practice 1
(30 credits, Standard Module)
Year Two (Level 5)
PROGRESSION POINT
Year One (Level 4)
Placements
• Curriculum is 50% theory and 50% practice.
• During placements students will work 30 hours a week clinically.
7.5 hours will be for guided reflection, skills or theory sessions.
• Students will have the following placements through the course.
YEAR
WEEKS OF PLACEMENT
PLACEMENT AREAS
ONE
21 weeks
Midwifery placements
TWO
30 weeks
Midwifery placements
2 weeks Gynae/acute care
placement
2 weeks neonatal unit placement
2 weeks non- midwifery placements
3 weeks elective placement.
THREE
24 weeks
Midwifery placements.
11
Practice Assessment
Document
• Students will have a separate Practice Assessment
Document for each year of their course.
• They are designed to enable the student to demonstrate
achievement of the Standards for Pre-Registration
Midwifery Education (NMC 2007) and the Essential Skills
Clusters (NMC 2009) which will allow them entry onto
the midwifery part of the NMC register.
• The Practice Assessment Document will be bound and
should remain with the student at all times.
12
Progression Points
• The NMC requires that there are progression points
within midwifery course, where students have to pass all
academic and practice assessments up to that point
before they can proceed onto the next part of the course,
or qualify as a midwife.
• The NMC state that the proficiency in practice needed to
pass a progression point must to be assessed by a signoff mentor in practice.
13
Progression Point 1 & 2
• The sign-off mentor on the student’s last midwifery placement in the
first year and second year needs to make a judgement of whether
the student has achieved the level of proficiency for that year.
• They will do this through reviewing the student’s Practice
Assessment Document and through their own observations of the
student.
• The sign-off mentor will need to sign the Progression Point
completion form to verify successful completion of the practice
element of the progression point.
14
Final progression point
• The student will be allocated a final sign-off mentor in the third
year.
•
The final sign-off mentor must work a placement with the
student in their 3rd year and must meet with the student for at
least 1 hour per week in their final placement.
• The final sign-off mentor is responsible and accountable for
assessing the student against the NMC Final Progression
Point Standards.
•
The final sign-off mentor will need to sign the declaration to
verify that the student has met the standards in order for the
student to enter onto the midwifery register.
15
Practice skills
• Each year the students will have a set of
practice skills in which they need to be able to
demonstrate proficiency.
• These skills can be signed off by any midwife
who the student works with and who observes
their proficiency in the skill.
16
Essential Skills Clusters
The Essential Skills clusters (ESC’s) are a set of broad, womanfocused, midwifery skill statements introduced by the NMC
(2009). The ESC’s cover five areas of midwifery practice:
• Communication
• Initial antenatal assessment
• Normal labour and birth
• Breastfeeding
• Medicine management.
ESC outcomes are assessed at 2 points; at the end of the first
year and at the end of the third year. The Essential skills clusters
must be signed off by the student’s sign-off mentor.
17
NIPE assessments
1st year
•
Students will be
completing the Newborn
Infant Physical
Examination module
(NIPE) as part of their
midwifery course.
•
This will be taken as a
module in Year 3.
•
However, students must
prepare for the module
throughout their midwifery
course and keep a
practice document of their
progress.
•
Students must complete 10 formative
top to toe Examinations of the
Newborn, which include examination
of the TESTES (part of the NIPE
check). A sign off- mentor can assess
these examinations.
•
· At the end of the year students
MUST also undertake a summative
assessment of a top to toe
Examination of the Newborn. The
summative assessment must be
observed by a sign-off mentor who
has done at least 3 of the student’s
formative assessments.
18
NIPE assessments
continued
2nd year
• Students must complete 10 formative top to
toe Examination of the Newborn examinations,
which include the HEART (part of the NIPE
check). These must be assessed by a
practitioner with the NIPE qualification to
ensure accuracy of the Heart examination. A
further 10 formative top to toe Examination of
the Newborn examinations are required, but
could exclude the heart if assessed by a
practitioner without the NIPE qualification.
•
At the end of the year students MUST also
undertake a summative assessment of a top to
toe Examination of the Newborn.
•
The summative assessment must to be
observed by a sign-off mentor who is a NIPE
practitioner who has done at least 3 of the
student’s formative assessments.
3rd year
Students must complete the
NIPE module. This includes:• · 10 formative Newborn
Infant Physical Examination
(NIPE) assessments with a
NIPE qualified practitioner.
• · An OSCE- summative
assessment which is
undertaken in the
University.
• · Producing a practice
document with evidence of
all assessments.
19
Placement documents
• Mentor details
• Orientation to practice area
• Learning contract
• Mid-placement/interim review
• Grading in Practice Tool
• Feed forward
20
Grading in Practice Tool
• Holistic assessment tool to be
completed at the end of every
midwifery placement of 4
weeks or more.
• Different grid for each year of
the course.
The Traffic Light System
Any mark that falls in
• The red is unsafe practice
so the student will fail the
assessment with an overall
mark as 0
• Marks contribute credits to the
student’s degree.
• In the amber column is
satisfactory
• Follows a traffic light system.
• In the green column
indicates good /excellent
progress.
• Pass mark for FGT is 40%
21
Failing the Grading in Practice
Tool – what happens?
• Inform the student’s personal tutor/link
lecturer immediately.
• A tripartite meeting will be set up between the
student, sign-off mentor and personal tutor to
develop an action plan for remedial action for
further placements.
• The student will need to repeat and pass the
placement in the first trimester of the next year.
22
Feedback and feed forward
Feedback is important to help the student know how they are performing.
Feed forward gives specific suggestions to the student on how they could
improve their performance.
To be effective feedback and feed forward needs to be:
• Early
• Specific
• Written feedback is crucial for
– Sign-off mentors decision at progression points
– Continuity and validity of summative assessment
– Student reflection
• Verbal feedback should be honest and caring
• Service users feedback is important
• Interpersonal skills
• Confidentiality
23
The Old and the New
• Old Curriculum
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Learning contracts
Preliminary practice reviews
Interim practice reviews
Midwifery practice skills
Midwifery practice outcomes
Observed practice assessments
Fine grading tools
Interprofessional Learning
Opportunities
Sign-off of 2 progression points.
• New Curriculum
•
Learning contract
•
Mentor details & Orientation to
practice area
Mid-placement/interim review
Practice Skills
Essential skills clusters
Examination of the Newborn Skills
formative & summative assessments
Grading of Practice Tool & Feed
forward.
Interprofessional learning
Management practice assessment
Sign-off of 3 progression points
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
24
Case loading
• It is an NMC requirement that students hold a small caseload
during their course (NMC 2009).
• Students will carry a caseload of a minimum of 5 women over
the 3 years of the course.
• Students can start to gather their caseload in the 3rd trimester
of their 1st year.
• Students must gain consent from the woman and the woman
can withdraw at any time.
• All care given must be fully supervised.
25
Empathy for Students
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Make students feel welcome.
Sensitive to students’ needs
Respect student as you would a colleague
Understand that student has deadlines
Consider them as your future colleague
Ensure they feel a ‘valued’ member of the team
Encourage students to discuss potential improvements
to standards of care
• Maintain student’s confidentiality
26
Mentoring is Key to
Student Learning
• Professional gatekeeper
• Professional role model
• Positive mentoring is valued by the student
You may be the most inspirational figure in the
student’s career
27
References.
• NMC (2008) Standards to Support Learning
and Assessment in Practice London: Nursing
and Midwifery Council
•
• NMC (2009) Standards for Pre-Registration
Midwifery education London: Nursing and
Midwifery Council
28