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Count my competencies not my practice hours? Why opinion is split

Nurses and students debate whether replacing practice hours threshold with competency system would be putting quantity before quality for faster qualification
A nurse and nursing student on clinical placement talk at ward computer as nurses debate idea of reducing practice hours

Nurses and students debate whether replacing practice hours threshold with competency system would be putting quantity before quality for faster qualification

A nurse and nursing student on clinical placement talk at ward computer as nurses debate idea of reducing practice hours
A nurse supports a nursing student to get hands-on experience on clinical placement at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge Picture: Tim George

Suggestions that nursing qualifications should be based on competency and not clinical hours have provoked mixed reactions from nurses.

A report by the Universities Alliance suggests the Nursing and Midwifery Council could train more nurses if it moved to a competency-based system instead of requiring students to complete 2,300 clinical placement hours to qualify.

Complex problem-solving is learned by being on clinical placement

wBut many Nursing Standard readers – registrants and nursing students – say clinical placements are important because they help students get essential hands-on experience.

NS Student

It’s possible to learn little on placement, thanks to short-staffing and lack of supervision

Others argue nursing students are often left to their own devices during placements because of lack of staff and capacity to supervise them, and so a shift to a competency-based system might help.

A nurse posting on Nursing Standard’s Facebook page says: ‘It’s true that you can put in many hours in a placement where you learn nothing new, but they had to stick you somewhere’.

While another on Twitter says she felt she was at her placement ‘just to get my hours and leave’.

Nursing Standard on Facebook

Perhaps the 2,300 hours threshold is too high

One nurse agrees with the principle of ‘quality not quantity’ and that having more placement hours where nursing students were being used to fill workforce gaps would not necessarily ‘make a better nurse’.

Another says while reducing the required 2,300 hours could be workable, exposure to practice is essential. Some suggest a balance between the two would work well.


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