Tighter controls of student mentors may be problematic

Abstract

The mentorship of students on approved preregistration nursing education programmes has long been a source of concern for everyone involved with the quality of student supervision and completion of learning outcomes. There are severe critics of the system, which is believed to have led to shoddy practice where students pass practice placement objectives without any proper control or checks to see if they have achieved them. In some instances, students have hardly worked with their mentors and have been faced with the prospect of failing their placements because no-one can verify what they have accomplished.