Placements

Practice placements are an essential part of your nursing programme and will equip you with the skills needed to complete your programme, NMC registration and have successful nursing career. In line with standard 2 of the RCN Nursing Workforce Standards, all nursing students must be supernumerary when on placement. If you do not feel that you are remaining supernumerary during your placement, please speak to your practice assessor or link-lecturer. 

Placements are arranged by your university and plans are made in agreement with a local placement provider. Placements are often in NHS Trusts, but you may also be offered a placement in a private, voluntary, or independent organisation. The university will have assessed your designated placement area, to ensure it has learning opportunities to meet your proficiencies. When allocating placements, they will take into account your circumstances such as where you live, whether you have dependants, and whether you have access to a car. Your university will have placement information online or in your student handbook. In it, you’ll find information about claiming expenses, supervision and assessment arrangements, and what to do if you cannot attend your placement. 

You can find some useful advice in our Helping students get the best from their practice placements publication.

You may have the opportunity to go on an elective placement overseas - this will give you an invaluable experience and an entirely different perspective from health and social care in the United Kingdom. 

Support on placement if you have a long term condition

Many nurses work whilst managing health and disability issues and our Peer Support network for students has helpful advice for students on placement.

Familiarise yourself with the various standards published on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) website which outline what is expected of you (and your programme provider) during the course of your studies and beyond. In particular:

• The Code
• Health and character as a student
• Standards of proficiency for registered nurses
• Standards framework for nursing and midwifery education
• Standards for student supervision and assessment

As a student you should not participate in any procedure that you are not fully prepared for, or which is not adequately supervised. If you find yourself in this situation, discuss the matter as quickly as possible with your practice assessor, link lecturer or personal tutor.

There may be times when you are not be directly accompanied by your supervisor or another registered colleague. This may happen in emergency situations. As your skills, experience and confidence develop you will become increasingly able to deal with these situations but in the early stages of your education, you must not not undertake any role for which you do not feel confident and competent without direct supervision. Please see our guidance on accountability and delegation for further information. 

Guidance for registered nurses seeking to delegate tasks to nursing students is available from the NMC. In particular, registered nurses should review the NMC’s Standards for Education and Training. 

For information on student electives please see our guide on student electives overseas.

The RCN indemnity scheme will cover student members wishing to undertake elective placements abroad, subject to the conditions and exclusions explained in the indemnity document, and provided you are undertaking a health and social care activity acceptable to the RCN scheme.

You may undertake a health care support role but you should not undertake any role which is beyond your competence/skill base. Please see our information on accountability and delegation to support you in your role. 

All staff should clearly understand that you are working as a health care assistant and not in a nursing student capacity. It is beneficial to undertake your health care support work in an alternative ward or area, although we appreciate this is not always possible.