About Prior Care Experience
Study title: Evaluation of the impact of care experience prior to undertaking NHS funded nursing education and training.
Investigators: Professor Joanne Lymn (PI), Sarah Field-Richards (Research Fellow), Professor Patrick Callaghan, Professor Helen Spiby, Professor Sarah Redsell, Professor Sharon Andrew, Professor Philip Keeley, Dr Gemma Stacey.
This study is funded by The Department of Health (DH).
Study summary
Background
In response to the Francis Report (2013), the Department of Health (DH) recommended that individuals complete up to a year of care experience before commencing nurse training, as a potential means of fostering values conducive to compassionate care.
The DH subsequently introduced a pilot programme (2013), providing individuals with NHS care experience prior to commencing nurse training. There is however little evidence regarding the impact of prior care experience (PCE) (pilot-derived or otherwise), on the subsequent development of students’ caring and compassionate values and behaviours. The appropriateness and effectiveness of the Government’s response, as a means of addressing concerns raised by Francis (2013), is therefore unknown.
Aim
To evaluate the impact of care experience prior to undertaking NHS funded education and training, on pre-registration nursing students' skills, values and behaviours, and service users' experiences of care.
Objectives
- To explore the impact of prior care experience upon the decision to enroll (or not) on a pre-registration nursing course.
- To investigate whether or not prior experience of care has an impact on pre-registration students' caring approach.
- To determine whether there are any longer-term benefits to students upon qualification of formal paid prior experience of care.
- To identify if, and how, the values and behaviours that students learn during prior care experience are sustained throughout their education and training.
- To elucidate if there is a model of prior care experience which best enhances the newly qualified workforces' caring and compassionate behaviours.
Methods
Longitudinal study incorporating convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Methods include a systematic search and critical review of published evidence surrounding the impact of prior care experience.
- The caring and compassionate skills, values and behaviours of students who participated in the DH pilot project will be compared with three other cohorts of students who did not participate in the pilot, at various intervals over a four year period.
- Participants will complete questionnaires designed as proxy measures of the 6C’s, participate in focus groups and their University academic records will be analysed.
- The influence of educational attainment and empowerment upon the development of caring skills, values and behaviours, and the influence of a compassion-focussed clinical supervision model, will be explored.
- Patients’ experiences of care received from participants and student-patient interactions will be analysed.
How the findings will be used
The findings of the research will inform and advise policy makers, the NHS, clinicians and educators about the value and effect of prior care experience upon the decision to enrol on a pre-registration nursing course, and student nurses' skills, values and caring behaviours. It will help to identify the best model of providing this experience to individuals wishing to train as nurses, so that they can then deliver high quality, compassionate care to patients upon graduation and beyond.
Evidence of this nature has the potential to improve recruitment and retention of nursing students, quality of care, patient safety and ensure that services meet patient need and regulatory standards, providing reassurance to the public regarding nursing practice. The study has the potential to significantly influence decisions surrounding future nurse education and the quality of patient care.