Impact of Prior Care Experience. Version 1.0.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of the impact of care experience prior to undertaking NHS funded education and training
IRAS ID
216321
Contact name
Joanne Lymn
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
D12022015 SoHS, University of Nottingham Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (Previous/Phase One ethical approval)
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 26 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
What is the impact of care experience prior to undertaking NHS-funded education and training, on pre-registration nursing students’ skills, values, behaviours and service users’ experiences of care?
Nursing care quality was criticised in England following the failings in care identified by the Mid Staffordshire inquiry. Findings included shortcomings in nurses' values and attitudes, and emphasised the need for staff to prioritise compassion. Regarding pre-registration nursing, the inquiry report recommended that nursing applicants undertake Health Care Assistant training and experience before commencing nurse training.
In 2013 the Department of Health (DH) introduced a pilot programme providing nursing applicants with hands-on care experience, prior to training, in the hope that they would acquire real-life experience of the reality of healthcare and provide employers with opportunities to ensure that individuals had relevant values and behaviours, before commencing study.
There is little evidence that this response will adequately address concerns highlighted. This DH-funded study aims to investigate the impact of care experience prior to entering nurse training, on nursing students’ caring skills, values and behaviours. This phase of research seeks to explore patient experiences of care provided by student nurses (both with and without prior care experience), during their hospital-based placements in 2017, at four NHS Trusts. It invites patients to complete a questionnaire evaluating the care received from a student nurse participant. The study aims to recruit 43 adult branch student nurse participants from the University of Nottingham, University of Huddersfield and Anglia Ruskin University and up to 5 patient participants per student nurse participant, totalling 215 patient participants.
The research will inform policy makers, the NHS, clinicians and educators about the effect of prior experience on students’ caring skills, values, behaviours, and the best model of providing experience, so that individuals can deliver the best care to patients upon graduation and beyond.
Summary of Results
The research aimed to explore whether undertaking a period of care experience before starting nurse training (referred to as ‘prior care experience’ [PCE]) has an impact on care and compassion amongst student nurses and might therefore be an effective way to improve care and compassion in the nursing profession.
Approach: The study followed two groups of nursing students over a four-year period from starting their training to post-qualification as a nurse. Group 1 students had completed a government pilot scheme that provided paid PCE and were interviewed three times across the time period. Group 2 students had not been part of the pilot but some had paid PCE and others did not. These students completed a series of questionnaires each year, which were chosen to represent aspects of compassionate care. Some of these students also took part in group interviews. Also, some patients completed a questionnaire about the care they had received from nursing students.
Findings: Interviews with Group 1 students found that PCE had positive and negative effects on aspects of compassion but most of the positive effects did not last until students qualified. There was no difference between aspects of compassion between students who had paid PCE and those who did not in Group 2 students. This suggests that paid PCE does not make a significant long-term difference to student nurses’ care and compassion. There was no difference in the patient experience of care.
Conclusion: The findings of this research suggest that in terms of student nurses’ care and compassion, there are very few long-term benefits associated with having paid PCE. It appears that paid PCE does not offer an effective way to improve care and compassion, therefore it is not necessary to make paid PCE a requirement for acceptance onto a nursing course.
REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0279
Date of REC Opinion
9 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion