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The Role of the Student Nurse in Higher Education

In: Social Issues

Submitted By nazmahmood
Words 1460
Pages 6
A student in Higher Education and a Future Healthcare Practitioner.
In this essay I will explore my initial reflections on my role as a student in higher education. There will a discussion on my role as a future healthcare practitioner and the efforts I need to make to achieve the professional status of a nurse. I will discuss my learning styles and identify key developmental needs to be addressed. There will be discussions on the concepts of professionalism and accountability.
In the United Kingdom today all newly qualified nurses must have a nursing degree as required by The Nursing and Midwifery Council. This significant overhaul to Florence Nightingale’s eighteenth century era, apprenticeship style learning system (Bradshaw, A. 2001), has led to fundamental changes in nursing education in the twenty first century; both in theory and practice. Today nurses are challenged with up-to date demands, including innovative medical treatments, leading to an aging population, with complex health values (Cherry, B. 2005). In addition, knowledgeable patients, who are averse to being told what to do but expect greater involvement in their own care planning. The need for graduate nurses is supported by the Willis Commission Report (2012) which argues that ‘our future healthcare services will require graduate nurses nursing and leading healthcare teams in a variety of roles, providing care in many settings’.
The concept of accountability and professionalism was highlighted at the start of my course. I have started both an academic programme and a professional career pathway. Thus I am answerable to two organisations; first is the University of West London (UWL) who is facilitating my learning and secondly, to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Both institutions have underpinned concepts of professional regulations, values, attitudes, behaviour and boundaries and

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