High quality, supportive practice learning experiences are crucial for ensuring that student nurses and midwives develop into\ncompetent practitioners who are fit for practice. The practice educator role is one model of practice learning support but the\nrole is relatively new and has been little investigated. This paper reports on an appreciative inquiry that explored the current\npractice educator role at one university in England, with the aim of reaching a consensus for how the role could be enhanced.\nThe first phase involved in-depth interviews with 18 participants: practice educators (n = 10); student nurse representatives (n\n= 5) and practice based education leads (n = 3). The interviews were analysed thematically. Three themes related to social\nprocesses involved in the role: being a bridge, being there, and social identity. The other themes described contributions to the\npractice learning environment: safeguarding, support, critical thinking. The second phase used a modified Delphi technique.\nParticipants ranked trigger statements, related to the themes, in order of importance. Two consensus workshops were held where\nthe statements were reviewed by practice educators, students and learning environment leads, following which principles and\npractices of the practice educator role were agreed. In conclusion, the strength of the practice educator role is that it bridges the\nworlds of university and practice. This bridging resulted from social processes that required a sustained presence in practice to\nengage in the reality of everyday practice and gain the shared social identity of a practitioner.
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