Student nurses

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. 

Situations which may be classed as grounds for appeal are as follows:

• Mitigating circumstances
  These are unforeseen or unavoidable disruptions to study caused by serious circumstances which took place during the period when course work was due (or in the run up to an examination/during the examination period). You cannot normally apply for mitigating circumstances after you have sat an examination or submitted an assignment, so it is always important to raise any concerns with your course tutor beforehand.

• Procedural irregularities
  You may feel that the process applied or conduct seen in an examination or coursework assignment fails to meet the standard procedures that are required of the educational institution where you study. If this is the case you must provide evidence that there are irregularities and a failure to meet a consistent approach to each student.

• Unfair treatment
  You may feel that you have been unfairly treated in comparison to your fellow students. Where you feel there is evidence of prejudice, bias or inadequate assessment on the part of one or more assessors, you must show that this had a direct effect on your results.

Read your student handbook to understand your university's assessment process, policies and procedures, as well as appeal time limits. Seek support from your personal or link-tutor, practice assessor and/or your Students Union.

If you have exhausted the appeals procedure and the issue is still unresolved, consider contacting the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for England and Wales, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) for Scotland or the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO) for Northern Ireland. 

If you believe your place on the course or your NMC registration may be at risk as a result of the failure, please contact us as soon as possible.

Following a review of the use of simulated practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NMC has now made it a permanent standard, to allow up to 600 hours of simulated practice learning. These hours form part of the total 2,300 hours required for entry onto the NMC register and allows nursing students to practice and learn through simulated practice learning where conventional clinical practice isn’t available or possible. The amount of simulated practice learning hours incorporated into a nursing programme varies between education providers. 

If you have any concerns regarding simulated practice learning, speak in the first instance to your personal tutor and education institution. If you still have concerns, read our guidance on raising concerns below and contact us if you need further advice and support.  

Our Raising concerns guide for RCN members will support you to raise concerns relating to university and/or practice placements. The handy toolkit also has some useful resources and a flowchart to ensure you are escalating your concerns in the most appropriate way. 

University

If you have concerns about your studies that you want to raise, such as deficiencies in the university’s standards of service or the quality of supervision or tuition, try and resolve them directly with your personal tutor or programme lead. If you are not satisfied with the response, read your university’s student complaints procedure to decide what to do next.

Contact us if you have followed your university's guidance and the problem still exists. 

Practice placements

50% of your time as a student will be spent on placement and seeing the theory being put into practice can raise many questions.

In addition, organisations must have effective procedures in place to allow nursing staff - including students - and their representatives to raise any concerns in relation to equipment, policies and processes.

Students should feel able to raise concerns without detriment and should receive timely feedback on their concerns. Our raising concerns guide and toolkit will provide you with support and direction to enable you to do this. 

If you have concerns while undertaking your placement, firstly speak with your practice supervisor/assessor or your academic assessor. This can include any difficulties you may experience due to unsustainable pressures impacting on your placement. 

Contact us if you have followed your university's guidance and the problem still exists. 

If you fail your practice assessment, this should not come as a surprise to you and you should have had the opportunity to have a support plan implemented earlier in the placement, to give you the best possible chance to succeed.

You are entitled to additional time to address your learning and practice needs if you did not receive a mid-point interview or feedback about your need to develop.

If you fail an assignment, placement or examination, you would usually be offered an opportunity to re-sit.

If you still fail to meet the required standard following the attempts allowed under the course regulations, you can consider an academic appeal.

You can't appeal against academic judgement, but you could appeal if you believe that the judgement was not made fairly or in line with university process. You would need to follow your university’s academic appeal regulations.

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.

Any conduct, behaviour or other matter that could bear on your suitability for fitness to practise (or for dealing with patients) which comes to light during your studies will be handled under your university’s fitness to practise procedure.

Instances where the procedure might apply include;

• concerns about character (such as convictions, plagiarism, falsifying records),
• serious unmanaged or untreated health problems,
• misconduct (abuse of patients or colleagues) or
• lack of competence.

If you believe your place on the course or your NMC registration may be at risk as a result of a fitness to practise investigation, contact us as soon as possible.

Registering with the NMC: health issues

If you have a health issue, it could affect your admission to the register. The NMC will want to know that you are able to deliver safe practice.

It is important to do the following in the months before the end of your course.

• Prepare a full account of the health issue and the circumstances around this. The NMC are looking for assurance that you are able to practise safely.
• See your GP or consultant and request a medical report as soon as possible.
• If you are asked for a reference at any stage, it is important to tell your referee why you are asking for a reference.

If you are in dispute with your university regarding the good health and good character declaration or a caution or conviction, contact us for further advice.

Registering with the NMC: cautions and convictions

If you have received a caution or conviction, it will affect your admission to the register. The NMC will want to know:

• what happened?
• why it happened?
• if this issue could affect you and your delivery of safe practice
• whether you have informed the university
• if you have reflected and regret your actions.

It is important to do the following in the months before the end of your course:

• prepare a full account of what happened and the circumstances around this
• if there was more than one conviction, each one must be individually addressed
• remember to show insight and remorse
• gather evidence to show that the university or employer was informed of the caution or conviction. If the university or employer was not informed, give an explanation of why they were not
• see your GP and request a medical report as soon as possible if the caution or conviction was related to a drink, drug or a health issue
• if you are asked for a reference at any stage, it is important to tell your referee why you are asking for a reference

If you are in dispute with your university regarding the good health and good character declaration or a caution or conviction, contact us for further advice.

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 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.

Please see the section on leave in our Having a Family toolkit for more information. 

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. 

When you have successfully completed your course, your university will submit your course completion and contact details to the NMC. It is very important that your university has your correct contact details so that this process isn’t delayed. See our Just about to Graduate publication which details the process.

Your university will send a declaration of health and character to support your application. This includes informing the NMC of relevant convictions, cautions or pending charges. Read more about the process here.

If you declare a health issue or caution or conviction during admission, the NMC will want to know more after you complete the admissions process on NMC online. Please see our fitness to practise section above on how to present your situation to the NMC. If you are in dispute with your university regarding the good health and good character declaration or a caution or conviction, contact us for further advice.

Occasionally a university may refuse to support your admission to the NMC register if;

• your place on the course or your NMC registration may be at risk as a result of a fitness to practise investigation, or
• you are in dispute with your university regarding the good health and good character declaration or because of a caution or conviction.

If this happens to you, see the fitness to practise section within this guide and contact us for further advice.

Our Student Money Guide will help you get the best out of your student finance and/or student bursary. It will also ensure you are aware of the benefits available to you a student member.  

Find out how to become a nurse

Just about to Graduate

RCN help with finding a job

RCN Peer Support Service - Information for students

Student benefits

Helping students get the best from their practice placements