Nurse education in the UK has undergone a radical change over the past 30 years. The integration of nursing students within practice has evolved from an apprenticeship style to bespoke mentoring support. To act as mentors, registered nurses must have met stage 2 outcomes of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Standards to Support Learning and Assessment in Practice, which clearly stipulate that mentors should have a reduced clinical commitment when supporting students, with one hour per week being protected, in addition to the 40% of time through direct or indirect supervision with their mentor/sign off mentor when facilitating a student on their final 12-week experience. However, this does not seem to be the case in reality. A qualitative study comprising six semi-structured interviews was undertaken across one health and social care trust. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis. A number of themes and subthemes were identified: engagement (barriers versus strategies), support (inclusivity versus exclusivity), and lack of recognition (strategic versus organisational). Due to the expected changes of supervising and assessing nursing students in practice, it is imperative that an innovative, collaborative and engaged approach is facilitated from all key stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of supporting and assessing students by registered nurses and the safeguarding of the public within clinical practice.
Keywords: Learning and assessment; Mentoring; Mentors; Qualitative research; Student nurses.