Practice education facilitator roles and their value to NHS organisations

Abstract

The role of the practice education facilitator (PEF) was introduced to support the management of large student nurse numbers in clinical areas and to monitor and enhance the quality of placements. While much has been written about the activities and roles undertaken by PEFs, less is known about the value of this type of role to the NHS organisations that employ them. This article explores some of the views of PEFs working in a variety of trusts and organisations in London and surrounding counties. There is no consistent job definition and often insufficient support, leading to some PEFs feeling overwhelmed by the work and isolated within the role. Since its introduction, the role has required post holders to work more strategically within their trusts' education remits. However, it was felt by most post holders that the role remains undervalued and the perception is that these posts are vulnerable to budget cuts. The article considers what effect this could have on pre-registration nurse education. The profile of the role needs to be strengthened through consistent job descriptions and streamlining the number of job titles attached to the role.

Practice education facilitators perceptions and experiences of their role in the clinical learning environment for nursing students: a qualitative study

“…Examples of these roles are the lecturer-practitioner [ 17 ], the practice placement facilitator [ 18 ], the clinical placement coordinator [ 19 ] and the practice education facilitator [ 20 ]. These roles have been developed to meet individual and local needs, and thus different role remits and titles exist [ 21 , 22 ].…”

“…In this study, we use the term ‘practice education facilitator’ in a generic sense for placement support roles, where post holders are employed by an academic institution, a health care provider or both organisations to work within the clinical field to promote and to support clinical nursing education. A practice education facilitator provides guidance and support to both nursing students and clinical supervisors within the clinical setting and is expected to act as a liaison between the academic institution and the clinical placement site [ 22 ].…”

“…There is a lack of more recent research literature on placement support roles. The existing literature indicates that one benefit from introducing such roles is the development of stronger links between the universities and the clinical setting [18,20,[22][23][24], which in turn may contribute to enhanced quality of the clinical learning environment for nursing students [18,19]. Additionally, these roles have been found to be appreciated and acknowledged by clinical supervisors as valuable resources, especially for those who are facing challenging student situations [16,20].…”