Trainee advanced clinical practitioner Review

I work as part of an emergency out of hours team. I assess, care and manage pts in emergency situations including cardiac arrests. I facilitate the admission to critical care for pts who require a higher level of support and provide support to those being discharged from critical care to the ward environment

I have learnt many new things throughout my apprenticeship that have enhanced my role, including a broader understanding of clinical presentations and how to correctly diagnose, how I as a senior member of the nursing team will be seen as a leader and how I can use that to ensure best practice.

Overall the programme ahs been very good, obviously COVID has meant many restrictions and online learning that has not been great for such a clinical course. The lack of interaction with peers on the course has also affected our learning as we have missed out on being able to compare notes, ideas or understanding.

The programme over a two year period is very difficult so with the added pressures because of COVID it has been so stressful at times. The support form tutors and support staff has been amazing, however the structure of the course was affected by covid with modules being postponed and than ran alongside others.

Due to a lack of understanding of the role and the University requirements the support form my employer has been poor. This is hopefully improving now as there has been the creation of a ACP lead nurse who is available to advise and support. TACP Mentor allocated by my employer also needs work as my mentor could not commit to my needs as a student.

The support from the university overall has been very good, although there are inconsistency's in the support you receive dependent on who your supervisior or tutor is. The RMQI Project is an example, some people had lots of support and were able to submit multiple drafts whereas I was told from the start I could only submit one draft. My viva was for a full hour, others only had 30 minutes, If my grade is affected because of this then that is unfair.

My role has been enhanced so much by what I have learned throughout the course, I have become more confident in my decision making because of the skills and knowledge gained. Having experienced tutors some of whom still practice clinically has helped enormously by relating the learning to current situations in the NHS.

Unfortunately due to COVID there has been no extra curricular activities to get involved in. Hopefully in the near future this will change and professional networking events will be in person again, rather than over zoom or teams. Team building activities to help staff post COVID are currently in the planning stage.

Yes

As a organisation the NHS is a great place to work with a secure future and lots of development opportunities. It has been a very difficult 18 months and think it will take staff a long time to recover. Within each department within each hospital there are small communities or families that have worked and supported eachother for years and will continue to do so.

To have a current knowledge of relevant health issues or developments. Apply because you are committed to the role, its not a get off on time job or earn lots of money job, but is very rewarding in different ways. There are bad days but thankfully the good days make these bearable.