Major review of healthcare programmes
The Department of Health, in partnership with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Health Professions Council and the Strategic Health Authorities have contracted with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to carry out reviews of all NHS-funded healthcare programmes in England during the period 2003-06.
QAA helps to provide public assurance that the quality and standards of higher education are being safeguarded and enhanced by conducting academic reviews of higher education provision.
Major review
Major review is a peer review process. It starts when higher education institutions in partnership with their commissioning Strategic Health Authorities evaluate their provision in a self-evaluation document. This document is submitted to QAA for use by a team of academic and practitioner reviewers who gather evidence to enable them to report their judgements on the academic and practitioner standards and the quality of learning opportunities. Review activities include meeting academic and clinical staff and students, scrutinising students' assessed work, visiting practice learning environments, reading relevant documents, and examining learning resources.
Full details of the process of major review can be found in the Handbook for major review of healthcare programmes, 2003.
Judgements
The range of judgements that reviewers may utilise when they have completed a major review are summarised below.
Academic and practitioner standards
Reviewers make one of the following judgements on standards:
- confidence, which may be expressed as
- limited confidence, or
- no confidence.
To reach this judgement, reviewers look at:
- learning outcomes
- the curriculum
- student assessment
- student achievement.
Confidence in academic and practitioner standards: a judgement that is made if reviewers are satisfied with current standards and with the prospect of those standards being maintained into the future. A judgement of limited confidence is made if standards are being achieved but the reviewers have doubts about the ability of the HEI and partner placement providers to maintain them into the future.
No confidence in academic and practitioner standards: a judgement that is made if arrangements are inadequate to enable standards to be achieved or demonstrated. If a failure to achieve standards has occurred in specific programme/s and/or mode/s and/or level/s only, and there is confidence in standards at other levels, the failing programme/s mode/s level/s will be identified separately.
Quality of learning opportunities
Reviewers make one of the following judgements for each of three elements of learning opportunities:
- commendable
- approved
- failing.
The three elements of quality of learning opportunities are:
- learning and teaching
- student progression
- learning resources and their effective utilisation.
Maintenance and enhancement of standards and quality
Reviewers also report the degree of confidence they have in the providers' ability to maintain and enhance quality and standards in the healthcare programmes under review.
Commendable - the provision contributes substantially to the achievement of the intended outcomes, with most elements demonstrating good practice.
Approved - the provision enables the intended outcomes to be achieved, but improvement is needed to overcome weaknesses. The summary report will normally include a statement containing the phrase 'approved, but...', which will set out the areas where improvement is needed.
Failing - the provision makes a less than adequate contribution to the achievement of the intended outcomes; significant improvement is required urgently if the provision is to become at least adequate.
Summary of the main review outcomes
Subject provision and overall aims
Programmes in health visiting, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy at Brunel University in partnership with North East London Strategic Health Authority (SHA), North West London SHA and South East London SHA were reviewed in the academic year 2005-06. Judgements were made about the academic and practitioner standards achieved and the quality of the learning opportunities provided.
The review covered the following programmes:
Health visiting
Pre-registration
- Continued Professional Development (CPD) Programme - Return to Practice (Health Visiting) **
Post-registration
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Public Health Nursing; Health Visiting * **
- Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip)/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Public Health Nursing; Health Visiting * **
Nursing
Pre-registration
- CPD Programme - Return to Practice (Nursing) **
Post-registration
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Community Mental Health Nursing * **
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - District Nursing * **
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - School Nursing * **
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Occupational Health Nursing * **
- PgDip/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Community Mental Health Nursing * **
- PgDip/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - District Nursing * **
- PgDip/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - School Nursing * **
- PgDip/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Occupational Health Nursing * **
- PgDip/MSc Health and Social Care Education (Practice Educator)
Occupational therapy
Pre-registration
- BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy ***
Post-registration
- CDP Programme - Return to Practice in Occupational Therapy
- CDP Programme - Foundations of Practice Placement Education in Occupational Therapy
Physiotherapy
Pre-registration
- BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy ***.
* These programmes underwent Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) annual monitoring as part of the major review.
** NMC approved programme.
*** Health Professions Council approved programme.
Academic and practitioner standards
Overall, the reviewers have confidence in the academic and practitioner standards achieved by the programmes in health visiting, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy at Brunel University in partnership with North East London Strategic Health Authority.
Strengths
- In health visiting, the involvement of a Portfolio Review Panel of Practice Teachers is a particular strength of the programme (paragraph 13).
- Within the nursing provision, student experience is effectively utilised and drawn upon by the subject specialists to enhance learning in the classroom setting, and this is appreciated by students (paragraph 24).
- The post-registration Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) programme team has been highly flexible in altering assessments to enable greater integration of theory and practice (paragraph 27).
- The Portfolio Review Panel of Community Practice Teachers is a positive feature of the nursing provision (paragraph 29).
- Occupational therapy students report very favourably on the level of supervision they receive during practice (paragraph 50).
- The University is highly responsive to the needs of local employers in occupational therapy (paragraph 54).
- The common practice placement record used on the physiotherapy programme provides an excellent mechanism to reduce the possibility of subjectivity in the grading of placements (paragraph 62).
Weaknesses
- No clear plans are in place to develop the health visiting provision within the context of a wider public health framework or to engage the health visiting curriculum with the new 2004 standards of practice (paragraph 10).
- Assessments are spread across the year and some occupational therapy students report that they had to wait until after the examination boards to receive their final assignment marks (paragraph 49).
- Within physiotherapy provision there is delay in students receiving written feedback on their assignments (paragraph 61).
Quality of learning opportunities
Learning and teaching
The quality of learning and teaching is commendable.
Strengths
- Close and effective working relationships between the clinical placement educators and the academic staff enhance learning and teaching opportunities and are evident in all programmes (paragraph 70).
- Students on all programmes comment on the sophistication and high calibre of their placement educators and confirm the quality of teaching in practice-based environments (paragraph 71).
- The School's positive engagement in the Joint University Multi-Professional Project to ensure the development of interprofessional learning opportunities in placement across all programmes is a strength (paragraph 74).
Weakness
- Within the health visiting and nursing programmes, the opportunities for interprofessional learning within the classroom setting are limited (paragraph 76).
Student progression
The quality of student progression is commendable.
Strength
- A well-established and effective personal tutor system is highly valued by students on all programmes (paragraph 80).
Learning resources and their effective utilisation
The quality of learning resources and their effective utilisation is commendable.
Strength
- The introduction of the Physiotherapy Placement Information and Management Service is an excellent example of the benefits of collaboration between Trusts and higher education institutions and a highly effective utilisation of available learning resources (paragraph 95).
Maintenance and enhancement of standards and quality
Strengths
- The School shows a strong commitment to quality management and enhancement and has processes in place to ensure that university regulations are used effectively at the school level (paragraph 96).
- The School demonstrates effective partnership working in its quality assurance and enhancement processes (paragraph 101).
Introduction
1 This report presents the findings of a review of the academic and practitioner standards achieved, and the quality of the learning opportunities provided, in health visiting, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy at Brunel University (the University) in partnership with North East London Strategic Health Authority (SHA), North West London SHA and South East London SHA. The review was completed during the academic year 2005-06.
A Subject provision and overall aims
2 Health visiting, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy are currently offered in the following programmes:
Health visiting
Pre-registration
- Continued Professional Development (CPD) Programme - Return to Practice (Health Visiting) **
Post-registration
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Public Health Nursing; Health Visiting * **
- Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip)/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Public Health Nursing; Health Visiting * **
Nursing
Pre-registration
- CPD Programme - Return to Practice (Nursing) **
Post-registration
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Community Mental Health Nursing * **
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - District Nursing * **
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - School Nursing * **
- BSc (Hons) Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Occupational Health Nursing * **
- PGDip/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Community Mental Health Nursing * **
- PgDip/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - District Nursing * **
- PgDip/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - School Nursing * **
- PgDip/MSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) - Occupational Health Nursing * **
- PgDip/MSc Health and Social Care Education (Practice Educator)
Occupational therapy
Pre-registration
- BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy ***
Post-registration
- CDP Programme - Return to Practice in Occupational Therapy
- CDP Programme - Foundations of Practice Placement Education in Occupational Therapy
Physiotherapy
Pre-registration
- BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy ***.
* These programmes underwent Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) annual monitoring as part of the major review.
** NMC-approved programme.
*** Health Professions Council (HPC) approved programme.
3 Within the University, healthcare programmes are located in the School of Health Sciences and Social Care, which was formed in 2004 and comprises five academic divisions of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, biosciences, social work and health studies and community health. The School is one of the largest in the University, with around 1,800 undergraduate and postgraduate students. The School has over 100 academic staff and around 20 support staff involved in the delivery of research-led teaching and research activity. There are 40 research students and fellows, who add to the School's vibrant research culture and scholarly excellence.
4 The School of Health Sciences and Social Care aims to:
- deliver innovative and creative programmes which facilitate continuing professional, intellectual and personal development of students
- produce competent and reflective graduates who are fit for purpose, practice and award
- develop independent, lifelong learners who are able to apply new and evolving evidence to their practice
- meet the skilled workforce needs of healthcare employers
- enhance the employability of graduates by allowing them to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary for the changing demands of healthcare
- promote programme structures and approaches to teaching that support students from diverse backgrounds
- promote effective interprofessional working and learning.
B Academic and practitioner standards
B1 Health visiting
Intended learning outcomes
5 Health visiting is one of the routes on the Community Health Nursing programme and the intended learning outcomes (ILOs) reflect the aims of the provision, The framework for higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ) and the Subject benchmark statement for health visiting, published by QAA.
6 The ILOs are clearly documented in module and programme handbooks. Students are made aware of the learning outcomes at induction and they are subsequently made available to students both electronically and in hard copy. Since the validation event in 2003, a competence booklet has been produced specifically for community practice teachers (CPTs)/mentors. This demonstrates how the specific health visiting competences and benchmarks have been mapped against the learning outcomes.
7 The ILOs for health visiting articulate the appropriate professional focus and meet the requirements for pre-registration health visiting published by the NMC in 2002, particularly in meeting the needs of the workforce and enhancing the employability of participants, and reflect the NMC competences for the relevant part of the register. The publication of these new requirements for health visiting in 2002, followed in 2004 by the publication of the standards of proficiency for specialist community public health nursing, has kept health visiting/public health nursing under constant review during a period of change. Graduates from this programme gain entry on to the Third Part of the Register.
Curricula
8 The health visiting curriculum is current and reflects up-to-date practice and developments in policy such as 'Our health, our care, our say' (Department of Health, 2006). The curriculum design enables students effectively to integrate theory and practice through a carefully-structured assessment strategy. The curriculum also enables students to gain new skills such as the nurse prescribing role. The health visiting curriculum ensures that health visitors are fit for practice and award, and this is confirmed by students, employers and external examiners.
9 The curriculum has been developed with the involvement of purchasers, employers and through the involvement of practitioners, key stakeholders and users of the service who are represented through a range of mechanisms, such as the involvement of SURE START. These meetings provide an opportunity for stakeholders to share views concerning current developments in health visiting and public health and ensure their inclusion in the curriculum.
10 No clear plans are in place to develop the health visiting provision within the context of a wider public health framework or to engage the health visiting curriculum with the new 2004 standards of practice. Discussions have taken place between the HEI and North West London SHA to investigate a way forward to produce a curriculum in line with NMC standards for the third part of the register. Discussions should continue with the London SHA following the reorganisation resulting from Commissioning a Patient Led NHS.
Assessment
11 External examiners confirm that internal marking is consistently rigorous and that detailed feedback is provided to students. Internal moderation of work in relation to cross-discipline marking is to be commended. The assessment strategy ensures that completing students achieve the expected academic levels and appropriate professional competences. Assessment effectively measures achievement of the ILOs. A range of methods is used to assess theoretical assignments, which are designed to match the subject and learning outcomes. These include essays, project plans, needs assessment, reflective writing and critical-incident analysis and, for postgraduate students, the management of change in the practice placement using action research. The assessment aligns with the Code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education (Code of practice), Section 6: Assessment of students, published by QAA.
12 Practice assessment is graded. CPTs/mentors are integral to the overall assessment strategy, with the grade awarded for practice contributing to students' final degree classification. While this is an important aspect that is generally viewed as both enhancing the practice teachers role as well as recognising the centrality of practice, it is nevertheless a difficult area. The programme team is aware of the issues and the problem of inter-rater reliability and students' perceptions of variability in practice marks. Such issues are addressed at the regular CPT/mentor meetings and workshops.
13 Following NMC recommendations, a Portfolio Review Panel of Practice Teachers has been introduced to moderate the students' practice portfolios and meet with the external examiners. Comments and recommendations from this Panel help to inform the process and development of practice portfolios. The process ensures that all students have similar expectations of the evidence they need to produce to identify their learning, thus promoting interassessor reliability. In health visiting, the involvement of a Portfolio Review Panel of Practice Teachers is a particular strength of the programme.
14 External examiners meet with students and CPTs across the specialist practitioner programmes. This is valuable experience and strengthens the ability of the external examiners to monitor the overall quality of provision and triangulate the findings from summative assessments.
15 The health promotion project involves students being divided into multidisciplinary groups to develop health promotion topics. External examiners and students comment very positively on this experience of group learning and presentation in a multiprofessional manner, as it reflects the working environment. Both health visiting students and district nurse students undertake the nurse prescribing component, which is assessed through scenario-based work and by the students' CPTs. In response to external examiners comments, the programme team has produced a more detailed and effective marking scheme to assess this.
Student achievement
16 The health visiting programme was re-approved by the University and the NMC in May 2003. The programme offers the opportunity for students to study for and achieve their award at either BSc (Hons) or postgraduate diploma level. This allows students who meet the required entry criteria to extend their learning beyond degree level and experience working at M-level. Offering the award at M-level clearly meets the needs of an increasing number of students. The number of students studying for the PgDip in relation to the BSc (Hons) has shown a proportionate rise over each of the years this alternative has been offered, although numbers remain small.
17 Student work provided evidence of achieving the appropriate academic levels and competence in practice. External examiners confirm the quality of the work and that students are successfully meeting expected standards and are fit for award. External examiners also confirm that work produced by the students is comparable with that in similar programmes at other institutions.
18 As can be seen from Table 1a, the Pass rate on the programmes is high, with the majority of BSc awards being at Upper Second class or above for 12 students (80 per cent) graduating in 2003, 11 students (79 per cent) in 2004 and seven students (63 per cent) in 2005. There is a high level of success at postgraduate diploma level. Two students (68 per cent) completed in 2003, three students (100 per cent) in 2004 and four students (67 per cent) in 2005. Rates of academic failure are low, limited to one BSc student in 2003 and one postgraduate in 2002.
19 Employers comment favourably on the employability of graduates, their enthusiasm and their ability to be flexible in the workplace. The requirement for students to integrate theory and practice in all the modules has been recognised by the external examiners as preparing students well for lifelong learning and the development of their future practice.
Table 1a: Completion and achievement statistics for all award-bearing programmes in health visiting
| Programme | Cohort |
Diploma
programmes |
Diploma
programmes |
Degree classification | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Pass
|
Fail
|
1 | 2i | 2ii | 3 | P | F | ||||||||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | ||
| BSc Specialist Community Health - Public Health Nursing - Full-time |
2002 | 4 | 27 | 8 | 53 | 3 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2003 | 4 | 30 | 7 | 54 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |||||
| 2004 | 3 | 30 | 4 | 40 | 3 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| MSc/PgDip Specialist Community Health - Public Health Nursing - Full-time. |
2002 | 2 | 68 | 1 | 32 | ||||||||||||
| 2003 | 3 | 100 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 2004 | 4 | 67 | |||||||||||||||
Note: The data on fails provided above include some students who are continuing and taking longer to complete the course as well as those who have withdrawn from the course for personal reasons.
Table 2a: Employment statistics for all pre-registration programmes and exception reporting only for post-registration/post-qualification programmes in health visiting
| Programme | Further study |
Employers | Unemployed | Other | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | |
| BSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) Public Health Nursing - Health Visiting Full-time |
||||||||
| 2002 | 13 | 87 | 2 | 13 | ||||
| 2003 | 9 | 64 | 5 | 36 | ||||
| 2004 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 31 | ||||
| MSc/PgDip Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) Public Health Nursing - Health Visiting Full-time |
||||||||
| 2002 | 2 | 67 | 1 | 33 | ||||
| 2003 | 3 | 100 | ||||||
| 2004 | 6 | 100 | ||||||
Note: Other includes students who are either yet to complete, have completed but not yet been polled, or appear in a return other than 2003-04 and 2002-03.
Summary of academic and practitioner standards for health visiting
Overall, the reviewers have confidence in the academic and practitioner standards achieved by the programmes in Health Visiting at Brunel University in partnership with North East London Strategic Health Authority and North West London Strategic Health Authority.
Strength
- In health visiting, the involvement of a Portfolio Review Panel of Practice Teachers is a particular strength of the programme (paragraph 13).
Weakness
- No clear plans are in place to develop the health visiting provision within the context of a wider public health framework or to engage the health visiting curriculum with the new 2004 standards of practice (paragraph 10).
B2 Nursing
Intended learning outcomes
20 The ILOs for the four community specialist nursing programmes (mental health, district nursing, school nursing and occupational health nursing) accurately reflect the aims of the provision, the Subject benchmark statement for nursing and the appropriate level in the FHEQ. They meet the NMC requirements for specialist programmes, especially in relation to meeting the needs of the workforce and are informed by the relevant NMC competences.
21 The ILOs are determined in collaboration between university-based staff and nurses in the field. Students are made aware of the ILOs through programme and module handbooks, which are readily available to them in both hard and electronic copy. The ILOs are also clearly expressed to mentors in placements through meetings with university-based staff, handbooks and the university intranet.
Curricula
22 The content and design of the curricula enable the ILOs to be achieved and students to demonstrate their fitness for practice and award. The curricula are designed to enable students to make effective progress through the programme by an effectively-designed and carefully thought-out assessment strategy. The relevance of the curricula in ensuring academic and practice standards and the enhancement of clinical competence is confirmed by external examiners' reports.
23 The curricula are developed with the involvement of key stakeholders, such as employers and users of the services. In mental health, this is achieved through meetings inviting service users to discuss their experience. In occupational health, regular meetings occur with employers to ensure that the curriculum meets their needs and that recent developments can be integrated into the curriculum. The involvement of stakeholders in developing the curricula enables students to develop competence for their role, fitness for award and safety in practice, and prepares them effectively for employment. Effective feedback from students ensures that the curricula are modified to meet students' needs. Further improvements are being made, for example, to enhance the liaison between district nurses supervising students in practice; however, the absence of a link lecturer for this area is an issue. Placements in the curricula are organised in line with the Code of practice, Section 9: Placement learning.
24 All the nursing provision is for post-registration professionals, including return to practice, and hence the majority of the students undertaking specialist community health nursing programmes are experienced practitioners and bring a wealth of expertise to the provision. Within the nursing provision, student experience is effectively utilised and drawn upon by the subject specialists to enhance learning in the classroom setting, and this is appreciated by students. Evaluation meetings occur where programme issues are discussed and proposals for change are considered, and where appropriate feedback from students is effectively used to modify the curricula.
25 The nursing curricula provide some opportunities for interprofessional learning (IPL). Students welcome the opportunity to spend time and engage with other members of the health and social care teams in practice. Within the nursing curriculum, the main opportunities for IPL are within the area of practice. IPL is less developed in the classroom setting than in practice. While shared learning does take place with students from other healthcare programmes, students felt that these sessions were not designed to meet their specific learning needs.
Assessment
26 The assessment strategy enables students to demonstrate achievement of the ILOs and to ensure that students achieve the expected academic levels and appropriate professional competences in both university and practice settings. A wide range of appropriate assessment methods is utilised, including essays, project plans, needs assessment, reflective writing and critical-incident analysis. Assignments are marked using the common university marking scheme. Across the nursing provision assessment aligns with the Code of practice, Section 6: Assessment of students.
27 The post-registration Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) programme team has been highly flexible in altering assessments to enable greater integration of theory and practice. Over the last three years, changes have been made in assessment in response to NMC Visitors, the annual monitoring process, external examiners' reports and student evaluations. For example, modules originally had three elements of assessment, a written assignment marked by the lecturer, another short written assignment based on evidence from practice marked by the lecturer, and practice that was graded by the CPT/mentor. The division between the two written assignments was viewed as artificial and students had difficulty structuring their work. This was amended and the two written assignments were combined, integrating theory with practice.
28 Fitness for practice and fitness for purpose are assessed through the completion of the practice placements and the compilation of a practice portfolio. Both students and CPTs/mentors are well informed about the assessment strategy and are issued with comprehensive guidelines. Grades awarded contribute to the final overall degree classification. The process of assessment of practice is facilitated by, and involves a tripartite relationship between, the university lecturer who visits students on placement, the CPT/mentor and the student.
29 As result of NMC recommendation, the team has introduced a Portfolio Review Panel of practice teachers to moderate the portfolios, write a report and meet the external examiners. The Panel addresses issues such as consistency in assessment practice and issues raised by students around consistency across the comments/ marks allocated by the CPT/mentor. Comments and recommendations from this Panel help to inform the process and development of practice portfolios. The Portfolio Review Panel of Community Practice Teachers is a positive feature of the nursing provision.
30 Nursing students report very favourably on the level of feedback and support provided around assessment. This was particularly appreciated by the Return to Practice students and is instrumental in helping students to achieve their academic potential. Students were appreciative of the flexibility and responsiveness of staff when the submission dates for summative assignments were staggered throughout the year as a result of student evaluation and external examiners' comment.
Student achievement
31 Students on nursing programmes achieve results in line with the requirements of the academic award as measured by the FHEQ standards and professional requirements of the NMC for specialist community practitioners. Scrutiny of student work confirms the views of external examiners and NMC monitoring that the standards reflected in students' assessed work are comparable with those at other higher education institutions (HEIs).
32 Standards for practice achievement are scrutinised by the CPTs and a report compiled for the external examiners to develop consistency of expectations and requirements for award in the practice element of the programme. Students identify that the programme prepares them well for practice and this is confirmed by employers. The SHA, Trusts and other employers identified that the university staff were proactive with respect to national developments such as new policy developments.
33 There are clear strategies in place to ensure that those students working towards an M-level award are suitably challenged and supported. This involves individual selection of suitable mentors. Academically, the students work with BSc students from September to January to meet the NMC requirements, but there are a number of separate groups for M-level students for the remainder of the programme which allow them the opportunity to achieve the necessary skills of discussion and critical analysis required at this level of study.
34 Table 1b shows that the BSc programme exhibits low attrition and high completion rates. The numbers of students on the programme are quite small, in keeping with most specialist practitioner programmes, but the results show a good overall achievement, with 15 students (60 per cent) in 2002, six students (33 per cent) in 2003 and 13 students (43 per cent) in 2004 on the full time BSc (Hons) programme gaining an Upper Second class award or above on graduation. Figures for the part-time BSc (Hons) cohorts show three students (33 per cent) in 2001, seven students (41 per cent) in 2002 and five students (63 per cent) in 2003 gaining an Upper Second class award or above.
35 Students undertaking the M-level study show very good overall achievement, with full-time students obtaining a 100 per cent pass rate (a total of eight students) from the cohort for the years 2002 and 2003 and this falling only slightly to 71 per cent (five students) for the 2004 cohort. The numbers of part-time students undertaking study at this level are very small. Of the eight students registered on cohorts between 2001 and 2003, five were successful (Table 1b).
36 On completion of the BSc programmes in 2005, 21 out of 29 students found work in their sponsoring Trust and 79 per cent (23 out of 29) work in their chosen speciality. Managers from the Trusts confirm that, if jobs are available, they welcome Brunel graduates and that the posts are usually at the level of team leader, showing that completion of the programme leads to career development for the students.
Table 1b: Completion and achievement statistics for all award-bearing programmes in nursing
| Programme | Cohort |
Pass | Fail | Degree classification | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2i | 2ii | 3 | P | F | ||||||||||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | ||
| BSc Specialist Community Health Nursing (Full-time) |
2002 | 6 | 24 | 9 | 36 | 7 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | ||||
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 38 | 6 | 38 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | |||||
| 2004 | 4 | 14 | 9 | 31 | 10 | 35 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | |||||
| BSc Specialist Community Health Nursing (Part-time) |
2001 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33 | 5 | 56 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | ||||
| 2002 | 4 | 23 | 3 | 18 | 8 | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | |||||
| 2003 | 1 | 13 | 4 | 50 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 25 | |||||
| MSc Specialist Community Health Nursing (Full-time) |
2002 | 6 | 100 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 2003 | 2 | 100 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 2004 | 5 | 71 | 2 | 29 | |||||||||||||
| MSc Specialist Community Health Nursing (Part-time) |
2001 | 1 | 33 | 2 | 67 | ||||||||||||
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100 | |||||||||||||
| 2003 | 4 | 80 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||
Note: The data on Fails provided above include some students who are continuing and taking longer to complete the course as well as those who have withdrawn from the course for personal reasons.
Table 2b: Employment statistics for all pre-registration programmes and exception reporting only for post-qualification programmes in nursing
| Programme | Further study |
Employers | Unemployed | Other | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | |
| BSc Community Health Nursing Programmes (Full-time) | ||||||||
| 2002 | 16 | 64 | 9 | 36 | ||||
| 2003 | 7 | 39 | 11 | 61 | ||||
| 2004 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 97 | ||||
| BSc Community Health Nursing Programmes (Part-time) | ||||||||
| 2001 | 5 | 56 | 4 | 44 | ||||
| 2002 | 10 | 59 | 7 | 41 | ||||
| 2003 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 87 | ||||
| MSc/PgDip Community Health Nursing Programmes (Full-time) | ||||||||
| 2002 | 5 | 83 | 1 | 17 | ||||
| 2003 | 1 | 50 | 1 | 50 | ||||
| 2004 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 100 | ||||
| MSc/PgDip Community Health Nursing Programmes (Part-time) | ||||||||
| 2001 | 1 | 33 | 2 | 67 | ||||
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100 | ||||
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 100 | ||||
Note: Other includes students who are either yet to complete, have completed but not yet been polled, or appear in a return other than 2003-04 and 2002-03.
Summary of academic and practitioner standards for nursing
Overall, the reviewers have confidence in the academic and practitioner standards achieved by the programmes in Nursing at Brunel University in partnership with North East London Strategic Health Authority.
Strengths
- Within the nursing provision, student experience is effectively utilised and drawn upon by the subject specialists to enhance learning in the classroom setting, and this is appreciated by students (paragraph 24).
- The post-registration Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) programme team has been highly flexible in altering assessments to enable greater integration of theory and practice (paragraph 27).
- The Portfolio Review Panel of Community Practice Teachers is a positive feature of the nursing provision (paragraph 29).
B3 Occupational therapy
Intended learning outcomes
37 The ILOs directly reflect the overall aims of the provision, particularly in producing graduates fit for purpose, practice and award and in reaching students from diverse backgrounds. The ILOs are directly informed by the HPC Standards of Proficiency and reflect the appropriate level of the FHEQ and Subject benchmark statement. The provision meets the standards of the College of Occupational Therapists (COT).
38 Practice placement educators (PPEs) are involved in the development of ILOs, particularly in relation to work-based learning. The practice placement handbook gives comprehensive information on ILOs. It has recently been updated to ensure that all CPEs understand the relevant levels at which students are assessed.
39 Information surrounding the ILOs is widely available. Students are informed of ILOs during induction and at the beginning of each module. Educators in the workplace are made aware of the ILOs through pre-placement sessions and workshops and the foundations of placement education module, which is accredited through the COT's Accreditation of Practice Placement Educators scheme.
Curricula
40 The BSc programme was re-approved by the HPC and gained accreditation from the COT in 2005. The curriculum enables students to meet the relevant COT core knowledge and skills requirements and the HPC standards of proficiency. The curriculum has been devised with a strong occupational focus that enables students to develop skills that allow them to work with clients to enhance their occupational participation.
41 In addition to the pre-registration BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy programme, available in both full and part-time modes, the School offers post-registration programmes of Return to Practice and Foundations of Practice Placement Education in Occupational Therapy. Return to Practice is a week-long programme, is well evaluated by students and is particularly effective in helping students who want to return to work after extensive career breaks.
42 The BSc curriculum is designed to enable students to make effective progression through a well-designed programme. ILOs are clearly developed to ensure student progression in both theory and practice. The guidance provided by academic staff changes through the programme, with a distinct shift to self-directed learning towards year three. Students state that this works well and reflects their learning, as they gain more confidence as the programme progresses.
43 Occupational therapy placements are organised in line with the Code of practice, Section 9: Placement learning. The pre-registration curriculum has been developed with the involvement of practitioners and employers as well as users of the service. Course committees provide effective links between university staff and staff in service. The subject specialists ensure that the needs of the client are central to the focus of student learning through the development of the curricula, assessment strategy and programme content. Regular meetings occur with practitioners and these ensure the continued involvement of stakeholders in the development of the curriculum.
44 The interface between occupational therapy commissioning agencies, employers and the University are effective and achieved through the Pan London Occupational Therapy Forum (PLOTF), which raises issues and takes relevant action on them. These include curricular design and content, knowledge and understanding relevant to the occupational therapy provision.
45 Where it is seen as appropriate, the programme team effectively implements curriculum changes proposed by occupational therapy managers and/or students. For example, following requests from employers that the programme team further enhances the place of paediatrics in the curriculum, this has been strengthened through the addition of specialist staff with such expertise. Another example is the adjustment of placement timings following feedback from employers.
46 There is a variety of IPL opportunities within the curricula. On the BSc, this is achieved through three shared modules with other healthcare students. Another forum for IPL is the opportunity for some students to attend an interprofessional training ward, where shared learning opportunities occur with a wide range of healthcare professionals. Clinical practice learning outcomes contribute to enhancing interprofessional awareness in the curriculum.
Assessment
47 A coherent assessment strategy is clearly communicated to students at induction, in student handbooks and during pre-placement briefings. In addition, students are encouraged to consider material concerning assessment on WebCT, the virtual learning platform used by the University. A range of assessment methods is used throughout the provision, including essays, case studies, critical reviews, research proposals, practical demonstrations, presentations, unseen examinations and practice placement reports. External examiners confirm that assessment methods allow students to demonstrate the achievement of ILOs in both theory and practice and assessment. Assessment reflects the Code of practice, Section 6: Assessment of students.
48 Assessment of practice is graded, with the marks awarded for the student's performance in practice modules contributing to the final degree classification. Although some students comment on the perceived subjectivity of the PPEs, they nevertheless confirm that the criteria for the grading are clearly documented and understood. The PPEs confirm that they have a clear understanding of their roles and are informed through a placement handbook and training events. These ensure that PPEs are fully conversant with the programme and the requirements and guidelines for assessment. There is management support to release staff to attend updates on grading. The majority of practitioners are very comfortable with the assessment procedures and the documents used for assessment.
49 Assessments are spread across the year and some occupational therapy students report that they had to wait until after the examination boards to receive their final assignment marks. However, they do consider that they have a good insight into their ongoing performance, from both tutorials and discussions with PPEs. Procedures for internal marking are transparent and there is rigour and fairness evident throughout the whole assessment process. External examiners comment on the willingness of staff to discuss and respond to issues arising around the organisation of the assessment process. The problem of plagiarism has been identified and the School has responded by clarifying its definition and penalties and by emphasising the issue in student handbooks.
50 In practice, weekly formative feedback is provided in and beyond the initial placement, and a half-way formative assessment with grading in each of the five domains is provided. In addition, students are encouraged to reflect on their performance during placement. These thoughts are recorded on their report form. Occupational therapy students report very favourably on the level of supervision they receive during practice.
Student achievement
51 Students on occupational therapy programmes attain high degree classifications. The majority of students obtain a First or Upper Second class honours degree. Table 1c indicates that, of those graduating from the full-time programme, 68 students (64 per cent) in 2003, 74 students (65 per cent) in 2004 and 71 students (63 per cent) in 2005 graduated with a First or Upper Second. Of those taking the part-time programme, nine students (75 per cent) in the 2000 cohort and seven students in the 2001 cohort (64 per cent) obtained First or Upper Second class degrees. The last two cohorts (2001 and 2002) have a high number of student withdrawals. Around one third of these have transferred to other institutions, while personal reasons account for the largest other single reason. In Table 2c, the high number of students in the 'other' column reflects a trend for students to take time away from their chosen profession before seeking employment.
52 Student work provided evidence of achieving the ILOs at appropriate academic levels and this enables students to develop as competent, safe practitioners and prepares them effectively for employment. On completion of the programme, students are fit for practice, award and purpose as competent and self-directed, lifelong learners. Students recognise that the programme prepares them well for practice. The standards and skills that students achieve are relevant to current practice and are comparable to provision in other HEIs.
53 Employers express satisfaction with graduates from the occupational therapy programme, and a significant number of students gain employment within the local area on completion of the programme. In one particular placement visited, 50 per cent of the occupational therapists employed were Brunel graduates. The numbers seeking employment who remain unemployed following graduation is low, with a total of only five students over the last three cohorts (Table 2c).
54 The University is highly responsive to the needs of local employers in occupational therapy. For example, concerns raised by managers about the need for students to have developed more practical skills by the end of their programme was met by the University actively working with local providers and through the PLOTF to address the issue directly. Adjustments were made to the programme in direct response to these concerns, and the resulting in-service training is made available to students to ensure they continue to be fit for practice.
Table 1c: Completion and achievement statistics for all award-bearing programmes in occupational therapy
| Programme | Cohort |
Degree classification
|
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2i | 2ii | 3 | P | F | ||||||||
| No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | ||
| BSc Occupational Therapy Full-time |
2000 | 15 | 14 | 53 | 50 | 29 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 8 | ||
| 2001 | 17 | 15 | 57 | 50 | 25 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 11 | |||
| 2002 | 19 | 17 | 52 | 46 | 19 | 17 | 24 | 20 | |||||
| BSc Occupational Therapy Part-time |
2000 | 2 | 17 | 7 | 58 | 2 | 17 | 1 | 8 | ||||
| 2001 | 2 | 18 | 5 | 46 | 4 | 36 | |||||||
Note: The data on fails provided above include some students who are continuing and taking longer to complete the course as well as those who have withdrawn from the course for personal reasons.
Table 2c: Employment statistics for all pre-registration programmes and exception reporting only for post-qualification programmes in occupational therapy
| Programme | Further study |
Employers | Unemployed | Other | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | |
| BSc Occupational Therapy Full-time | ||||||||
| 2000 | 71 | 66 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 30 | ||
| 2001 | 1 | 1 | 58 | 49 | 1 | 1 | 58 | 49 |
| 2002 | 130 | 100 | ||||||
| BSc Occupational Therapy Part-time | ||||||||
| 1999 | 10 | 59 | 7 | 41 | ||||
| 2000 | 7 | 54 | 6 | 46 | ||||
| 2001 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 91 | ||||
Note: Other includes students who are either yet to complete, have completed but not yet been polled, or appear in a return other than 2003-04 and 2002-03.
Summary of academic and practitioner standards for occupational therapy
Overall, the reviewers have confidence in the academic and practitioner standards achieved by the programmes in Occupational Therapy at Brunel University in partnership with North East London Strategic Health Authority.
Strengths
- Occupational therapy students report very favourably on the level of supervision they receive during practice (paragraph 50).
- The University is highly responsive to the needs of local employers in occupational therapy (paragraph 54).
Weakness
- Assessments are spread across the year and some occupational therapy students report that they had to wait until after the examination boards to receive their final assignment marks (paragraph 49).
B4 Physiotherapy
Intended learning outcomes
55 The ILOs reflect the aims of the provision and the appropriate level of the FHEQ. They meet the professional body standards of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists and the HPC and reflect the Subject benchmark statement for physiotherapy, published by QAA.
56 Local clinical colleagues and managers are involved in programme planning, enabling them to contribute to the development of the ILOs. The ILOs are clearly articulated in programme and module handbooks, and students and staff are fully aware of them. The development of BSc Physiotherapy protocols for practical procedures ensures that students give written informed consent for practical procedures.
Curricula
57 Stakeholders were effectively involved in the re-approval of the provision in 2005. The programme is available in both full and part-time modes, and the first cohort graduated in July 2005. The curriculum is effectively designed to enable students to progress through a well-organised programme. The curriculum demonstrates the clear development of practical and intellectual skills to ensure that, on graduation, those completing are competent, safe and fit for practice.
58 The curriculum has been organised with the involvement of practice staff and clinical educators are closely involved in the development of the programme content. Lecturer practitioner posts, such as in respiratory physiotherapy, ensure that changes to the curriculum content are reflected in the teaching that students receive. This results in content around practice being focused and up to date. The Interprofessional Professional Practice module provides a further forum for critically exploring policy development as it relates to physiotherapy. Placements are organised in line with the Code of practice, Section 9: Placement learning.
59 Placement provider stakeholders are able to influence curriculum design through their representatives on the physiotherapy programme committee. Effective communication enables programme teachers and clinical educators to share views, thus ensuring an effective learning environment in both classroom and practice. Regular meetings occur between university-based staff and practitioners which ensure the continued involvement of stakeholders in the curricula.
Assessment
60 The assessment strategies provide opportunities for students to demonstrate the achievement of both theoretical and practical learning outcomes. Assessment enables the clear differentiation between students of different abilities. A variety of formative and summative assessment methods is employed throughout all levels of the programme. Changes in assessment were made in the recently-validated programme as a result of staff evaluations and comments from stakeholders and external examiners. Practical skills are clearly assessed in the academic environment as well as in practice. Within physiotherapy, assessment aligns with the Code of practice, Section 6: Assessment of students.
61 Formative assessment is used effectively to support student learning and students feel that they are made aware of their progress. Mock examinations help identify those students who need additional support and this is much appreciated by students. There is currently anonymity of marking of examination papers. Anonymity of coursework marking is to be introduced in the next academic year. Within physiotherapy provision there is delay in students receiving written feedback on their assignments.
62 Both students and CPEs report a clear understanding of the assessment criteria and have a positive view regarding the grading of practice contributing to the final degree classification. The CPEs are well prepared for their assessment role. These practitioners receive a regularly updated and comprehensive handbook, which details the programme, outlines module descriptors and gives clear advice regarding the clinical education component. Clinical educators are also briefed in the use of the clinical assessment record used to assess students. This assessment tool was developed and is used by a number of HEIs in the region, and its use promotes consistency and reliability across the many clinical sites in the London area. It has recently been reviewed and revised documentation is currently being piloted. The common practice placement record used on the physiotherapy programme provides an excellent mechanism to reduce the possibility of subjectivity in the grading of placements.
63 Although there are a large number of markers involved, the effective use of rigorous and robust moderation processes ensures fair and equitable marking standards. A paired marking system is used, with module leaders moderating scripts marked by new staff. In some instances the team adopts the policy of marking through one question by the same marker.
Student achievement
64 This programme produces graduates who are fit for purpose, practice and award. This is reflected by external examiners' reports and by employers, as well as by the student work sampled by the reviewers which confirmed the high standards
65 Physiotherapy students are achieving good results at graduation (see Table 1d). The majority of graduates from this programme obtain either a First or Upper Second class honours degree. For cohorts graduating on the full-time programme, 62 students (66 per cent) in 2003, 71 students (88 per cent) in 2004 and 62 (74 per cent) in 2005 gained a First or Upper Second. On the part-time programme, students achieve a slightly lower overall result, with 10 students (56 per cent) gaining a First or Upper Second from the 2001 cohort.
66 Students on physiotherapy programmes express satisfaction with their preparation for employment. As Table 2d indicates, employment rates are good and employers confirm that they are happy to engage Brunel graduates. Of those who undertook the full-time programme, 55 students (65 per cent) of the 2000 cohort and 60 students (74 per cent) of the 2001 cohort are employed. Only a combined total of six students (8 per cent) from the cohorts graduating in 2003 and 2004 report unemployment. A majority of students qualifying in 2003 and 2004 have been successful in finding work. The HEI/South East London SHA offer continued support to those still seeking employment after graduation. A growing number of students take a year out after completion of their programme before seeking employment.
Table 1d: Completion and achievement statistics for all award-bearing programmes in physiotherapy
| Programme | Cohort |
Degree classification | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2i | 2ii | 3 | P | F | ||||||||
| No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | ||
| BSc Physiotherapy Full-time |
2000 | 19 | 23 | 43 | 52 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 15 |
| 2001 | 20 | 25 | 51 | 63 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 | |
| 2002 | 14 | 17 | 48 | 57 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 19 | |
| BSc Physiotherapy Part-time |
2001 | 3 | 20 | 7 | 47 | 2 | 13 | 3 | 20 | ||||
Note: The data on fails provided above include some students who are continuing and taking longer to complete the course as well as those who have withdrawn from the course for personal reasons.
Table 2d: Employment statistics for all pre-registration programmes and exception reporting only for post-qualification programmes in physiotherapy
| Programme | Further study |
Employers | Unemployed | Other | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | |
| BSc Physiotherapy Full-time | ||||||||
| 2000 | 55 | 65 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 32 | ||
| 2001 | 60 | 74 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 22 | ||
| 2002 | 85 | 100 | ||||||
| BSc Physiotherapy Part-time | ||||||||
| 2001 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 94 | ||||
Notes: 'Other' includes students who are either yet to complete, have completed but not yet been polled, or appear in a return other than 2003-04 and 2002-03.
Summary of academic and practitioner standards for physiotherapy
Overall, the reviewers have confidence in the academic and practitioner standards achieved by the programmes in Physiotherapy at Brunel University in partnership with North East London Strategic Health Authority and South East London Strategic Health Authority.
Strength
- The common practice placement record used on the physiotherapy programme provides an excellent mechanism to reduce the possibility of subjectivity in the grading of placements (paragraph 62).
Weakness
- Within physiotherapy provision there is delay in students receiving written feedback on their assignments (paragraph 61).
C Quality of learning opportunities
Learning and teaching
67 Effective learning opportunities are available both at the University and in practice, and are facilitated across all programmes. The quality of teaching is evaluated highly by students. On-campus learning is underpinned by a wide range of teaching methods, including lectures, practical sessions, group tutorials and seminars. The breadth and pace of teaching provides challenge and interest to students, with self-directed learning being promoted on all programmes. Students are well supported by the academic staff to become independent learners.
68 Learning and teaching opportunities are enhanced by the easy availability and accessibility of information and library services. The use of the information technology (IT) services is widespread and students comment favourably on the value of its use. The Learning and Teaching Development Unit (LTDU) offers a range of support to students for language, writing, numeracy, time-management and other study skills. In conjunction with the staff development unit, the LTDU takes part in the induction of new staff, and much of its material is available in electronic format and can be accessed remotely. There is a diverse range of students on the programmes offered, and the LTDU recognises and responds positively to their diverse needs.
69 Placement opportunities are managed well. The School has developed effective working partnerships with local Trusts, PCTs and local authorities to provide comprehensive placement education opportunities throughout the London area. With the increase in student numbers over recent years, the provision of sufficient clinical placements remains an ongoing problem. This most directly affects the physiotherapy and occupational therapy programmes, as those on the nursing programmes are already employed. The University has responded flexibly to overcome many of the issues around placement management through positive involvement in the PLOTF and the Physiotherapy Placement Information and Management Service (PPIMS). Learning opportunities on physiotherapy and occupational therapy placements include access to in-service training for junior staff, hands-on teaching of practical skills, reflection sessions and problem-based learning. Practice placement areas provide excellent learning opportunities for these students.
70 Close and effective working relationships between the CPTs/CPEs and the academic staff enhance learning and teaching opportunities and are evident in all programmes. Regular contact, which includes extra support on teaching issues if required, ensures that good practice is promoted, shared and maintained. The role of lecturer-practitioner is especially beneficial in drawing together clinical practice and academia to the mutual benefit of both. For example, in both the physiotherapy and the occupational therapy programmes, the timing of the teaching of underlying theory and of the practical skills has been altered to enhance student learning.
71 In all programmes, students work closely with their CPTs/CPEs/mentors in identifying meaningful learning outcomes early in their placements. Dialogue with CPTs/CPEs/mentors enables them to identify the opportunities available on placement through which they can satisfy their individual learning needs and enable them to develop their own learning styles. Students on all programmes comment on the sophistication and high calibre of their placement educators and confirm the quality of teaching in practice-based environments. They also affirm their appreciation of the efforts of CPTs/CPEs/mentors in ensuring that their learning objectives are met.
72 CPEs are well prepared by the University through provision of handbooks, overall learning outcomes, marking criteria and a robust programme of clinical educator courses. Members of academic staff take part in the Accreditation of Clinical Educators (ACE) scheme, and the University was a pilot site for part of the project. The initiative has led to the development of a national framework for accrediting clinical educators. The ACE and Accreditation of Practice Placement Educators schemes that are being introduced will ensure that clinicians meet national standards for education in practice.
73 In the nursing provision, both CPTs and students value the visits made to placements by university staff and feel that they provide effective support to enable students to achieve well. Subject specialists ensure that the needs of the client are central to the focus of student learning. This is achieved by a variety of mechanisms, including the practice assessment document that requires students to focus their learning on the needs of service users, through case histories, and the development of a reflective practice portfolio.
74 Clinical placements are identified as the key forum for IPL. This has been strengthened by the introduction of the Joint University Multi-Professional Project (JUMP) to identify potential areas where interprofessional learning could occur within the clinical placement setting. Following evaluation, the programme was rolled out, to allow IPL to be more fully embedded in all programmes. The School's positive engagement in the JUMP to ensure the development of IPL opportunities in placement across all programmes is a strength.
75 Students comment very favourably on the quality and breadth of opportunity for IPL while on placement. They value the opportunity to learn about each other's roles and to share values and beliefs with students from different disciplines. IPL on campus includes tutorials, enquiry-based learning, presentations, role play, joint care planning, clinical-skills training and small-group working which provides underpinning knowledge to be used throughout placements.
76 In health visiting and nursing, the School demonstrates a strong commitment to IPL within the practice setting, where students have the opportunity to work with other professional groupings, including general practitioners, social workers and other members of the multidisciplinary team. Within the health visiting and nursing programmes, the opportunities for IPL within the classroom setting are limited. Opportunities are afforded for students to be taught with students from other disciplines, such as those studying occupational therapy and physiotherapy, but the aims of these sessions require greater clarity to be of added value to health visiting and nursing students. IPL has been developed within occupational therapy provision through the use of themed days, where occupational therapy students have the opportunity to work with students from other disciplines.
77 Anonymous marking already exists in the assessment of examination scripts. Following discussions with students and staff, this was extended to the marking of coursework during the current academic year, with the agreed exception of work which cannot be assessed anonymously, such as practicals.
The quality of learning and teaching is commendable.
Strengths
- Close and effective working relationships between the clinical placement educators and the academic staff enhance learning and teaching opportunities and are evident in all programmes (paragraph 70).
- Students on all programmes comment on the sophistication and high calibre of their placement educators and confirm the quality of teaching in practice-based environments (paragraph 71).
- The School's positive engagement in the Joint University Multi-Professional Project to ensure the development of interprofessional learning opportunities in placement across all programmes is a strength (paragraph 74).
Weakness
- Within the health visiting and nursing programmes, the opportunities for interprofessional learning within the classroom setting are limited (paragraph 76).
Student progression
78 There are effective recruitment procedures across all programmes. These are administered directly by a team of admissions tutors within the School. Healthcare programmes admit students with a wide range of qualifications, including non-traditional applicants who are actively encouraged to apply. Nursing programmes are moving towards a joint interview process with the employers to select students. Clinicians are included in interviewing physiotherapy candidates. Health and criminal records bureau (CRB) checks are carried out across all relevant programmes to ensure that students meet legislative requirements. Delays to placement that were experienced by occupational therapy students because of hold-up in CRB checks have been dealt with by improved procedures and increased monitoring of the process.
79 Induction programmes are offered to students at programme, school and university level. The induction procedures are effective for the nursing programmes, ensuring that these students who are returning to education feel well supported. The undergraduate induction for occupational therapy and physiotherapy introduces students effectively to the University's resources and to the professional programmes.
80 A well-established and effective personal tutor system is highly valued by students on all programmes. There is consistent praise from students for the approachability and accessibility of tutors and for how well they respond to students' needs and concerns. Each student is allocated a personal tutor with whom they meet at least once a term.
81 On the undergraduate physiotherapy and occupational therapy programmes, pre-placement preparation sessions provide a clear induction to placement, allowing students to meet their clinical educator and ensuring that both student and educator are familiar with and have a common understanding of the assessment process. After placement, there are whole group de-briefing sessions at the University, which enable students to reflect on their learning. Information from these sessions is fed back to educators in the workplace. They value this feedback, which can influence the educational experience they offer in the future.
82 For specialist nursing programmes, where students are workplace-based, a high level of support comes directly from the mentors as well as from the close liaison with the University's link tutors. There are regular workshops arranged to update mentors and to ensure that students are meeting the NMC standards.
83 Ethical and safety issues relating to practice are discussed in university-based modules in the physiotherapy and occupational therapy programmes. On the nursing programmes, where students are continually on placement, ethical and safety considerations are embedded within the daily activity of the students, and regular reflection session in the University link theory directly to practice.
84 The University has appropriate student provision for personal and medical welfare. Students can also utilise the support services provided by the Union of Brunel Students. The university intranet (WebCT) provides a comprehensive range of accessible information relating to university policies and procedures, programme and module details and student support services. Students on the healthcare programmes make active use of these facilities.
85 There is clear support in place to allow students to achieve both academically and in practice, and to progress. Student progression is strengthened by the clear preparation of all those involved in placement through special courses that prepare clinical educators and mentors for placements. The standards of preparation are maintained in the practice setting, with visits to practice by university staff allowing close working between students, practice teachers, placement educators and teaching staff, all of which contributes to the students' experience.
86 North East London SHA is supportive of students who need to extend their programme for personal reasons, and the University is responsive to the needs of students wishing to adjust their programme.
Table 3: Recruitment and attrition statistics for pre-registration and NMC recordable qualifications
| Programme | Recruited number |
Withdrawal | Tranfer in | Tranfer out | Discontinuation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | ||
| BHSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner): Community Mental Health Nursing (Full-time) | |||||||||
| 2002 | 3 | 1 | 34 | ||||||
| 2003 | 8 | 1 | 13 | ||||||
| 2004 | |||||||||
| BHSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner): Community Mental Health Nursing (Part-time) | |||||||||
| 2002 | 4 | 1 | 25 | ||||||
| 2003 | 7 | 1 | 14 | ||||||
| 2004 | 2 | 1 | 50 | ||||||
| BHSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) District Nursing. (Full-time) | |||||||||
| 2002 | 11 | 1 | 9 | ||||||
| 2003 | 8 | 1 | 13 | ||||||
| 2004 | 15 | 1 | 7 | ||||||
| BHSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) District Nursing (Part-time) | |||||||||
| 2002 | 2 | ||||||||
| BHSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) Occupational Health Nursing (Full-time) | |||||||||
| 2002 | 8 | 2 | 25 | ||||||
| 2003 | 5 | ||||||||
| 2004 | 6 | 1 | 17 | ||||||
| BHSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner) Occupational Health Nursing (Part-time) | |||||||||
| 2001 | 5 | ||||||||
| 2002 | 8 | 1 | 17 | ||||||
| 2003 | 6 | ||||||||
| BHSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner): School Nursing (Full-time) | |||||||||
| 2002 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2003 | 2 | ||||||||
| 2004 | 1 | ||||||||
| BHSc Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner): Public Health Nursing - Health Visiting (Full-time) | |||||||||
| 2002 | 15 | ||||||||
| 2003 | 14 | 1 | 7 | ||||||
| 2004 | 11 | ||||||||
| MSc/PgDip Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner):School Nursing (Full-time) | |||||||||
| 2003 | 1 | ||||||||
| 2004 | 1 | ||||||||
| MSc/PgDip Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner):School Nursing (Part-time) | |||||||||
| 2003 | 1 | ||||||||
| MSc/PgDip Community Health Nursing (Specialist Practitioner):Health and Social Care Education (Part-time) | |||||||||
| 2003 | 2 | 1 | 50 | ||||||
| BSc Physiotherapy (Full-time) | |||||||||
| 2000 | 85 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | ||
| 2001 | 81 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| 2002 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 11 | |||||
| BSc Physiotherapy (Part-time) | |||||||||
| 2001 | 18 | 3 | 17 | ||||||
| BSc Occupational Therapy (Full-time) | |||||||||
| 2000 | 108 | 5 | |||||||