NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Sally Seddon — Sat, 28 May 2011 21:15:23 GMT

I had a review at college yest and told them, ive also told my c.coach

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Dax — Fri, 27 May 2011 21:22:27 GMT

Ginny I completely agree with you on the whole k&u thing

icklesal you should talk to your college about you not getting proper one to one training time each week, the RCVS guidlines state that the student should get at least 3 hrs a week formal training so that you can learn and complete your NPL.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Sally Seddon — Thu, 26 May 2011 19:16:46 GMT

[quote user="Dax"]

Hi Kate,

Your practice really should be giving you time to log things on a computer and discuss things with your clinical coach. Our students have 3 hours a week with their clinical coach but your practice should be giving you at least 1 hour I think.

at other times when you dont get access during the week just keep a little note book in your pocket to write down what you did and a case reference so you can log it at home or when you next get to a computer so you dont forget things :-)

[/quote]

Bloomin eck, wish i got 3 hours per week with my coach. She puts an hour every other week aside! I am 'her' nurse 3 days per week but we rarely do anything training wise

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

ginny — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:48:41 GMT

What i don't get about the npl is that K & U is to be "assumed" - assessed at college, i'm told. How can I assess competency if I can't judge K & U as well? I am uncomfortable with being told that you don't have to question on, say, anaesthesia because they have completed that module at college already. Maybe they should send us test results on the subjects so that we can be sure? It's our necks if we say they are competent and then they are not because they can't apply theory if you see what i mean!

A big thing was made about only vets or RVNs as clinical coaches because accountable etc but then i'm just expected to sign that a SVN can practically do something without checking how, why and when. Or have i got it wrong? Maybe when the course has been running a bit longer they will marry the college course and npl together better so we can see how the K&U fits in from college.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Dax — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:00:19 GMT

Hi Kate,

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Kate Bryan — Sun, 22 May 2011 20:07:25 GMT

I'm a 1st year student and i hate the npl. There is only me and another student nurse at work and we simply don't get the time to think right, i can logged this as experience, then go to a pc and actually log it on. I wish it was all in a book that i could carry around and flick thorugh quickly. I just don't get the time to find a computer, log on and write down my experience. I know not a lot of writing is needed but we literally just don't get a chance.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

lskm 23 — Sun, 22 May 2011 15:05:33 GMT

Hi,

I dont think you will get anybody from the rcvs to say we need to write more. We had our EV visit on Thursday and she told me I was writing too much and as has been previously said they only need to say they have done it with a Ref.

Because I dont get on with the NPL, I now have to have someone come out and watch me for a morning demonstrarting things to my student. I dont have a problem showing my student how to do things, its the NPL I have issues with!!

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Dax — Sun, 22 May 2011 11:26:05 GMT

Thanks for everyone's replies.

I thought you may be interested to know that my students class/group at college were recently asked how they were getting on with the NPL and they all unanimously said that they hated it and would rather be doing the portfolio (even with the added paperwork)!!!

I am also really suspicious about the fact that they dont actually need to write anything about the case they dealt with for competency and practices other than that they did it and a reference number. I am waiting for someone at the RCVS to say that they need more evidence and we have to go back through it.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

alliben — Sat, 21 May 2011 23:35:40 GMT

Hate the NPL with a passion.When it was announced I admit I liked the idea in prinicple but feel like most of you that is doesn;t actually demonstrate the same levels of skill and knowledge that the portfolio did.I can train anyone to npl standard but it doesn't mean they understand what and why they are doing something or necessarily a good nurse because of it.I have two good, intelligent students who are finding it easier to use but I feel once again it;s because the majority of the work is still left to the assessor not the student.At the risk of sounding like and old so and so when I did my training you have to learn, remenber everything.Now a couple of google clicks and the students can learn practical tasks parrot fashion and review previous questions which to me doesn't make for good nurses but good robots.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

nikki84 — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 21:08:09 GMT

I trained as an A1 about 4 years ago and to be honest, I loved reading the case logs my students produced as they were well written, covered what they needed and were like a story. I didn't mind the paperwork as it seemed relevent at the time.

The NPL however - damn!
Who invented this thing???!!!!!

I thought it would have been easier when I went on my course to learn about it. I was really positive.
Since the RCVS and the college stuffed up with all 3 of our students log in details (receiving them in Dec/Jan some 4 months after I enrolled them) I have lost all hope of ever getting it done!
I find it ridiculous that I have to show them, they have to show me and I have to log this!! I don't get why I cant show them and log it and then they log what they demonstrate back in their own words to save me repeating myself!!

The whole thing just seems to be taking forever to get through. I feel I am doing more than the students (no offence to them) as they only have to write a minimum and I have to write a decent description to cover my back.
I don't think a student saying 'I administered a 250mg Synulox tablet to this canine patient and ticked the box on the hospital chart' really shows that they are able to do it??

Will it ever go away??
(excuse the rant)

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

ginny — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 22:50:43 GMT

I have to say i am beginning to prefer the NPL. I just didnt have the hours in the day for the portfolio! It was very hard work for the assessor and practice and i don't think students and colleges appreciated that. I seemed to spend a lot of time chasing students for their work or finding suitable cases for them and did an awful lot of assessor reports just to get it done! I think the NPL is much more user friendly but agree that it does need a bit of tweeking. Its also good for nurses who don't have very much confidence when it comes to written work.

My second year has also been in practice a few years but a lot of the time she was an ANA and as there's a big difference between that an vet nursing I'm not able to APL very much. I would also rather be sure she understands and is competent so we have gone back to basics with a lot of it. I completely agree that second years should have continued with portfolio and NPL be for new students though. Its very confusing for them. I know it was all down to funding but even so...

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Gillian Mostyn — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:39:37 GMT

[quote user="SmegSlayer"]i thought this was the case for the portfolio as well- i always had to do an element 2 or 3 times before my assessor would sign it off, to prove that i was competant. the only exception was very rare stuff which has to be grabbed when it came along such as using a colloid or a blood transfusion[/quote]

Absolutely - and I also made sure my student was competent before planning an assessment too. But only one actual 'event' was recorded. The NPL allows the student to log experience without the clinical coach being involved at all so you can see that they have gained the requisite level of experience.

Don't get me wrong - the NPL isn't perfect and I'm sure it will be modified over the next few years. I just think that taking it back to being a practical component rather than a written one is an improvement.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

SmegSlayer — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:02:08 GMT

i did questions with my student as well which can be put in an evidence folder along with hospital sheets, anaesthetic sheets etc. I asked questions on any area that I thought she should have a good deep understanding that doesn't often come along in practice, such as emergency first aid triage and any areas she found difficult such as fluid, calorie, drug and xray calculations

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Izzie — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:55:56 GMT

Totally agree. My student is also a 2nd year and has been working in practice for nearly 7 years. I'm just sitting in front of the comp logging what she can already do. I actually enjoyed reading the portfolio cases adding questions to check she understood. Hopefully she will be qualified come Jan and thats its for me no more students, the practice do not want to contiune as a TP.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Sally Seddon — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:37:52 GMT

Im a first year student and quite like it, but some things seem to be quite repetitive. Clean and maintain accommodation pops up a few times but with different wording.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

shelly jefferies — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:27:29 GMT

Neither love it or hate it but is good for my student as struggles with the academic side but is good practically, so portfolio writing used to prove difficult where as npl easier for her.

bring back the green book!!!

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Nicola Smith — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:07:33 GMT

Hate the NPL - spend hours just lighting up stupid stars - some stuff so repetitive.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

SmegSlayer — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:06:48 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]

I prefer the NPL. Far more practical based than the portfolio, and shows that you have carried out the tasks more than just once.

[/quote]

i thought this was the case for the portfolio as well- i always had to do an element 2 or 3 times before my assessor would sign it off, to prove that i was competant. the only exception was very rare stuff which has to be grabbed when it came along such as using a colloid or a blood transfusion

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Gillian Mostyn — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:35:21 GMT

I prefer the NPL. Far more practical based than the portfolio, and shows that you have carried out the tasks more than just once.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Tanya Traill — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:02:38 GMT

I,m a first year student and I love it. I started the portfolio and hated it then I had to move jobs and have now started the NPL and its so much easier.

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

claire Speight — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:41:26 GMT

Yep, I trained to be an A1 assessor and not a clinical coach - loved doing the portfolio but HATE the NPL. Half of the tasks are totally irrelivant. Should have just looked at the portfolio and removed all the repetative stuff and kept it like that.

Claire

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

Shelly vn — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:56:02 GMT

Glad i'm not the only one. I only have a first year nurse and i still hate it!

Re: NPL - completely pointless and annoying ??

lskm 23 — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:46:51 GMT

Could not agree more.