title: Effectiveness of the new  NMC mentor preparation course.
abstract: This study aimed to determine whether the mentor preparation course introduced in 2006 by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and based on NMC mentor standards is meeting the needs of mentors to support preregistration students in practice. A cross-sectional survey was carried out, involving 346 mentors who successfully completed the new course. A self-administered postal questionnaire was used to collect data between December 2010 and February 2011, with a response rate of 57.5%. Overall, respondents felt adequately prepared for their role as mentors and were more confident in their ability to support preregistration students in practice. However, a significant number of respondents received little protected time away from clinical duties to complete the theoretical and practical components of the course and many indicated the need for more input on the practice assessment document used for assessing preregistration nursing and midwifery students.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Social Care, University of Greenwich, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ven
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Veeramah
mesh_terms: D008611:Mentors; D008880:Midwifery; D009729:Nursing; D006113:United Kingdom