title: The role of the sign-off mentor in the community setting.
abstract: In an move to identify nursing as an all-graduate profession, the Nursi Midwifery Council standards identified that future nurses need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to lead and deliver high-quality care. Inorder to have these skills within the changing context of health care, students need to experience care delivery across a range of community, hospital and other settings. Students have to undertake a final clinical placement of 12 weeks at the end of their programme, commonly called a consolidation placement, and are allocated a sign-off mentor to confirm they meet the requirements for entry to the register. Placement capacity within primary care settings continues to be a challenge alongside the need for providing a sign-off mentor. This article discusses some of the challenges and opportunities of the role of the sign-off mentor and the potential impact for encouraging newly qualified recruitment in this area.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004506:Education, Nursing; D006801:Humans; D008611:Mentors; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013222:State Medicine; D013338:Students, Nursing; D006113:United Kingdom