District Nurse Education Report
The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery endorses recommendations published this week by the Queen’s Nursing Institute on the development of District Nurse Education. The Report, which forms part of QNI’s Right Nurse, Right Skills campaign, highlights the need for the education of district nurses to begin with the needs of patients and carers.
The report also emphasises that measures must be taken to raise the profile of District Nursing as a rewarding career for ambitious practitioners. The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery was the first nursing school in England to gain NMC validation for a district nursing masters programme that includes the independent prescribing qualification.
Julie Bliss, Head of the Department of Mental Health Nursing at the School, and member of the Association of District Nurse Educators, said:
“District Nurses have an increasingly important role to play as the focus of care, particularly of the elderly and those with long term conditions, shifts from the hospital to the community. Their role includes assessing complex needs, risk management, application of specialist knowledge and skills, and working across multiple organisations. It is essential that we equip the future district nursing workforce with the advanced skill set they need to fulfil this role effectively.
“Following ongoing discussion with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, a new MSc Advanced Practice (District Nursing) programme has now been validated at King’s College London. The programme includes independent prescribing and we believe that it will help to prepare district nurses to meet the increasingly complex needs of individuals receiving care at home.”
The Queen’s Nursing Institute report states:
“The independent prescribing qualification goes beyond the requirements of the [NMC] standards but reflects the way in which District Nurses are now practicing...we need to prepare a workforce with the capacity and capability to respond to [the] changing needs [of patients].”
For more information about the King’s College London MSc Advanced Practice programme click here.
To read the full Queen’s Nursing Institute report click here.