At Express Nursing we like to ensure that we take any stress of nervousness out of the revalidation process by ensuring all of our nurses have access to a Band 8 Nurse to support them in the same way as those who regularly work in a large NHS Trust or for an independent provider of care.
10 tips for Revalidation!
In order to complete their registration with the NMC, all nurses and midwives need to go through Revalidation.
At Express Nursing we like to ensure that we take any stress or nervousness out of the revalidation process by ensuring all of our nurses have access to a Band 8 Nurse to support them in the same way as those who regularly work in a large NHS Trust or for an independent provider of care.
Here we cover some quick tips and basics to have in place:
1. Sign up to NMC Online and check your revalidation date
Use NMC Online to manage your registration. Set up a free account and check your renewal date (the date when you will be revalidating).
The NMC will notify you around 60 days before your application for revalidation is due. You then have 60 days to log in to NMC Online and complete the application process.
2. Understanding the process
Remember, you will be revalidating on your practice for the whole three-year period up to this date, so it is important that you understand what is being asked of you.
It is important to be prepared and start to collect your evidence such as online or e-learning training modules completed, discussing your revalidation evidence with others and recording any events you have attended or self-reflection completed to build up your portfolio - that way you'll feel in control and reduce stress or anxiety when you receive your60-day reminder from the NMC.
3. Colleague and peer discussions
Utilise your time at work by having meaningful conversations with your colleagues as you may find that they will have gathered experience about revalidation and what has worked best for them.
You may even find you have picked up some handy tips and can share them with your colleagues too!
4. Keep a record of your practice hours
To demonstrate to your confirmer that you have met the minimum number of practice hours required to revalidate, it is important to keep a record of your work. For an agency nurse, timesheets come in super handy here! You can visit the NMC website and access the template that they have produced for this.
Practice hours include time spent providing care to patients, managing teams, teaching others as providing support to junior members on the wards or in the setting you are working, pretty much any time in which you have used your knowledge and experience as a nurse whether it is practical or supportive.
5. Ask for feedback
What is the shortest word in the English language that contains the letters: abcdef? Answer: feedback. Don’t forget that feedback is one of the essential elements of good communication.
Feedback is vital to help you reflect upon and improve your practice. Questionnaires and simple feedback forms are a useful way to find out what you are doing well and what you could be doing better.
6. Think about your CPD
As treatments and technology are continuing to advance, it is important to stay ahead of the game so maintaining constant learning as a nurse is imperative! As part of your revalidation, you must undertake 35 hours of continuing professional development, a huge 20 CPD hours must be in participation with other learners so make the most of events available across the UK and definitely include your Practical or Online Training! Some free courses are available to RCN members to so feel free to have a look into some of them!
7. Regularly maintain and update your portfolio
With portfolios being accepted in paper, computer or digital formats you can record your portfolio in whichever way helps you best! Ensuring you find which one works best, where you can keep all of your information gathered together will reduce the stress when it comes to revalidation of hunting around trying to gather everything together.
RCN learn has a handy section for storing your revalidation evidence and provides a downloadable report!
8. Identify your reflective discussion partner and your confirmer
At Express Nursing we offer access to a Band 8 nurse to be available to have your reflective discussion with! They can review your portfolio and confirm to the NMC that you have completed all the revalidation requirements.
9. Seek out support
There are events and free courses across the UK so follow our social pages and we will share some of the best ones including locations and how many CPD hours are available! All training done through ourselves is CPD accredited too! You’re welcome 😉
10. Discussions with colleagues
As an agency nurse you are part of the nursing team in so many different settings! Building long lasting relationships with colleagues will enable you to approach revalidation with confidence.
