Clinical practice placements in the community: a survey to determine if they reflect the shift in healthcare delivery from secondary to primary care settings.

With the worldwide strategic shift of health care delivery from secondary to primary care settings, more newly qualified nurses are working in primary care, making exposure to the variety of roles available to nurses essential for future workforce development. The aim of this small research project was to explore whether English universities' programmes are providing clinical practice placement experiences which reflect the breadth and complexity of nursing roles available in primary care. A survey of academic staff highlighted that universities designed curricula based on local placement and mentor availability and while a variety of primary care teams are being used, district nursing teams continue to be used the most, particularly for substantive placements. The need for specified staff to work across university and placement settings was deemed essential for identifying and supporting community based clinical placements. Recommendations from the project include: an increasingly collaborative approach amongst clinical, academic and managerial staff to create a learning culture for all health professional students' practice experience; robust strategic systems to ensure clinical placements are offered by services on the periphery of a national health service; and focussing of resources on students with a desire to pursue a primary care career.