Think positive about revalidation

The thought of Nursing and Midwifery Council revalidation is daunting for many nurses who see it as another hurdle to climb and more paperwork to complete to justify our roles.

Any change is difficult initially, and it does take time to get your head around the different components required to complete the process. However, when done properly it can have positive benefits by highlighting good practice, giving us all an opportunity to tell others what we are doing well, and considering potential improvements.

In this issue we explore the background to and processes involved in revalidation and find out what cancer nurses think about the new system.

Obtaining five pieces of feedback and writing five reflective accounts sounds a lot, but it can be incorporated in our day-to-day work and completed over a period of time, rather than in a sudden rush before the deadline.

Nurses need feedback from patients and their families, colleagues and managers to understand how our performance is perceived by others. We receive feedback every day and do not usually think about it too much, but now we need to gather and keep it for revalidation.

Similarly, we reflect on aspects of our work daily, often analysing our actions in clinical situations, thinking about clinical outcomes and considering how well it went or whether we need to make changes. The difference for revalidation is that we need to make notes and write down these reflections.

Having discussions with colleagues and managers is also something we do without question; therefore it is not a huge burden to have reflective discussions for revalidation, it is simply formalising the process.