Important update for all clinical and academic staff supporting midwifery students
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Permissions in OPAL have changed as a result of the NMC Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment in Practice (SSSA). As such the term Mentor and Sign-Off Mentor are replaced with the terms Practice Supervisor and Practice Assessor.
- All registered midwives in OPAL will be regarded as Practice Supervisors and will be able to sign Skills.
- All registered midwives in OPAL who have a Sign Off Mentor qualification or have attended a Practice Assessor Course will be regarded as a Practice Assessor as well as being a Practice Supervisor. Practice Assessors can provide students with an Assessment of Competence if asked to do so by the Practice Educator/Student Link Midwife.
- A midwife cannot be a Practice Supervisor and a Practice Assessor for the SAME student, but they may undertake either role with different students. The Practice Assessor does not usually work clinically with the student they are assessing, but does have three meetings with the student during the year to oversee their progress.
All staff working with students require an understanding of the Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment in Practice and prior to working with a student should access guidance at https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards-for-education-and-training/standards-for-student-supervision-and-assessment/ and the emergency standards at https://www.nmc.org.uk/globalassets/sitedocuments/education-standards/current-emergency-and-recovery-programme-standards.pdf.
The Academic Assessor will provide the final confirmation that a student has achieved the required standard in their final Assessment of Competence.
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Welcome to OPALBU (Online Practice Assessment for Learning at Bournemouth University), which is an intuitive, custom built system that can be accessed on any computer, tablet device or smart phone linked to the internet. Mentors will be invited by students to have access to their portfolio, so they can review progress and have access to the skills and competencies relevant to the placement or stage of training to aid and enhance practice based learning without the need to negotiate paper based records.
