Preparing nursing professionals fit for the evolving healthcare landscape

Within the land of higher education there has been a flurry of excitement and enthusiasm. Why is this, you may ask? It is because the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has started the approval process for programmes that will deliver its new standards for the education of future nurses.

Since 28 January 2019 all approvals have been judged against the new benchmarks (NMC, 2018). The nursing regulator has also stipulated that after 1 September 2020 only programmes approved against these standards will be able to accept new students and meet requirements for award and registration. The NMC's mission for the new education standards is to ‘shape the next generation of nurses’ and ensure that they ‘will learn to deliver world class care’ (Ford, 2018).

Having contributed to multiple curriculum developments within nursing at a couple of higher educational institutions in my role as a senior lecturer and external examiner, in my view this opportunity feels truly different. I believe that the NMC has recognised the urgent need for registered nurses to use their expert knowledge and skills differently, and to be able to work more autonomously from the point of registration.