If you’re reading this, chances are you want to know what you can do to not only pass placement, but also to enjoy it as much as you can. If this is you, you are in the right place. Without any further ado, let’s get into it.
If you haven’t been on placement yet, let me tell you the harsh and raw truth about it: placements can be extremely challenging and overwhelming. Unpaid long hours, breaks that feel super short, under-staffed clinical areas, unsupportive practice assessors, mean nurses and the list goes on. However, not everything is bad. You get to learn a lot, you get to know the exact kind of nurse you want to be and the kind of nurse you don’t want to be, and make a positive and meaningful impact in your patients and students lives by being the role model you wish you had. And you know what else? You also get to slowly realise and be extremely proud of how much you’ve grown throughout the years and that feeling is quite rewarding. Now, here, on this post, I will tell you how to get the most out of placement as a practice assessor (PA) myself and help you succeed on each one of them.
Anatomy and physiology
Did you guess this one? As obvious as it sounds, it will always be worth mentioning. No one will expect you to know every single bone or muscle in your body or how to diagnose rare conditions.
What you need to know in depth depends on the clinical area you are going to, kind of like how medical specialties work. A Neurosurgeon doesn’t need to know what an aerospace doctor knows. Yes, you need to know how the different systems work together and what you should do if, for example, you suspect that your patient with a GI condition suddenly has a stroke or a myocardial infarction (aka heart attack). I am saying that, if you are going to cardiology, rather than pushing yourself to the limit trying to learn everything about every organ or system (which you won’t), you’d be expected to know how the circulatory system works, the structures of the heart, commonly encountered cardiac and vascular conditions, common procedures or surgeries performed and medications given. I understand this is a lot and although you might go through some of this on placement, doing independent reading is key. Things will make a lot more sense to you in practice, nurses will acknowledge the amount of effort you have made to truly appreciate their specialty and you will feel a lot more safer and competent when you know what you are doing and why you are doing it.
Ask questions
Ask questions and show interest!! Nurses are not the only ones who love this. Other members of the multidisciplinary team really appreciate them too. Asking questions, even if you think they are silly, are always worth asking. If they will make you more comfortable, competent, safer and effective, why not asking them? Get your notebook and your pen and write your notes down. They will be helpful at some point.
From an assessor perspective, showing initiative by asking questions tells us that you are invested in your own learning and you really want to successfully pass placement. If you ware struggling with something, ask us, PAs, or your favourite nurse on the ward.
Another tip: if you are not sure about something, don’t do it. Ask first. Would you really jeopardiSe your future PIN or your patient’s safety because of a “nah, surely this is how you do it” or a “what can go wrong if I do this myself?”. If you’re unsure, ask.
National Early Warning Score (NEWS) 2
Knowing will literally help you save lives.
The NEWS is based on a simple aggregate scoring system in which a score is allocated to physiological measurements, already recorded in routine practice, when patients present to, or are being monitored in hospital (Royal College of Physicians, 2025). Patients whose condition is deteriorating are promptly identified and get the appropriate clinical response (NICE, 2020). Six simple physiological parameters form the basis of the scoring system (Royal College of Physicians, 2025):
1. Temperature.
2. Respiratory rate
3. Oxygen saturation
4. Systolic blood pressure
5. Pulse rate
6. Level of consciousness or new confusion
While the NEWS 2 is just a tool, using your clinical judgement skills is fundamental. Look at you patient, touch them, hear them.
Say that you see a patient who appears pale, lips are blue (cyanosis), you can see their breathing looks very laboured and they are confused. You then know that something seems off so you do your A-E assessment. You’re not going to leave them to look for an OBS machine which might be on the other side of the ward and it is charging. You are going to immediately call for help, pull the emergency buzzer if you can reach and start basic life support as appropriate. Yes, NEWS 2 is important, but KNOWING what a normal and abnormal clinical parameter is will more quickly save a life than a tool. For instance, in the ITU we don’t use NEWS 2 because realistically about 95% of patients will score very high, they are already monitored very closely and every resource available to prevent further deterioration is available in the unit including machines and highly specialised teams. With that in mind, if you don’t have a NEWS 2 chart readily available, should you be worried if your patient’s RR is 60 RPM? What about if their HR is 32 BPM? If you panic a bit or can’t remember, you can always refer back to your medical reference cards set but I can’t stress enough how you really need to know this. It is a skill that with time will become a 6th sense but in the meantime, know your basic observations.
If you want us to dive deeper into this, please let us know. We are here for you ❤️
Medical emergency equipment
Another fundamental thing that you must know to keep you patients safe: emergency equipment and its uses.
If someone asks you to urgently get them an oropharyngeal airway, would you know what it is for, how to use it or where to find it on the ward? A bag-valve-mask? What about a more obvious one: the crash trolley?
You might not use them as often as maybe in high dependency units such as the emergency department, intensive care unit or theatres, but it is still really important to know these things as medical emergencies can happen anywhere and at any time.
The Resuscitation Council UK has organised a list of the most common and important emergency equipment (and drugs that you should also know when you qualify), which you can easily access here Quality Standards: Acute care equipment and drug lists | Resuscitation Council UK.
Well, this is it for now and I really hope you’ve found this helpful. We will make more posts like this so make sure you check them out.
You’ve got this and I am really proud of you for getting this far. You’re doing amazing.
References
NICE. (2020). National Early Warning Score systems that alert to deteriorating adult patients in hospital. The technology | National Early Warning Score systems that alert to deteriorating adult patients in hospital | Advice | NICE
Royal College of Physicians. (2025). National Early Warning Score (NEWS) 2. National Early Warning Score (NEWS) 2 | RCP