Exploring placement pathways in nurse education

As community based care has developed in line with current policy towards integrated care, some hospital placement capacity for student health professionals has been lost as a result of service reorganisation. However, student nurses and allied health professionals need to gain a broad range of experience to prepare them for the complex and rapidly changing environments they will be entering as qualified professionals. Placement pathways constitute a means of offering the knowledge amd skills to enter the profession in challenging times. Tis study explore, by means of a literature search and interveiws with key stakeholders, the challenges and opportunities offered by placement pathways. The findings are presented and the wrok being done as a result, including the introduction of an electronic placement poathway tool, are discussed.