5 of the Best Ways Nurses Can Achieve Revalidation

All nurses must complete revalidation to ensure their knowledge and skills are up to date, though requirements will vary according to the body with which you are registered. Particularly for newly-qualified professionals or for those who have recently transferred to a new workplace or specialism. Hours of Continuing Professional Development may be mandatory and you will usually be asked to evidence and reflect on your recent learnings.

With Covid-19 increasing staff shortages and limiting in-person access to conferences, events and learning opportunities, how can nurses find the best training and development opportunities?

Here are five ways that new and experienced nurses can achieve revalidation.

5 Ways Nurses Can Get Revalidated

1. Preparation

Nursing revalidation will often require you to submit multiple pieces of practice-related feedback, and/or written reflections on the past few years of your role. Tailor your feedback and reflection to your own career by:

• Keeping informed – Read up on the code of your professional body and familiarise yourself with all requirements to revalidate. You can then ensure your CPD is as close as possible to both your own development needs and the specifics required to complete or update your nursing registration.
• Requesting a 1-2-1 with your manager – Your direct line manager will not only know you better than anyone else and can therefore help you identify your best skills and points for improvement, but they are also likely to have been in your position several times before. Try to find time to discuss your development plans with them well ahead of your revalidation date, to ensure that you’re on the right track and address any development issues in advance.
• Speaking to colleagues – Ask them about their experiences and what they’ve learnt in their role since last revalidating. Pick up tips from your fellow professionals by finding out what courses and training they’ve pursued, what they found the most helpful and what their own personal development plans include.

2. Online Training Courses

A wide variety of courses exist online for free or at a low cost to help you with your Continuing Professional Development. Well-known websites such as Skills Platform provide practical and theoretical courses such as:

• Adult & Paediatric Life Support
• Cardiac Disease Awareness
• Cannulation and Venepuncture
• First Aid for Mental Health
• Managing and Administering Controlled Drugs
• Risk Assessment
• Sepsis Awareness
• Surgical and Traumatic Wound Management.

Prospero Health & Social Care and our partner organisation Prospero Teaching offer a wide variety of CPD-accredited courses including:

• Safeguarding Young People
• Introduction to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Supporting Children with Attachment Disorder.

Find out more about our training courses.

3. Mentoring

Depending on the nursing body you are registered with, coaching and mentoring can provide a significant part of your required CPD or training hours, if logged and evidenced correctly. Outside of your revalidation activities, mentoring can help you gain objective advice and guidance from someone outside of your hospital or care home, and provide feedback on your ideas for your development.

Like your line manager, mentors will usually be someone who has many years of experience in your chosen field, and can not only understand and sympathise with your challenges and ideas, but can help you revalidate with lessons learned during their own experiences as a registered nurse.

 

4. Focus on Your Future Career

Take some time to reflect on how revalidation fits into your nursing career, and what skills and experience you will need to factor in to your development to get you where you want to be professionally in the next few years.

Ask yourself:

• What were the best things about your past few years in your position, and what would you have liked to be able to do differently?
• In which situations do you excel, how and why?
• What do you feel you are highly skilled in, and in which areas do you think you need to or would like to improve?
• What do you really want from your career – and from your life?

By spending time thinking about these aspects you can ensure your CPD and revalidating activities are focused around the areas that you are most interested in and that will best serve you, not only in completing or maintain your registered nursing status but also in driving forward your career in the direction that you want to take it.

Conduct research around the future of your chosen specialism and what will be required for someone in this role to succeed in the next few years. Read reports from reputable bodies such as the Royal College of Nursing or the Nursing and Midwifery Council on public healthcare needs and predictions for the coming years.

Think about recent events and trends: for example, the Covid-19 pandemic will require more knowledge and skills in vaccination and immunisation than ever before, and the staff shortages predicted to accompany Brexit may mean certain specialisms offer more vacancies or greater career progression.

5. Work with a Recruitment & Training Agency

Recruitment agencies that specialise in your area of healthcare are ideally placed to help you in your career. Healthcare recruiters speak with hundreds of candidates just like you every week, meaning they know the market and your competition and can benchmark you against others in your field. Nursing recruitment consultants will understand exactly what hospitals and care homes are looking for in their new staff, and can help you tailor your learning and development for a new job and the next stage in your career.

Organisations like Prospero Health & Social Care provide training and career-long support alongside NHS and private health recruitment services. We have 20 years’ experience supporting the careers of nurses across the UK, and every one of our professionals can count on our support from day one until they retire. Whether you need advice about revalidation, are looking to find your next CPD-accredited course or are looking for your next nursing job, we want to hear from you.

Advance Your Nursing Career

Looking for your next nurse job? Prospero Health & Social Care are looking to pre-register experienced, qualified and registered nurses for hospital and care home roles.

Whether you specialise across Adult, Children, Learning Difficulties or Mental Health, and wherever you want to work in the UK, Prospero are eager to speak with you.

To find the latest roles suited to your experience, pre-register for our nursing jobs.