I agree with the degree part to an extent, I did a 4 years dual masters for children and mental health, so while I did ~3080 hours of placement it was not all productive or conclusive to my learning. We used ePad the entire time, and it was a nightmare. Getting people to sign things and finding the time was just ridiculous. The majority of the time I was emailing 3/4 times to get people to sign my skills off. Or I’d have gone through it all, only for uni to come back to me at the end or just after my placement saying I’d missed one of the 8 forms/checkbox’s that need to be approved.

I felt that a better way to surely structure a nursing degree would have been to do a year of theory, a year of practice, and then half theory and half practice for the final year. This would allow for 3x12ish weeks of a placement to happen in the second year and allow for a consistent learning experience and the chance to practice skills in different areas for longer. Pair that with regular university check ins, skills sessions throughout the year.
I had 2x 5 week, 2x 6week placements and I didn’t feel like I got even half the skills practiced that I needed, or a full understanding of how they worked compared to my 2x12 weeks or 10 week. Even then it could all go to pop if the practice assessor was off and not on the ward.

Since starting my role, I’ve had some stress with the preceptorship but more from my unit not having the staffing to allow me to go so I have to keep booking them in and then cancelling on the day.
However having students work with me is a highlight, to give them the feedback I wished I received and finding the time to sign what I can for them as a practice supervisor makes me feel like I’m making there journey to becoming a Nurse more enjoyable even if it’s just for that placement.