Student Nurse placements at Exemplar Health Care

At Exemplar Health Care we’re committed to building the future of social care nursing, and this starts with supporting student Nurses.

Placements allow you to explore different nursing roles and apply knowledge to real life practice. 

What to expect from a social care nursing placement

If you’re thinking the answer is a boring few months, with no ‘proper’ nursing or chances to learn, you couldn’t be more wrong.

Social care placements are often overlooked due to common stereotypes surrounding working in care homes.

Care home settings offer a new environment, surrounded by experienced professionals in a number of different areas, offering plenty of opportunities to learn and develop.

What to expect from a placement at Exemplar Health Care

Now you’re excited about a social care nursing placement, it’s time to understand what Exemplar Health Care offers.

With our first value as fun, we’re not like other care home providers.

The people we support are at the heart of everything we do, meaning no two days are the same. From parties to celebrate World Book Day, to trips out to help someone achieve a goal, you’ll be involved in it all!

You’ll work under the supervision of an experienced Registered Nurse, and your role will include:

• supporting people with their daily living
• liaising with internal and external professionals
• taking part in meetings about people’s care needs
• completing care documentation
• reviewing care
• managing medications.

You’ll also have protected time each week to complete learning, reflect on your placement and complete your Practical Assessment Document (PAD).

Who you’ll be working with

As mentioned, the people we support are at the heart of everything we do, and each individual is just that, individual!

Our homes support a range of people of different ages, with different conditions.

Primarily, we support individuals with a range of complex and high acuity needs, arising from neuro-disabilities, brain injuries, spinal injuries, stroke, mental ill-health, physical disabilities and complex dementia. We also have a number of learning disability services.

To support the people in our services, we have extensive multidisciplinary teams.

Our in-house teams include:

• Activities Coordinators
• Health Care Assistants and Seniors
• Care home support colleagues
• Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists
• Registered Nurses
• Unit Managers
• Clinical Nurse Manager
• Home Manager (often a Registered Nurse)
• Regional Director of Operations.

Centrally, our experts include:

• Consultant Psychiatrist
• Behaviour Support Practitioners
• Neuro Consultant
• Speech and Language Consultant
• Huntington’s Disease Nurse Consultant
• Respiratory Care Lead Nurse
• Learning Disability Lead Nurse
• Link Nurse networks for continence, end of life care, falls, infection control, nutrition and wound care.

This means there’s always someone there to help, and you’ll have lots of opportunities to learn from those around you. 

How to get the most out of your placement

Placements can be daunting, especially if it’s your first. Our best piece of advice is to give it all a go!

Your placements are the perfect place to practise your skills in real life settings and learn from experienced colleagues.

Giving everything a go and asking as many questions as possible allows you to get the best out of your time in our homes.

Take some time to prepare before coming into your placement. Look through our website and social media to find out more about us, and read through the job description of a Registered Nurse to give you an overview of the role.

Preparing before hand allows you to gather your thoughts and note down any questions you’d like to ask – if you don’t already get shown the answer!

It’s also useful to familiarise yourself on the following key topics:

• 2022 Health and Care Act - https://bit.ly/gov-health-care-act
• Clinical governance – https://bit.ly/ncbi-clinical-governance
• Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) - https://bit.ly/scie-DoLS
• Safeguarding adults - https://bit.ly/scie-safeguarding-adults
• Mental Health Act - https://bit.ly/nhs-mental-health-act
• Mental Capacity Act 2005 - https://www.scie.org.uk/mca/
• Lasting Power of Attorney - https://bit.ly/mencap-attorney

How to apply for a social care nursing placement?

If you’re interested in doing a placement with us, please speak to your lecturer.

We already work with a number of Universities across the country.

If we don’t work with your University already, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact enquiries@exemplarhc.com and address your email to our Lead Nurse, Lianne Ford.