Nursing students on collaborative learning programmes make decisions about care and gain clinical experience

When Beth Dennis first set foot on a hospital ward as a Birmingham City University nursing student she felt underprepared. COVID-19 had disrupted everything, including face-to-face learning and time to practise clinical skills. Many of her student peers had worked previously in healthcare, but Ms Dennis had entered nursing straight from school. ‘I basically knew nothing,’ she says. But by her second year, with more experience, she felt she could offer help to others starting out who felt as anxious as she had. ‘So me and a few other nursing students decided to run sessions to ease nerves about placements,’ she says.