ABSTRACT
Introduction Supporting practitioners in giving high-quality care is an important issue for all nurses, ranging from the new student nurse to the experienced practitioner.The subject of support underpins all of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards of proficiency for pre-registration nursing education (NMC, 2004) (Appendix 2), and 6 of the 17 standards specifically identify the importance of supporting practitioners and the way that this influences the quality of patient care. In addition, the NMC Code (2008) (Appendix 1) identifies as one of its key components the importance of providing high standards of practice and care at all times.
