ABSTRACT
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) stresses the importance of lifelong learning. The Council recognises that healthcare is an area of constant change which necessitates a dynamic approach to learning. Objective feedback from external assessment is usually more reliable than our own self-assessment when we may have blind spots about our own performance. Audits of outcomes consider the impact of care or services on the patient and might include patient satisfaction, health gains and effectiveness of care or services. Strengths and weaknesses of our roles might relate to our clinical knowledge or skills, experience, expertise, decision making, communication skills, inter-professional relationships, political skills, timekeeping, organisational skills, teaching skills, or research skills. Risk assessment might entail evaluating the risks to the health or wellbeing or competence of ourself, staff and/or patients in our practice or workplace, and deciding on the action needed to minimise or eliminate those risks. Legislation changes quite frequently.
