Feedback, confirmation and building the portfolio

Amara Feedback. Five pieces. This is the requirement that makes people uncomfortable, because asking for feedback feels like fishing for compliments.

Nadia Then let us widen it out, because the acceptable range is far bigger than most registrants think. Written or verbal. Formal or informal. From patients, service users, carers, students, colleagues, managers, or a whole team.

Amara Does a complaint count?

Nadia A complaint absolutely counts, and it often makes the strongest reflection. Team performance data counts. An audit result counts. A thank you card counts. A student telling you that the way you explained something finally made it land, counts.

Amara Verbal feedback though. How do I evidence that?

Nadia Write down what was said and when. That is all. It does not need a signature.

Amara Everybody says they will remember and nobody does.

Nadia Which is why I give everybody the same piece of practical advice. Open a note on your phone right now, call it feedback, and add to it the same week something happens. Three lines. Reconstructing five pieces of feedback from memory three years later is exactly why people panic in week eleven.

Amara Confirmers. Does it have to be a nurse?

Nadia No, and this is widely misunderstood. The NMC recommend your line manager where you have one. If your line manager is not an NMC registrant, that is fine. They can be another regulated healthcare professional, and in some circumstances somebody else who can confirm you have met the requirements.

Amara I have known managers refuse, saying they cannot vouch for someone's clinical practice.

Nadia And that is the misunderstanding to clear up, because it is the commonest obstacle. A confirmer is not assessing your clinical competence. They are not endorsing your practice. They are confirming that you have met the requirements: that the hours are there, the accounts are there, the discussion happened. Tell them that and most reluctance evaporates.

Amara The reflective discussion. Who with?

Nadia Another NMC registrant, covering your five written accounts. And it can be the same person as your confirmer if they happen to be a registrant, which is usually the simplest way to do it, one conversation instead of two.

Amara What gets recorded?

Nadia Their name, NMC Pin, email, professional address and the date. And the same rule applies as everywhere else. Nothing in that record identifies a patient.

Amara Last thing. The portfolio. Where should it live?

Nadia Somewhere you will still have access to it when you change jobs. Not on a work drive, not in a work email account. I have watched people lose three years of evidence on the day they handed in their badge.

Amara Do I send it to the NMC?

Nadia Not unless you are asked. Most people are never asked. But you can be selected for verification, and a portfolio assembled in a panic in the last four weeks looks exactly like a portfolio assembled in a panic in the last four weeks.

Amara So what does a good one look like?

Nadia Six things in one place, kept current. Practice hours log. CPD log. Five feedback records. Five reflective accounts on the NMC template. The reflective discussion form. And the confirmation form. Add to it as you go and revalidation stops being an event. It becomes a filing habit.