NMC Realistic Job Preview

Realistic Role Preview

To bring the Panel Member role to life for you, and to help you understand how our Values play out in the role, we’ve created a set of scenarios for you to read and think about. Just choose the action that you think you would take, and we’ll give you some feedback on whether that fits with how we’d like you to work as a Panel Member. Being able to act in line with our Values is essential for you to be an effective Panel Member.

This is just to help you think about the role, we won’t record your answers and it isn’t part of the application process, but we hope it will help you to understand a little more about our Values and the role.

For each scenario, select the option that you would be most likely to take. You will be provided with feedback on how well this fits with the preferred NMC approach, in line with the NMC Values, Behaviours and Competencies.

Question Title

* 1. You’re in a hearing for a former midwife who is seeking to be returned to the Register; if successful they will be able to practise again. They’re joining the hearing online. They appear to be struggling with the technology, which is making them distracted, visibly flustered and unable to respond well to the questions from the Panel. You know the midwife was briefed on the technology in advance of the hearing, and attempts have been made to talk them through the problems without success.

A. Ask the midwife if they’d like a break to allow them to sort out the technical problems.

B. Continue with the hearing as the midwife has already been provided with support and it’s important to continue in line with standard procedures and treat all registrants the same way.

C. Propose that you take a break while someone calls the midwife to talk them through the technical problems.

D. Take some time to personally talk the midwife through the technical issues without pausing the hearing, as you’ve used it many times before and this will reduce any delay.

Question Title

* 2. You’re in the middle of a complex hearing. It‘s become apparent that some of the evidence is missing from the documents you’ve been given. The evidence is referred to elsewhere but not present. It isn’t clear whether this evidence will be important or not from the information that you have. During a break, you asked the NMC case presenter for the missing evidence, but their response is that it’s in the archive, and will take a long time to find, which would lead to the case not being finished in time.

A. Suggest that you could see if it’s possible to alter the timetable and see some of the witnesses for the hearing earlier than planned while someone looks for the evidence.

B. Suggest that you pause for a set period of time and see if the evidence can be found in that time; otherwise you’ll need to continue without it.

C. Carry on without the evidence given the impact it would have on the timing of the case and the fact it has not been flagged as critical evidence.

D. Suggest that you pause the hearing until the evidence is found, even though this may delay the case.

Question Title

* 3. You are hearing a case where a nurse admits giving the wrong medication to a patient, causing serious harm. The nurse is not British, but has practised in the UK for some time. They admitted to making a mistake but remained calm and did not show any emotion during the hearing. One of the witnesses stated that they did not feel the nurse showed remorse at the time of the incident. While the Panel are discussing the case in private to make a decision, one of the other Panel Members refers to the fact that the nurse did not seem at all upset about what had happened, and suggests this is a key factor influencing their view of the correct decision to take.

A. Agree with your colleague. The nurse clearly does not feel any remorse for the incident, even though they have admitted to the charges.

B. Tell your colleague that this is a biased view, and ask whether they have ever worked with people from different cultures.

C. Look to the Panel Chair to see what their view is on whether you should take into account the apparent lack of remorse.

D. Ask your colleague what evidence they have that the person did not feel remorse, other than the fact that they didn’t become upset.

Question Title

* 4. A new hearings coordinator is working with you. Their role involves following the panel’s discussions and drafting decision documents on your behalf. They have made some small but important errors in drafting a document for the Panel, and you can see that they are getting a little flustered as the errors are being raised with them. You can see that one of your fellow Panel Members is getting frustrated about the mistakes, even though they will be easy to fix.

A. This is a learning experience for the hearings coordinator so don’t intervene, but make sure you add in some positive feedback as you work through the document.

B. Speak to the hearings coordinator privately to reassure them that none of the mistakes are significant and they’ll soon pick it up.

C. Tell the hearings coordinator in front of your colleagues that they’ve done a good job, and that you all know it takes time to become familiar with the requirements.

D. Ask for a break and take your colleagues aside, asking them to be a little more sensitive to the fact that the hearings coordinator is new and still learning.

Question Title

* 5. You’ve just been provided with the evidence file for a new hearing, which hasn’t yet started. A female nurse has been accused of sexually assaulting male patients. One of your fellow Panel Members expresses that this seems incredibly unlikely to be the case as sexual assaults are usually committed by men.

A. Tell your colleague that if they are going to make assumptions before hearing the case then maybe they should not be involved in the hearing.

B. Politely but directly ask your colleague if they think that is an appropriate viewpoint for them to take before hearing the evidence.

C. Do not directly challenge your colleague as this may make them defensive; you can address the issue if they do not seem to pay attention to the evidence during the hearing.

D. Agree that statistically they are correct, but remind your colleague of the need to consider the specific evidence in this case.

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* 6. You are in a hearing where a key piece of evidence is a video of an individual coming to serious harm in a prison cell due to delayed medical attention. Everyone in the room is quiet and has clearly found it difficult to watch, but one of your fellow Panel Members is visibly distressed.

A. Ask your colleague if they are ok to continue or would like a break.

B. Speak to your colleague to check they are ok in the next scheduled break.

C. Don’t say anything so as not to draw attention to your colleague.

D. Suggest a break in proceedings to allow your colleague a little time to compose themselves.

Question Title

* 7. You’re due to break for lunch during a particularly busy day of hearings which has already involved unexpected delays which are likely to mean that you will finish late or have to delay some cases. Such delays can mean rescheduling weeks or months later and are best avoided. One of your fellow Panel Members suggests that you could continue to work over lunch to help get through the workload and finish up on your current case. The other Panel Member replies sharply that they need and are entitled to a lunch break.

A. Suggest that a break would be a good idea, but ask for their thoughts on making it a slightly shorter break than usual.

B. Agree that you should all take your full lunch break as you are entitled to it.

C. Try to convince your colleague that working over lunch would be the best option.

D. Leave your colleagues to sort this out between themselves, it’s best not to get involved and cause any conflict.

Question Title

* 8. In private discussions between Panel Members, your two colleagues agree with each other on the decision of whether a registrant should be allowed to continue to practise, and you have a different view. They do not seem to understand your reasoning, despite you trying to explain it to them several times. You have been discussing the case for some time and don’t seem to be getting anywhere.

A. Accept their viewpoint as it’s the majority view, particularly as the Chair is one of the colleagues holding that viewpoint

B. Ask them to talk through their reasoning and try to identify what has made them come to a different conclusion to you.

C. Talk through your reasoning again in a slightly different way, asking them to flag any inconsistencies with their views.

D. Hold firm on your view, as you feel they’re making the wrong decision which could put the public at risk.