External examiner system in traditional nurse education--issues to be resolved

Nurse education is in the process of adopting the practices of higher education establishment. One such practice is the external examiner system. Unfortunately this system is not without its shortcomings. A number of potential areas of difficulty in using this system are looked at in this paper. These range from problems associated with the selection of the external examiner to the balance of power between the external examiner and the course team. It is pointed out that nurses may, in their desire for validation and increased status, leave aside their growing critical abilities and accept without reservation and to their detriment the traditional practices of the higher education system.