Kay Hutchfield began her nursing career in both orthopaedic nursing and adult nursing before becoming a children's nurse and later a clinical teacher. She has recently retired after 18 years as a senior lecturer in higher education. She has worked primarily in pre-registration nursing education, and has a keen interest in curriculum development. Kay has been programme director for three pre-registration child nursing programmes, and has developed a keen interest in developing students’ fundamental research skills and managing risk in academic work as well as in care management. Her experience working as a personal tutor and pathway director has provided her with the opportunity to support students undertaking assessments and understand why they perform poorly and well. She has written two books in the Transforming Nursing Practice series. Her first book is designed to help students develop the skills of searching for literature and information/ evidence underpinning practice. Her second book is designed to help students effectively demonstrate the knowledge they have gained in their nursing assessments and achieve their full potential.