<p>At a time when curriculum revision for pre-registration nurse education has reduced the length of the common foundation programme (CFP) by a third (DoH 1999a, UKCC 1999), student nurses at this stage of their course are subject to considerably shortened placements and correspondingly less associated theoretical input. It is conceivable that ‘branch sampling’ experiences in particular are neither offering students, yet to be committed to a branch, the opportunity to make a reasoned selection of their future career, nor familiarising them sufficiently with the needs of clients in other groups (such as those who have mental illness, or learning disabilities) who will form part, but not the majority, of their future clientele.</p>