The Cowl - v.59 - n.3 - Sept 22, 1994

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 59, Number 3 - September 22, 1994. 28 pages

Patient safety in health care professional educational curricula: examining the learning experience

This study has investigated the formal and informal ways pre-registration students from four healthcare professions learn about patient safety in order to become safe practitioners. The study aims to understand some of the issues which impact upon teaching, learning and practising patient safety in academic, organisational and practice „knowledge? contexts. In Stage 1 we used a convenience sample of 13 educational providers across England and Scotland linked with five universities running traditional and innovative courses for doctors, nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists. We gathered examples of existing curriculum documents for detailed analysis, and interviewed course directors and similar informants. In Stage 2 we undertook 8 case studies to develop an in-depth investigation of learning and practice by students and newly qualified practitioners in universities and practice settings in relation to patient safety. Data were gathered to explore the planning and implementation of patient safety curricula; the safety culture of the places where learning and working take place; the student teacher interface; and the influence of role models and organisational culture on practice. Data from observation, focus groups and interviews were transcribed and coded independently by more than one of the research team. Analysis was iterative and ongoing throughout the study. NHS policy is being taken seriously by course leaders, and Patient Safety material is being incorporated into both formal and informal curricula. Patient safety in the curriculum is largely implicit rather than explicit. All students very much value the practice context for learning about patient safety. However, resource issues, peer pressure and client factors can influence safe practice. Variations exist in students? experience, in approach between university tutors, different placement locations – the experience each offers – and the quality of the supervision available. Relationships with the mentor or clinical educator are vital to student learning. The role model offered and the relationship established affects how confident students feel to challenge unsafe practice in others. Clinicians are conscious of the tension between their responsibilities as clinicians (keeping patients safe), and as educators (allowing students to learn under supervision). There are some apparent gaps in curricular content where relevant evidence already exists – these include the epidemiology of adverse events and error, root cause analysis and quality assessment. Reference to the organisational context is often absent from course content and exposure limited. For example, incident reporting is not being incorporated to any great extent in undergraduate curricula. Newly qualified staff were aware of the need to be seen to practice in an evidence based way, and, for some at least, the need to modify „the standard? way of doing things to do „what?s best for the patient?. A number of recommendations have been made, some generic and others specific to individual professions. Regulators? expectations of courses in relation to patient 9 safety education should be explicit and regularly reviewed. Educators in all disciplines need to be effective role models who are clear about how to help students to learn about patient safety. All courses should be able to highlight a vertical integrated thread of teaching and learning related to patient safety in their curricula. This should be clear to staff and students. Assessment for this element should also be identifiable as assessment remains important in driving learning. All students need to be enabled to constructively challenge unsafe or non-standard practice. Encounters with patients and learning about their experiences and concerns are helpful in consolidating learning. Further innovative approaches should be developed to make patient safety issues 'real' for students

Songs of the Spirit : attending to Aboriginal students' emotional and spiritual needs through a Native American flute curriculum

This narrative inquiry explores how the �Songs of the Spirit� Native American Flute curriculum, a culturally-responsive curriculum which involves learning to make and play a PVC version of the Native American Flute while learning the cultures and histories of this First Nations instrument, impacted spiritual and emotional aspects of the learning and lives of Aboriginal students, their families, their parents, and their school community. My research took place at an urban Aboriginal high school in Saskatchewan from January to March, 2006. I conducted recorded conversations with three students, two parents, two teachers, two administrators, two Elders, a former principal, a former school caretaker, an artistic director, and the young woman who inspired the Heart of the City Piano Program, a volunteer driven community piano program, in the fall of 1995. Aboriginal individuals, who have too often been silenced in education and in society (Giroux, 1997; Freire, 1989; Fine, 1987; Greene, 1995 & 1998; Grumet, 1999), were provided with a voice in this research.Because of the voices of my research participants, I chose to use the Medicine Wheel and Tipi Teachings (Lee, 2006; Kind, Irwin, Grauer, & de Cosson, 2005) as a lens (Greene, 1995) rather than situating my research in a traditional Eurocentric body of literature. Along this journey, I reflected inwards and outwards, backwards and forwards on how my past storied experiences (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) shaped my teaching practices and way of being in the world today. To better understand the hurt I observed and which was described by research participants as present in the lived lives and circumstances of many Aboriginal people, I moved backward in time as I reviewed the literature on the Residential School experience and gained a deeper sense of the impact of colonialism on generations of Aboriginal people. This inquiry foregrounded how hearing and playing the Northern Spirit Flute impacted the emotional and spiritual aspects of students� being, and contributed to a process of healing. When participants heard the music, �it [sounded] so eloquent and so spiritual. It [was] almost like the flute [was] weeping,� (Onawa Gaho, Recorded conversation, March 17, 2006, p. 5) bringing about �a calmness to the anger that some [Aboriginal students] have� (Sakima Qaletaqa, Recorded conversation, March 15, 2006, pp. 25-26). The research findings indicate that the �Songs of the Spirit� curriculum, in honoring the holistic nature of traditional First Nations cultures and teachings, invites Aboriginal students functioning in �vigilance mode� to attend to their emotional and spiritual needs. They speak to a need for rethinking curricula in culturally-responsive ways, for attending to the importance of the arts in education, and for reforming teacher education. Sound files of the Northern Spirit Flute and selected research conversations have been embedded within the electronic version of this thesis to allow the reader to walk alongside me and share in my research journey

Taking Heed: Principals Who Identify as African American or Black Working in Predominantly White Schools

This is a narrative study of the lived experiences of school leaders who identify as African American or Black and are working in predominately White school settings. The study sought to understand the lived experiences of these school leaders by exploring how these leaders make sense of their work in a predominantly White setting. This included the opportunities and challenges they encountered and the leadership beliefs, practices, and strategies they employed to navigate the predominantly White school setting. A critical race methodology was used throughout the study that centered race and racism in all aspects of the research (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). This was important to the study as predominantly White school settings are racialized organizations that seek to marginalize students and educators of color learning and working in their organizations (Ray, 2019). Data was gathered using interviews which generated narratives for each of the ten participants. A thematic data analysis of the narratives resulted in eight common themes with related sub themes. The six findings of the study are focused on elevating the voices of the ten school leader participants who are African American or Black to an audience of White district leaders that are called upon to disrupt their predominantly White organizations so that all children receive an equitable education

I\u27m afraid [of] my future. : Secrecy, Biopower, and Korean High School Girls

This paper analyzes the secrets revealed by Korean high school girls. Despite their struggles being known to the Korean public-at-large, the majority of these secrets express the students dismay at not meeting the high standards expected of teenage girls in successfully preparing for the future. In this case study, the public airing of the otherwise silenced acknowledgement of the authors\u27 perceived deficiencies and failures illuminates processes of biopower (the subject-based regulation and disciplining of bodies) embedded within the Korean nation-state building project. I explore how the Neo-Confucian principles of reverence, obedience, and self-cultivation work together with the neoliberal, post-industrial consumerist nation-state in rendering adolescent girls \u27docile and useful\u27 (Foucault 1990[1976]). I aim to explicate the regulatory mechanisms and disciplinary pressures experienced daily by Korean teenage girls and argue that adolescent subjects in particular embody both the underpinnings and cost of the nation-state building project.\u2