The impact of Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) revalidation on the professional identity of academic staff in a higher education institution: A qualitative study

Aims: To explore Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) revalidation as a process experienced by nursing and midwifery academics and its impact on their sense of professional identity. Background: The introduction of revalidation nurses and midwives in the UK in 2016 caused some anxiety amongst registrants in higher education. Design: A qualitative study using a purposeful sample involving thematic analysis of semi‐structured interviews with academic staff. Methods: Ten registrants completed a semi‐structured interview in a higher education institution. Results/Findings Clinical credibility: participants were self‐conscious about time away from practice but retained strong links with clinical settings reviewing evidence and reports of current practice. The revalidation process: staff were generally positive about NMC revalidation. Professional identity: participants identified as nurses and midwives first and academics second. Conclusions The findings replicate previous studies about professional identity among healthcare professionals in higher education; this study reports the contribution of revalidation amongst nurses and midwives in higher education institutions

Everywhere and Nowhere: work-based learning in healthcare education

The shortage of healthcare professions is a global issue, which has highlighted the need to establish effective practice learning. In 2015 the UK government introduced a change to the way that healthcare education is funded. A subsequent fall in applications to healthcare programmes and high levels of vacancies across the sector in the UK have led to widespread concern about workforce shortages, especially nurses. Subsequently, initiatives that both address the shortage and aim to bridge the gap between registered nurse and healthcare support worker have been introduced, presenting opportunities to further develop the clinical workplace as a learning environment for employees. A sample of nine healthcare professionals was recruited; seven nurses and two allied health professionals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted between March and June 2018. These were recorded verbatim, transcribed and thematically analysed. Respondents identified opportunities for work-based learning and factors for success. The importance of an effective learning culture, commitment to work-based learning and time were identified as factors for success. Despite the richness of learning opportunities in healthcare, respondents identified challenges for both learners and supervisors in identifying these opportunities in the workplace. These findings have immediate relevance to healthcare education systems internationally. Areas for future research include the relationship between supervisor and learner and further insight into why the busiest areas might be identified as more effective learning environments

Pioneering new roles in healthcare: Nursing Associate students’ experiences of work-based learning in the United Kingdom

In order to address urgent workforce considerations and changing demographics, in 2017 the National Health Service in the United Kingdom introduced a new role in healthcare, the Nursing Associate. Education for the new role was delivered by work-based learning in partnership with local universities. This paper reports on a qualitative longitudinal study of a study which explored the experiences of work-based learners enrolled at a university in London. Data was collected in two stages over a six-month period: 17 work-based learners participated in interviews in stage 1 and seven in stage 2. Data was analysed using framework analysis; the framework was derived from a systematic literature review about introducing new roles in healthcare. Results have resonance for work-based learning programmes in healthcare and beyond and included the importance of adequate time for work-based learning; supervision by a skilled clinical educator; stakeholder engagement; a well-defined scope of practice and an appropriate and supportive educational programme. Participants valued the input of experienced qualified staff but appreciated the capacity issues that militated against their progress, as staff were not always able to support them. Participants also identified the necessity to take responsibility for their own learning in clinical practice. University-based learning was valued more highly than learning in practice, suggesting, as has been established elsewhere, that work-based learning opportunities in healthcare can be difficult to identify

The modelling of network polymers

This thesis considers the modelling of two and three dimensional molecular networks with a view to being able to predict how the geometry of a network will affect the elastic constants and specifically the Poisson's ratios of the network. Materials with negative Poisson's ratios have much better engineering properties then those with positive Poisson's ratios. Theory states that a network polymer, with negative Poisson's ratios at a molecular level, would have much better properties than most materials with negative Poisson's ratios made to date. Molecular modelling has been used to examine the elastic constants of those two and three dimensional network polymers which are most likely to be synthesised in the near future. Such networks have been predicted to have either large positive or large negative Poisson's ratios depending on the molecular arrangement of the network. Poisson's ratios varying between 0.96 and -0.86 for the three dimensional cases and between -0.9 and 1.26 for the two dimensional cases have been calculated. Young's moduli in the order of 1 GPa have been observed for the three dimensional networks as compared to Young's moduli in the order of 20 - 400 kPa which have been experimentally measured for foam materials. Comparison with local density functional calculations for two 2-D networks with the molecular modelling have confirmed the negative Poisson's ratio in these networks and shown that it is not a function of the molecular modelling packages or force field used. The off-axis properties for both the two and three dimensional networks have been calculated. These show that whilst the networks with a positive Poisson's ratio in the principal axis directions always have a positive Poisson's ratio, those networks with a negative Poisson's ratio in the principal axis directions have off-axis Poisson's ratios that vary between large and positive and large and negative. In general the networks with positive Poisson's ratios are much more isotropic than those with negative Poisson's ratios. Analytical models which model the networks using simple beam theory have been produced for various two and three dimensional networks. These models can be used to predict the elastic constants of a network without the need to do time consumingmolecular modelling calculations to a first approximation. Comparison of the molecular models and analytical models has led to the development a library of force constants for two dimensional networks which can be used to more accurately predict the elastic constants of a network based on a knowledge of the geometry of the network and the constituent `sub-units' from which it is mad

Time-resolved second harmonic generation study of buried semiconductor heterointerfaces using soliton-induced transparency

The transient second harmonic generation and linear optical reflectivity signals measured simultaneously in reflection from GaAs/GaSb/InAs and GaAs/GaSb heterostructures revealed a new mechanism for creating self-induced transparency in narrow bandgap semiconductors at low temperatures, which is based on the dual-frequency electro-optic soliton propagation. This allows the ultrafast carrier dynamics at buried semiconductor heterointerfaces to be studied

Vegetation in urban streets, squares, and courtyards

One of various ways in which vegetation cover used in the greening of urban areas can help improve the health and well-being of people is in how it changes the acoustic environment. This chapter presents findings of computer simulations and scale modelling to examine and quantify the effectiveness of green roof and green wall (vertical garden) systems in reducing road traffic noise for streets, squares, and roadside courtyards. Noise reduction by sound absorption in reflected and diffracted (over roofs) sound paths is investigated. Particular attention is paid to the importance of vegetation placement relative to the receiver/listening positions. Because the soil substrate used for the vertical walls has good sound absorption properties, it also can be used for green barriers. In this chapter, the effects of a low barrier made of green wall substrate are studied for an installation on the ground and on the top of buildings surrounding a courtyard

The effect of organic carbon content on soil compression characteristics

We investigated the effect of soil organic carbon (SOC) on the consolidation behaviour of soil from two long term field experiments at Rothamsted; the Broadbalk Wheat Experiment and Hoosfield Spring Barley. These experiments are located on soil with similar particle size distributions, and include treatments with SOC contents ranging from approximately 1–3.5 g/100 g. Soils taken from plots with contrasting SOC contents were compressed and deformed in a triaxial cell and the normal consolidation and critical state lines were determined. We found that the compression index was independent of SOC, but the void ratio at any given effective stress was highly correlated with organic carbon content. By comparison with uniaxial compression data, the apparent influence of SOC on the compression index is likely to be due to its effect on soil hydraulic properties rather than any intrinsic effects of strength. The plastic limit test appears to be a useful and simple test to allow direct comparison of soil physical behaviour and expected soil density

For public (and recontextualized) sociology: The promises and perils of public engagement in an age of mediated communication

This article argues for the analysis of public engagement as an essentially mediated activity. Although recent studies note that academic knowledge is increasingly available for consumption by nonacademic audiences, they tell us little about how it gets recontextualized while passing through the hands of media professionals on its way toward such audiences. In Burawoy’s (2005) influential call for the rebirth of public sociology, as in the debates his work provoked, the media is treated solely as a means for the transportation of knowledge. But as this article demonstrates, the media does not simply transport knowledge; it also, and at the same time, translates that knowledge in various, rhetorically consequential ways. Focusing on the mediated trajectory of an attempt by a group of academics to connect with audiences beyond academia, their initial contribution is compared to its subsequent translation(s) across various British newspapers. A discursive analysis reveals the techniques via which a classic form of public sociology came to be recontextualized such that, remarkably, these authors were left appearing to voice nothing but their own petty prejudices. The article concludes by noting that where public engagement involves mediation, public sociology should pay more attention to the recontextualizing affordances of media discourse