Modernising the nursing curriculum: older people and nursing students

This article discusses the need for educationalists, students and qualified nursing staff to view working with older people as a positive and rewarding career move

A Documentary Analysis of Nursing Degree Curricula

This twelve month study was undertaken by a research team based at University College Suffolk and aimed to compare the learning outcomes and content of pre and post registration nursing degrees. Curriculum doccuments from 50 pre and post registration degree programmes from 32 instutions were catalogued and coded for descriptive characteristics. A subset of 15 doccuments was subject to in-depth analysis. This subset was selected to reflect the characteristics of the main sample of doccuments. The Research Highlights outline the context in which this study was undertaken and presents summaries of both the descriptive , and categorical data and the findings of the indepth analysis. Finally, the major implications of these findings are summarised

On being a mentor

This article explores issues relating to mentoring students, particularly ophthalmic nursing students. It highlights the importance of mentorship in learning in practice, which in turn is critical to students' education in a competency-based profession. It considers the factors essential in successful mentoring, including two-way feedback, and the importance of mentors understanding the nature of the psychological processes involved and how to assess students' learning and competencies. It also highlights the crucial gate-keeping role of mentors in ensuring that students are fit to practise, and the importance of nurse mentors themselves being fit to practise

Plugging a hole and lightening the burden: A process evaluation of a practice education team

Aim: To investigate the perceptions of clinical and senior managers about the role of Practice Educators employed in one acute hospital in the UK. Background: Producing nurses who are fit for practice, purpose and academic award is a key issue for nurse education partnership providers in the UK. Various new models for practice learning support structures and new roles within health care institutions have been established. To sustain funding and policy support for these models, there is a need for evaluation research. Design: A process evaluation methodology was employed to determine the current value of a practice education team and to provide information to guide future direction. Methods: Data were collected through semi-structured telephone interviews using a previously designed schedule. All senior nurse managers (N=5) and a purposive sample of clinical managers (n=13) who had personal experience of and perceptions about the role of practice educators provided the data. Interview notes were transcribed, coded and a thematic framework devised to present the results. Results: A number of key themes emerged including: qualities needed for being a successful practice educator; visibility and presence of practice educators; providing a link with the university; ‘plugging a hole’ in supporting learning needs; providing relief to practitioners in dealing with ‘the burden of students’; alleviating the ‘plight of students’; and effects on student attrition. Conclusions: Findings provided evidence for the continued funding of the practice educator role with improvements to be made in dealing with stakeholder expectations and outcomes. Relevance to clinical practice: In the UK, there still remain concerns about the fitness for practice of newly registered nurses, prompting a recent national consultation by the professional regulating body. Despite fiscal pressures, recommendations for further strengthening of all systems that will support the quality of practice learning may continue to sustain practice learning support roles

The National Competency Framework for registered nurses in adult critical care: An overview

In the years following the abolition of the English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (ENB) in 2002, concerns were raised within the Critical Care nursing community about a lack of consistency in post-registration education programmes. In response to this the Critical Care Network National Nurse Leads (CC3N) formed a sub-group, the Critical Care Nurse Education Review Forum (CCNERF) to address these concerns. A review of UK course provision confirmed marked inconsistency in the length, content and associated academic award. The CCNERF commenced a two phase project, first developing national standards for critical care nurse education such as length of course and academic credit level; followed by the development of a national competency framework1, 2. Following significant review and revision, version two of the National Competency Framework for Registered Nurses in Adult Critical Care was published by CC3N in 20153. This paper introduces the National Competency Framework and provides an overview of its background, development and implementation. It then considers the future direction of UK post-registration Critical Care nurse education

What should we assess in practice?

Aim: This article reports on a PhD study and follow up work undertaken to review and develop a tool for assessment of practice. Background: The assessment of practice in nursing and midwifery education and, other health professions has been the source of concern, criticism and research for a number of years with the conclusion that it might not be possible to develop an assessment tool that could encompass all aspects of professional practice. Methods: A qualitative evaluation study was undertaken using the naturalistic method of inquiry. A combination of tools was used in order to collect the data and enable progressive focusing and cross checking of the findings. These included documentary analysis, a questionnaire and focus group and individual interviews. The data was collected from documents analysis, focus group interviews, individual interviews and questionnaires. Results: The results showed that the assessment tool in use at the time did not encompass all criteria assessors used and six areas were identified as those to include in any future tool. Conclusion: The six areas identified by subjects as those to include in any assessment tool were further developed with specific statements so that they could be used within a tool. Implications for nursing management and education: Within the changing nature of health care there is a need to review whether the tool used for assessing pre-registration education of nursing and midwifery students practice is ‘fit for purpose’

Training mental health nurses in the United Kingdom– a historical overview. Part Two: 1948 onwards

Mental health nursing in the United Kingdom (UK) has developed as, and continues to be, a distinct area of nursing practice. Unlike countries such as the USA, the UK has never embraced the generic model for nursing and it is still possible to train and be registered as a nurse in four separate fields – general, mental health, learning disability and children’s nursing. In this article the history of the training of those who specialised in mental health nursing is considered and discussed. The content of this training is analysed as is the changing, and often contentious ideas, about what the knowledge base of mental health nursing practice should be. The influences on this are also discussed, particularly the role of medicine (psychiatrists) and general nursing. This article covers the period after 1948 and the introduction of the British National Health Service until the present

An overview of the nature of the preparation of practice educators in five health care disciplines

Practice education is a core element of all educational programmes that prepare health care professionals for academic award and registration to practice. Ensuring quality and effectiveness involves partnership working between Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) and health care providers, social care communities, voluntary and independent sectors offering client care throughout the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Clearly practitioners who support, supervise and assess learners for entry to their respective professions need to be well prepared and supported in their roles as practice educators. However it would appear that the nature of this support and preparation varies across disciplines and that good practice is not easily shared. With this in mind, the Making Practice Based Learning Work (MPBLW) project aims to make practitioners more effective at supporting and supervising students in the workplace across a range of health care disciplines namely Dietetics, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Radiology. The Department of Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England has funded this collaborative project involving staff from Ulster, Northumbria and Bournemouth Universities. The outcomes for each phase of the project are: Phase One: • Identify and document good practice on how practitioners are prepared for their educational role. Phase Two: • Develop and evaluate learning materials for use by practitioners across five health care disciplines. • Make learning materials available in a number of efficient media, e.g. paper, electronic, CD-ROM and web-based. • Develop a programme applicable to interprofessional and uniprofessional contexts. • Widen access for a multicultural workforce. Phase Three: • Embed best educational practice through the establishment of an academicpractitioner network. • Disseminate a range of materials and processes across the wider academic and health and social care communities

Implementing NMC standards for learning, and assessing in practice(2006): a demonstration of effective partnership between a higher education institution and NHS Trust placement partners

This paper provides an account of the collaborative approach taken to implement professional standards in teaching, learning and assessing in practice for nursing and midwifery. How challenges for effective partnership working between university and placement/practice education provider were overcome are presented. Processes and issues which arose when new national regulatory professional standards of practice education were introduced are highlighted. The partnership work ensured a robust process to locally interpreting and implementing the NMC Standards for Supporting Learning and Assessing in Practice (2006). This was achieved and resulted in a county wide agreed implementation of the Standards across NHS Oxfordshire and beyond. The key requirements of the Standards and the challenges identified are presented together with how issues were addressed. The approach taken by an established partnership working group is described and the products of the process are detailed, including listing 'top tips' for successful partnership working