Evaluation of teaching forensic nursing course on undergraduate nursing student's forensic nursing knowledge

Background: The aim of the forensic nursing (FN) education is to provide nursing students with the basic knowledge of FN that they can use in the clinical area. Objective: The study evaluated the effect of integrating forensic nursing into the undergraduate nursing curriculum on 2nd- and 4th-year students’ knowledge level of FN. Participants: The target population of this study was composed of 2nd- and 4th-year students in the nursing department at a foundation university in Istanbul. The study was conducted with 95 nursing students who agreed to participate in the study. Methods: The research was planned as cross-sectional and descriptive. The questionnaire form was developed with the help of literature by experts in the field. Each correct answer was scored as 4 points, and the total score could range from 0 to 100. Results: The average age was 21.64 ± 1.16, and 66.3% (n = 63) was female. Out of the 95 students, 50.5% (n = 48) were in 2nd year, and 49.5% (n = 47) were in 4th year. A total of 47.4% (n = 45) of the students took a FN course, and 52.6% (n = 50) did not take FN course. The average level of knowledge for those who took FN course was 52.09 ± 12.31 and for those who did not take FN course was 46.16 ± 12.18. According to the status of taking FN course, a significant difference was found between the average level of knowledge (p < 0.05). Conclusions: These results emphasize the importance of integration of FN into the undergraduate nursing curriculum. © 2022, The Author(s)

Nurse instructors' perception towards distance education during the pandemic

Background: The nursing department also completely switched to distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. This new situation made the studies regarding attitudes, experiences, and difficulties of nursing in-structors towards distance education more important. Objectives: To determine the factors affecting the perceptions of nurse instructors towards distance education during the pandemic. Design: This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. Participants: A total of 389 nurse instructors working at a university constituted the sample. Methods: An information form and the Perceptions of Distance Education scale were used for data collection. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, Cronbach Alpha internal consistency analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis test were used in the analysis of the data. Result: The nurse instructors' distance education perception scale score and perception regarding basic perspective, and resource access subdimension scores were at a medium level and the education-planning sub-dimension score at a high level. Those whose opinions on distance education changed compared to the pre-COVID-19 period, those who received education related to distance education, those who used new practices in the lessons, those who believed that distance education is effective, and those who thought that nursing is a suitable program for distance education had higher distance education perception scores. Conclusions: It was determined that difficulties experienced by nurse instructors in distance education negatively affected the perception of distance education, and that positive experiences in distance education affected the perception positively. It is recommended to organize trainings for instructors to improve distance education skills, to encourage students to participate in classes, and to support nurse lecturers in overcoming difficulties