More than semantics: promoting and protecting nurse education in the 21st century

A recent series of debates on social media has prompted us to write this editorial to state our position regarding the importance to cardiac nursing of promoting and protecting nurse education. In so doing we hope to persuade our colleagues, policy makers and professional body that the phrase nurse training is outdated and inappropriate for describing nurse education in the 21st century and should be banished from our vocabulary. Within the United Kingdom the professional body: the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has recently conducted a review of nurse education and therefore it is perhaps timely that we consider the current and future preparation of the nursing workforce and the potential impact, particularly on cardiac patients. From a personal perspective we find it frustrating and disappointing that many of our colleagues within Higher Education and indeed many senior nurses, the DoH and secretary of state for Health (England) continue to refer to nurse training, training numbers and to individuals being a trained nurse. Within the current review, the NMC sets out what is referred to as enhanced knowledge and skills that people can expect from nurses in the future’ (NMC, 2018) therefore we contest that training is not enough

The educational preparation of nurses in a developing economy and patient mortality

Background: Most studies have reported that higher levels (baccalaureate degree) of educational attainment by nurses is associated with lower levels of patient mortality. Researchers working in developed economies (e.g. North America and Europe) have almost exclusively conducted these studies. The value of baccalaureate nurse education has not been tested in countries with a developing economy. Method: A retrospective observational study conducted in seven hospitals. Patient mortality was the main outcome of interest. Anonymised data were extracted on nurses and patients from two different administrative sources and linked using the staff identification number that exists in both systems. We used bivariate logistic regression models to test the association between mortality and the educational attainment of the admitting nurse (responsible for assessment and care planning). Results: Data were extracted for 11,918 patients and 7,415 nurses over the first six months of 2015. The majority of nurses were educated in South Asia and just over half were educated to at least bachelor degree level. After adjusting for confounding and clustering, nurse education was not found to be associated with mortality (OR=1·34, 95% confidence interval=·569, 3·156). Implications for nursing and health policy: Our observations may suggest that in a developing economy the academic level of nurses’ education is not associated with a reduction in patient mortality. Findings should be interpreted with considerable caution but do challenge widely held assumptions about the value of baccalaureate prepared nurses. Further research focused on nursing education in developing economies is required to inform health policy and planning