Culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students' experiences of integration into the working environment: A qualitative study

Background Understanding how culturally and linguistically diverse students experience clinical practice and their competence development is important to retaining registered nurses. This study aimed to describe culturally and linguistically diverse students' experiences of clinical practice, perceptions of their career path, and intentions to stay in the nursing profession. Methods A descriptive qualitative study was conducted. The participants were culturally and linguistically diverse nursing students (n = 22) from six Finnish higher education institutions. Nine focus-group interviews, with up to six students per group, were conducted during the spring and summer of 2021. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis. Results The factors which affected culturally and linguistically diverse students' intentions to stay in nursing profession in Finland consisted of support during university studies and clinical practice, perceived equality, nursing competence development, successful integration into the workplace and social life, and clinical practice experiences. Conclusions The results support the development of a model for culturally and linguistically diverse nurses' integration into the Finnish health care settings by identifying the key factors for an effective transition to the profession

Health and Social Care Educators' Competence in Digital Collaborative Learning: A Cross-Sectional Survey

The ongoing change from traditional pedagogy to digital collaborative learning requires a new mode of teaching, learning, and educators' responsibilities. For competence in digitally mediated teaching, educators need understanding of how to provide appropriate digital environment to learn collectively and individually. The aim of this study was to describe and explore health and social care educators' perceptions of their current level of competence in digital collaborative learning and identify distinct educators' profiles. Data were collected via cross-sectional survey from educators in 21 universities of applied science and eight vocational colleges in Finland using an instrument covering two subdimensions: educators' competence in fostering construction of knowledge in digital collaborative learning, and supporting students in individualized collaborative learning. The data were analyzed by statistical methods. Three significantly differing clusters of educators' profiles were identified, and a significant association between type of current work organization and their self-reported competence in digital collaborative learning was found. The vocational college educators rated their competence in fostering construction of knowledge in digital collaborative learning as significantly lower than higher education educators. There were also remarkable differences in competence in supporting students' individual collaborative learning. To provide such support, sufficient competence in teaching in digital learning environment is essential, and our study highlights clear needs to enhance this competence

Ecology and application of haloalkaliphilic anaerobic microbial communities

Haloalkaliphilic microorganisms that grow optimally at high-pH and high-salinity conditions can be found in natural environments such as soda lakes. These globally spread lakes harbour interesting anaerobic microorganisms that have the potential of being applied in existing technologies or create new opportunities. In this review, we discuss the potential application of haloalkaliphilic anaerobic microbial communities in the fermentation of lignocellulosic feedstocks material subjected to an alkaline pre-treatment, methane production and sulfur removal technology. Also, the general advantages of operation at haloalkaline conditions, such as low volatile fatty acid and sulfide toxicity, are addressed. Finally, an outlook into the main challenges like ammonia toxicity and lack of aggregation is provided.This work was performed in the TTIW- cooperation framework of Wetsus, European Centre of Excel- lence for Sustainable Water Technology (www.wetsus.nl). Wetsus is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the European Union Regional Development Fund, the Province of Fryslân, the City of Leeuwarden and the EZ/Kompas program of the“ Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland”. The authors would like to thank the participants of the research theme "Sulfur", namely Paqell, for fruitful discussions and financial suppor

Qualitative study of social and healthcare educators' perceptions of their competence in education

Competent educators are needed to ensure that social and healthcare professionals are effective and highly competent. However, there is too little evidence-based knowledge of current and required enhancements of educators' competences in this field. The aim of this study was to describe social and healthcare educators' perceptions of their competence in education. The study had a qualitative design, based on interviews with educators and rooted in critical realism. Forty-eight participants were recruited from seven universities of applied sciences and two vocational colleges in Finland, with the assistance of contact persons nominated by the institutions. The inclusion criterion for participation was employment by an educational institution as a part-time or full-time, social and/or healthcare educator. Data were collected in the period February-April 2018. The participants were interviewed in 16 focus groups with two to five participants per group. The acquired data were subjected to inductive content analysis, which yielded 506 open codes, 48 sub-categories, nine categories and one main category. The educators' competence was defined as a multidimensional construct, including categories of educators' competences in practicing as an educator, subject, ethics, pedagogy, management and organisation, innovation and development, collaboration, handling cultural and linguistic diversity, and continuous professional development. Educators recognised the need for developing competence in innovation to meet rapid changes in a competitive and increasingly global sociopolitical environment. Enhancement of adaptability to rapid changes was recognised as a necessity. The findings have social value in identifying requirements to improve social and healthcare educators' competence by helping educational leadership to improve educational standards, construct a continuous education framework and create national and/or international curricula for teacher education degree programs to enhance the quality of education. We also suggest that educational leadership needs to establish, maintain and strengthen collaborative strategies to provide effective, adaptable support systems, involving educators and students, in their working practices

Non Inflammatory Boronate Based Glucose-Responsive Insulin Delivery Systems

Boronic acids, known to bind diols, were screened to identify non-inflammatory cross-linkers for the preparation of glucose sensitive and insulin releasing agglomerates of liposomes (Agglomerated Vesicle Technology-AVT). This was done in order to select a suitable replacement for the previously used cross-linker, ConcanavalinA (ConA), a lectin known to have both toxic and inflammatory effects in vivo. Lead-compounds were selected from screens that involved testing for inflammatory potential, cytotoxicity and glucose-binding. These were then conjugated to insulin-encapsulating nanoparticles and agglomerated via sugar-boronate ester linkages to form AVTs. In vitro, the particles demonstrated triggered release of insulin upon exposure to physiologically relevant concentrations of glucose (10 mmoles/L–40 mmoles/L). The agglomerates were also shown to be responsive to multiple spikes in glucose levels over several hours, releasing insulin at a rate defined by the concentration of the glucose trigger

Collegiality among social- and health care educators in higher education or vocational institutions :a mixed-method systematic review

Abstract Background: Social- and health care educators collaborate on national and international levels; this collaboration is intrinsically related to collegiality, a concept which has only been scarcely studied among social- and health care educators. Background/Objectives: To identify the best evidence on social- and health care educators’ experiences of collegiality and factors influencing it in educational institutions. Design: A mixed-methods systematic review. Data sources: Keywords were defined according to PICo and PEO inclusion and exclusion criteria. A search was performed across five databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Medic, Scopus, and ProQuest) for articles published in Finnish and/or English. Review methods: During the screening process, three researchers separately screened original studies by title and abstract (n = 806), and subsequently, based on the full-text (n = 40). The JBI Qualitative Assessment Research Instrument was used to evaluate qualitative studies, while the Critical Appraisal Checklist for Analytical Cross-sectional Studies was used to evaluate quantitative studies. Results: The systematic review included a total of 15 articles. Collegiality among social- and health care educators was described through united and safe work culture, along with the dissemination of relevant expertise. The benefits of mentoring, communication on national and international levels, and collaboration are all issues that affect an educator’s work. In the context of social- and health care educators, collegiality does not only include the interactions between the educators, but also involves their mentors and supervisors. Mentoring and collaboration between educational institutions were found to be associated with collegiality. Conclusions: Collegiality among educators can be maintained through networking, collaboration, mentoring, mutual communication and the consideration of professional ethical issues. It would be important for educational organisations to pay attention to collegiality and encourage educators to collaborate with their colleagues. It is important to emphasise the role of collegiality in the education of new social- and health care teacher candidates and the continuing education of current educators

Sairaanhoitajaopiskelijoiden oppimiskokemuksia mielenterveyshoitotyön simulaatio-opetuksesta:systemaattinen kirjallisuuskatsaus laadullisista tutkimuksista

Abstract Simulaatio-opetusta käytetään sairaanhoitajaopiskelijoiden mielenterveyshoitotyön taitojen opettamisessa sekä kansallisesti että kansainvälisesti. Opetuksessa on käytetty standardoituja eli näytteleviä potilaita, draamaa, simuloituja potilasnukkeja, äänienkuulemissimulaatioita ja virtuaalisia simulaatioita tehtävineen. Tämän systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen tarkoituksena oli kuvailla sairaanhoitajaopiskelijoiden oppimiskokemuksia mielenterveyshoitotyön simulaatio-opetuksesta. Aineisto kerättiin Medic-, Cinahl-, Scopus- ja Eric- tietokannoista. Alkuperäistutkimukset valittiin otsikoiden, tiivistelmien ja kokotekstien perusteella kahden tutkijan toimesta. Valittujen alkuperäistutkimusten laatu arvioitiin Joanna Briggs Instituutin QARI -arviointikriteereillä. Lopullinen aineisto koostui 15 alkuperäistutkimuksesta. Aineisto analysoitiin temaattisella synteesillä. Sairaanhoitajaopiskelijoiden oppimiskokemukset mielenterveyshoitotyön simulaatio-opetuksessa liittyivät terapeuttiseen vuorovaikutukseen mielenterveyspotilaan kanssa. Opiskelijoiden asenteet avartuivat ja empatia potilaita kohtaan lisääntyi. Opiskelijat kokivat myös epämiellyttäviä tunteita simulaatio-opetuksessa. Simulaatiot auttoivat teorian ja käytännön integroinnissa ja lisäsivät opiskelijoiden välistä kommunikointia ja moniammatillista yhteistyötä opetuksessa. Opiskelijat toivat esiin myös simulaatio-opetuksen kehittämistarpeita. Katsauksen tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää opetussuunnitelmatyössä kehitettäessä vaikuttavaa mielenterveyshoitotyön simulaatio-opetusta. Lisäksi tulokset ovat hyödynnettävissä potilasohjaustaitojen kehittämisessä mielenterveyshoitotyössä

Development and testing of an instrument to measure the collegiality competence of social and health care educators

Abstract Background: Previous studies have investigated the competence of social and health care educators from different perspectives. However, there has been little research on the collegiality competence of social and health educators. Aim/Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically test a new collegiality competence instrument (CollegialityComp) designed to enable social and health care educators to self-evaluate their competence in collegiality. Design: A cross-sectional study design for instrument development and psychometric testing. Methods: Data were collected in the winter of 2020–2021 from social and health care educators at ten universities of applied sciences and ten vocational institutions in Finland (N = 1179), of whom 243 decided to participate. Face and content validity was assessed by seven experts, while structural validity and internal consistency were evaluated using exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha, respectively. Results: The CollegialityComp development and testing process produced an instrument that includes 35 items representing five factors: (1) individual-centered collaboration, (2) educator action and fairness, (3) collaboration among colleagues, (4) collaboration outside the organization, and (5) communication and trust. Conclusion: The CollegialityComp instrument can be used to measure the collegiality competence of social and health care educators in the context of vocational and higher education. It may also be useful during the training of teacher candidates