A collaborative approach to nursing field placement

The numbers of nursing students undertaking pre-registration education in higher education courses in South Australia has expanded rapidly over the last four years. This paper describes collaboration between Schools of Nursing to coordinate student placements in clinical venues. A computerised system has been developed which is unique in Australia and its positive results are identified.     

Increasing students' cultural sensitivity. A step toward greater diversity in nursing

Increasing minority representation in nursing is essential to assure culturally competent care in the next century. Academic institutions need to recruit, encourage, and retain minority students and faculty. Students need minority mentors in their academic and clinical environments. Euro-American faculties teaching in predominantly white institutions need to explore effective ways to facilitate aggregate understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity within the profession. The author explains a teaching strategy to increase awareness and sensitivity of graduate nursing students to the role of minority nurses within the culture of nursing. Becoming culturally sensitive is a prerequisite to increasing diversity and culturally competent care.     

College students' perceptions of nursing: a GEE approach

The nursing shortage has stimulated renewed attention to understanding factors that may enhance the recruitment of students into nursing programs and the retention of registered nurses in the workforce. Many activities have been initiated to address the shortage of nurses, including increasing recruitment of students to study nursing. This paper has two major goals: (1) to answer the research question, "To what extent do college students' characteristics explain the differences in their attitudes towards four service occupations (nursing, medicine, physical therapy and high school teaching)?" and (2) to demonstrate statistical methods appropriate for performing multivariate analyses of clustered data and merging independent survey items into a clustered, multivariate analysis for direct comparison of the different items. Results indicate that the more favourable rating of nursing as an occupation relative to physical therapy is due to the sample, including a large number of students majoring in nursing. Students who are not nursing majors do not appear to hold a more favourable attitude towards nurses relative to physical therapists. The lower rating of high school teachers and higher rating of physicians on most items persists even after adjusting for all the control variables, including whether or not students are nursing majors. Additionally, results support the need for a statistical method such as generalized estimating equations (GEE) to account for individual and interaction confounders, repeated measures, clustering and correlated data.     

Interprofessional education between speech pathology and nursing programs: A collaborative e-platform curriculum approach

ABSTRACT

Interprofessional practice between nurses and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in healthcare is essential, and it is a priority for both professions. Interprofessional education (IPE) is warranted to move forward professional partnership, and would be best served through incorporation into academic training for both disciplines. A combined synchronous and asynchronous e-platform collaborative approach that minimizes encroachment on already overcrowded clinical curricula is described. Implementation is outlined for use within a graduate-level dysphagia course for SLP students and a medical/surgical undergraduate course for nursing students. This model is flexible and lends itself for use in other courses within clinical disciplines.     

Practising for progression into nursing: A collaborative approach to the preparation of potential nursing students

A collaborative project was undertaken between the Clinical Skills Laboratory at the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences (FHSCS) at Kingston University/St George's University of London (KU/SGUL) and Kingston Borough Schools Vocational Development Service. The project was designed to address the challenge of preparing potential health care students to make informed decisions about a career in health care through the development of a strong interface between the FHSCS and local schools and colleges. School students were invited to attend sessions in the clinical skills/simulation laboratory working alongside student nurses to learn fundamental nursing skills. An evaluative study undertaken into the project showed that the experience in the simulation laboratory was viewed very positively by students and helped them to learn new skills as well as to make or affirm positive career choices for nursing. Of the 30 school students participating in this study, 12 applied for and were accepted into the pre-registration nursing programme at this university.     

医学生护理见习的实践与改革

[目的]以理论与实践相结合为基础,强化其临床实践能力的锻炼,加强医学生的医患沟通、医护沟通意识,了解护理工作内涵,注重医学生人文素质的培养。[方法]建立医学生护理见习规范化模式,改革教学内容和手段,以242名学生为试点进行护理见习带教。[结果]医学生100%支持新的见习模式。[结论]护理见习的改革有利于医学生综合素质的提高。     

English nursing and medical students' attitudes towards organ donation

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to examine nursing and medical students' attitudes towards organ and corneal donation. A sample of 72 nursing and medical degree students from a British University, completed a 61-item self-administered quantitative questionnaire, adapted by Kent and Owens (1995) from an original tool devised by Parisi and Katz (1986). The findings revealed that all but one of the respondents had an overall positive attitude towards organ donation; a significant relationship was found to exist between the extent of this positive attitude held by each student and their personal willingness to donate organs. In total, 74% of the student nurses had already signed a donor card, compared to only 43% of the medical students, and the difference in the two groups' personal commitment towards donation was significant (P = 0.005). However, this disparity between the nursing and medical students was not evident when students were questioned about personally accepting organs, for survival. Most respondents agreed that they would take some form of transplanted organ or tissue into their body, if it was needed to maintain life. Overall, the study revealed that although this group of student nurses seem to be in favour of organ donation, with many willing to sign a donor card, doubts still exist in the medical student group. Further work is required to understand this phenomena. A comparison of the data with an earlier study completed by Kent and Owens (1995) indicate that student nurses may have a more positive orientation to donation than qualified staff.     

对实习护生医疗废物分类认知及依从性的调查

Objective To understand the general knowledge of nursing students' recognition of and compliance with medical waste classification so as to provide basis which schools and teaching hospitals should be adopted to better implement teaching and management of hospital infection. Methods We investigated 81 nursing students by using a self-designed questionnaire which aimed to acquire nursing students' recognition of and compliance with medical waste classification. Results 85.2% nursing students could not correctly judge that the wasted sphygmomanometers were chemical waste and 77. 8% had a wrong concept towards the pathological waste. There was no statistical difference among nursing students with different educational backgrounds (χ2 =0.96,P＞0. 05). 75.3% thought that medical waste classification was very important and 74.1% had a poor compliance with medical waste classification. Conclusions Nursing students' recognition of and compliance with medical waste classification needs further improvement. Schools should establish hospital infection education;teaching hospitals should strengthen comprehensive education of hospital infection;teaching teachers shall set good examples as well as make a good supervision.     

对实习护生医疗废物分类认知及依从性的调查

目的 了解实习护生对医疗废物分类的认知及依从性情况,为学校和教学医院更好地开展医院感染的教学与管理提供依据.方法 采用自制的实习护生对医疗废物分类认知情况及依从性调查表对81名实习护生进行调查.结果 85.2%的护生未能正确判断废弃的血压计是化学性废物,77.8%的护生对病理性废物的概念错误.不同学历护生回答合格率的比较差异无统计学意义（χ2=0.96,P＞0.05）.75.3%的实习护生认为医疗废物的分类很重要,74.1%的实习护生医疗废物分类依从性差,不同学历护生对医疗废物分类依从性的比较差异无统计学意义（χ2=2.06,P＞0.05）.结论 实习护生对医疗废物分类的认知及依从性有待进一步提高.学校应开设医院感染学教育,同时教学医院应加强医院感染学系统性教育,并由带教老师做好示范、监督工作.     

Pulse oximetry: an audit of nursing and medical staff understanding

Pulse oximetry provides continuous, non-invasive monitoring of the oxygen saturation of haemoglobin in arterial blood, which is updated with each pulse wave. The primary advantage is that it detects immediately deviations to a patient's baseline. Care givers can therefore detect changes before the patient becomes hypoxaemic. However, staff are reported to have limited education, if any, in the correct use of the pulse oximeter and what may affect the readings. In order to test this theory, an audit was conducted on 50 staff within a large general hospital, comprising trained and untrained nurses and medical staff. Participants' responses to a questionnaire and to six clinical scenarios were analysed. Overall, there was a deficit in participants' knowledge on pulse oximetry. The answers given by the medical staff to the clinical scenarios showed no greater level of knowledge than many of the trained nurses. The recommendations made following this audit were to improve the education and training of all staff in the understanding of this technique.     

A collaborative approach to developing nursing skills to meet service needs

Academics, educators and health service managers came together to explore, within their local area, the nature of the perceptions of beginning registered nurses (BRNs) and Nursing Unit Managers (NUMs) to the skills utilised by BRNs within the first six months of practice. A group of 71 BRNs and nine NUMs participated in a cross-sectional survey. BRNs were also asked to rate their preparedness in each particular skill, dependent on the method of teaching--theory/lectures, nursing laboratories and clinical experience. Some 21 skills, relating to medication/fluid administration and skin and wound care, were perceived by 95 per cent or more of the graduates as being used within the first six months. Similar perceptions existed for NUMs and BRNs for 52.4 per cent of the listed skills. Differences in perceptions have led to academics altering the scope of skills being taught and focusing assessment on critical skills for BRNs, and managers increasing awareness among NUMs as to the source of the differences and developing programs to improve clinical interpretation skills. Improvements in the experience of the BRN are likely to occur when all parties work together to bring about positive change. By Barbara Somerville,     

The mock trial: a collaborative interdisciplinary approach to understanding legal and ethical issues

To provide high-quality, safe, patient-centered care, RNs must exhibit a strong understanding of legal and ethical issues. The authors describe an interdisciplinary teaching learning strategy, the premock, actual, and postmock trial, to augment student retention of legal and ethical concepts and enhance the development of their personal accountability.     

Increasing understanding of nursing research for general duty nurses: an experiential strategy

Misconceptions and trepidation about research abound among practicing nurses. However, in light of the movement toward increasing accountability to consumers and the concurrent drive toward evidence-based practice, the need for nursing research can no longer be ignored. Innovative approaches to augment nurses' training and education in research and evidence-based practice must be incorporated into continuing education programs. The Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Committee of a large tertiary care teaching hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, developed a series of opportunities for staff nurses to participate in research projects and have ongoing exposure to the steps in the research process. The Great Canadian Cookie Experiment was an opportunity to participate in quantitative research. Qualitative data from patients' thank you cards were analyzed in an interactive fashion during luncheon seminars held during Nursing Week in 2 subsequent years. A survey of nurses who participated in the luncheon seminars indicated an overall increase in their knowledge about qualitative research methods and an appreciation for participating in the process of nursing research. Continued visibility of nursing research will contribute to changing nurses' attitudes toward fostering an evidence-based approach to clinical practice.     

A collaborative occupational therapy and nursing approach to falls prevention in hospital inpatients

A retrospective audit of inpatient falls at the Gold Coast Hospital was conducted in August 1996. This collaborative approach of occupational therapy and nursing staff aimed to reduce the number of patients falling while they were hospital inpatients. From the first audit a number of high risk patient groups, activities and ward environments were identified and a falls prevention program implemented. A second audit conducted 2 years later demonstrated a decrease in falls and related injuries. This paper discusses the findings of the falls audit and presents the 'Fall STOP' falls prevention program that was initiated.     

Polish medical students' perceptions of the nursing profession: a cross-sectional study

This study explored perceptions of the nursing profession held by medical students in Poland. Specifically, this study aimed to: (i) elicit medical students' opinions about the nursing profession; (ii) identify what skills and abilities they perceive as important for nurses and (iii) ascertain what nursing functions are considered a major component of the nurse's job. A cross-sectional study, based on the social construct of role theory, was conducted in medical universities from 2005 to 2006 in three cities situated in different regions of Poland: Białystok, Bydgoszcz and Kraków. A total of 900 medical students, 300 students in each region, in medical school years 1, 3 and 6 completed the Professional Nursing Image Survey. The most favourable nurse characteristics were: 'professional reliability', 'demonstration of good technical skills' and the personal characteristics of friendliness and courteousness. Medication administration, recording vital signs and administering intravenous therapy were most frequently identified as a major part of the nurses' role. In conclusion, the opinions of Polish medical students suggest that nursing therapeutic activities trump independent nursing practice activities.