Evaluating the impact of training community psychiatric nurses to educate relatives about schizophrenia

• ? An experimental group of community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) were trained to undertake psychosocial intervention with families caring for a sufferer from schizophrenia. Intervention consisted of a detailed assessment of all the needs of each family member, health education and family stress-management programmes. Outcome was compared with a control group of families who received standard CPN care.
• ? This report concerns the evaluation of one component of the intervention, namely, health education. A key relative's functional knowledge about schizophrenia was assessed at pre-test, post-test and 6-month follow-up using the Knowledge about Schizophrenia Inventory (KASI). The KASI is a tape-recorded and semi-structured interview schedule which is scored by reliable raters and which yields a global knowledge score from six subscales. Both the control and experimental CPNs were trained to administer the KASI.
• ? Analysis revealed that the KASI scores of the control group of relatives did not significantly change over the 12-month period of the study. However, global KASI scores in the experimental group improved significantly both post-test and at 6-month follow-up. These results are discussed in relation to the ‘stress-vulnerability’ model of schizophrenia and the implications for CPNs (and other community based mental health professionals) are considered. It is argued that there are both sound theoretical and practical reasons for providing families with information about schizophrenia which should be addressed by appropriate educational/training programmes.

     

A program to educate school nurses about mental health interventions.

Concerned with the increasing incidence of mental health problems in children and adolescents and the impact of these problems on students' school success and predisposition to self- and other-directed violence, the Multnomah Education Service District Department of School Health Services determined to become proactive by providing preventive interventions for students experiencing actual or potential mental health problems. An educational program was designed to assist school nurses in the identification of potential mental health problems. In addition, information about appropriate interventions for students at risk for aggression, violence, and other mental health pathology was presented. The program involved education on mental health assessment and intervention, as well as expert psychiatric clinical support for the development of student support groups. School nurses were then challenged to develop practice improvement projects incorporating this knowledge for a group of students in their work setting. This introductory article describes the project's general rationale and implementation process. The four articles following in this issue of The Journal of School Nursing describe the goals, implementation, and outcomes of the practice improvement projects developed for early intervention with students exhibiting attention disorders, school absenteeism, social withdrawal, and depression.     

广州市社区护士岗位培训理论课程设置研究

目的：针对广州市社区护士岗位培训现状,探讨岗位培训理论课程的设置。方法：在参阅国家社区护士培训大纲的基础上,结合广州市的具体情况,经预调查后形成正式咨询表,包含20个课程模块,采用德尔菲法对22名专家进行咨询。结果：2轮专家咨询后,调整11个课程,删除3个课程,新增9个课程,形成26个课程模块,共98学时。结论：最终形成的课程具有良好的代表性和权威性,对广州市社区护士岗位培训有一定参考价值。     

A guide to continence assessment for community nurses

Problems with continence are common in older people, therefore quality continence assessment advice and follow up are essential in providing a high standard of care. Many older people can be helped to regain some measure of control over their continence. Continence assessment can often focus on containment rather than cure. This is a sad state of affairs which adversely affects patients' well being. This article explains how continence assessment enables the nurse to assess and treat continence issues and improve quality of life.     

Establishing a collaborative trauma training program with a community trauma center for military nurses

A mission of the Navy Nurse Corps is to deploy medical support for military forces on short notice. Navy nurses must possess a working knowledge of trauma management, but meeting this clinical experience is a challenge. Peacetime military hospitals do not routinely care for severely injured patients. This article describes how the Navy established a partnership with a Level 1 Trauma Center, the role and expectations for both Navy and civilian nurses, and an evaluation of the experience.     

A case for community psychiatric nurses

The author reviews the development of community psychiatric nursing services since the Mental Health Act 1959. In particular, the community services to her own catchment population are discussed, analysed and evaluated. A claim is made that community care is cost-effective and makes a contribution to prevention. It is also agreed that the presence of community psychiatric nurses in the community fosters greater tolerance and acceptance of the mentally sick by the community at large.     

Improving the curriculum for a community nursing training program in Guangzhou City,China

In China, community nurses do not have systematic training, and the nursing education curriculum focuses on clinical nursing both in vocational school and high school. Most nurses work at a hospital, and almost all community nurses lack systematic knowledge about community nursing. A training program for community nurses in Guangzhou City has been conducted since 2003. The training curriculum has evolved over the years, but is not standardized. This article describes research on improving community nurses’ basic knowledge and practice skills. We modified the curriculum with a questionnaire and a modified Delphi method. First, 318 participating nurses and instructors were queried in December 2012. Then 22 experts modified the training program based on the results of the questionnaire and implementation since 2013. After 4 years, we followed up with the new participating nurses to evaluate the curriculum.     

A collaborative model of community health nursing practice

This paper discusses a strategic collaborative partnership between a Western Australian university and a community health service based on a Practice-Research Model. The partnership has involved a senior academic (0.2 FTE) working in the community health setting as a Nurse Research Consultant since 1998. The first section of the paper draws on the nursing literature on collaborative models and describes the broad background to the partnership and development of the Model. The second section presents in detail the results of a recent evaluation that involved a brief survey and follow-up interviews to determine community health nurses' understanding and perceptions of the partnership Model. Three main themes emerged from the interviews: (1) Advancement of learning captured the extent to which the Nurse Research Consultant position helped to educate nurses and promote and develop research and best-practice; (2) Job satisfaction and self-confidence encompassed the extent to which participants felt nursing management were supportive of their professional education and pursuit of best-practice solutions, and (3) Situational opportunity, which reflected the more negative comments expressed by participants and related mostly to the restricted availability of Nurse Research Consultant and a focus on mainstream research priorities. The results suggest that the partnership Model provided the nurses with the opportunity to develop an increased understanding of the role of research in clinical practice and confidence in their own ability to reflect on current nursing practice. This allowed them to identify clinical problems in order to deliver and evaluate best-practice solutions, as evidenced by a change in attitude from the previous evaluation. However, it was also noted that the operational performance of the Model needs continual monitoring to ensure that all nurses have equitable access opportunities.     

Developing a collaborative preceptor program involving registered nurses, student nurses and faculty.

This paper addresses a collaborative preceptorship program involving a group of undergraduate nursing students, their registered nurse preceptors employed on the paediatric ward of an acute care hospital, and academic staff from a university school of nursing. The project utilised a fourth generation evaluation model, adapted from action research methods, which comprised a series of parallel focussed group discussions with a registered nurse preceptor group and a student nurse group. During the project, members of the two groups explored the issues around the supervision of students in practice in an acute paediatric context. This resulted in the development of innovative approaches to the supervisory practices utilised by preceptors. It also highlighted the benefits of collaboration between universities and hospital staff in developing preceptorship programs which respond appropriately to the needs of both preceptors and students.