Students' expectations of postregistration degree programmes

The needs of postregistration students pursuing degree-linked clinical courses have received little attention and there are few insights concerning their aspirations when they enrol on such courses. Thus the aim of this study was to explore postregistration students' perceptions of the specific needs of their patient/client group and to examine how they envisaged the course on which they had just enrolled might help them to meet these needs in addition to their own requirements for professional and personal development. Data were collected by group interview from 62 students enrolling on eight different postregistration courses, all employed in an acute hospital trust. The results were analysed inductively. They indicated that students had internalized the state of the healthcare market and were keenly aware of the need to fulfil the expectations of employers and the public, while fulfilling their own needs for education and pursuing their own professional and career trajectories. They appeared ambitious and yet appeared to demonstrate empathy for patients and their families and felt a tremendous desire to provide care of a high quality through the optimal development of technical expertise. Students' emphasis on the importance of keeping abreast of technological developments should not be lightly dismissed considering its prominent position within the acute areas where they were employed, especially as it did not replace their desire to promote the caring aspects of their work.     

Uterine artery embolization for symptomatic fibroids with imaging follow up

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of uterine artery embolization (UAE) as a primary treatment method in treatment of symptomatic fibroids, whether there are any preembolization MRI characteristics of fibroid predictive of reduction in volume and assess reduction in uterine and dominant fibroid volumes using ultrasound (US) and MRI. Study was carried out in total of 32 patients aged 25–49 years (mean 40.9 years). Uterine and dominant fibroid volume were determined using US and MRI before UAE, MRI and US at 3 months and US alone at 6 and 12 months post‐UAE, supplemented by clinical evaluation at interval of 3, 6 and 12 months. Procedure was carried out through unilateral femoral puncture using poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) particles 355–500 μm in size. All 32 patients had successful procedures. Overall, 25 patients responded, giving a clinical success rate of 78.12%. Mean reduction in volume of uterus and fibroid was 33 and 59.7% and 48.9 and 75.5% on US at 3 and 12 months respectively, and 33.3 and 58.6% on MRI at 3 months. Volume reduction on US and MRI at 3 months was highly correlative. There was no statistical difference in size reduction in volume of fibroids, which were hypointense or hyperintense on T2‐weighted image (T2WI) on pre‐UAE MRI. Uterine artery embolization leads to good technical success and fibroid volume reduction. Ultrasound alone may be used for follow up of patients post‐UAE. Preprocedure signal characteristics on T2WI are not predictors of volume reduction after UAE.     

Endogenous and exogenous research? Findings from a bibliometric study of UK nursing research

AIMS OF THE STUDY: This paper uses the findings of a recent bibliometric analysis of published UK nursing research to ask whether the field is characterized by a fundamental split between two underlying areas of research interest. These can be termed 'endogenous' and 'exogenous'. The former term describes research which tends to be concerned with problems and issues to do with nursing as a profession; the latter is concerned with problems and issues centring around the nursing of patients. DESIGN/METHODS: Papers in the Wellcome Trust's Research Outputs Database (ROD), a database of UK biomedical research, were analysed. Nursing papers published between 1988 and 1995 numbered 1,845, just less than 1% of the total papers in the ROD. RESULTS/FINDINGS: Analysis of the subfield identified that nursing research was atypical of biomedical research as a whole in a number of ways. One difference was that usually in biomedical research there is a general correlation between numbers of funders acknowledged on a paper, numbers of authors, and esteem of the journal in which a paper appears. In nursing there was, if anything, a tendency for highly esteemed papers to have fewer authors and be less likely to have acknowledged funding. However, the apparently endogenous and exogenous papers have quite different characteristics. This paper explores this apparent difference and possible reasons for this difference and will briefly compare nursing research with some other newly emerging social and academic groups. CONCLUSIONS: Thinking of nursing research outputs in this way can provide insight into the existence of different reward systems influencing nurse researchers. However, it is impossible to draw too confident a differentiation without reading each individual paper and making judgements about whether they are 'endogenous' or 'exogenous', a practice generally beyond the scope of bibliometric practice.     

Skills competency in nurse education: nurse managers' perceptions of diploma level preparation

This paper reports on part of a national study conducted between 1994 and 1996, the overall aim of which was to examine the 'fitness for purpose' of the Project 2000 nursing education reforms. The study used multiple methods of data collection, including an individual and group interview study of nurse managers (n = 132) and a national survey of Project 2000 diplomates and traditionally prepared registered nurses (n = 5417). Findings in relation to the managers' expectations and experiences of diplomates are presented. This includes views on the level of skills achievement and skills acquisition of diploma level education. The qualities of the diplomates are discussed and this includes those areas where the skills of the diplomates are felt to achieve what is required of the role. Also included is an exploration of those skills which the managers felt fell short of expectations. Managers raised the long-standing concerns of clinical skills and competencies and discussed these in relation to the changing health care environment and the relative roles of other health care workers. The conclusions highlight the need to identify what could be seen as the 'core skills' required of a registered nurse and the need to explore the environment in which the diplomate takes up first appointment.     

Involving communities in health service planning in primary care

Recent health service policy in the United Kingdom has emphasized the need to involve local people in health service planning. This paper will describe how local communities were involved in the development of Primary Care Resource Centres. These centres are designed to provide a base for the delivery of a range of health, social welfare and information services within a community setting. Four centres in the process of being developed in one region were selected for in-depth study. The main method of data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with key “stakeholders”, namely purchasers and providers of primary health care, social care providers, hospital outreach staff and local community and voluntary group workers (Weiss 1983). This paper examines how the health service organizations developing the centres involved local communities in planning them and the obstacles and difficulties encountered. The paper suggests lessons that can be learned for future community involvement in the planning of local health services.     

Clinical supervision: insider reports of a private world

An exploratory study, funded by the Department of Health, London and the Scottish Home and Health Department, Edinburgh, was conducted over an 18-month period to provide an informed view on possible assessment tools that could be used to assess the impact of clinical supervision (CS) in nursing and to report on the CS activities in 23 selected sites in England and Scotland. The study not only examined the utility of several standardized research instruments, to be reported separately, but also explored the experience of a small sub-sample of nurses ( n =34) engaged in CS, as supervisors and supervisees. Interviews were undertaken to help better understand some of the issues involved around the domains of structure, process and outcome. Respondents reported an enthusiasm for the opportunity to talk meaningfully to a trusted colleague about their personal circumstances at work. Such opportunities were particularly welcomed by nurses who wished to reflect upon their own practice with patients, especially when dealing with their clinical conditions which were upsetting, or otherwise challenging, and sometimes harrowing. Substantive and methodological areas of interest for future research are suggested.     

Stimulation of human cytotoxic T cells with HIV-1-derived peptides presented by recombinant HLA-A2 peptide complexes

HLA-A2 heavy chain and beta 2-microglobulin were expressed in Escherichia coli, and refolded in the presence of peptides derived from HIV-1 RT and gag proteins. When recombinant HLA-A2 molecules were attached to cells lacking HLA-A2, the cells became susceptible to lysis by HLA-A2-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) clones specific for peptides derived from RT and gag proteins. Limiting dilution analyses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HIV-1-infected individuals showed that the recombinant HLA-A2 peptide complexes covalently immobilized on microspheres stimulated the development of HLA-A2 peptide-specific CTL. Preformed HLA-peptide complexes may provide an alternative to immunization procedures that depend upon intracellular processing of antigen to elicit T cell responses.      

A research-based method of selecting curriculum content

This paper reports on a study concerning the opinions of sisters and nurse teachers regarding the relevance of learning objectives for a specific teaching and learning course for hospital and community sisters. The respondents were 29 sisters who had attended the course, 32 sisters who had not attended the course but who were potential future 'consumers' and 25 nurse teachers. The results showed that a majority of the respondents rated 29 of the objectives as essential and these were suggested as the nucleus of the core curriculum for future courses. Responses to nine of the objectives showed statistically significant differences between the groups.