New graduate nurses' developmental trajectories for capability beliefs concerning core competencies for healthcare professionals : A national cohort study on patient-centered care, teamwork and evidence-based practice.

Background: This study aimed to describe the developmental trajectories of registered nurses' capability beliefs during their first 3 years of practice. The focus was on three core competencies for health professionals-patient-centered care, teamwork, and evidence-based practice. Methods: A national cohort of registered nurses (n = 1,205) was recruited during their nursing education and subsequently surveyed yearly during the first 3 years of working life. The survey included 16 items on capability beliefs divided into three subscales for the assessment of patient-centered care, teamwork, and evidence-based practice, and the data were analyzed with linear latent growth modeling. Results: The nurses' capability beliefs for patient-centered care increased over the three first years of working life, their capability beliefs for evidence-based practice were stable over the 3 years, and their capability beliefs for teamwork showed a downward trend. Linking evidence to action: Through collaboration between nursing education and clinical practice, the transition to work life could be supported and competence development in newly graduated nurses could be enhanced to help them master the core competencies. Future research should focus on determining which factors impact the development of capability beliefs in new nurses and how these factors can be developed by testing interventions.

Accident & Emergency Nursing Assessment of Deliberate Self Harm. Exploring the Impact of Introducing a Suicide Education Programme and a Suicide Intent Scale into A&E/MAU Nursing Practice: A Pilot Study

A proposal to pilot nursing assessment of self harm in Accident and Emergency Departments (A&E) was developed by key stakeholders in nurse education and suicide prevention in the South East and submitted to the National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery in April 2002.The proposal included the introduction of a suicide intent scale. Following an initial training programme, a suicide intent scale was utilised by nursing staff in A&E and the Medical Assessment Unit (MAU),Wexford General Hospital and evaluated over a period of nine months. Four months into the study the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF) was invited to collaboratively prepare a successful submission to the Health Research Board (HRB) as part of ‘Building Partnerships for a Healthier Future Research Awards 2004’. The NSRF undertook independent scientific evaluation of the outcomes of the suicide awareness programme. The study is in line with priorities determined by Reach Out, the National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention 2005-2014 (HSE, 2005) and the HSE-South East Suicide Prevention Programme through raising nursing staff awareness of the public health issue of suicide/deliberate self harm and by improving the efficiency and quality of nursing services offered to persons who present to acute hospitals with deliberate self harm. The study findings indicate evidence to positively support nursing assessment of DSH using a suicide intent scale in terms of assessing behavioural characteristics of individual clients and their suicide risk. Enhanced confidence levels of nursing personnel in caring for suicidal clients was demonstrated by staff who participated in an education programme related to risk assessment and specifically the use of a suicide intent scale.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Higher education in nursing: the faculty work process in different institutional contexts

Objective To analyze the characteristics of faculty work in nursing higher education. Method An exploratory qualitative study with a theoretical-methodological framework of dialectical and historical materialism. The faculty work process was adopted as the analytical category, grounded on conceptions of work and professionalism. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 faculty members from three higher education institutions in the city of São Paulo, classified according to the typology of institutional contexts. Results The faculty members at these higher education institutions are a heterogeneous group, under different working conditions. Intensification and precarious conditions of the faculty work is common to all three contexts, although there are important distinctions in the practices related to teaching, research and extension. Conclusion Faculty professionalization can be the starting point for analyzing and coping with such a distinct reality of faculty work and practice.


Development of nursing management competencies: guidelines for continuous education services

Abstract OBJECTIVE Developing continuing education guidelines for the development of nursing management competencies along with the members of the Center of Nursing Continuing Education of Parana. METHOD A qualitative research outlined by the action research method, with a sample consisting of 16 nurses. Data collection was carried out in three stages and data were analyzed according to the thematic analysis technique. RESULTS It was possible to discuss the demands and difficulties in developing nursing management competencies in hospital organizations and to collectively design a guideline. CONCLUSION The action research contributed to the production of knowledge, confirming the need and the importance of changing the educational processes and evaluations, based on methodologies and instruments for professional development in accordance with human resource policies and contemporary organizational policies.

Adoption of information technology based patient education in psychiatric nursing

The overall goal of the study was to describe adoption of information technology (IT)-based patient education (PE) developed for patients and nurses use in psychiatric nursing. The data were collected in three phases during the period 2000-2006 in a variety of psychiatric settings in Finland. Firstly, the development process of IT-based PE for patients with schizophrenia spectrum psychosis was described. Secondly, nurses’ adoption of IT-based PE and the variables explaining adoption were demonstrated. Moreover, use of daily IT-based PE in clinical practice and factors associated with use were identified and described. And thirdly, nurses’ experiences of the IT-based PE after one year clinical use were evaluated. IT-based PE program was developed in several stages based on users’ needs and it included information and multimedia applications. Altogether, almost 500 IT-based PE sessions were carried out by the nurses on the study wards and revealed nurses’ activity in educating patients using IT to vary and depend on the hospital in which they worked. Almost 80% of all the possible IT-based PE sessions involved 93 patients and 83 nurses. Less than 2% of the IT-based PE sessions were interrupted and less than 10% suffered disturbances due to the patients or external causes. Moreover, the patients whose education took more days had poorer mental status than those whose education was carried out over a shorter period. After a year’s experience, advantages and disadvantages were described by the nurses for both patients and nurses of the IT-based PE. IT-based PE can be used even on closed acute psychiatric wards with patients with serious mental health disorders. However, technology adoption requires time, and therefore, it must fit in with clinical practice. Collaboration between users and developers is needed when developing user-centered methods in the area of mental health services. Moreover, it is important to understand factors that affect IT adoption in healthcare settings. IT-based PE is one option in interactive and co-operative health care practice between patients and nurses. Therefore the staff should begin to refer patients to established, credible and well-maintained Internet sites that provide information on common psychological problems. Even if every nurse should be trained and engaged to carry out IT-based PE, by targeting the training especially for the most active nurses aids them to support the less active ones. Adoption should also be understood from a perspective that includes aspects related to the context where it is implemented and examine how and in what circumstances it works.

Nursing Students’ Learning about an Empowering Discourse In Patient Education

The main purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate nursing students' learning about an empowering discourse in patient education. In Phase 1, the purpose was to describe an empowering discourse between a nurse and a patient. In Phase 2, the purpose was first to create a computer simulation program of an empowering discourse based on the description, and second, the purpose was to evaluate nursing students’ learning of how to conduct an empowering discourse using a computer simulation program. The ultimate goal was to strengthen the knowledge basis on empowering discourse and to develop nursing students’ knowledge about how to conduct an empowering discourse for the development of patient education. In Phase I, empowering discourse was described using a systematic literature review with a metasummary technique (n=15). Data were collected covering a period from January 1995 to October 2005. In Phase 2, the computer simulation program of empowering discourse was created based the description in 2006–2007. A descriptive comparative design was used to evaluate students’ (n=69) process of learning empowering discourse using the computer simulation program and a pretest–post-test design without a control group was used to evaluate students’ (n=43) outcomes of learning. Data were collected in 2007. Empowering discourse was a structured process and it was possible to simulate and learned with the computer simulation program. According to students’ knowledge, empowering discourse was an unstructured process. Process of learning empowering discourse using the computer simulation program was controlled by the students and it changed students’ knowledge. The outcomes of learning empowering discourse appeared as changes of students’ knowledge to more holistic and better-organized or only to more holistic or better-organized. The study strengthened knowledge base of empowering discourse and developed students to more knowledgeable in empowering discourse.

Interprofessional Collaboration: The Experience of Nursing and Medical Students’ Interprofessional Education

In this hermeneutic phenomenological study, we examined the experience of interprofessional collaboration from the perspective of nursing and medical students. Seventeen medical and nursing students from two different universities participated in the study. We used guiding questions in face-to-face, conversational interviews to explore students’ experience and expectations of interprofessional collaboration within learning situations. Three themes emerged from the data: the great divide, learning means content, and breaking the ice. The findings suggest that the experience of interprofessional collaboration within learning events is influenced by the natural clustering of shared interests among students. Furthermore, the carry-forward of impressions about physician–nurse relationships prior to the educational programs and during clinical placements dominate the formation of new relationships and acquisition of new knowledge about roles, which might have implications for future practice.

Interprofessional Education in Anatomy: Learning Together in Medical and Nursing Training

Teamwork and the interprofessional collaboration of all health professions are a guarantee of patient safety and highly qualified treatment in patient care. In the daily clinical routine, physicians and nurses must work together, but the education of the different health professions occurs separately in various places, mostly without interrelated contact. Such training abets mutual misunderstanding and cements professional protectionism, which is why interprofessional education can play an important role in dismantling such barriers to future cooperation. In this article, a pilot project in interprofessional education involving both medical and nursing students is presented, and the concept and the course of training are described in detail. The report illustrates how nursing topics and anatomy lectures can be combined for interprofessional learning in an early phase of training. Evaluation of the course showed that the students were highly satisfied with the collaborative training and believed interprofessional education (IPE) to be an important experience for their future profession and understanding of other health professionals. The results show that the IPE teaching concept, which combines anatomy and nursing topics, provides an optimal setting for learning together and helps nurses and doctors in training to gain knowledge about other health professionals’ roles, thus evolving mutual understanding.

The role of a nursing home administrator's education in influencing quality of care in US nursing homes

Nursing home literature links poor management practices to poor quality of care and resident outcomes. Since Nursing Home Administrators (NHAs) require an array of skills to perform their role, it is important to explore what makes a NHA effective. This research fills a gap in the literature and provides a possible option to improve the quality of care in nursing homes. Purpose of the study. The study examines whether NHAs with advanced education (defined as a Masters degree or more) are associated with better quality of care in licensed nursing homes (NHs). Design and Methods. Data was derived from the CDC’s 2004 National Nursing Home Survey, which is a representative sample of NHs across the US. A Donabedian- inspired structure-process-outcomes study model was created to explain how education relates to quality of care. Quality of care was defined as onsite oral care, employee influenza vaccination rates and staff recognition programs. Statistical analyses included multivariate logistic regression; covariates included facility-level variables used in similar peer-reviewed research but also included select measures from the Area Resource File to control for county-level factors. Results. Descriptive and analytical analyses confirm that NHAs with a Bachelor’s degree, Associate degree or high school diploma perform less well than NHAs with a Masters degree or more. NHAs with advanced education are more likely to have onsite dental care and recognition programs for staff than NHAs with a Bachelor’s degree (or less). Also NHAs with less than graduate education are more likely to provide off-site dental care. Employee vaccination rates are not impacted by education. Adding certification, tenure or years of experience to a NHA with advanced education gives them an advantage. In fact, certification and experience alone do not have a positive relationship to care indicators; however adding these to advanced education produces a significant result. Implications. This research provides preliminary evidence that advanced education for the NHA is associated with better quality of care. If future research can confirm these findings, there is merit in revisiting the qualifications. Education can be a legitimate option to support quality improvement efforts in US nursing homes. ^

Supplemental security income overpayments to Medicaid nursing home residents can be reduced, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Social Security Administration, Health Care Financing Administration : report to the Congress /

Supt. of Docs. no. : GA 1.13:HRD-77-131

Inservice education activities in nursing service.

Cover title.

Medicare post-acute care : home health and skilled nursing facility cost growth and proposals for prospective payment : statement of William J. Scanlon, Director, Health Financing and Systems Issues, Health, Education, and Human Services Division : before the Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives /

"March 4, 1997."

Nursing faculty intention to use service learning as pedagogy in higher education

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that motivate nursing faculty to use service learning. The study was based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), which implies that the target behavior of intention to use service learning in higher education is influenced by the predictor variables of behavior beliefs (attitude), normative beliefs (peer influence), and control beliefs (confidence and resources). External variables were also considered (years of teaching experience, tenure status, and the type of curriculum). Group interviews and a pilot test were conducted to create the instrument for the study, and Cronbach alpha were calculated for survey item reliability. The participants were full time undergraduate nursing faculty members (n=-160) in the Southeastern United States who taught in universities with accredited nurse education programs. Demographic data as well as scores on scaled survey responses were used to evaluate the intention of nursing faculty to use service learning in their classes. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and path analysis were applied to the data. The correlation findings indicated that there were statistically significant relationships between behavior beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs and nursing faculty intention to use service learning. The path analysis also indicated that behavior beliefs and normative beliefs were significant, while control beliefs were not a strong influence on intention to use service learning. Normative beliefs showed the strongest direct influence. The use of a community based curriculum also had a positive influence on intention, and faculty with tenure status were more likely to have positive behavior beliefs (attitude) towards service learning. Finally, as teaching experience increased, positive attitudes towards the intention to use service learning decreased. Seventy-nine percent of the variation in the intention to use service learning was explained by the theory of planned behavior, the type of curriculum, teaching experience, and tenure status. These results will assist nursing administration and faculty to design strategies to facilitate the implementation of service learning pedagogy, as well as a community based curriculum which will help meet the 21st century goals set forth from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.