Scope of practice in forensic nursing

1. There is significant role variation, across the Western world, in relation to how forensic nurses practice. 2. The authors conducted a pilot survey of forensic nurses in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom to examine forensic nursing practice, role definition, and role boundaries. 3. Issues arising from the data include the visibility of forensic nurses, the client group, forensic-specific education, and role development.

On the fast track speeding nurses into the future: a two year Bachelor of Nursing for graduates of other disciplines

It has been suggested in nursing literature that a bachelor's degree should be the pre-requisite to professional nursing education and registration. The perceived advantages of graduates entering the nursing profession led faculty in the School of Nursing La Trobe University to introduce in 1997 an innovative two-year Bachelor of Nursing (BN) program, believed to be the first in Australia, for graduates of other disciplines. A problem-based learning (PBL) approach was selected to facilitate the teaching learning process. Data to evaluate the progress of the accelerated students were collected by examining their previous degree background, conducting a focus group discussion mid year and comparing the students' academic results with those completing the traditional three-year course. Findings indicate that students in the accelerated course were highly motivated but experienced significant stress. In part the stress emanated from the need to identify their own learning needs. However, despite their concerns most accelerated students scored at least as well both clinically and academically as traditional students. Moreover, in six of the seven final year subjects each group studied the accelerated students performed better.

Career development year in emergency nursing: using specific educational preparation and clinical support to facilitate the transition to specialist practice

This article outlines the development, implementation and evaluation of the Career Development Year (CDY) in the Emergency Department (ED) at Dandenong Hospital in Victoria, Australia. As a consequence of a shortage of emergency nurses, hospitals have recruited inadequately prepared nurses to staff their EDs. The resultant increase in stress of qualified and experienced emergency nurses has had a major impact on the retention of emergency nurses. The CDY aims to provide nurses with little or no experience in emergency nursing with supported entry into this area of specialist practice. The CDY is based on three factors identified as important in the transition to emergency nursing; knowledge, clinical support and professional development. By providing beginning emergency nurses with supported entry to a new and challenging clinical environment, the CDY has been an effective recruitment and retention strategy. In addition it has demonstrated that a committed ED team has the capability to teach and nurture the emergency nurses of the future.

Simulation to practice: developing nursing skills in mental health: an Australian perspective

A variety of developments in nursing education in Australia including some innovative and exciting models, educational enterprises between education and industry, and evidence of developing strengths in research and professional alliances on a national level have been discussed recently. This paper presents Simulation to Practice as an example of an educational program that can maximise skill mastery for nurses in mental health fields as practised by Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. The program is multimodal and is under-pinned by a problem-solving approach and has an online presentation. The extension of nursing skills through this approach encourages nurses to take theoretical skills to practice during these scenarios which help student nurses to gain experience through simulated real life characters. These sessions, while challenging at the time, were highly valued by students and seen as a beneficial part of their learning as a beginning nurse and often instrumental in moving comprehensively trained students into mental health careers.

Mapping postgraduate nurse education in Australia 2001-2002

Workforce planning at a national level within nursing and midwifery has been largely fragmented and uncoordinated with health-care organisations, state health authorities, peak nursing organisations and the tertiary sector often engaging in independent decision making and planning. In order to gain an increased understanding of the complexity of contemporary nurse education and to quantify the number of graduates of nursing education courses into categories that are meaningful for workforce planning, the federal Department of Education, Science and Training commissioned a national study in 2002. The aim of this study was to map and quantify current and projected numbers of Australian domestic nursing postgraduate students within their respective specialisation according to each State/Territory. All Australian universities offering postgraduate courses in nursing were electronically surveyed (n=30). Two non-university providers of postgraduate nursing education were also asked to participate, but only one responded. Data were gathered on the number of domestic postgraduate nursing students enrolled in 2002, the number of course completions in 2001 and projected completions for 2002. Of the 13 broad band specialty categories developed for the study, the specialties of Midwifery and High Dependency were dominant in both student enrolments and course completions, including projected completions. The range of specialties that were offered varied by State/Territory, as did the number and percentage of students enrolled, completing and projected to complete each specialty program. Generic courses (without listed specialisations) continue to complicate the process of attempting to tease out and quantify accurately the number of enrolled and completing postgraduate students according to area of specialty practice.

Nursing educations and graduates : profiles for 2001 and projections for 2002

The present study was commissioned for the National Review of Nursing Education. This is the second of two national studies commissioned to map in detail nursing education programs and to profile and make future projections regarding graduates from undergraduate and postgraduate nursing education courses in Australia.

The first study was undertaken in 2001 by Deakin University School of Nursing under the auspices of the 2001 Evaluation Investigations Project titled "Nursing Education and Graduates: Profiles for 1999, and 2000 with projections for 2001". This project sought data on nursing education within Australia in order to improve the accuracy of nursing education databases and to strengthen the ability of DETYA to provide advice on workforce planning. Issues that arose from that project included differences in data sets for undergraduate nursing courses in Australia and the complex process of attempting to tease out and accurately quantify postgraduate specialty courses when a trend towards postgraduate generic courses was evident. Approximately 26% of postgraduate domestic student enrolment data were reported utilising a generic nursing course category.

The purpose of this study was, therefore, twofold. Firstly, this study validated and extended the existing database developed in the previous study mapping in detail the full range of undergraduate programs offered by tertiary education providers across Australia that lead to an initial qualification and entry into nursing practice.

New data about the following was sought:

* Undergraduate nursing degrees (both three-year and four-year courses);
* Double/combined nursing degrees;
* Courses offered by private universities;
* Four-year bachelor degrees that concurrently provide both initial nurse registration and preparation for specialty nursing practice;
* Courses that facilitate ‘fast-tracking’ of students for initial nurse registration with previous tertiary or nursing studies,
* Hours and configuration of clinical experience in undergraduate nursing courses.

Crossing cultural boundaries, flexible approaches and nurse education : a case study

Computer-mediated conferencing commonly is used to promote collaborative learning, including student learning across distance. This article presents the outcomes and experiences of Master of Nursing students in three countries using flexible learning approaches facilitated by the use of computer-mediated conferencing. It examines issues relating to support for global nursing education, presents an evaluation of one particular unit, and presents themes in the feedback from students about their experience. The authors report the findings in three categories: broadened perspectives, tackling the technology, and adaptive learning. Furthermore, the article offers suggestions for enhancing student-learning experiences when computer-mediated conferencing facilities are used.

Bioethics : a nursing perspective

The 5th edition of 'Bioethics' provides nursing students with the necessary knowledge and understanding of the ethical issues effecting nursing practice. Groundbreaking in its first edition, Bioethics continues its role as a vital component of nursing education and provides a framework for students to understand the obligations, responsibilities and ethical challenges they will be presented with throughout their careers. This latest edition responds to new and emerging developments in the field and marks a significant turning point in nursing ethics in that it serves not only to inform but also to revitalise and progress debate on the issues presented.

Effects of education on the therapeutic use of oxygen by emergency nurses

Nurses' factual knowledge increased and oxygen administration decisions improved following education. Variability in nurses' knowledge and decisions, both before and after education, suggests that factual knowledge is only one component of clinical decisions. If nursing education is to improve clinical practice, then we need to better understand the relationship between factual knowledge and clinical decisions.

Development and evaluation of a teaching and learning approach in cross-cultural care and antidiscrimination in university nursing students

Background:
Cross-cultural care and antidiscrimination are vital to ethical effective health systems. Nurses require quality educational preparation in cross-cultural care and antidiscrimination. Limited evidence-based research is available to guide teachers.

Objectives:
To develop, implement and evaluate an evidence-based teaching and learning approach in cross-cultural care and antidiscrimination for undergraduate nursing students.

Design:
A quantitative design using pre- and post-survey measures was used to evaluate the teaching and learning approach.

Settings:
The Bachelor of Nursing program in an Australian university.

Participants:
Academics and second year undergraduate nursing students.

Methods:
A literature review and consultation with academics informed the development of the teaching and learning approach. Thirty-three students completed a survey at pre-measures and following participation in the teaching and learning approach at post-measures about their confidence to practice cross-cultural nursing (Transcultural Self-efficacy Tool) and about their discriminatory attitudes (Quick Discrimination Index).

Results:
The literature review found that educational approaches that solely focus on culture might not be sufficient in addressing discrimination and racism. During consultation, academics emphasised the importance of situating cross-cultural nursing and antidiscrimination as social determinants of health. Therefore, cross-cultural nursing was contextualised within primary health care and emphasised care for culturally diverse communities. Survey findings supported the effectiveness of this strategy in promoting students' confidence regarding knowledge about cross-cultural nursing. There was no reported change in discriminatory attitudes. The teaching and learning approach was modified to include stronger experiential learning and role playing.

Conclusions:
Nursing education should emphasise cross-cultural nursing and antidiscrimination. The study describes an evaluated teaching and learning approach and demonstrates how evaluation research can be used to develop cross-cultural nursing education interventions.

Evaluation of postgraduate critical care nursing students' attitudes to, and engagement with, Team-Based Learning: a descriptive study

The aim of this study was to evaluate postgraduate critical care nursing students' attitudes to, and engagement with, Team-Based Learning (TBL).

Survey on tuberculosis teaching in Brazilian nursing schools, 2004

OBJECTIVE: To characterise tuberculosis (TB) teaching in Brazilian nursing schools by state and region and its theoretical and practical contents. METHODOLOGY: In an educational research survey in 2004, 347 nursing schools were identified. Questionnaires were posted to faculties providing training in TB. Data were compiled in a database with a view to descriptive result analysis. Replies to the questionnaire were received by 32% of the nursing schools contacted. RESULTS: Undergraduate TB teaching is heterogeneous. For training in theory, the principle teaching method is through classes in 102 (91.9%) nursing schools. Practical TB teaching is carried out at the primary care level (89.2%). Teachers update their knowledge through events and internet; little reference is made to manuals. The time devoted to practical TB teaching ranges from 10 to 20 hours, although this is not always included in student training. CONCLUSION: Teaching in TB should go beyond the traditional model that focuses only on biological aspects. It should introduce tools that lead to permanent behavioural change, such as a more human approach and social and psychological aspects, such as living conditions, habits and customs. It should involve new partners, such as families, communities and other health professionals, and identify obstacles within the university. © 2006 The Union.

Planning nursing teaching: Educational purposes and clinical competence

Thinking about nursing education implies articulating this issue with the expressions of theoretical frameworks, from the perspective of a pedagogical aspect that includes both constructivism and competencies. The objective was to characterize, from a longitudinal view, the construction of care competencies that exist in the teaching plans of nursing undergraduate programs. This exploratory-descriptive study used a qualitative approach. Documentary analysis was performed on the nine teaching plans of undergraduate care subjects. The ethical-legal aspects were guaranteed, so that data was collected only after the study had been approved by the Research Ethics Committee. The data evidenced a curriculum organization centered on subjects, maintaining internal rationales that seem to resist summative organizations. Signs emerge of hardly substantial links between any previous knowledge and the strengthening of critical judgment and clinical reasoning. As proposed, the study contributed with reconsiderations for the teachinglearning process and showed the influence of constructivism on the proposal of clinical competencies.

The identification of the pillars of education in the class comprehensiveness in healthcare

The objective of the present study was to verify, based on the analysis of student portfolio narratives, if the four pillars of education were approached in the class "Comprehensiveness in health care", part of the integrated curriculum of the Baccalaureate in Nursing Program of the University of Sao Paulo at Ribeirao Preto College of Nursing. A qualitative, documental study was performed using 46 portfolios constructed during the classes. Data collection was performed using an assessment tool that contained items addressing cognitive and affective dimensions. The data were submitted to thematic categorical analysis using the pillars of education as predefined categories. The results show that the pillars of education were, apparently, included in the class. Despite the present study findings, no evidence was found that the expected competencies were actually discussed among students and faculty, according to the records regarding the evaluations of each pedagogical cycle of the studied class.