Nurse students' competences in interprofessional pharmaceutical care in Europe: Cross-sectional evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Safe pharmaceutical care requires competent nurses with specific knowledge, skills and attitudes. It is unclear whether nursing students are adequately prepared to perform pharmaceutical care in practice. Mapping their pharmaceutical care competences can lead to a better understanding of the extent to which curricula fit expectations of the labour market. OBJECTIVES: To assess pharmaceutical care competences of final-year nursing students of different educational levels. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey design. SETTINGS: In 14 European countries, nursing schools who offer curricula for level 4 to 7 students were approached. PARTICIPANTS: Through convenience sampling 1741 final-year student nurses of level 4 to 7 were included. Sampling strategies were country-specific. METHODS: A web-platform was developed with an assessment of the level in which students mastered pharmaceutical care competences. Knowledge questions, case studies (basic/advanced level), self-reported practical skills and attitudes were evaluated. RESULTS: Mean scores for knowledge questions differed significantly (p < 0.001) between level 5 (56/100), level 6 (68/100) and level 7 students (72/100). For basic cases level 5 students reached lower scores (64/100) compared with level 6 (71/100) and level 7 (72/100) students (p = 0.002 and p = 0.005). For more advanced cases no difference between levels was observed (overall mean 61/100). Most students (63-90 %) considered themselves skilled to perform pharmaceutical care and had positive attitudes towards their participation in pharmaceutical care (65-97 %). CONCLUSIONS: Relatively low knowledge scores were calculated for final-year student nurses. In some domains, lower levels of students might be insufficiently prepared to take up responsibilities in pharmaceutical care. Our assessment can be used as a tool for educators to evaluate how prepared nursing students are for pharmaceutical care. Its further implementation for students of different educational levels will allow benchmarking between the levels, both within and between countries.

Exploring the impact of motivational interviewing training for qualified health visitors.

The requirement for health visitors to be familiar with, and trained in, motivational interviewing (MI) has been a predominant feature in many government policies and health visitor service specifications. This paper reports on a two-day MI course delivered to approximately 100 health visitors working in an NHS trust during 2014-15. The overall aim of the training was to introduce the concept of MI, provide opportunities for skills development and explore the relevance and applicability of MI to health visitors. Findings derived from 99 anonymous questionnaires were categorised using a thematic approach to data analysis. A significant theme was health visitors' intentions to apply the MI skills learned to their future clinical practice. An essential aspect of this implementation process was the use of reflection to support the development of their MI skills during consultations. Ongoing skills development and supervision in the practice of Ml were also factors deemed to influence its long-term efficacy. Overall evaluations suggested that the training was beneficial and MI is a relevant, evidence-based approach to use in supporting clients' behavioural change within the context of health visiting.