S.O.S. (STUDENTS' OPTIMAL SUCCESS): A MODEL FOR INSTITUTIONAL ACTION TO SUPPORT MINORITY NURSING STUDENTS.

BACKGROUND: Success of minority students in higher education is an issue of great relevance today, as the changing United States demographic necessitates that programs in higher education afford success across cultural groups. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine thematic concepts of academic success as perceived by current nursing students in 2 entry-level nursing programs, and to propose a theoretical model to maximize the success of minority students. METHOD: Data were collected from 31 students enrolled in two registered nursing (RN) programs (baccalaureate and associate) at separate urban academic institutions in the Midwestern region of the United States. Two opened-ended questions were asked from the students. Question 1 asked, "What has helped you be most successful in pursuing your nursing degree at your school?" Question 2 asked, "What could be done to help make your college education more meaningful and/or less stressful?" RESULTS: Key factors of institutional commitment, communication of expectations, academic, social and financial support,feedback and involvement were identified as factors to students' optimal success. CONCLUSION: This data resulted in development of a theoretical model that can serve a framework for the success of minority nursing students.

Enhancing formal educational and in-service training programs in rural Rwanda: a partnership among the public sector, a nongovernmental organization, and academia.

Global disparities in the distribution, specialization, diversity, and competency of the health workforce are striking. Countries with fewer health professionals have poorer health outcomes compared with countries that have more. Despite major gains in health indicators, Rwanda still suffers from a severe shortage of health professionals.This article describes a partnership launched in 2005 by Rwanda's Ministry of Health with the U.S. nongovernmental organization Partners In Health and with Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. The partnership has expanded to include the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Public Health at the National University of Rwanda and other Harvard-affiliated academic medical centers. The partnership prioritizes local ownership and-with the ultimate goals of strengthening health service delivery and achieving health equity for poor and underserved populations-it has helped establish new or strengthen existing formal educational programs (conferring advanced degrees) and in-service training programs (fostering continuing professional development) targeting the local health workforce. Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital have also benefited from the partnership, expanding the opportunities for training and research in global health available to their faculty and trainees.The partnership has enabled Rwandan health professionals at partnership-supported district hospitals to acquire new competencies and deliver better health services to rural and underserved populations by leveraging resources, expertise, and growing interest in global health within the participating U.S. academic institutions. Best practices implemented during the partnership's first nine years can inform similar formal educational and in-service training programs in other low-income countries.

[Different perspectives on the reform of nursing studies]. / Regards croisés sur la réforme des etudes en soins infirmiers.

Two students and two recently qualified nurses describe their training within the new reference framework, and their reception by their course tutors and by their colleagues in their first jobs.

Midwifery 2020 (2): education and career progression.

The Midwifery 2020: Delivering expectations vision is that midwives will be members of a highly skilled workforce, acting as lead professionals and coordinators of care as they deliver innovative, cost-effective, quality care across integrated health and social care contexts. They will embrace an evolving public health role and initiate and respond to change. There is, based on the key messages, an opportunity for midwifery educationalists to enhance their collaboration with service colleagues and researchers across the four U.K. countries to further develop appropriate curricula. The relationship between service and education colleagues needs, perhaps more than ever, to continue to be collaborative. The challenge is focused not only on skills and knowledge to enhance practice, but also to enthuse midwives to be actively committed and resourceful, as well as being politically sensitive to current and future service provision challenges.

The Chinese version of the Facts on Aging Quiz scale: reliability and validity assessment.

BACKGROUND: The use of health care services by older adults is increasing with the aging of the population. It is therefore essential that health care workers are current in their knowledge about gerontology; thus, educational programs regarding the care of elders are essential. Chinese-language assessments to measure knowledge about gerontology and aging and attitudes toward older adults are lacking. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to measure the reliability and validity of a Chinese-language version of Palmore's facts on aging quiz (FAQ 1). METHOD: Cronbach's alpha, construct validity, content validity and convergent validity of the Chinese version of the FAQ 1 were assessed. A sample of 220 student nurses was recruited. Part of the sample (n=125; Group A) was comprised of experienced nurses who had returned to school for advanced degrees. The remaining 95 participants were first-year undergraduate students without prior work experience (Group B). The FAQ 1 was administered to all participants. The Chinese-language version of Kogan's Attitudes toward Older People (KAOP) was also administered to assess convergent validity of the FAQ 1. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha of the FAQ was 0.68, content validity was 0.82, and construct validity and convergent validity were acceptable. Group A had more correct answers on each item than Group B, indicating that students with prior work experience with the elderly were more knowledgeable regarding older people and aging. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of the assessment, the Chinese version of FAQ 1 is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring students' or health care providers' knowledge about older people.

Implementing graduate entry registration for nursing in England: a scope review.

AIMS: A graduate entry workforce for nurse registration has been approved for England by 2010/11. The aim of this research was to discover the immediate tasks facing nurse managers in implementing that change. Previous research has focused on making the case for change rather than on implementation. BACKGROUND: Similar to the implementation of Project 2000, this change in nurse education and employment will raise questions for employers and for higher education institutions. It will also raise questions about nurse recruitment numbers, workforce development, and the profiles of entrants to a changing workforce. METHOD: In preparation for these changes, we conducted a scope review of published and grey literature in the English language. We also reviewed the earlier experiences of transfer to graduate status amongst other workforces such as teaching and social work and we investigated reported practice in other industrialised countries. RESULTS: The education provider changes necessary for such a large professional workforce will need considerable leadership skills from within nursing and nurse management. At present, there are too many employers and education providers in England who appear to be relatively unaware of the changes facing nurse education and professional practice and the urgency needed to lead that change. CONCLUSIONS: Education, training and development as well as employer/commissioner practice will rely on leadership from within the nurse profession itself. For nurse managers, this requires a rapid planning process in order to ensure smooth implementation. The danger is that either education providers or commissioners of nursing services will react rather than proactively plan for the changes that are already in progress.

Issues, challenges and vision for the future of the nursing profession in Sri Lanka: a review.

BACKGROUND: Reviewing the current situation and future development of nursing profession in Sri Lanka enables one to understand not only the nature of its successes and problems, but more importantly, in what way plans for the future will impact on the profession. AIM: To explore the issues and challenges concerning nursing regulation, administration, services and education in Sri Lanka and how they will impact on developing nursing professionalism. METHODS: A literature search was conducted using MEDLINE and CINAHL limited to articles in the English and Sinhala languages published between 1976 and November 2007. The reference lists of all identified reports and articles were searched for additional studies. Personal communication, unpublished reports and government records and websites were also used to obtain information on nursing service, regulation, administration and education in Sri Lanka. Hand searching of relevant Sri Lankan journals and government reports was undertaken to reveal any additional literature. CONCLUSION: The Sri Lankan nursing profession is being very tardy in asserting its professional status in the health sector. There has been minimal effort to improve the standards of nursing services and education, mainly because of inadequate and disjointed involvement of those who are responsible for improving the health services in Sri Lanka. However, nursing services and education in Sri Lanka are being scrutinized as nurses today show more concern about their professional roles, education and status.

A return to diploma-prepared registered nurses.

A quarter of a century ago, the nursing profession in Canada took a bold step: to establish baccalaureate preparation in nursing as the standard for practice as a registered nurse in Canada. Towards that end, hospital schools of nursing gave way to collaborative programs designed to help hospital and college diploma nursing students make the transition into baccalaureate nursing programs. It is thus paradoxical that, today, the nursing profession in Canada should do anything to jeopardize its goal to have RNs prepared at the baccalaureate level. The purpose of this paper is to focus Canadian nurse leaders' attention on that very possibility, given that some professional nursing organizations in Canada have conceptualized a future RN practice that could result in the emergence of a new kind of healthcare professional and a return to diploma preparation of RNs.

Professional development for registered nurses.

There is increasing recognition that health professionals should engage in continuing professional development and lifelong learning. In addition, planned changes to pre-registration nurse education mean that many registered nurses are considering, or will consider, further academic study. This article aims to demystify academic terminology and provide practical guidance on preparing for and accessing higher education.

Education of children's nurses in Ireland: an update.

The first teaching hospital for sick children in Great Britain and Ireland opened in Dublin in 1821. From then, the development of sick children's nursing in Ireland followed a similar path to that in many other countries until a national report in 2000 recognised that post-registration pathways alone were unlikely to meet future health service needs for suitably qualified and flexible children's nurses. In 2006, a four-and-a-half-year integrated children's and general nursing pre-registration degree programme started on four sites. At the same time, the existing 18-month post-registration course was replaced with an accelerated one-year diploma programme. The full integration of children's nursing into third level at both pre- and post-registration level was a welcome development in Ireland. Further work is under way to address the remaining educational challenges: post-graduate and doctoral programmes, preparation of advanced nurse practitioners and continuing professional education for qualified children's nurses.

Teaching psychiatric mental health nursing in the People's Republic of China.

According to the World Health Organization's Health Policy Resource Book, mental disorders account for a high proportion of disability worldwide and are predicted to grow significantly in the coming years. This is especially true in developing countries such as the People's Republic of China (PRC) where, for historical social, political, and economic reasons, psychiatric mental health (PMH) nursing has not been an integral part of nursing curricula. As the number of persons in the PRC increases, so is the demand for mental health nurses, yet the PRC lacks experienced PMH nursing instructors. This article describes the challenges and opportunities that await Western PMH nursing specialists and faculty in the PRC.

Lessons learned from China's healthcare system and nursing profession.

PURPOSE: To examine the healthcare policy and the nursing profession in China and to share insights learned from that country, which can be used to inform health-policy decision makers in the US. ORGANIZING CONSTRUCT: Despite their significant cultural, political, and historical differences, many healthcare issues are the same for China and the US. Both countries face rising healthcare costs and widening disparities between wealthy and poor individuals, and between urban and rural sectors. CONCLUSIONS: Some of the ideas that can be gleaned from China's healthcare system include rewarding physicians for prescribing preventive services; using trained laypeople as gatekeepers to the healthcare system in rural areas; communicating to the public and to health-policy decision makers the importance of nurses so that staffing, work conditions, and professional status can be improved; and including nurses in health-policy decisions. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Lessons learned from China's healthcare policy and healthcare system have implications for public health policy change that could lead to improved patient outcomes in the US. The current changing global health environment calls for healthcare providers to learn from and work with our international neighbors to improve health outcomes for all patients.

Exploring clinical nursing experiences: listening to student nurses.

Student nurses spend one half of their educational programme in the clinical area. The success of an educationally sound clinical placement is crucial to forming a professional nursing identity that will encompass the seen and 'unseen' aspects of the nurses' role. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical nursing environment through the perceptions of first year student nurses. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 12 student nurses who each had four weeks clinical experience, representing 21 wards and five hospitals. Results suggest that these student nurses were disillusioned with the reality of clinical nursing and that their expectations of nursing were not realised. They perceived that paperwork, completing tasks and meeting targets were dominant features of nursing work at the expense of patient contact and communication. A majority indicated that nursing was not as caring as they expected and vowed to hold on to their personal values of caring about patients and forming communicative, interpersonal relationships with them.

Teaching on the spiritual dimension in care: the perceived impact on undergraduate nursing students.

The aim of the study unit, delivered in 2004-2005, to a cohort group of nursing students (n=65), who undertook the Diploma in Health Science, was to increase students' awareness about the spiritual dimension in nursing care so as to enable them to implement holistic care. The aim of this paper is to reveal the perceived impact of the study unit on students' life. This was derived from a written self-reflection account, which was submitted on voluntary basis, additional to the written assignment. The majority of students (97%, n=63) performed this written exercise which seems to demonstrate the students' interest in this study unit. Excerpts from students' written personal reflection indicate the personal, academic and professional impact of the study unit on nursing students. The positive feedback from students sheds light on the importance of teaching undergraduate students on the spiritual dimension in care. This implies that such a study unit is to be integrated within the curriculum of nursing education for the benefit of the nurses themselves and to enable delivery of holistic care.

Reforming the Swiss nurse education system: a policy review.

BACKGROUND: Western Europe has been swept in the last three decades by ongoing reforms within the nurse education systems. Within the Western European region, Switzerland is one of the last countries initiating the integration of nursing programs into higher education institutions. OBJECTIVES: This article examines the nurse education reforms recently enacted in Switzerland. The specific aims of the analysis were to: (a) examine modes of reform implementation and the current status of the Swiss nurse education system; (b) compare between two new Swiss nurse education models developed in the various linguistic regions. METHOD: A documentary search for policy documents, reports and studies related to the implementation processes of reforms was conducted through websites of various legal institutions and the Swiss university library system. FINDINGS: The analysis indicated that although a fit between environmental pressures and the reform agenda exists, the implementation of the nursing reform varied considerably between the various Swiss linguistic regions. This variation resulted in two newly created models of nurse education programs revealing a high level of variability and inconsistency. As such, the development of a unified system of nurse education, which was set as the primary goal of the reformed system, was not achieved. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, Switzerland is contributing to the widening heterogeneity rather than to the aspired homogeneity across Western European countries.