Evaluating an undergraduate nursing student telehealth placement for community-dwelling frail older people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate a rapid response student telehealth placement experience implementing interRAI assessments of community-dwelling frail older people during the COVID-19 pandemic. To identify lessons to inform future telehealth clinical placements. BACKGROUND: New Zealand undertakes assessment of older people with disabilities using the interRAI contact assessment tool for less complex conditions and home care assessment tool for complex needs. New Zealand entered lockdown in March 2020 in response to COVID-19. New Zealand's most vulnerable community members required urgent needs assessment. DESIGN: A clinical placement whereby 3rd year undergraduate nursing students trained by interRAI-NZ educators worked remotely from home delivering telehealth assessment for 'at risk' older people across the Waikato District, New Zealand. This represented the first telehealth experience within an undergraduate nursing program approved by the New Zealand Nursing Council. METHODS: A case study evaluation utilising mixed method questionnaire and qualitative techniques within an interpretive paradigm. 19 third year students in the fifth semester of a Bachelor of Nursing program and 5 nursing staff members engaged in delivery of the initiative completed pre- and post-placement short answer questionnaires. Reflective diaries were maintained by students on placement. Post-placement interviews and focus group discussions provided in-depth data. COREQ guidelines informed analysis and reporting. RESULTS: Student and tutor responses showed consistent themes: tackling COVID-19; implementation requirements; nursing competencies; provider relationships; and community insights. These provide insight and highlight lessons learnt from this initiative. CONCLUSIONS: Student confidence in therapeutic engagement and clinical assessment and interest in aged care was increased, confirming the viability and importance of this inaugural telehealth student placement initiative. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Graduate work readiness is enhanced through telehealth placement experience and interRAI assessor training. These are recommended as core components of future nursing education programs.

A Curriculum Model for Multidisciplinary Training of Midwife Sonographers in a Low Resource Setting.

In many low-resource settings, less than 5% of pregnant women can access ultrasound during pregnancy. Thus, gestational age is often difficult to determine, multiple pregnancies are diagnosed late and foetal and pregnancy-related anomalies can go undetected. A pilot solution was designed beyond the traditional approach of increasing numbers of qualified radiologists, gynaecologists and sonographers. An innovative Human Resource for Health (HRH) task sharing, and maternal child health (MCH) workforce training and capacity building initiative was designed, involving development and testing of a curriculum to train midwife sonographers via a teleradiology innovation platform and a partnership between specialist radiologists, sonographers and midwives. The setting was a tertiary-level private university hospital in Nairobi with implementation in three outreach locations. Direct oversight, support and supervision of specialist radiologists and ultrasonographers effectively addressed issues of quality and safety across the 3-week training period and project implementation. Concepts from sociocultural learning theory informed an initial interactive e-learning module for each midwife at their respective site. Midwives were introduced to ultrasound equipment with a series of didactic and interactive lectures delivered by an expert sonographer at the tertiary hospital teaching site. Lectures were supported by hands-on practical experience, role modelling and mentoring over a four-week period. Assessments included both written examination and practical assessment with an exit examination requiring demonstration of competency in both written and practical format. Final confirmation of scanning accuracy was confirmed with post-delivery verification of results. The pilot was highly successful with an image interpretation accuracy of 99.63% for the midwives. Lessons from this initiative provides guidance in the curriculum development process along with a curriculum outline; pedagogical framework; teaching methods; assessment processes; credentialing; resourcing; and other considerations in scaling up the program. Importantly, the paper details processes for maintaining a high level of quality control and patient safety.

Developing a national competency-based curriculum for technical nurses in Egypt.

Nursing in Egypt has evolved over recent decades. Development has accelerated following recent government recognition of the contribution nurses make to healthcare access, quality and delivery. A vision to enhance nursing capacity resulted in a recent mandate requiring all nursing curricula to be competency based. Concurrently, the Educational Development Fund of the Egyptian Cabinet of Ministers drafted a nursing educational plan including a strategy to develop and implement a contextually congruent educational model with proven success comparable to international standards. This report discusses the 4-year curriculum development project designed to upgrade the current technical-level nursing curriculum to a consistent competency-based model. The competency-based educational model will be trialled in 3 technical institutes before nationwide rollout and implementation. Details of the project plan are described, including an overview of curriculum development considerations. This report provides insights for policy-makers and educators embarking on similar health workforce reform and capacity development initiatives.

Establishing Policy Foundations and Regulatory Systems to Enhance Nursing Practice in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2009, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) established a Nursing and Midwifery Council with a mandate to develop standards for the registration and regulation of nursing and midwifery and to strengthen the nursing and midwifery workforce. Priorities included workforce Emiratization and the development of regulatory standards to support advanced and speciality nursing practice and new models of care-particularly for the management of noncommunicable diseases. This article provides background, context for, and best practice inputs to the effort to provide one unified framework of nursing regulation and licensure across the whole of the UAE. This article is intended for nurse leaders, policy makers, and regulators who are reviewing or developing nursing regulatory processes and advancing nursing workforce capacity building activities; and nurse educators and nurses wishing to work in the UAE.

Exercise physiologists: essential players in interdisciplinary teams for noncommunicable chronic disease management.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, are a growing public health challenge in Australia, accounting for a significant and increasing cost to the health care system. Management of these chronic conditions is aided by interprofessional practice, but models of care require updating to incorporate the latest evidence-based practice. Increasing research evidence reports the benefits of physical activity and exercise on health status and the risk of inactivity to chronic disease development, yet physical activity advice is often the least comprehensive component of care. An essential but as yet underutilized player in NCD prevention and management is the "accredited exercise physiologist," a specialist in the delivery of clinical exercise prescriptions for the prevention or management of chronic and complex conditions. In this article, the existing role of accredited exercise physiologists in interprofessional practice is examined, and an extension of their role proposed in primary health care settings.