Development of a blended model of teaching and learning for nursing students on rostered placement to ensure competence in information and communication technology for professional practice in Ireland.

Experiences gained from delivering a Health Informatics for Nurses course in a school of nursing and midwifery in a university teaching hospital in Ireland suggest that Web-based courses may facilitate an enhanced understanding of course content. Nursing education must recognize the importance of information and communication technology in nursing to prepare the nursing and midwifery profession to embrace current advances in information and communication technology in healthcare in Ireland, and ultimately to benefit patient care.

The perceived effectiveness of a pre-admission visit for children (and their parents) undergoing day surgery procedures.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an evaluation study which examines the perceived effectiveness of a pre-admission visit for children (and their parents) undergoing day surgery procedures in the Republic of Ireland. This follow on paper provides the findings of an evaluation study subsequent to the pre-admission, practice development initiative published in the Journal of Perioperative Practice, June 2010, 20 (6) 203-206.

Setting up pre-admission visits for children undergoing day surgery: a practice development initiative.

The hospital experience can bring about a range of negative emotions for children. The literature clearly states that children who are prepared for surgery recover faster and have fewer negative effects. Pre-admission programmes seek to prepare children (and their parents) for surgery. This paper describes in detail how a pre-admission programme was established for children and their families who were scheduled for day case surgery.

Field visit placements: An integrated and community approach to learning in children's nursing.

This paper reports on the development of a new initiative, field visit placements towards and integrated and community approach to learning for nursing students. To date, limited literature exists on the potential of community field visits as meaningful learning opportunities for nursing students. Drawing on our experiences, the structure and processes involved in implementing field visits are described in this paper. Students evaluated the field visits positively indicating that they provided a wealth of learning opportunities that enhanced their knowledge and awareness of services available to children and their families in the community. The potential of field visits to promote an integrated and community approach to placements in children's nursing is discussed.

An evaluation of lecturer practitioners in Ireland.

Nursing continues to struggle to integrate the theoretical and clinical aspects of nurse education for the development of competent practitioners. Collaborative approaches to nurse education as well as the development of joint clinical-academic roles have had questionable success to date on merging the theoretical and clinical components of nursing. Lecturer practitioners' posts are new in Ireland. These posts were created as nurse educators were cognizant of the need for students to integrate theory to practice. The aim of the lecturer practitioner role was to increase the support for student nurses in both academia and practice. An evaluation of the impact of the lecturer practitioner role from three key perspectives was conducted in three Irish teaching hospitals in 2007. The results of this study suggest that as lecturer practitioners have both a clinical and academic remit they can integrate theory to practice through collaborative practice.

The effectiveness of the lecturer practitioner role in clinical practice: an Irish perspective.

BACKGROUND: Demands within academia such as teaching, publishing, research activity and generating grant income can make it difficult for nurse educators to protect time for clinical practice. In an effort to overcome this problem lecturer practitioner posts have been introduced with designated responsibilities in both clinical and educational settings. METHODS: Using a mixed method descriptive methodology student nurses and registered nurses completed a modified questionnaire to examine the impact of lecturer practitioners (LPs) in clinical practice. Focus groups were also conducted with lecturer practitioners themselves. RESULTS: The results identified that by having a clinical remit, LPs forged good relationships with student nurses and registered nurses in clinical practice, who considered the LP as being a learning resource with realistic expectations of the clinical environment. DISCUSSION: The results provide further evidence to support the continuation of nurse educators in clinical practice for their own development, their students and registered nurses.

Clinical supervision: The way forward? A review of the literature.

A discussion of clinical supervision to enhance existing support structures such as preceptorship and mentorship to positively influence the recruitment and retention of newly graduate nurses provides the main focus for this paper. The nursing literature provides evidence for alternative but equally worthy perspectives on clinical supervision. Essential to the successful practice of clinical supervision is the need to ascertain whether it is simply a system to ensure an effective workforce or one that will empower nurses to realise their vision of nursing.