Do bachelor assignments in Danish midwifery- and nursing educations reflect evidence-based practice? A document study.

The aim of this study is to explore and compare if evidence-based practice is reflected in topics and methods in the bachelor assignment written by respectively nursing and midwifery students. METHOD: The study is a document study; data is bachelor assignments (N = 274) from nursing (244) and midwifery (30) educations in Copenhagen in 2018. The abductive analysis examines the whole picture of used designs/methods, identify themes in the assignments and compare the assignments for similarities and differences. RESULTS: Nursing students mainly chose interview as a method, with 56% choosing to interview nurses and 17% choosing to interview patients. 90% of midwifery students chose to do literature studies. Nursing students mainly focus either on nurses' experience of clinical practise describing either personal or local nursing practice or on patient's experience (second person knowledge). Nursing students rarely employ evidence from research. Midwifery students employ knowledge from literature and mainly focus on professional action or discussion of the evidence in relation to professional practice. CONCLUSION: Midwifery students' bachelor assignments indicate an ability to understand and use evidence in planning for professional action, while the bachelor assignments of nursing students do not.

Teaching Epistemology - Workshop as a Method for making Epistemology Relevant to Students.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Introducing epistemology to healthcare students represents a challenge. Yet to be able to practice based on evidence, it is important that healthcare professionals gain an adequate level of research literacy as part of their health care education. This article presents a new way to teach epistemology using a workshop design. Three scientific perspectives on epistemology: humanistic, social science and natural science, are used as lenses to analyse situations from everyday healthcare practice represented by a video. Video is used to facilitate transfer of knowledge and to make it meaningful for students to engage in learning epistemology. Afterwards, three teachers facilitate the students' group work to ensure they get to understand the difference between the scientific perspectives. The workshop has received very good evaluations as students state that for the first time they understand how epistemology directly links to practice.

How participatory action research changed our view of the challenges of shared decision-making training.

OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to demonstrate how the use of participatory action research (PAR) helped us identify ways to respond to communication challenges associated with shared decision-making (SDM) training. METHODS: Patients, relatives, researchers, and health professionals were involved in a PAR process that included: (1) two theatre workshops, (2) a pilot study of an SDM training module involving questionnaires and evaluation meetings, and (3) three reflection workshops. RESULTS: The PAR process revealed that health professionals often struggled with addressing existential issues such as concerns about life, relationships, meaning, and ability to lead responsive dialogue. Following the PAR process, a communication programme that included communication on existential issues and coaching was drafted. CONCLUSION: By involving multiple stakeholders in a comprehensive PAR process, valuable communication skills addressing a broader understanding of SDM were identified. A communication programme aimed to enhance skills in a mindful and responsive clinical dialogue on the expectations, values, and hopes of patients and their relatives was drafted. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Before integrating new communication concepts such as SDM in communication training, research methods such as PAR can be used to improve understanding and identify the needs and priorities of both patients and health professionals.