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Course evaluation is defined 'as the collection and use of information in order to make decisions about an educational programme' (Cronbach 1963). The study described in this paper was undertaken by members of the professional and research staff of the Joint Board of Clinical Nursing Studies, Londoa The paper describes how the need for work on course evaluation arose and how a package was developed and piloted in 15 course centres with a total of 205 students. The ways in which the package is being used by schools of nursing and colleges of higher and further education is also described The philosophy that evaluation has an important part to play in developing dynamic and sound educational systems is emphasized Evaluation should be an integral part of every course and planned at the outset with other parts of the detailed course programme, involving both students and teachers in measuring the effectiveness of the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Title. The essence of nursing care: Polish nurses’ perspectives Aim. This paper is a report of a study to identify Polish nurses’ definition of the concept of nursing care. Background. Polish nursing currently is in a period of scientific research focusing on development of precise definitions of concepts. Definitions of nursing are influenced by culture, social expectations and healthcare systems. Accepted scientific definitions of concepts should be based on empirical verification that takes theoretical and practical perspectives into account. Methods. A survey questionnaire was constructed from analysis of a random sample of 27 essays about nursing care that had been completed by 300 Polish nurses. The survey questionnaire, which was designed to measure the essence of nursing care, was completed by 324 Polish nurses during 2004 and 2005. Findings. Analysis of survey questionnaire responses revealed that the essence of nursing care encompasses providing care, communicating, supporting, helping, assisting, accompanying and managing. Participants indicated that nursing care recipients include healthy persons, ill persons and persons at risk for disease. Conclusion. The concept of nursing care encompasses several traits or characteristics that can be applied to both well and ill people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on various developments related to nursing. The National League for Nursing has issued an official call for papers for its 1983 biennial convention, the first such call ever to be made by the League in connection with this national meeting. Deadline for abstracts is October 15, 1982, for presentations during the June 1983 convention. A Western Kentucky University junior has received the highest award in Kentucky which goes to a student nurse. Jeana Keating of 520 Cajjewood Drive in Louisville, Kentucky, has been chosen Ideal Nursing Student in Kentucky for 1982 by the Kentucky Association for Nursing Students at its meeting in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.

Until recently discussion about nursing research centred on the need to get it carried out. Attention is now being focused on how to get nursing research used, since so far, such research findings have not, on the whole, been assimilated into practice. Until this occurs the practice of nursing will not and cannot be research-based in any meaningful way. It is postulated that nursing research findings provide nurses with indicators for practice. This assumes that such findings are available and that the main barrier to their use is the poor communication of this research, (in a form they can understand) to nurse practitioners. However recent research into the use of research findings casts doubt on this assumption and it can be argued that such a view is too simplistic. In this paper therefore, three questions are asked: (1) Are relevant nursing research findings available which provide indicators for practice? (2) What indicators do such findings provide? (3) Are such findings used by nurse-practitioners? Using specific examples from nursing research, ideas and suggestions are put forward which provide a basis for possible answers. Finally the paper discusses the interdependence of research and practice and the need for them to develop together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nurses' performance in written examinations often bears little relationship to their level of clinical proficiency in the ward. This paper describes a method of making written exatninations more relevant to the clinical situation. It describes the development of a case history test which confronts students with the kind of information they have to interpret and act upon in the ward, and which requires them to recall the principles of nursing care and apply them in a way similar to real life. Evidence is presented that tests of this type are more closely linked to clinical performance than are conventional written examinations, and guidehnes are given for constructing case history tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although using research to guide nursing practice has been a long-standing goal for the nursing discipline, the actual merger of research and practice is not yet widespread. There are many possible explanations for the limited progress that has been made in this arena. In this paper, it is suggested that the multiple identities taken on by nurses may stifle actualizing a merger between research and practice. Diverging responsibilities and orientations among identities are depicted by considering the nurse as researcher, clinician, educator and administrator. In addition to elucidating differences among these various nurse identities, the paper addresses their commonalities, the most obvious and important of which is that of nurse. If individuals retain the identity of nurse as the generic and salient characteristic, the multiple nurse identities have the potential to become a complementary array of diverse resources that can empower rather than thwart merging research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the relevance of research to practice under two headings using a policy analysis perspective. Firstly, the relationship of knowledge to action is considered within the context of a piece of longitudinal research into the welfare of children in hospital. The general difficulties of research application are discussed in terms of the different problem perceptions and time scales held by the policy makers who commission research, and the researchers themselves. The example cited demonstrates a useful compromise. The practical consequences arising from the distinct epistemological premises which underpin research into the natural and social worlds of nursing care are considered. Secondly, the constraints on achieving research-based action are described briefly in terms of the resources of time, manpower and funding. It is concluded that an awareness of both conceptual and practical issues is essential in order to comprehend fully the complexity of, and the necessity for, a range of research approaches to nursing issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the issue of nursing science. Nursing, as an art, has long been accepted as integral to nursing. Nursing, as a science, however, is a more recent concept. Nursing science is viewed as a threat to the profession by its opponents, while the proponents of nursing science see it as a promise for advancement of the discipline. This paper examines the issue of nursing science by looking at its history and development, the definition of science, and five factors critical to the nursing science issue. The author concludes that nursing science is, in varying respects, both a threat and a promise. It is clear that the preponderance of evidence favours the promise nursing science holds for the profession of nursing. It is not a matter of choosing either art or science, but rather skillfully blending both for the betterment of nursing. Both art and science are necessary in nursing -- neither, however, is sufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIM: This paper is a report of a study to illuminate the meaning of caring for people with malodorous exuding ulcers. BACKGROUND: Managing ulcers is complicated and consensus on assessment and treatment difficult to reach. Nurses need knowledge and skills to provide good care. They must stay close and be exposed to contamination and suffering. They must provide care without violating patients and we need to further explore this challenge. METHOD: A convenience sample of ten participants was recruited. Participants had experience of caring for people with malodorous exuding ulcers and were employed in primary health or hospital care in Sweden. Narrative interviews were conducted during late 2002 to early 2005 and interpreted using a phenomenological-hermeneutic method. FINDINGS: Themes were formulated: 'Facing the wound' when nurses reveal what is meant to be concealed and perceive patients' vulnerability; 'Facing one's own defencelessness' when feeling invaded, helpless and ashamed; 'Struggling to shield one's own defencelessness' was achieved by striving to be in control, striving to endure and seeking a way out. 'Struggling to shield patients' vulnerability' was about alleviating patients' additional suffering by striving to spare patients, pushing boundaries, making uncomfortable decisions and sharing togetherness. When failing to shield their own defencelessness and patients' vulnerability, nurses run the risk of experiencing desolation. CONCLUSION: Physical proximity and bodily suffering affect nurses. Caring for people with ulcers calls for improved interprofessional cooperation in order to provide the best treatments and care. Further education for these nurses is needed, as well as support from managements and organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. This paper reports a study describing home nurses’ intention and current practices regarding introducing assistive devices, and investigating whether their practice is related to social cognitive factors (attitudes, subjective norms and self-efficacy). Background. Home nurses not only care for patients in particular medical domains, but also educate and guide them towards more independence. Patients with age-related disabilities in mobility and self-care might benefit from the use of assistive devices. A home nurse might be the first and only person to discuss the disability and use of an assistive device. Therefore, home nurses’ beliefs about the introduction of assistive devices could affect their daily practices. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenience sample of 64 home nurses chosen from a random sample of home nursing departments. The home nurses completed a self-administered questionnaire. The Theory of Planned Behaviour framework was used to develop the social cognitive measures regarding each of the six steps distinguished in the introduction of assistive devices. Results. Home nurses had positive attitudes and high levels of intention, subjective norm and self-efficacy towards most steps of the decision process to introduce assistive devices. In a multiple linear regression analysis, attitude and self-efficacy predicted intention to introduce assistive devices to older clients with disabilities. Intention was correlated to home nurses’ current practices. Conclusions. The findings suggest that conditions are present to involve home nurses more explicitly in the introduction of assistive devices to their patients. Social cognitive factors should be taken into account when developing interventions that aim to support home nurses to do this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores some of the ideas emanating from recent literature in clinical problem solving and applies it to the nursing process. The aim is to demonstrate that there is congruence between ideas developed in the medical educational literature that support and expand the somewhat 'looser' nursing process model. The conclusion is that the nursing process is further validated by the current literature, particularly the work of Elstein et al. (1978). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to explain some general issues in evaluation and evaluative research in the health care field with specific reference to nursing. The evaluation process and nursing process are contrasted and methods used in evaluative research discussed. The case is made for more emphasis to be placed on the evaluation phase of the nursing process and process-outcome evaluation is advocated as a means of encouraging progress in the hitherto neglected area of evaluative research in nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a consideration of the philosophy of, and research into, general education. It examines some of the approaches to education and a small part of the research into discovery learning, self-directed study and student-selected goals of learning Proposals are made for a single module of nurse training for admission to the register of general nurses which incorporate the philosophy and research-based ideals of self-directed learning. Finally, problems which may be anticipated in its implementation are discussed but no firm conclusions are drawn until these can be based on fact rather than conjecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting the holistic approach to the definition of nursing as purported by Treece & Treece (1977), this paper presents the findings of the reported efforts of five grades of nursing personnel, directly involved in hospital care in Northern Ireland, to utilize research information in their area of work during the 12 months up to Spring 1979. It draws the conclusion that these groups have not yet begun to identify to any great extent the importance of research to nursing practice, or with the need to devise a process through which research can be implemented and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes the point that for psychiatric patients the nursing process based on a systems approach may be more useful than that based on problem-solving or activities of daily living. Some of the key concepts used in this approach are (i) listing component parts of a system, (2) defining the inside and outside of systems, the outside being described as environment, (3) changing the boundaries or the interface of various systems, as appropriate, (4) observing the impact of the environment and especially of the nurse herself as a part of the system or the environment, (5) tracing input, output and throughput, and (6) drawing distinctions between open and closed systems and accounting for a steady state in the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an argument that the choice of occupational strategy for nursing in the last century still has implications today. Nurses have retained a hierarchical principle of organization and have, albeit reluctantly, retained an in-service pattern of training. They have been concerned about recurrent shortages of nurses and this has influenced modes of development. These factors contribute to a continuity which is apparent in both 'Salmon' and 'Briggs', the two most influential reports on British nursing in recent decades. Such continuities in nursing development tend to preclude the raising of fundamental questions about the nature of nursing work and the manner in which it might be changed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Edinburgh University's Nursing Research Unit, under the direction of a nurse-researcher, was established in October 1971: the first unit of its kind in the United Kingdom, This paper describes its development, philosophy and future strategy. In the first instance attempts were made to identify nursing problems from which a common core of problems was identified. This provided specific pointers for future research activity. The unit offers research training facilities for trained nurses and research appreciation courses have also been provided for nursing students and their teachers. A major bonus to the unit has been the opportunity and facilities for interdisciplinary and collaborative research. The unit's future activities include plans to develop new statistical, computer and data management techniques and information retrieval systems more appropriate to nursing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper develops the theme that cues for appropriate changes in nursing care and organization can be detected from the immediate socio-political environment. Taking an historical perspective, changes in nursing care and organization are traced and the split between technology and care is discussed. A return to the model of hippocratic medicine is suggested by the introduction of a new role, that of the nurse practitioner. This model is considered in the light of nursing redefining its role vis-à-vise-present day social needs of health care delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes some of the principles and experience in nurse education based on the recommendation of the Nurse Tutor Working Party 1970. St Crispin is one of four British nurse training schools where a pilot modular system was introduced in February 1972. This account shows how the historical gap between the classroom and the ward teaching was narrowed if not bridged. The system, according to this experience, is flexible enough to adapt to any local needs and with suitable preparation the scheme could be successfully implemented without incurring additional expense. Points to avoid are shown, but these are few and on balance the scheme has proved to be successful and offers scope and potential for future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While nursing educators in university settings teach, carry out research and provide some form of community service, they often do not practise. The reasons for not practising are varied and the consequences vast. Although there are dilemmas which perpetuate the situation of nursing professors not participating in practice, there are solutions. This paper places the issue in an historical perspective, notes its consequences, discusses the dilemmas which are involved and offers solutions to this complex problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposition put forward in this paper is that standards of nursing practice can only be assured if the profession is able to find ways of responding to the intuitions and gut reactions of its practitioners. Rather than deny them, nurses have to know how to test and thus legitimize them. Such a validation process demands more clinically based nursing research projects and the proliferation of arrangements such as clinical nursing practice units. It is further argued that by linking the intuitive and rational aspects of nursing in this way the profession is in a better position not only to fulfil its societal obligations but also to build up its own knowledge and skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nurses in the United Kingdom spend much time attempting to fit British nursing practice into the theoretical framework of American nursing models. This is often a manipulative process in that it seeks to establish positive links with a care delivery system totally unlike our own. In the present paper the authors detail the process of establishing a new nursing model which integrates nursing curricula, education and practice to meet the needs of patients, staff and students within their own health district. An over-emphasis on lower levels of human need is common within nursing practice, which, although often blamed upon lack of human and financial resources, is also due to practitioners' misconceptions. The latter are invariably the result of a lack of an adequate or overt, practice orientated, conceptual framework. The Human Needs Model of Nursing adapts Maslow's concept of human needs to create such a conceptual framework for practice. It places equal emphasis on those patient problems which arise as the result of unmet needs at higher levels as well as those at lower levels, thereby acknowledging the holistic and dynamic nature of man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the health care needs and the delivery of health care in Kenya, emphasizing in particular the role and contribution of traditional health practitioners. She also identifies the knowledge and continuous education needed by professional nurses and indicates how they should relate with the community at large. The nurse, it is argued, should be clear about her identity and maintain it without depriving the community and others of their rights and privileges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about current news related to nursing published in "Journal of Advanced Nursing." National Nurses Associations discussed their role and the role of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in relation to the social and economic conditions of nurses during a one day workshop session organized as part of the meeting of the Council of National Representatives, ICN's governing body, held in Kenya 24-28 September, 1979. The Cyprus Nurses Association (founded in 1970) was accepted into membership with the ICN on 24 September, 1979.

The profession of nursing searches for a theory base for its practice, but there are problems inherent in defining the nature of concepts and in building them into testable hypotheses and theories. Some concepts are derived from everyday experience, some from the conventional wisdom of the profession. Some are developed by deductive methods from related sciences, some inductively from nursing practice itself. Although a few embryonic theories have been developed, little has been developed at the prescriptive level nor has any unifying model satisfied all thinkers. For the present there is a need to isolate concepts from conventional professional wisdom, for factor isolating research, for the testing of hypotheses against nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents various news items related to nursing. Nurses attending the 19th Congress of the International Council of Nurses in Seoul, Korea, from May 28, 1989 to 2 June, 1989, will try to answer many questions about the future of nursing. Training in Family planning for physicians, nurses, midwives and other health staff appears to be very unsatisfactory in most countries of the World Health Organization's (WHO) European Region, according to a recent report "Training in Family Planning for Health Personnel." The publication based on a WHO meeting held in Paris, France during July 6-11, 1981, has been published by the WHO European Office, Copenhagen.

Maturity will be the hallmark of the nursing profession in so far as it is conceded that the art and science of nursing entails complementary relationships between the use of its practitioners' heads, hearts and hands. High levels of nursing scholarship, dedicated service and meticulous practice, in combination, will, without doubt, provide high levels of nursing care and that is what the profession of nursing is all about.

Maclaren j. (2004) Journal of Advanced Nursing 45(5), 457–464 A kaleidoscope of understandings: spiritual nursing in a multi-faith society Spirituality is an increasingly discussed topic in nursing. In some parts of the UK there is a policy requirement to establish policies of spiritual health care which are appropriate to a multi-cultural society. In the nursing literature, spirituality is discussed from religious and secular perspectives which seem impossible to reconcile into a coherent philosophy. To discuss the relationship of spirituality to nursing and to suggest how we can think about spirituality as nurses working in a society of many faiths and cultures. Spirituality can be thought of in relation to individual patients and nurses. It also has significance for the profession of nursing and for health care as a whole. The difficulty of defining spirituality is discussed, and it is suggested that a definition of ‘spiritual nursing’ may be more achievable. Different concepts of spirituality are compared, including religious and secular spirituality. The relationship between religion and spirituality is seen as potentially problematic, with some religions denying the existence of secular spirituality. Secular spirituality and New Age movements are non-religious but spiritually influential phenomena. The problem for nursing is how to reconcile the immense variety of approaches to spirituality. The concept of spirituality as a meta-narrative is considered, and a postmodern appreciation of pluralism is employed as a way of embracing different spiritual realities. Spiritual nursing can be an opportunity for nurses to enlarge their understanding of the human condition rather than a narrowly defined concept to be applied within a model of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factors affecting the effectiveness of overseas people employed as psychiatric nurses are discussed. Basic cultural influences, especially different value systems between the immigrant and the host population, are seen as unlikely to be greatly altered by the environment in which the immigrant nurses find themselves. In fact a greater divergence would seem more likely to occur. The different experiences of immigrant nurses compared with nurses recruited in Britain are considered under the following headings: expectations of the immigrant on entering nursing, their contact with the host culture, the reaction of the indigenous population to the immigrant, language difficulties, and the insecurity of employment The conclusion drawn is that the cultural differences, recruitment methods, the immigrants' experiences in employment and lack of contact with the culture of the indigenous population (apart from their deviant members) are likely to adversely affect his her ability to friction as a therapeutic agent. This is particularly important where the form of treatment is based on die social model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the role of nurses. In a widely observed rule among nurses that when speaking to patients they just do not use the word 'cancer'. However much one may deplore this practice, the reason for it is understandable. It is simply that in some members of the general public the word 'cancer' produces a characteristic reaction, a kind of irrational panic. The reaction is dangerous because it creates an irrational pattern of behavior in which the victim is quite unable to think logically, to act rationally, or even to listen.

The responses to 'given situations' in a questionnaire administered to 50 nursing students indicate that they are conscious of high stress factors in nursing. Role conflict is created when they are given instructions in the wards contrary to what they are taught in the schools of nursing. Some of the responses also indicated that learners may be developing attitudes which are contrary to good nursing practice as a protection from external pressures. The majority of the respondents had opportunities for discussion of their problems, but 28% were unsure about available facilities. The author argues that the counselling needs of nursing students must be met by the provision of a comprehensive counselling service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A distinguished scientist once said that the acceptance of a new scientific discovery world have to wait until the existing generation of scientists had died! The interface between academic nursing and the profession highlights this situation and indeed is understandable when it is recalled that many crucial questions remain unanswered. They include questions relating to the level and quality of performance to be required of the university graduates in relation to other categories of qualified nurses.

Factors affecting the place and nature of nursing-demographic, economic and epidemiological-are examined in the context of the next 25 years. Two predictions are made. The first suggests that the present trend could result in the disappearance of the clinical nurse, arising from undue emphasis being placed on the managerial role of the nurse and undue reliance on the untrained worker. The second suggests an alteration of direction of the profession, by the recognition and identification of the nursing process with stress being laid on the performance of the clinical task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of a larger study, female student nurses from overseas and Britain in four training schools for the general nursing register were interviewed to obtain their perceptions of their reception at the hospital. their later welfare, and some of their general reactions to their training. Differences between the British and overseas student nurses were mainly related to experience before training and their reception at the hospital. Many similarities between the two groups were also found with respect to their later experiences and attitudes toward nursing. A proportion of the overseas students had experienced expressions of racial prejudice from patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of staff nurses towards associate degree (AD) nursing students. The null hypothesis stated there will be no significant difference in the attitudes of staff nurses towards AD nursing students and associated concepts (nursing education, patient, physician, work, nurse.) The staff nurse's value as a role model is held in high regard yet little regard is given to her attitudes towards students. Through better understanding of staff nurses' attitudes, nurse educators can better plan, develop and coordinate clinical activities to provide an optimum learning environment. The findings showed the concept AD nursing student was significantly different from the rest, indicating a less positive attitude towards the AD nursing student than the related concepts. Implications for nursing practice are threefold. Nurse administrators must create an atmosphere and a philosophy which support the educational process within their institution, and recognize nurses' attitudes towards students. Practising nurses should examine their attitudes and willingness to work with students if their hospital offers their agency as a clinical facility. Educators must look closely at the units they assign students to, continually maintaining the lines of communication between staff nurses and clinical instructors. As service and education work together a quality environment can be provided in which there is optimum learning for the student. Both groups then contribute to the future of professional nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is part of a larger study carried out at Murray Royal Hospital, Perth, Scotland. The study was concerned with staff morale under two distinct management approaches towards the care of the elderly patient with dementia. In one ward a dynamic, high stimulation approach was adopted including reality orientation, reminiscence therapy and socialization therapy. This was run in a well-structured manner by the ward staff and other agents. The other ward had no such structure imposed and was left to carry out 'traditional' nursing care to a high standard. The tool used to collect the data was a precoded questionnaire developed by Jones & Galliard. The hypothesis on which the study was based was as follows, 'that morale is increased in nursing staff involved in a high stimulation ward environment for the hospitalized elderly patient with dementia.' The findings of the study appear to indicate that the hypothesis is supported. It appears that the imposition of the structured high stimulation management approach was responsible for such an outcome and that nursing staff respond well to such an approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents news related to nursing. The Scottish Home and Health Department has now appointed a new chief nursing officer to succeed Dr Margaret Auld who retired earlier this year. Mrs Yvonne Moores has been given this important post. She has held a similar post in the Welsh Office since 1982. The proceedings of the 21st annual study day of the Nursing Studies Association of the University of Edinburgh, which was held on May 9, 1987, have now been published under the title "Enthusiasm and Excellence - Innovations in Clinical Practice."

For more than 20 years pressure sore prevention and the treatment of established pressure sores have continued to generate research by nurses and those in allied disciplines. Pressure sore aetiology is established and much is known about the healing of chronic wounds, but little impact has been made on clinical nursing practice. The failure of nurses to implement research findings in this sphere is examined according to the framework suggested by Hunt (1981). One of the main reasons may be the failure of nurse educationalists to incorporate relevant material into basic and post-basic teaching programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A most fruitful way of enriching insights into the dynamics, developments and politics of present day professional nursing and health care is through the perspective of history. The importance of active and effective political consciousness in nurses must not be underestimated. Health care without politics is simply not possible. It is naive to think otherwise. Whether nurses as members of a caring profession like it or not, the availability and distribution of health care facilities involves political thought and decisions.