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Aim: To explore undergraduate nursing and midwifery student perspectives of using digital patient systems on clinical placements. Design: This was an interpretative qualitative design study. Methods: Undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in a large Australian metropolitan university were invited to participate in two focus groups from April to June 2019. Twenty (20) students participated and data on their perspective of using digital systems on placement were collected. Thematic analysis using NVivo 12 software was undertaken. Findings: Students identified benefits and challenges when moving between paper records and digital systems. Whilst paper reporting was more efficient for some processes, the students recognised the advantages of digital technology, such as enabling greater confidentiality and consolidation of patient data in one place. However, they also reported difficulty with student access and the size of the portal digital workstation at the bedside. Generally, the lack of preparation and access was considered frustrating and mitigated some of the benefits described when using digital systems. Conclusions: Nursing and midwifery students prefer to be prepared for both paper and digital record keeping. Whilst students identify the benefits of digital platforms, not having direct access mitigates the benefits of these systems. Students identified the use of simulation and interactive modules prior to commencement of clinical practice to enable them to feel more confident with using the systems in patient care. Impact: Health care students require direct access to digital health platforms whilst on clinical placement to facilitate their learning. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are in a unique position to work with health care providers to better prepare health care professionals, including nurses and midwives, to work with digital health care systems. Further research is needed to develop the educational preparation for nurses, midwives, and other health care professionals to work with digital systems in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the decision-making processes involved in giving physiotherapy students responsibility on clinical placement and the impact on their developing professional autonomy. The qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, involved physiotherapy students and clinical educators (CEs) from two higher education institutions, one in Australia, and the other in the United Kingdom (UK). Findings led to the development of a heuristic framework of 'graduated supervision,' a process of progressively less direct observation and monitoring of students as clinical proficiency improved. By focusing on the measured exposure of students to increasing complexity and inverse levels of supervision, the framework captures tacit practices, and consistent, yet varied facilitation strategies adopted across specialties, and evident in clinical education settings in both countries. The framework formalizes, for the first time, assumptions and expectations previously unacknowledged. Factors identified as affecting students' progress toward autonomy include the student/CE relationship, the development of mutual trust through ongoing dialogue, and the importance of formal discussions at the commencement of a clinical placement to establish learning goals, preferred supervision styles and learner responsibilities. Insights have significance for the CE community, and students who at times have to second-guess what is required of them and how they might excel on clinical placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated a 60-item version of the Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation (MID) with the potential to capture the full range of dissociative symptoms that characterize each of the dissociative disorders (DD). The 28-item Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) was designed to capture a wide range of dissociative phenomena, but college population studies indicate it may not be adept at identifying the full range of dissociative symptoms and disorders. The 218-item MID has the advantage of capturing the full range of dissociative symptoms and has diagnostic capabilities for all DSM-5 DD, but the disadvantage of taking considerably longer than the DES to complete. Using university students and staff (N = 313), this paper investigated a 60-item version of the MID with the potential to capture the full range of dissociative symptoms that characterize each of the DD. Results indicate the MID-60 has a nearly identical factor structure to the full MID, excellent internal reliability, and content and convergent validity. Using the MID-60, at least 8% of participants at an Australian university were positive for a DD and, on average, participants self-reported having dissociative experiences 13% of the time. The present study's findings suggest the MID-60 is a promising alternative to the DES, with results about the prevalence of DDs and dissociative experiences consistent with those found using clinical interviews and the DES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delivering effective healthcare requires healthcare professionals to reflect on their own cultural background and their patient's cultural needs. Culture is a determinant of health and if not considered, negative health outcomes can result. This is of particular importance when working with Aboriginal communities and caring for Aboriginal people whose views have been excluded from healthcare models, funding, and policy. Non-indigenous healthcare professionals, such as pharmacy students, benefit from understanding Aboriginal peoples' healthcare needs and models of holistic healthcare, as well as reflecting on their own cultures, assumptions, and experiences on placement. This article explores students' views to inform the development of a Toolkit to support students' learning prior to engaging in placements in Aboriginal communities. The study involved collaboration with students, Aboriginal community members, educators experienced in Indigenous health and allied health education. This paper is within a series exploring the development and evaluation of the 'Working Respectfully with Aboriginal People (WRAP): Student Toolkit'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Undergraduate preparation is important in ensuring health care professionals are prepared to identify and respond to intimate partner violence (IPV). Previous studies confirm this education is highly variable and IPV-related content remains marginalised in undergraduate nursing, midwifery and paramedicine curricula. Aim: To investigate frontline academics' attitudes and beliefs in relation to the inclusion of IPV-related content in the aforementioned degrees. Design: A large multi-phase mixed methods Australian case study of Australian undergraduate nursing, midwifery and paramedicine degrees. In this paper, components of the survey and interviews from this study will be reported on. Methods: Quantitative comparative analysis of a 51-item on-line survey and qualitative thematic analysis of guided conversational interviews. Results: Across Australian universities IPV remains poorly embedded in nursing, midwifery and paramedicine programmes. Academics report a range of barriers to such inclusion, including an already overcrowded curriculum, a lack of confident and competent academics to teach this content area and a lack of support for this content inclusion. One factor statistically significant in its association with non-inclusion of IPV-related content was academic attitudes of professional role resistance. Gender was also identified as a significant factor associated with non-inclusion and resistant professional attitudes. Qualitative interviews revealed that only six of the 18 participants identified IPV-related care as within their scope of practice, with professional role resistance a common theme identified. Conclusion: Though professional organisation and policy makers now advocate for the inclusion of IPV-related content in the undergraduate preparation of nurses and midwives, work remains to address gendered and resistant attitudes amongst academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across international university contexts, on-campus physical learning spaces are increasingly implemented with the aim of fostering active, collaborative, and student-centred learning. This paper theorises learning environments as complex sociomaterial assemblages of pedagogic approaches, material spaces and technologies, teachers, and learners that shift and flow in synergy to enact and refine students' dispositions for reflective practice. The article presents data from pre-service teachers and teacher educators as part of a broader case study investigating the pedagogic enactment of an innovative learning space in a regional Australian university. Sociomaterial studies of learning spaces are under-represented in understanding reflective practice. Staff and student narratives of practice illustrate processes of negotiating meaning and critical reflection within an embodied learning community. The findings illustrate the ways both social and material actors work in conjunction to enable learners' knowledge negotiation and reflective practices, and foster the dispositions and skills important for collaborative active citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This study aimed to compare the findings of the quality of nursing doctoral education survey across seven countries and discuss the strategic directions for improving quality. Background No comparative evaluation of global quality of nursing doctoral education has been reported to date despite the rapid increase in the number of nursing doctoral programmes. Design A descriptive, cross-country, comparative design was employed. Methods Data were collected from 2007-2010 from nursing schools in seven countries: Australia, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Thailand, UK and USA. An online questionnaire was used to evaluate quality of nursing doctoral education except for Japan, where a paper version was used. Korea and South Africa used e-mails quality of nursing doctoral education was evaluated using four domains: Programme, Faculty (referring to academic staff), Resource and Evaluation. Descriptive statistics, correlational and ordinal logistic regression were employed. Results A total of 105 deans/schools, 414 faculty and 1149 students/graduates participated. The perceptions of faculty and students/graduates about the quality of nursing doctoral education across the seven countries were mostly favourable on all four domains. The faculty domain score had the largest estimated coefficient for relative importance. As the overall quality level of doctoral education rose from fair to good, the resource domain showed an increased effect. Conclusions Both faculty and students/graduates groups rated the overall quality of nursing doctoral education favourably. The faculty domain had the greatest importance for quality, followed by the programme domain. However, the importance of the resource domain gained significance as the overall quality of nursing doctoral education increased, indicating the needs for more attention to resources if the quality of nursing doctoral education is to improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings from a 12-month Australian study exploring beliefs and experiences of disclosure and course success in post-compulsory education for 20 students with mental illness. Enrolled students with disclosed or non-disclosed mental illness, teaching and support staff, and institutional practices across four sites providing vocational education and training were the three cases selected for this collective case study. Students participated in two semi-structured interviews over the course of one academic year. Disclosure was not preferred by students, most fearing that it would negatively impact upon their capacity to obtain employment in the occupation for which they were training. Further research exploring the processes, timing and outcomes of disclosure, in a wide range of post-secondary settings and with larger numbers of students, would allow for a deeper exploration of issues raised by this small study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful transition from boyhood to manhood is one of the most important male life transitions. Teenage boys at risk of school exclusion, and thus social exclusion, face added difficulties when school participation becomes dysfunctional. Men's Sheds are community-based male-friendly places where men can connect with other members of their communities, while simultaneously providing opportunities to learn practical skills and develop new interests. Many Australian Men's Sheds are offering intergenerational mentoring programs, usually based on shared construction projects, specifically targeted at teenage boys who are considered at risk. This paper presents descriptive qualitative data about one such intergenerational mentoring program. Data were collected from interviews with 4 teenage boys, a school Transition Advisor, and written teacher evaluations. Descriptive findings suggest that such programs offer some teenage boys a positive space to learn, socialise, promote tangible notions of community service, and reinforce respectful relationships in the supportive presence of older men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Student nurses in Australia are regularly placed in acute clinical areas providing them with clinical experience to link theory with real patient situations. Specialist clinical areas such as day oncology and renal dialysis often exclude students on the basis that their clinical area may not be able to meet normal clinical expectations, including holistic care of four to six patients with minimal direction from the registered nurse. However, specialist clinical areas provide students with unique learning experiences. This paper reports on an evaluation of speciality clinical placements for student nurses with an aim to increase our understanding of this type of placement. Methods: Semi-structured audiotaped interviews were undertaken with 7 third year final semester students and 13 registered nurses working with the third year students. All interviews were transcribed and a thematic analysis conducted. Findings: Key themes from the students and registered nurses were knowledge and preparedness for specialist placement, team work and being included and customising learning needs. Conclusion: Speciality placements provide a valuable experience for the undergraduate nurse including opportunities to see excellence in team work, communication and assessment as well as identifying future intention to become an oncology or renal specialist nurse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CLEREHAN R., MCCALL L., MCKENNA L. & ALSHAHRANI K. (2012) Saudi Arabian nurses' experiences of studying Masters degrees in Australia. International Nursing Review 59, 215-221 Aim: This paper presents findings from a study which explored a group of Saudi Arabian nurses' experiences of studying for a Masters degree in Australia. Background: Arab states in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia in particular, have high expatriate nursing populations, and governments in the region have allocated considerable funding to up-skilling their health workforce, often at Western universities. However, there has been little research into the learning experiences of nursing students from Middle East nations. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study design was used. Middle Eastern students undertaking Masters courses in a School of Nursing and Midwifery at one Australian university were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. Ten Saudi students participated and data were analysed using content analysis. Findings: Students experienced challenges related to the transition to very different forms of study; to managing relationships and family. They were resourceful, employing strategies to manage multiple demands, including differences in culture, and stressed the significance of strong personal relationships with staff. Students acknowledged being changed, even transformed, by their experience, and saw themselves as future change agents. Conclusion: Highly skilled local nursing professionals are being sought in many Middle Eastern countries and may undertake post-graduate studies in Western contexts quite different from their own. Students reported that, in spite of difficulties, their experience prompted transformational change: intellectually, psychologically and developmentally. It is necessary for staff to understand expectations and learning preferences of these students to ensure fruitful learning outcomes and benefits to nursing in their home countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Over the last decade several innovative approaches to enhance students' transition to graduate nurse year have been implemented or piloted. This paper describes a study that investigated how the social practices of clinical partnership placement model underpin workplace learning for undergraduate students as they transitioned to graduate. Methods: A mixed method approach was utilized comprising individual interviews with students, observation of clinical workplaces across six different areas of nursing practice, student surveys of the clinical learning environment and participant workshops. Results: Three themes were identified that influenced participants' preparedness for work and enhanced the transition into the workplace: 'organizational familiarity', 'continuity' and 'social participation'. Conclusion: A clinical partnership model offers a degree of work readiness for novices when commencing their professional practice role. It enables individuals to participate and engage in workplace activities which are a central component of their learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare systems have a vested interest in employing work-ready graduates. The challenge for universities is to find ways to provide workplace learning that incorporates student education and high quality patient care. Inland areas of Australia, similar to other rural locations globally, experience additional challenges including a relatively high incidence of ill health, increasing demand for health services, chronic workforce shortages and ageing of the existing rural health workforce. In this paper, we conceptualise and describe the research findings related to context from a consultative enquiry into university clinics conducted in 2008. Interview participants were drawn from twenty university clinics in Australia and New Zealand. A consistent theme throughout the interviews was tensions that arose between the role of education and healthcare provision within university clinics. Many interview participants described ways they managed these tensions to meet the expectations of students, educators and the community. The patient supply is the most critical factor in the context of university clinic operations. It is vital to both the educator and the healthcare provider roles. In inland areas with sparse populations a number of strategies, such as outreach clinics, hospital or health centre- based clinics and multi-disciplinary sites, will have to be developed if university clinics are to operate effectively for students and patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Bioscience content within undergraduate nursing degrees provides foundational knowledge of pathophysiology, anatomy, physiology, microbiology and pharmacology. However, nursing students often find studying the bioscience components of undergraduate nursing program daunting (Friedel & Treagust 2005, Craft et al. 2013). This is related to factors such as the volume of content, degree of difficulty and insufficient linkage between bioscience concepts and nurses' clinical practice. Students who are unable to conceptualise the relevance of bioscience with nursing subjects and subsequent nursing practice may not appreciate the broader importance of bioscience, and hence may adopt a surface approach to learning (Craft et al. 2013). The aim of this study was to develop a model within Nursing Practice in the Context theory subject, to include a bioscientist lecturing to complement the nursing lecturer, in order to explicitly demonstrate links between physiology, pathophysiology and nursing practice. Background A deep understanding of bioscience and the ability to draw on this information in the context of nursing clinical practice is integral to achieving high standards of patient care. For example, registered nurses with appropriate bioscience knowledge can contribute to diagnosis and hence influence patient outcomes (Prowse & Health 2005). Nurses' foundational knowledge, including bioscience understanding, is critical to their role as a 'knowledge broker' by being an advocate for patient safety (Logan & Angel 2011). Hence, the importance of bioscience is apparent within the workplace. In addition, during undergraduate studies, the importance of bioscience is appreciated by some students, who agree that bioscience forms the foundation of nursing and hence we believe that a good level of bioscience knowledge is required for nursing clinical practice (Friedel & Treagust 2005, Craft et al. 2013). Although bioscience has been shown to be integral to effective nursing practice, bioscience content requires con-textualisation. To demonstrate the relevance of bioscience to nursing students, nursing academics have been included within a bioscience unit, whereby the nursing academic within a bioscience laboratory session on the pulmonary system would discuss the clinical aspects of lung volume testing and what inaccuracies may arise if the patient is not relaxed (Larcombe & Dick 2003). On the other hand, almost half of nursing educators agreed that their science background was insufficient to their understanding of bioscience relevant to nursing (Friedel & Treagust 2005). This lack of confidence in nursing educators bioscience knowledge may limit their ability to teach bioscience effectively to nursing students. In our project, we approached the contextualisation of bioscience by developing a model that incorporated a bioscientist into a nursing subject, to show the relevance of bioscience for patient care. As far as we are aware, our project reports for the first time on a bioscientist teaching into a clinical nursing unit to strengthen the pathophysiology content, which may improve the integration of these subject topics. Methods The model developed in this project was a unique, two-part lecture structure: (1) the bioscientist teaching the physiology and pathophysiology in the first component of the lecture, followed by (2) the nurse academic focussing on the context of nursing practice, which included the referring to pathophysiology taught by the bioscientist. The bioscience-clini-cal nursing team teaching approach was conducted during the 2nd year of the Bachelor of Nursing course, after all bioscience subjects had been completed (prior content taught by bioscientists included anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology). A 15-item quantitative questionnaire was developed, with responses scored on a Likert scale (1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly agree). Questionnaire items related to patient care, pathophysiology-nursing links, and the relevance of the bioscientist contribution. Questionnaires were paper based and distributed to all students who attended a lecture towards the end of the semester (lecture attendance not compulsory). Time during the lecture was provided for completion and return; students were advised that participation was optional and anonymous. Convenience sampling was used; of the 88 students enrolled, a total of 43 students returned completed surveys. Means and frequency distributions of survey items were calculated, and internal consistency was determined using Cronbach's alpha test (value 0-7). Results The most important findings from this study are that more than 90% of respondents agreed that having a bioscientist who focused on nursing student needs helped to increase knowledge of patient conditions, and bioscientist teaching was beneficial to relate physiology and pathophysiology to nursing care (Table 1). This demonstrated that the teaching approach used was successful, emphasising the relevance of physiology and pathophysiology to patient conditions and outcomes. Similarly, most respondents saw the relevance of pathophysiology to clinical nursing practice, and were confident in their ability to apply pathophysiology to nursing practice. The majority of respondents also valued having a bioscientist teach with the nursing lecturer in this unit. Conclusions The results of our study show overwhelming support for this model, including a bioscientist who is focussed on the needs of nursing students, complementing the nursing lecturer, in a nursing practice subject. Students indicated that they could contextualise bioscience concepts with clinical nursing practice, and importantly, made links with patient care. First-year students have been shown to be confident that when they reach the workplace, they will recognise the relevance of bioscience to nursing (Craft et al. 2013), and our study of second-year students indicated that our teaching approach was effective in enhancing these connections. Registered nurses who draw on bioscience knowledge have been shown to improve patient care (Prowse & Health 2005, Logan & Angel 2011), and strategies to link bioscience content with clinical nursing practice that are integral for effective nurses. Relevance to clinical practice Our data strongly supported our model of physiology and pathophysiology teaching team delivered by a bioscientist and nursing academic, was successful in providing students with the ability to conceptualise pathophysiology for patients and clinical practice. Improved understanding of the knowledge and application of pathophysiology will better inform clinical decisions, and ultimately improve quality of patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]