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Background: With the continuing increase in the older population, being able to communicate with the elderly is one of the many important skills in caring for older people. Therefore, student nurses need support during education to be prepared with the necessary communication skills to meet these demands., Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the development of communication skills during nursing education., Design: A quantitative descriptive and comparative study., Settings: The nursing programme at a university in an urban area of Sweden., Participants: Student nurses in the first and third year in a nursing programme in Sweden in 2015., Methods: Data were collected with a self-efficacy questionnaire and analysed with descriptive and comparative statistics., Results: The student nurses in the final semester had a higher self-rated ability to communicate with older people than students in the second semester of the education year. There was also a difference in self efficacy between students with or without former experience of health care work or work in care with older persons in the second semester. However, these differences were not seen in the final semester. The age of the students did not affect the self-efficacy rate in either semester., Conclusions: Student nurses in the present study scored themselves relatively highly, while student nurses in previous studies expressed a need for more communication skills training. Further studies with observations of student nurses' actual communicative skills in clinical and simulations settings are needed, to pinpoint weak spots and targets for such an education., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Undergraduate nurse education needs to prepare student nurses to meet the demands and to have the necessary communication skills for caring for an increasing older population. The challenges involve how best to support and empower student nurses to learn the communication skills needed to care for older people., Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate student nurses' views on the care of and communication with older people., Design: A descriptive study with a mixed-method approach was conducted., Methods: Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from a questionnaire completed by third-year Swedish student nurses in 2015., Results: The student nurses reported positive attitudes to the care of and communication with older people. The findings focus on the central aspects related to relationship building, techniques for communication and external prerequisites., Conclusions: Despite positive attitudes, student nurses had a limited view of communication with older people. Educators need to increase student nurses' capacity to communicate effectively with older people. Educational interventions to improve and evaluate the communication competency of nurses and student nurses are needed., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The overall aim of the present study was to explore awareness of inequity in healthcare and the intersection between different structures of power among nursing students. Another aim was to delineate the knowledge and use of Swedish Healthcare Direct in this group., Design: The study had a descriptive design with a quantitative approach., Participants: The sample consisted of 157 nursing students from three universities in central Sweden., Methods: The students filled out a study specific questionnaire in class. The questionnaire consisted of short descriptions of twelve fictive persons who differed in gender, age, and ethnicity, with questions about their life situation. The mean was calculated for each assessed fictive person for every item. In the next step, the assessments were ranked from the lowest probability to the highest probability. A 'Good life-index' consisting of quality of life, power over own life, and experience of discrimination, was also calculated. Free text comments were analysed qualitatively., Results: People with Swedish names were assessed to have the highest probability of having a good life. Among those with Swedish names, the oldest woman was assessed as having the lowest probability of a good life. All students had knowledge about Swedish Healthcare Direct, but more female students had used the service compared to male students., Conclusions: The results indicate that the nursing students had awareness of how power and gender, ethnicity and age, are related. Based on the free text comments, the questions and the intersectional perspective seemed to evoke some irritation which points to their sensitive nature. Therefore, the questionnaire could be used as a tool to start a discussion of equity in healthcare and in interventions where the aim is to raise awareness of inequality and intersectionality., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: One comprehensive part of nursing practice is performing technical skills and handling of medical equipment. This might be challenging for new registered nurses (RNs) to do in patient-safe way., Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe and compare the extent to which new RNs perform various technical skills and handle medical devices in different settings, and to investigate their possibility for continued learning in this respect. A further aim was to describe their perceptions of incident reporting related to technical skills and medical devices., Design: A cross-sectional study with descriptive and comparative design., Participants: RNs who recently graduated from a nursing programme at three Swedish universities and had worked as a RN for up to 1 year were included in the study (n=113, response rate 57%)., Method: Data were collected by means of a postal questionnaire., Results: Half of the RNs reported that they performed several of the listed tasks every day or every week, regardless of workplace. These tasks were most frequently performed in surgical departments. The majority of the participants (76%) stated a need of continued practical training. However, less than half of them (48%) had access to a training environment. Several participants (43%) had been involved in incidents related to technical skills or medical devices, which were not always reported. Nearly a third of the participants (31%) did not use the existing guidelines when performing technical skills, and reflection on performance was uncommon., Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of shared responsibilities between nurse educators and health care employers to provide learning opportunities for new RNs in technical skills, to maintain patient safety. To increase the safety culture where nursing students and new RNs understand the importance of using evidence-based guidelines and taking a reflective approach in the performance of technical tasks is needed., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)