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An important way to advance the profession of nursing, to promote best practice and to improve the quality of nursing care, is for nurses to publish. A publication track record is necessary to gain competitive research funding, build knowledge, disseminate new insights and advance the profession. However, academics often experience obstacles in publishing ranging from a pervasive teaching culture, lack of confidence in writing, and lack of strategies to write more strategically. The benefits of writing retreats have been discussed within the nursing and other academic literature but the specifics about the method as well as the unplanned benefits have not been explored. More exploration and discussion is needed about factors assisting writers to complete papers and successfully publish. This paper discusses a novel intervention which aimed to seed the beginnings of a flourishing scholarly community at a regional Queensland University. The paper also presents qualitative and quantitative evaluation data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical facilitation is critical to successful student clinical experience. The research reported in this paper used an interpretive case study to explore perspectives of clinical facilitators on what constitutes best practice in clinical facilitation of undergraduate nursing students. Eleven clinical facilitators from South East Queensland, Australia, participated in focus groups, interviews and a concept mapping exercise to gather their perspectives on best practice. The data gathered information regarding their prior and current experiences as registered nurses and facilitators, considering reasons they became clinical facilitators, their educational background and self-perceived adequacy of their knowledge for clinical facilitation. Analysis was through constant comparison. Findings of the study provided in-depth insight into the role of clinical facilitators, with best practice conceptualised via three main themes; ‘assessing’, ‘learning to facilitate’ and ‘facilitating effectively’. While they felt there was some autonomy in the role, the clinical facilitators sought a closer liaison with academic staff and feedback about their performance, in particular their assessment of the students. Key strategies identified for improving best practice included educational support for the clinical facilitators, networking, and mentoring from more experienced clinical facilitators. When implemented, these strategies will help develop the clinical facilitators' skills and ensure quality clinical experiences for undergraduate nursing students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]