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Background: Health sciences education prepares students for social‐ and healthcare by developing evidence‐based nursing, leadership and working life skills, including collaboration. Due to the changes caused by the global pandemic, health sciences education has shifted more to online and hybrid contexts, which can challenge students' competence development. Students' competence development and interaction in collaborative hybrid learning is a little researched area. Objectives: To observe and evaluate health sciences students' competence development in a collaborative hybrid learning context. Methods: This quasi‐experimental mixed‐method study was implemented by providing educational intervention. First‐year Bachelor's degree health sciences students (n = 18) of a Finnish university completed an educational intervention with synchronous online and face‐to‐face learning. Students' collaborative hybrid learning and interaction were video observed, while self‐evaluation of competence development was made with a questionnaire. Results: In the collaborative interactions, the students showed analytical thinking, problem‐ solving and communication and technology skills. Extensive knowledge of health sciences and ethics skills was not strongly visible in interaction. The students effectively used collaborative work time to perform tasks. Cognitive interaction (monitoring and evaluating learning) was observed in 85% and socio‐emotional interaction (expressions of emotions and motivation) in 53% of the data. Related to the students' learning results, the students' ability to communicate and interact with culturally different people improved after the educational intervention. Conclusion: Collaborative learning methods in hybrid learning can create opportunities for students to construct their competence in interaction. Attention should be paid to different areas of competence and the role of socio‐emotional interaction. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Health sciences education prepares students for social and healthcare by developing working life skills, including collaboration.Hybrid learning brings benefits but challenges the equity of students with different attention modes.Collaborative learning is widely used but has not been studied much in hybrid context.Students' competence development and interaction in collaborative hybrid learning is a little researched area. What this paper adds: The purpose was to observe and evaluate health sciences students' competence development in a collaborative hybrid learning context.Hybrid collaborative interaction encourages students to construct knowledge in health sciences.The students utilised the collaborative time appropriately.Socioemotional interactions were very visible in collaborative learning. Implications for practice: This study helps educational organisations to design hybrid model education.The design requires pedagogical and technical competence and should include collaborative methods.Attention should be paid to different areas of competence in collaborative learning.The role of socio‐emotional interaction needs more focus in hybrid learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim(s): To describe nurse leaders' perceptions of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nurses' competence‐based management. Design: A descriptive qualitative study of the competence‐based management of CALD nurses, from the perspectives of nurse leaders in three primary and specialised medical care organisations. This study followed the COREQ guidelines. Methods: Qualitative semi‐structured individual interviews were conducted with 13 nurse leaders. Eligible interviewees were required to have management experience, and experience of working with or recruiting CALD nurses. Data were collected during November 2021–March 2022. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis. Results: Competence‐based management was explored in terms of competence identification and assessment of CALD nurses, aspects which constrain and enable competence sharing with them, and aspects which support their continuous competence development. Competencies are identified during the recruitment process, and assessment is based primarily on feedback. Organisations' openness to external collaboration and work rotation supports competence sharing, as does mentoring. Nurse leaders have a key role in continuous competence development as they organise tailored induction and training, and can indirectly reinforce nurses' work commitment and wellbeing. Conclusion(s): Strategic competence‐based management would enable all organisational competencies potential to be utilised more productively. Competence sharing is a key process for the successful integration of CALD nurses. Relevance to Clinical Practice: The results of this study can be utilised to develop and standardise competence‐based management in healthcare organisations. For nursing management, it is important to recognise and value nurses' competence. Impact: The role of CALD nurses in the healthcare workforce is growing, and there is little research into the competence‐based management of such nurses. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The international mobility has increased cultural diversity in social‐ and health care. As such, ethical and cultural competence is an essential skill among educators. They are promoting the ethical and cultural competence and professional growth of students with diverse backgrounds and, therefore, must be ethically and culturally competent. Aim: The aim of the study was to identify distinct ethical and cultural competence profiles of social‐ and health care educators and explore the associated factors. Research Design: A descriptive cross‐sectional survey design was used to collect quantitative observational data in 2020–2021. Competence profiles were identified by K‐means clustering based on answers to an instrument focussing on educators' ethical and cultural competence. Participants and Research Context: Participants (N = 1179, n = 243) were social‐ and health care educators based at 10 universities of applied sciences and 10 vocational colleges in Finland. Ethical Considerations: The research adhered to good scientific practice. A research permit was received from each educational institution that participated in the study. The privacy of the participants was protected throughout the study. Results: The analysis identified three profiles of educators (A, B, C) based on self‐assessed ethical and cultural competence. Profile A educators demonstrated high scores across all three competence areas. Profile B educators had high scores for ethical knowledge and intermediate scores for other competence areas. Profile C educators demonstrated intermediate scores across all three competence areas. An educator's pedagogical education was found to significantly influence which profile they belonged to. Conclusions: The educators generally evaluated their ethical and cultural competence highly. Educators understand the importance of professional ethics in their work, but they need additional support in developing ethics skills in their daily work. Among all educators, there is a need for developing international and culturally diverse collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aimed to explore mentoring competence in nursing student mentors during clinical practice by identifying different mentor profiles and connections between different competence areas among five European countries and Japan. Methods: The study implemented a cross‐sectional design in Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Spain, and Japan during 2016 and 2019. In total, 6208 mentors were invited, and 1862 participated from 58 healthcare organizations. The data were collected with a survey questionnaire by including background question items with the Mentor Competence Instrument. K‐clustering and structural equation modeling were used for data analysis. Results: Four mentor profiles, A (43%), B (30%), C (18%), and D (9%), were identified according to the seven mentoring competence areas with high statistical significance (p < 0.001). Higher mentoring competence (mean >3.50) was observed among Finnish, Lithuanian, and Slovenian mentors with university education in nursing, older ages, more work experience, and previous education in mentoring. Lower competence (mean <2.49) was observed among Japanese and Italian mentors with diplomas in nursing, younger ages, less work experience, and no previous education in mentoring. Conclusion: Mentoring requires motivated, highly competent mentors since mentoring is a critical aspect of nursing education. Mentoring roles should be given to nurses with higher education and mentoring training. Younger, less experienced nurses without formal mentoring training may need support from senior nurses when performing mentoring roles and could also facilitate a more balanced workload between patient care and mentoring for senior nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: This study aims to provide insight into healthcare professionals' lived experiences of digital health competence with the objective of improving the knowledge of how digital health competence is perceived by healthcare professionals. Background: Healthcare professionals need to adjust to the digital era to provide quality and ethical care. Previous research has rarely adopted a healthcare professional's standpoint to describe their perceptions of digital health competence, even though their perspective in how new care practices are designed and implemented is vital. Design: A qualitative descriptive study. Methods: Healthcare professionals (nurses and allied health professionals) from versatile healthcare settings were recruited for individual semi‐structured interviews in Sweden (n = 5) and Finland (n = 15) (spring 2019‐summer 2020). Purposive and convenience sampling was used. Participants' backgrounds were in the public and private sectors. The interviews were transcribed for inductive content analysis. The SRQR guideline guided the study process. Results: Healthcare professionals' perceptions of digital health competence are connected to competence to provide patient‐centric care through digital channels, using technology and digital health systems, interacting with the patient through digital means, evaluating what digital health is and combining digital and traditional methods. Professionals' perceptions of their own digital health competence were divided, with the participants either reporting sufficient competence or perceiving a lack of skills in some specific areas. Conclusions: Healthcare professionals' perceptions of digital health competence focus on the ability to provide patient‐centric care by evaluating the need and possibilities for using digital health services jointly with more traditional methods. This study provides a sound basis for digital health research, but future studies should focus on elucidating factors which affect digital health competence and competence development. Relevance to clinical practice: The results of this study can guide healthcare practices and digital health implementation, as well as function as a basis for instrument or theory development. Health care and nursing leaders should enable the resources to hybrid practices in patient‐centric care provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To describe the mentoring competence of clinical practice nurse mentors and identify different mentor profiles. Design: Cross‐sectional research design, secondary analysis. Methods: An international, cross‐sectional study design was performed in five European countries. A total of 1 604 mentors from 33 healthcare organizations participated in the study between 2016–2019. The Mentors' Competence Instrument (MCI), which includes seven sub‐dimensions and 44 items, was used to collect data. K‐means cluster and binary regression analyses were performed to detect mentor profiles and determine how various factors affect competence, respectively. Results: The K‐means cluster analysis identified three distinct profiles: A (n = 926); B (n = 566); and C (n = 85). The profiles showed significantly different values (p <.001) across all seven areas of mentoring competence. In comparison with the other profiles, nurses in profile A were older, had more work experience and were more probably to have completed mentoring‐specific training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The study aimed to describe and explain the self‐assessed gerontological nursing competence levels of Finnish nursing students and factors relating to it. Design: A cross‐sectional study design, reported by The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology guidelines. Methods: Data were collected with the GeroNursingCom instrument, which features 53 items relating to 11 competence factors. The K‐clustering technique and the Chi‐squared, Kruskal‐Wallis and Mann Whitney tests were used to analyse the data. Results: Seven hundred and ninety‐nine nursing students from nine randomly selected higher education institutions were invited to participate in 2019. Three distinct student profiles were identified according to the data (N = 274): Profile A—lower intermediate competence (23.1% of students), Profile B—intermediate competence (45.8%) and Profile C—high competence (31.1%). The strongest competence area for all students was appreciative encounter and interaction, and the weakest was supporting the older person's sexuality. Nursing students have diverse backgrounds and their overall competence in gerontological nursing is shaped in part by their previous education, motivations and work experience. Relevance to clinical practice: Recognizing students' different gerontological nursing competence profiles enables the implementation of targeted education to improve competence in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The purpose of the study was to identify and describe the characteristic profiles of evidence‐based practice competence of educators in the social, health and rehabilitation sectors and to establish relevant background factors. Design: This study was carried out as a descriptive cross‐sectional study. Methods: Data were collected from social, health and rehabilitation sector educators working in the 21 Finnish universities of applied sciences and seven vocational colleges (n = 422; N = 2,330). A self‐assessment instrument measuring evidence‐based practice competence was used. Competence profiles were formed using a K‐cluster grouping analysis. Results: Three distinct competence profiles were identified and delineated. Most educators feel that they can guide students' critical thinking and are able to seek and produce scientific knowledge. Evidence‐based practice competence was explained by background factors such as year of graduation (for higher degree), level of education, job title, current employer and current field of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future social‐ and health‐care educators will be required to have versatile competence in educating professionals that reflects both the constantly changing health‐care environment and delivery of high‐quality patient care. Continuing professional development can be defined as a process that aims to increase educators' competence and well‐being, along with the effectiveness of an organisation. This study aimed to describe educators' continuing professional development and clarify the contribution of continuing education. The research applied a qualitative approach as only limited information about social‐ and health‐care educators' professional development currently exists.' Data were collected by group interviews of 35 experienced social‐ and health‐care educators from six institutions of higher education and two vocational schools across Finland. An inductive content analysis yielded 39 subcategories, 11 categories and three main categories, namely, educators' approaches for developing professional competence, barriers to continuing education, and educators' continuing education needs. The educators reported that they maintain and develop their competence in versatile ways; for example, continuing professional development takes place through both formal continuing education and informal collaboration at daily work. Regarding barriers to continuing education, the educators most often cited the lack of planning and a lack of resources, for example, scheduling and financial factors. The continuing education needs of social‐ and health‐care educators are highly individual and should not only reflect organisational goals. The fact that this study only included experienced educators can be considered a limitation, as a sample that also included novice educators may have yielded different perceptions of continuing education and professional development. The results of the research can be utilised when designing the continuing professional development of educators at the individual, group or organisational level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate dentists', dental hygienists' and dental assistants' competence in mentoring students and to identify distinct mentor profiles. Methods: The study employed a cross‐sectional design. Data were collected using the Mentors' Competence Instrument (MCI), which includes 45 items structured under seven mentoring competence sub‐dimensions. The data were collected during autumn 2017 from dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants working in the Finnish primary healthcare (n = 1097) using a paper survey, whilst dentists (n = 26) who have completed mentoring education in one university completed an electronic questionnaire. Cases with more than 5% missing data (n = 164) were listwise deleted, whilst the remaining data (n = 933) underwent analysis. K‐mean clustering was used to identify significantly different mentor profiles, whilst comparisons of mentoring competence between the identified profiles were performed with Kruskal‐Wallis and Mann‐Whitney tests. Results: Three distinct mentor profiles (A, B and C) that differed in the level of mentoring competence were identified. The participants in profile A encompassed mostly dental assistants, profile B included mostly dental assistants and dentists, and profile C mainly comprised dentists and dental assistants. Profiles A, B and C differed significantly in terms of education, job title, role of mentor and participation in mentoring education. The largest difference in competence was observed between participants of profiles A and C. Each profile differed significantly from the other two across all seven competence areas. Most of the participants had not previously received any mentoring education. Conclusion: There is room for improvement in the competence of dentistry student mentors, especially regarding knowledge of effective mentoring practices, goal‐oriented mentoring, mentor characteristics and motivation for mentoring. Every mentor that works with oral healthcare students should receive mentoring training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of educational interventions in digital collaborative learning implemented in nursing education. Design: A systematic literature review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) was carried out in accordance with Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) and Centre for Reviews and Dissemination guidelines and the PRISMA statement. Data sources: CINAHL (EBSCO), ERIC, MEDLINE (Ovid) and Scopus databases were used to identify original peer‐reviewed RCT studies published between 2003 and 2018. Review method: The 'hits' were systematically screened by title, abstract and full text by two authors acting independently. The quality of the selected original studies was evaluated using the quality assessment criteria of the JBI and Cochrane collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. The studies were analysed by narrative synthesis. Results: Five peer‐reviewed RCT studies were included in the review. All participants in these studies (647 in total) were nursing students exposed to educational interventions in various nursing programme courses. The reviewed studies indicated that digital collaborative learning increased students' knowledge and nursing skills. The results show that collaborative learning in digital learning environments enhanced nursing students' interaction and collaborative skills, problem‐solving skills, satisfaction and motivation for learning. Conclusion: Collaborative learning in digital learning environments has encouraging effects in enhancing nursing students' knowledge, competence, satisfaction and problem‐solving skills. Moreover, evidence‐based digital collaborative learning is becoming increasingly effective in nursing education, as available tools and teachers' abilities to use them are improving and providing new learning activities to boost students' learning outcomes in higher education. Thus, its systematic use in digital collaborative learning environments in various nursing courses is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mentors need diverse competencies, sources of motivation and characteristics to successfully mentor nursing students and support students' learning processes. Effective mentoring education can benefit future nursing professionals, students' satisfaction and learning, as well as the general perception of the nursing profession. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate how an educational intervention affects nurse mentors' competence in mentoring nursing students during clinical practice. Design: A quasi‐experimental study design with pre‐ and post‐tests was used. Settings: Educational interventions were conducted in one university hospital and two central hospitals in Finland between 2013 and 2017. The intervention was conducted twice per year with a duration of 3 months for each group. The inclusion criteria for the participants were as follows: volunteer participation to mentor education employment at the university hospital or central hospitals in Northern Finland. Methods: The intervention aimed to increase Registered Nurses' competence in mentoring nursing students. The education lasted 3 months and included online learning as well as three face‐to‐face teaching sessions. A total of 120 nurse mentors completed the Mentor Competence Instrument (MCI), which includes 10 subscales that describe various competence areas, before and after the education. Results: Nurse mentors' mentoring competence increased across all mentoring competence areas after the educational intervention. More specifically, the participating nurses showed a statistically significant increase in their competence regarding knowledge of mentoring practices in the workplace, student‐centred evaluation, identifying student needs, mentoring practices between mentor and student, supporting students' learning processes, goal orientation in mentoring and constructive feedback. Conclusions: On an international level, nurse mentors are not typically required to have completed mentoring education prior to the mentoring of nurse students. Since mentoring education increased nurses' competence at mentoring nursing students, we recommend that all nurse degree programs include mentoring education to prepare future nurses for the important future role in mentoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Background Methods Results Conclusion Implications for nursing and nursing policy To profile the characteristics of nurses with varying levels of vaccine hesitancy toward the COVID‐19 and influenza vaccines.In many countries across the world, healthcare workers, and nurses in particular, display significant reluctance toward COVID‐19 and influenza vaccines due to concerns about safety, distrust in healthcare policies, and media influences. To address this, a proposed approach involves profiling nurses to tailor vaccination campaigns and to improve acceptance rates and public health outcomes.This cross‐sectional study adopted the Vaccination Attitudes Examination scale to assess hesitancy toward COVID‐19 and influenza vaccines among 294 registered nurses in the UK between March and July 2023. A K‐means cluster analysis was performed. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines were adopted.Three profiles were identified. Profile A showed low vaccination hesitancy, profile B showed average hesitancy, and profile C showed high hesitancy toward vaccines. The highest concern for all profiles was related to unforeseen future effects of vaccination. Profile C had more nurses in early career roles, whereas nurses in profiles A and B were in more senior roles. Profile A showed higher educational attainment. Nurses in profile C used Snapchat more, whereas nurses in profile A used Twitter more frequently.This study identified specific characteristics associated with higher levels of vaccination hesitancy in nursing. Unforeseen future effects of vaccination are a core aspect to consider in promoting vaccination.Policies and vaccination campaigns should be targeted on early career nurses and should deliver tailored messages to dispel misinformation about unforeseen future effects of vaccination through specific social media platforms. Senior nurses should be involved as role models in promoting vaccination. These results are key for enhancing an evidence‐based approach to implementing global health policies in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Design Methods Results Conclusions Clinical Relevance Vaccine hesitancy is a complex issue of global concern. As nurses play a vital role in delivering patient care and shaping public opinions on vaccines, interventions to address vaccine hesitancy in nursing are imperative. As such, identifying profiles of characteristics and attitudes contributing to hesitancy may help identify specific areas of focus to target tailored global vaccination uptake campaigns. The purpose of this study was to profile the characteristics and attitudes contributing to hesitancy toward COVID‐19 and Influenza vaccines in the nursing community.This multisite, cross‐sectional study recruited 1967 registered nurses and 1230 nursing students from the United Kingdom, Finland, and Italy between March and September 2023.Data collection involved an online survey adopting the Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX) Scale, the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, and questions pertaining to sociodemographic and occupational characteristics. A k‐means cluster analysis was used to identify various clusters of hesitancy based on the VAX Scale. One‐way ANOVA and chi‐square tests were used to identify significant differences in sociodemographic characteristics, occupational factors, vaccination attitudes, and social media usage between the clusters.Three distinct clusters were identified. Profile A showed high vaccine confidence, profile B displayed slight hesitancy, and profile C reported high levels of hesitancy. In profile C, higher levels of vaccine hesitancy were identified in younger, less experienced nurses with lower educational attainment. While older nurses with higher educational attainment, who were in senior roles, were more vaccine‐confident and had a consistent history of accepting the Influenza and COVID‐19 vaccinations (profile A). The study found Italian nurses highly hesitant (profile C), British nurses highly confident (profile A), and Finnish nurses evenly distributed between confident, slightly hesitant, and highly hesitant (profiles A, B, and C, respectively). In addition, more frequent usage of Instagram and TikTok was associated with vaccine hesitancy (profiles B and C), and LinkedIn and X were more common among vaccine‐confident individuals (profile A).This study has identified specific sociodemographic and occupational factors that are related to vaccine hesitancy in an international sample of nurses. Additionally, attitudes contributing to hesitancy were identified, with worries about unforeseen future effects of the vaccine being identified as a critical attitude that may undermine confidence and increase hesitancy in nursing. This study also sheds light on the influence that social media platforms have on vaccine hesitancy and, as such, indicates which platforms are effective to disseminate vaccination campaigns to global nursing communities.Global vaccination campaigns should focus on specific profiles and clusters to promote vaccination in the international nursing community. Empowering nurses early in their careers will help to instill positive vaccination behaviors, ensuring a sustained uptake of vaccinations throughout the individual's career and beyond, with an impact on promoting vaccination at the public health level as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]