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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic placed a huge strain on healthcare services around the world, including community services. Students also faced substantial disturbance to educational programmes. Student district nurses are usually employed members of staff and can be recalled to the workforce, whereas pre-registration students cannot. Aims: This paper explores the feelings and experiences of student district nurses during the first UK national lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. An interpretative phenomenological approach was taken. Method: A semi structured 1:1 interview and focus group was held via zoom in July 2020. A total of eight student district nurses, who were all registered adult nurses, took part. Data was analysed using the Braun and Clarke model to identify themes. Results: The findings related to their experience of being a community adult registered nurse on the frontline, while also being a student district nurse. Three themes were identified from the analysis: anxiety and uncertainty, management of risk and teamwork. Conclusion: This study highlights the contribution that community nurses made in the clinical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It adds to a paucity of literature available from this clinical setting and specifically from the viewpoint of a student district nurse. There is much written on the strains on hospital care, but it should be remembered that district nursing is the service that never shuts its doors because it has reached capacity. This study found that a lack of communication and uncertainty about their future as students contributed to heightened stress and anxiety. Teamwork and camaraderie are a vital aspect of any team and one that can support resilience in times of heightened stress. A lack of face-to-face interaction can lead to team members feeling isolated. Digital technology can be used to reduce this feeling when possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The pre-registration BSc Nursing course in the UK is renowned for being challenging due to its requirement for 2300 hours each for theoretical and practice-based learning. It is therefore inevitable that some students may need to interrupt their study at some point during the course. In many cases, these students do not return and leave the course, which has an impact on the future nursing workforce. Aims: To examine the reasons why pre-registration student nurses interrupt their studies and consider ways to enable them to return successfully and complete the course. Methods: The research project was based in one higher education institution (HEI) in the North West region of England. Interrupted students due to return to study in semester 1 of the 2022/23 academic year (n=95) were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Findings: Health, including mental health was the dominant factor leading to the interruption of study for the students. Conclusion: This research has led the HEI to introduce an improved support package for students. Alongside other recommendations it is hoped the changes will reduce attrition and lead to an improved interruption/return-to-study experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: To explore the perceived unfairness experienced by student nurses during their undergraduate clinical placements. Background: It is important that student nurses feel supported by practice staff during their clinical placement education experiences. However, it has been reported that learners can feel ignored, unsupported and bullied by others in the clinical environment and this has a detrimental effect on their learning. It is important to understand the student nurse perspective and explore ways in which their feelings of belongingness might be enhanced in the clinical area. Design: A descriptive narrative approach was used to explore the qualitative data generated by the survey and interviews. Limited closed‐question survey data were acquired to explore a selection of quantified survey responses about placements and mentorship. Methods: A survey was conducted with 1,425 student nurses from adult and mental health degree nursing pathways, across nine institutions in the North West of England, UK. Unstructured interviews were undertaken with 22 student nurses from across these nine institutions. The data generated from both methods (free‐text survey responses and interview) were thematically analysed. Results: There were times when student nurses felt that they had been treated unfairly by various members of the healthcare team during their clinical placements. Unfairness was related to being ignored and unsupported or being used as an “extra pair of hands” and having their supernumerary status ignored. Student nurses want to have feelings of belongingness in the clinical area and value enthusiasm for teaching from mentors. Certain positive mentor qualities were identified through the data in this study. These have been used to inform a tiered model of mentorship, to inform future thinking about student nurse education. Conclusion: Student nurses can feel like they are being treated unfairly in the clinical area in numerous ways. Identifying ways in which mentorship practice can be developed to adequately support education is important. This can lead to satisfaction and development on both sides of the student/educator relationship. Relevance to practice: Exploring student nurse perceptions of their learning is important when attempting to enhance educational practice in the clinical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Objectives To explore the concept of role modelling in undergraduate nurse education and its effect on the personal and professional development of student nurses. Background Effective educative strategies are important for student nurses, who have to cope with learning in both clinical and university settings. Given the contemporary issues facing nurse education and practice in the United Kingdom (UK), it is timely and important to undertake pedagogical research into the concept of role modelling as an effective educative method. Design A descriptive narrative approach. Methods Unstructured interviews were conducted with 14 current/recently discontinued students from Adult and Mental Health branches of nursing degree programmes in the north-west region of England, United Kingdom (UK). Data were thematically analysed. Results Students valued exposure to positive role models in clinical and university settings and viewed them as beneficial to their learning. Exposure to negative role models occurred, and this provided students with opportunities to consider the type of nurse they aspired to become. In some cases, students' exposure to perceived poor practice had an adverse effect on their learning and led to negative feelings about nursing work. Clinical staff might be perceived as more relevant role models than those in the university setting although there were still opportunities for academic staff to model professional behaviours. Conclusion The study found that role modelling is an effective way to support learning and led to student satisfaction across both clinical and university settings. The findings support the use of role models in nurse education, and further research about conscious positive modelling of practice is required. Relevance to practice Exploring the use of role models is important when examining ways in which the quality of nurse education might be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This article presents findings from a study that sought to explore the extent to which clinical placements have an impact on nursing students’ decisions regarding their first staff nurse post. Within the UK, nursing is facing a recruitment crisis with particular difficulty recruiting to areas such as primary care and care of older people. Transitioning into a new role is challenging in any occupation, but it is a particular problem in nursing where the realities of professional practice often differ from students’ perception of the staff nurse role as shaped by their clinical placements. Aim: This pilot study aimed to explore the influence of practice placements on final-year adult nursing students’ career decisions. Method: Qualitative and quantitative data were collected in a single phase using a questionnaire distributed to nursing students on the final day of their course. A total of 35 completed questionnaires were returned (response rate 57%). Results: Half of the participants entered the course with preconceived preferences for clinical specialisms. However, only five participants (14%) applied for first-destination posts in that specialism. The overall importance of placements in career choice increased across the three years of the programme. Although placements in all three years are important, the experiences in year 3 are pivotal, with 74% ranking these as ‘significantly influential’ in their decision-making process. Analysis of the data obtained from the free-text responses from the questionnaire suggested that working environment; the level of support provided by mentors and clinical staff; the opportunity to make a difference to patients’ lives and the variety of placements, were key influences on nursing students’ decision regarding their first staff nurse post. Conclusions: This study highlights the key role of practice placements in the career choices of student nurses, particularly during the final year of their programme. It shows that students are likely to apply for posts in the placement area they found to be most supportive and developmental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient safety is a key priority for all healthcare systems, and there is growing recognition for the need to educate tomorrow's nurses about the role of human factors in reducing avoidable harm to patients. A pilot survey was sent to 20 schools of nursing in England to explore the teaching of patient safety and human factors. All 13 schools that responded (65% response rate) stated that patient safety was covered in their curricula and was allocated more than 4 hours; all the classes included human factors. Only two respondents indicated their teaching to be multi-professional. Awareness of the World Health Organization's multiprofessional patient safety curriculum guide was poor. Faculties also seemed unaware that the Institute for Healthcare Improvement provides free online patient safety modules for students and that there is a global network of student patient safety chapters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute deteriorations in health occur in all healthcare settings. Every health professional must therefore have the knowledge and skills to recognise and respond effectively to acute illness, in order to avert further deterioration. It is widely acknowledged that a robust understanding of physiological observations, in addition to effective interpretation and clinical decision-making skills, is required for this task (Odell et al, 2009; Steen, 2010). A significant amount of work has been undertaken in one higher education institution (HEI) to ensure that theoretical preparation adequately equips nurses for this aspect of their role. However, it would appear from this evaluative study that some barriers may exist that prevent this essential theoretical knowledge from being embedded into clinical practice. This gap in transformational knowledge is important to highlight as there is an increasingly urgent need for these skills if acutely ill patients are to be successfully rescued (The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD), 2005; 2009; 2012; National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), 2007; Department of Health (DH), 2009). The dissolution of barriers that prevent the development of effective recognition and response skills is an important task for all those involved in acute care education, in both HEI and clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

End-of-life care, particularly for older people, is often sub-optimal in England, and the Government has introduced several initiatives to improve this care. The authors believe the twin frameworks of emotional labour and ethics of non-abandonment underpin the provision of high-quality care. This article discusses a research project that investigated first-year nursing students' encounters with patient deaths. The research found that, to the student, every death in clinical practice is a learning experience and potentially a source of emotional distress; some students reported experiencing flashbacks afterwards and were developing avoidance behaviours. Students sometimes felt unsupported by mentors and also felt that sometimes dying patients and families were inadequately cared for. The theme of abandonment was evident in the students' stories. The authors conclude that there is still room for improvement in end-of-life care. Good role modelling and pastoral care by mentors is vital to student development. Link lecturers and mentors need to be alert to student distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aimed to investigate whether a correlation exists between students' approach to learning and clinical decision-making and to determine whether an educational learning intervention would impact on clinical decision-making outcomes. Tait, Entwistle and McCune's Approaches to Study Skills for Students (ASSIST) and Jenkins' Clinical Decision Making Nursing Scale (CDMNS) was administered to a convenience sample of adult nursing students (n = 78) at a university in central London, UK, at the beginning of the final year of their nursing course and, following the learning intervention, again at the end of the year. Pre-intervention, 38% of participants predisposed to the surface approach to learning; post-intervention, less than 8%. Clinical decision-making scores were statistically significantly higher for students adopting the strategic approach at the pre-intervention point and significantly higher for those adopting the deep approach at the post-intervention point. At both pre- and post- intervention data collection points there was a negative correlation between the surface approach and clinical decision-making scores. Findings indicate a statistically significant relationship exists between participants' approach to learning and their clinical decision-making. Changing from the surface to either the strategic or deep approach to learning is shown to impact positively on clinical decision-making outcomes. • Deep approach to learning correlates with good clinical decision-making. • Decisional learning in practice is contingent on students' approach to learning. • Integrative intervention empowers students to modulate learning approaches. • Performative cultures tend to militate against deep approach to learning. • Education for learning integrates academic and practice learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/introduction: Qualified and student nurses remain at the forefront of dealing with, and reporting, patient safety events or incidents. There has been limited exploration of whether and how the patient's perspective is represented by staff or student nurses using formal reporting systems., Objectives: The overall aim of the study was to explore the student nurses' experiences in practice of patient safety events they were themselves directly or indirectly involved in. This specifically explored the subsequent reporting and inclusion of the patient perspectives that may or may not have taken place., Design: A qualitative approach to this research was selected using the principles of thematic analysis to analyse data gathered from focus groups of student nurses across all year groups., Setting: Three universities participated in the study located in the north east, south east and east of England., Participants: Student nurses from across the year groups attended focus groups., Methods: Following ethical approval and informed consent, participants took part in focus groups within each university setting. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis., Results: Three themes were identified: the benefit of reporting and patient involvement, the barriers experienced by the students in reporting and the support needed to ensure they do the right thing in practice., Conclusion: Learning for students from patient safety incidents is important and seeking patients' views and perceptions adds to the learning experience. There are however challenges for the student in practice in both reporting and patient involvement. Resources are needed that follow and feed into the student learning alongside a workforce that see the benefit of learning from those we care for., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)