During their clinical practicum, nursing students are involved in making decisions about the care for their patient or group of patients. The purpose of this study was to ascertain nursing students' perceptions of the variety and magnitude of factors that influence them as they are making decisions about patient care. For the study a nonexperimental approach utlizing a cross-sectional descriptive design was used. Thirty-three second year and thirty-one third year nursing students from a diploma nursing school responded to a questionnaire designed to reflect perceived domains of influence in thier clinical decision making. A subset of 18 subjects were interviewed. Some of the major findings include: 1) More second year than third year students perceived stress as a factor affecting their clinical decision making. Third year students most often mentioned the instructor-student relationship as a source of stress. Second year students most often referred to their workload and fatigue as contributing to their stress. 2) More third year than second year students preceived decision making theory and the nursing process to be an influencing factor in decision making. 3) Previous life and health-related work experience was indicated to be an influencing factor in clinical decision making more often by second year students than by third year students. 4) When asked to choose and rank five from a list of sixteen influencing factors in clinical decision making, the combined group chose the following in order; knowledge of patients and their condition, level of self confidence, knowledge of nursing proces, relationship with instructor, previous nursing experience, and previous life experience. 5) In the interviews the two most frequently mentioned guiding forces in decision making were: (a)what they (the student) or someone close to them would want and (b)patient preference. The study encourages nursing instructors to be cognizant of the variety of forces impacting student decision making in the clinical setting. It also suggests that students who are encouraged to incorporate their personal reality in an atmosphere that provides some latitude in decision making will be more likely to assume decision-making responsibility. / viii, 96 leaves ; 28 cm.

No description available.

<p>Background: Health care workers, more specifically, nursing students are at increased risk of occupational injury and exposure to blood borne pathogens. Compliance with universal precautions (UP) will minimise risk or transmission of HIV and HBV (Hepatitis B virus) according to the Department of Health of South Africa. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and practice of universal precautions amongst nursing students and their fear of occupational exposure to blood borne pathogens. Rationale: The rationale for the study was to investigate what the students&rsquo / knowledge and practice of UP were, to see if this could be a possible contributing factor to occupational exposure. Research design: The study was a quantitative, cross sectional survey using a questionnaire that included one open ended question. Participants: The participants for the study were the undergraduate nursing students in year levels two to four (n = 253) who and were selected by means of stratified random sampling. Procedures: A questionnaire was administered to the participants by the researcher. Analysis of the data collected was done through statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 16.0) and content analysis. Results: The researcher established that there is indeed a lack of knowledge regarding UP and that the students&rsquo / self reported practice of UP is poor. No statistically significant correlation between knowledge and practice of UP were found. There is underreporting of occupational exposures to staff at the School of Nursing. The majority of students reported a moderate to severe fear for occupational exposures and contributing factors raised by them are reality in the clinical facilities.</p>

<p>In this study a qualitative phenomenological approach was used because the researcher identified it as the most appropriate method to do this study. The population under study was the student nurses studying towards their BCur nursing degree at the SoN at the UWC. A purposive sample consisting of 8 respondents were selected, aged between 19 and 32. The data were collected through unstructured, in-depth interviews lasting for about 1 hour. The responses from this type of data collection provided the researcher with ̕̕rich̕̕ details of the student nurses experiences of the needle-stick injury. The core principles of Phenomenology focus on the ̕̕lived̕̕ experiences of an individual and the researcher chose the unstructured, in-depth interview to collect the data in this study because it was the most appropriate method of obtaining the data. Participation in the study was voluntary and informed consent was obtained from the respondents prior to the commencement of the study. An inductive theory was used as a framework to guide the data analysis process because through the process of analysing the data, categories and themes emerge. Findings from the study revealed the following: a needle-stick injury is considered to be a traumatic incident that students react in various ways to the traumatic incident, that several intervening factors precede the incident and lastly that the students need support following the incident.</p>

Background: The gap between theory and practice in nursing has long been regarded as controversial and has been a much debated subject in literature. The disparity between theory and practice in nursing education has been attributed to, among other factors, the move of nursing education from hospital-based training to higher education. Attempts to bridge the gap have been recorded in literature, including the introduction and use of problem-solving learning approaches that are regarded as reflective; learner-centred and promote lifelong learning. With this transition, there is confusion concerning the role of the nurse educator in clinical teaching which further compounds the problem of integrating theory and practice in nursing education. Nursing education in Swaziland has also experienced the transition from the hospital-based model to higher education in the late nineties. Issues regarding the competence of nurses have emerged with complaints from the local media and the general public about nursing services declining in quality. Purpose: This study was aimed at exploring and describing the perceptions of students and nurse educators regarding the integration of theory and practice in nursing education in a Higher Education Institution in Swaziland. The ways in which theory and practice integration is facilitated in this university were explored with the perceived barriers that are thought to deter the integration. Methodology: A quantitative approach was employed in this study with a total of 167 participants. Of these, 151 were students and 16 were nurse educators. Two self-administered questionnaires were developed for each group. Reliability and validity of these instruments was measured and the α-coeffient of 0.74 and 0.83 were achieved for the students' and educators' instruments respectively. Data were collected and then analysed using the SSPS package, Version 15.0. Findings: Results of this study revealed the existence of the gap between theory and practice in nursing education in Swaziland. Clinical nursing education was found to be an essential component in the training of nurses, however the role of the nurse educator in the integration of theory and practice remained contentious. It was also discovered that no clear guidelines or protocol regarding clinical supervision were available in the country, hence nurse educators conducted clinical supervision as they saw fit. Barriers to the integration of theory and practice were explored, and it was established that the lack of resources and supplies, more particularly in the practice setting stood out as the primary obstacle. It emerged from the study that problem-solving pedagogic approaches are essential in the integration of theory and practice. Furthermore, inadequate student support structures in the clinical setting also emerged as barriers coupled with poor communication and professional relations between the university and the practice settings. Recommendations: The establishment of a university hospital or a partnership with a health care institution where the value of clinical practicum for students would be enforced was one of the recommendations. Furthermore, it was suggested that the nursing department use process-based curricular approaches to teaching and learning which may enable students to be more reflective and more self-directed in their learning process. It was also suggested that the clinical skills laboratory be more self-directed, with students learning how to conduct clinical skills with minimum guidance from the facilitator. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Bakgrund: I Sverige har sjuksköterskeprogrammet under åren genomgått ett flertal reformer för att anpassas efter de förändrade behoven av hälso- och sjukvård. År 1993 blev sjuksköterskeutbildningen en treårig utbildning som både leder till en kandidatexamen i omvårdnad och en yrkesexamen. Detta har inneburit svårigheter för lärosätena gällande förmågan att kombinera den akademiska skolningen med den yrkesförberedande utbildningen. Tidigare gjorda studier visar att utbildningen ansetts otillräcklig i vissa avseenden vilket har lett till att sjuksköterskestudenter upplevt sig vara oförberedda inför att gå ut i arbetslivet. Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva om sjuksköterskestudenter i termin sex upplever sig förberedda inför arbetslivet som legitimerad sjuksköterska. Metod: Studien är en empirisk intervjustudie med en deskriptiv kvalitativ ansats. Semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem sjuksköterskestudenter i termin sex utgör studiens material. Data har analyserats med en manifest innehållsanalys. Resultat: Under analysprocessen framkom fem kategorier och 14 underkategorier som beskriver sjuksköterskestudenternas upplevelser av utbildningen samt av att snart gå ut i arbetslivet. Kategorierna var; Tidigare erfarenhet, Förväntningar inför arbetslivet, Upplevelsen av att vara förberedd, Styrkor i utbildningen, Svagheter och förbättringar i utbildningen. Studiens resultat visar att sjuksköterskestudenterna upplevde sig förberedda inför arbetslivet men att det finns brister i utbildningen. Klinisk betydelse: Studien är av vikt då den kan öka medvetenheten om hur utbildningen upplevts av sjuksköterskestudenter och därmed resultera i att den vidareutvecklas och förbättras. På det sättet kan sjuksköterskestudenter bli bättre förberedda inför arbetslivet och således besparas onödiga farhågor. / Background: The nurses’-education in Sweden has, over the years, undergone several reformations to adjust to the changing needs of health-care. In 1993 the nurse-education became a three-year course that leads to both a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a professional degree. This has resulted in difficulties for the universities regarding the ability to combine the academic and practical proportions. Studies have shown that the education is considered inadequate in certain aspects which have made the nursing-students feeling ill prepared for the role transition. Purpose: The purpose is to describe if the nursing-students in semester six perceive themselves prepared for the working life as a registered nurse. Method: A descriptive, qualitative approach was used. Semi-structured interviews with five nursing-students in semester six were the material for the study. Data was analyzed using a "manifest content analysis" technique. Results: Five categories and 14 subcategories emerged from the analysis, which described nursing-students' perceptions of the education and the role transition. The categories where: Previous experience, Expectations for working life, the experience of being prepared, Strengths in the education, Weaknesses and improvements in the education. The study shows that nursing-students perceived themselves prepared for working life but that there were certain shortcomings in the education. Clinical significance: The study can raise awareness of how nursing-students’ experience the education and thus result in further developments and improvements. Allowing nursing -students to be better prepared for the working life and therefore spared unnecessary apprehensions.

Aim To describe psychiatric nursing students‟ stereotypical beliefs associated with mental illness labels and the potential mediating effects of information provided from curriculum content and contact through clinical placement. Methodology Four nursing campuses were sampled, resulting in one hundred and thirty two (n=132) participants. Participants remained the same for all three phases of the repeated measure. A quantitative approach, non-experimental survey design with repeated measures made use of a self-report questionnaire. Section A included demographic data (age, gender and cultural group), while Section B consisted of a semantic differential measure (SDM) focusing on three mental illness labels; schizophrenia, major depressive disorder and bipolar mood disorder. Data was collected on the first day of the psychiatric nursing training block, the last day of the training block, and the first day of the second training block, after approximately six weeks of clinical placement in specialist psychiatric settings. Results Participant scores suggested greater negative stereotypical beliefs associated with the schizophrenia label in all the three phases of data collection. The bipolar mood disorder label was the least associated with negative stereotypical beliefs. Information given during the initial teaching block and contact during the clinical placement period resulted in a slight reduction of negative stereotypical beliefs associated with the schizophrenic label. In contrast negative stereotypical beliefs associated with the bipolar mood disorder label were increased slightly after information and contact. Conclusion and recommendation The results of the study confirmed that health care professionals are not different from the general population in their negative stereotypical beliefs towards mental illness labels. A review of the proposed new nursing curriculum should specifically include emphasis on psychosocial rehabilitation. In addition, clinical placement of the student nurses must be designed to ensure interaction with mental health care users engaged in recovery and community integration to remove perceptions of inability to recover associated with mental illness labels (Adewuya & Oguntade, 2007; Adewuya & Makanjuola, 2008; Corrigan, 2007; Smith, 2010). / M.N. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014

Bakgrund: Under senare år har allt fler kliniska träningscentra för färdighetsträning etablerats för att möjliggöra en trygg och säker lärandemiljö med simuleringsmöjligheter för studerande och personal. Klinisk färdighetsträning är en viktig del i sjuksköterskeutbildningen vid Högskolan Dalarna (HDa) där lärandemiljön på Kompetenscentrum (KC) kan bidra till en förbättring av lärandemiljön i den kliniska färdighetsutbildningen. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka sjuksköterskestudenters upplevelser via skattning av lärandemiljön för klinisk färdighetsutbildning före och efter inrättandet av Kompetenscentrum. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en enkätundersökning med kvasiexperimentell design. Enkätens baserades på Saarikoski och Leino-Kilpis mätinstrument CLES där frågeställningar om lärandemiljön modifierades med hjälp av Delphimetoden utifrån de tre olika dimensionerna: utbildningsmiljö, relation och lärarens roll. Mätningen före inrättandet genomfördes under hösten 2010 och mätningen efter inrättandet genomfördes hösten 2011. Totalt ingick 266 sjuksköterskestudenter i studien varav 198 (74 %) besvarade enkäten. Resultat: Sjuksköterskestudenter skattade upplevelsen av lärandemiljön mer positiv efter inrättandet av Kompetenscentrum där resultatet visar en signifikant högre skattning i 8 de av de 16 frågorna. Sjuksköterskestudenterna skattade att de upplever att utbildningsmiljön är mer verklighetstrogen, de är mer nöjda med färdighetsträningen samt att den inspirerar dem till att arbeta som sjuksköterska. Att relationen mellan dem och läraren bygger på respekt och att det är en mer positiv atmosfären under färdighetsträningen. Däremot påvisades ingen signifikant skillnad i studenternas upplevelse av den kliniska lärarens roll. Slutsats: Det är uppenbart att lärandemiljö har betydelse för sjuksköterskestudentens integration av såväl teoretiska som praktiska kunskaper vilket medför att färdigheterna förbättras och ger en bra grund för arbetet som sjuksköterska. Strategier bör vidtas för att vidmakthålla och utveckla lärandemiljön på KC samt fokusera ytterligare på integrering av teori och praktik. / Background: In recent years, an increasing number of clinical training centers for skill training is available to allow for a safe and secure learning environment with simulation opportunities for students and staff. Clinical skill training is an important part of nursing at University College of Dalarna (HDa) where learning environment at the center of excellence (KC) can contribute to an improvement in this part of the training. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the nursing students ' experiences through the estimation of learning environment of clinical skill training before and after the establishment of center of excellence. Method: The study was conducted as a survey with quasiexperimental design. The questionnaire was based on Saarikoski and Leino-Kilpis gauges CLES where questions were modified with the help of Delphi method based on the three different dimensions: educational environment, relationship and the teacher's role. The measurement before the establishment was carried out during autumn 2010 and the measurement after establishment occurred in autumn of 2011. A total of 266 students were included in the study, of which 198 (74%) responded to the questionnaire. Result: Nursing students estimated the experience of learning environment more favorable after the establishment of center of excellence where the results show a significantly higher estimate in 8 of the 16 questions. Nursing students´ believe that the training environment is more realistic, they are more satisfied with skill training and that inspires them to work as a nurse. The relationship between them and the teacher is based on respect and that opens up to a more positive atmosphere during skill training. On the other hand, no significant difference in the student’s experience of the clinical teacher's role was noticed. Conclusion: It is clear that the learning environment is important for nurse student's integration of theoretical as well as practical knowledge and skills improvement and provides a good basis for work as a nurse. Strategies should be taken to maintain and develop the learning environment at KC and focus more on the integration of theory and practice.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the RN to BSN student's perceptions about what they need from curricula and the faculty to meet their educational goals. In addition, the study looked at the relationship between student identified needs and those identified by the faculty in regard to the RN to BSN curriculum.Evidence was collected using three focus group interviews with RN to BSN students and three focus group interviews with faculty who teach in RN to BSN programs. The number of participants in faculty focus group totaled 13 while participants in student focus groups totaled 16 participants. Individual follow-up interviews were conducted with participants from five of the six focus groups.A total of 50 concepts and a total of 20 subcategories were identified as significant as a result of the student data analysis. Seven themes emerged from the data analysis: 1) reasons for seeking BSN degrees (personal reasons, job advancement or maintenance, bridge to graduate school); 2) curricular content (nursing research, nursing leadership/management, health assessment, politics, computer technology, and general education); 3) curricular outcomes (professionalism, professional self-esteem, critical thinking); 4) institutional factors (advising and admissions processes, separation from traditional BSN students); 5) teaching methodologies (discussion, sharing, student presentations); 6) adult learning principles (self-direction, choices, peer learning, respect for experience); and 7) accommodations (acknowledgement for multiple roles, convenience, flexibility, credit for previous work, choices, physical environment). / Department of Educational Studies

The critical shortage of nurses has resulted in the recruitment of an increased number of nontraditional students who frequently fill multiple roles in addition to their student role. Minimal research has been conducted with this population enrolled in a college environment designed for traditional students.The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience and margin-in-life of re-entry women enrolled in two traditional baccalaureate nursing programs in central Indiana. The theoretical framework for the study was McClusky's Power Load Margin Theory and the population consisted of ten re-entry nursing students who volunteered for participation. Demographic data was collected using a researcher designed tool and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant. Participants completed Stevenson's Margin-in-Life Scale and demonstrated an average margin of 0.60492.All interviews were audio taped, transcribed, and subjected to systematic phenomenological analysis inspired by the work of Max van Marten resulting in the identification of five main themes entitled success, support, transitions, challenges, and relationships. Success was comprised of three sub-themes including motivation for returning to school, persistence or determination to complete the nursing program, and time management strategies. Support included two sub-themes of support from family and friends of the participants and support from self-care strategies.The transitions theme included feelings of anxiety upon returning to college and academic difficulties encountered. The challenges theme was comprised of financial challenges and challenges encountered balancing multiple responsibilities. The fifth theme, relationships, included relationships with university faculty and staff and relationships with fellow students.Simultaneous triangulation was employed applying quantitative and qualitative methods at the same time in order to enhance the understanding of the lived experience of the participants. In an attempt to present a visual image of the interaction between the five themes and the margin-in-life, the researcher conceptualized a model entitled the Margin-in-Life Model.The five themes identified and margin-in-life scores provided rich information about the lived experience of this group of re-entry women. Further research is needed to gain a more complete understanding of this population and implications for nursing education. / Department of Educational Studies