Preceptorship is a teaching-learning approach in which learners are individually assigned to expert practitioners in the practice setting. The purpose is to provide them with daily experience on a one-to-one basis with a role model and resource person who is immediately available to them. Currently, the literature is replete with research on various aspects of preceptorship, including the preceptor role, the evaluation process, professional socialization, the promotion of clinical competence, and the fostering of critical thinking in undergraduate and graduate education, to name a few. To date, however, no studies have specifically explored the process involved in promoting the education of nurse practitioner students in preceptorship. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the process used in preceptorship to prepare nurse practitioner students for their future role in professional practice. To that end, the process in which preceptors, nurse practitioner students, and faculty engage was explored. The sample comprised nurse practitioner students, preceptors and faculty from a large university in western Canada. Findings from this study revealed that as students proceeded through the preceptorship program they worked through or navigated what could be described as the liminal space or an in-between place. As a result of the findings of this study, several crucial points have been recognized that have implications for the nurse practitioner student who engages in preceptorship. First, upon acceptance into an advanced practice nursing program it is important for students who are themselves experienced professionals in their own right, to understand the preceptorship process of transition, found in this study to be the liminal space, intrinsic to which are adjustments from the role of nurse, to that of student and finally to that of the nurse practitioner. Second, to adequately prepare students for their transition, faculty need to develop curricula that address the challenges involved with this phenomenon, specifically knowledge related to threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge. Third, support for these students from faculty, preceptors and fellow students was found to directly affect the ability of these learners to successfully navigate their transitional process in preceptorship.

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Background: Cardiology is but one of the many clinical foci available to certified Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs). In fact, more acute care APRNs choose cardiology as their focus than any other. With such strong interest in cardiac advanced practice nursing, it is imperative to assess the adequacy of preparation for those who wish to follow this career path. Known barriers exist in the educational and clinical preparation of this APRN population, however, there is little research detailing the specifics of those barriers. Purpose: This study describes the needs of APRNs who plan to specialize in cardiology. Method and Sampling: A qualitative design was used to describe the motivation of APRNs specializing in cardiology, tools they currently utilize to achieve their specialization, and their needs based on the current approach. I recruited participants, APRNs specializing in cardiology, through meetings at a local cardiology practice. Seven APRNs specializing in cardiology with experience ranging from 10 months to 15 years, and currently working in a cardiac setting, participated in the study. Structured interviews were conducted to describe the needs of APRNs who plan to specialize in cardiology. The interviews were audiotaped and analyzed to reveal commonalities. Findings: After analyzing the audio recordings three major commonalities emerged: APRNs specializing in cardiology must overcome limited educational opportunities, APRNs specializing in cardiology require a higher level of skill than their formal training and licensing requirements provide, and the need to validate APRNs specializing in cardiology knowledge. Additional commonalities included availability and the type of degree programs, and a lack of cardiac focus in educational preparation. Conclusion: The findings showed the needs of APRNs who plan to specialize in cardiology are rooted in their educational preparation. There is a vast amount of variability among degree programs and a severe lack of cardiac focus in their educational preparation. In order to achieve competency, 100% of study participants secured a mentorship with an expert cardiac clinician for a minimum of one year post-graduation and without assistance from their educational programs. Additionally, APRNs specializing in cardiology believe a national certification or examination requirement would be beneficial to their practice.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Health care reform emphasizes prevention of chronic disease through the reduction of modifiable risk factors as a way to reduce health care costs, morbidity, and mortality. Motivational interviewing (MI) is an effective method of health behavior counseling. It has been used successfully applied in health related behavior change and self- management of chronic disease. The knowledge, skills, and attitude of MI are acquired through learning as other techniques used in the health professions. Nurse practitioner faculty need guidance on how to design instruction in MI that incorporates competencies and utilizes innovative strategies. Prescriptive instructional design theory utilizes knowledge from educational research to establish the steps in the design process. The purpose of this research was to apply prescriptive instructional theory to the design of effective, efficient, and engaging instruction in MI resulting in beginning proficiency in the NP students. A formative design was used for this study. The First Principles of Instruction served as the prescriptive design theory used in the design of instruction in MI. Data sources included the researcher’s design journal, observation during interaction with the instance, demographics of authentic users, authentic user reaction, and knowledge testing. Four cycles of design-redesign were completed. Results of the study point to improvements in the First Principles of Instruction. The instruction was effective, based on the improved scores from pretest to posttest on the Helpful Response Questionnaire. The improved scores also indicated an increase in knowledge of MI. Efficiency was not improved from pretest to posttest. The definition of efficiency as less time to completion of the task did not apply to MI communication skills. The First Principles of Instruction were useful in the design of the techniques of MI. However, there is little guidance for the affective component of MI such as empathy. The prescriptions of the First Principles of Instruction were useful in designing the instruction in MI. NP students indicated in post instruction interviews that engagement in the instruction was related to the relevance of the subject matter to practice and interactive exercises.

The Division of Dementia Studies at the University of Bradford has a 3-stage strategy to involve service users with dementia in practitioner education. This year¿s conference will be a perfect opportunity for us to show how the involvement of people with dementia in our Dementia Studies courses has moved from rhetoric to reality over the past three years. We now have people with dementia involved in the management, delivery and assessment of our degree programmes. A participatory video outreach project carried out in a day centre for people with dementia in 2009 produced a variety of audio-visual material including voice recordings, photographs, and film which people with dementia were directly involved in making, and which are now used as learning resources for students. In a parallel project, former carers contributed to a DVD that was developed as part of a dedicated training programme for Bupa care staff. Students on the MSc Dementia Studies (Training in Dementia Care) pathway are now also beginning to include people with dementia in the training they provide in order to complete their award. A further project to pilot methods of involving service users in long-term care, including those with severe dementia is to begin in March 2011, and early findings from this will also be presented. The presenters include an academic course lead, a MSc student, a researcher, a service user/campaigner, and current and former family carers. We will present using a variety of formats including small case studies, film, audio, photographs and service user narratives. We will also be open to questions and comments about the practical, ethical and educational challenges arising from this ongoing work.

no / Dementia has been a latecomer to the field of service user involvement. Although there are now beginning to be welcome signs of improvement in the inclusion of the service-user voice, at present those with milder cognitive impairment, those who are still living at home, and those who come from white, professional backgrounds are over-represented. The BSc/MSc Dementia Studies programmes at the University of Bradford recruit part-time students who are already employed in the field of dementia care. The majority of students work in long-term or intermediate care, with smaller sub-groups working in the community, in acute care and on general hospital wards. The client groups with dementia they encounter in these settings are diverse, and tend to have different needs and perspectives from those articulated by mainstream service user groups. For this reason we have been seeking to develop an inclusive approach to service user involvement in the degree programmes we run, in order to ensure that the whole range of experiences of dementia is covered. Over the last five years this has involved developing an outreach programme in order to involve people with dementia in the environments where they spend their time, rather than restricting service user involvement to on-site activities at the University. This presentation showcases one such project which involved members of the course team working with clients attending a resource centre for older people with dementia to develop a series of short film clips (Bay Tree Voices) which were then embedded into the course learning materials in order to model alternative approaches to communication. The presentation includes formal and informal evaluations of these film-based teaching resources from service users, students and care staff.

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This paper is concerned with a variety of contemporary representations of dementia in both mainstream made-for-box-office cinema and in TV soap and drama. Such representations frequently draw on familiar tropes of global memory loss, violence and aggression, extreme dependency on heroic carers, catastrophic prognosis, and early death. Whilst such narrative devices may be excusable to some extent in film made for purposes of entertainment, the producers have considerable responsibility for public awareness and understandings of dementia, which, we would argue, should be discharged in a socially responsible way, rather than purely in order to achieve dramatic effect. Moreover, it has been widely argued in recent years (eg Alexander et al 2005) that film of this nature can be used ¿as it stands¿ in the education of health and social care practitioners. Instead, we would argue that students and practitioners need to learn the basic principles of representation theory, in order to understand and critique how film works to influence and socially construct views of health, illness and regimes of truth around them, paying central attention always to the question of whose interests are served by the representation in question.