Teaching student nurses how to use electronic patient records through simulation: A case study.

Like any skill in nursing, preparing students for the changes in technology needs to be incorporated into the curriculum. Electronic Patient Records (EPR) are an example of technological innovation in health care. This article presents a case study of how one faculty of healthcare, working collaboratively with a web designer, created and implemented a simulation activity to enable student nurses to develop their skills in using EPRs.

Pressure ulcer prevention is everyone's business: the PUPS project.

Prevention of pressure ulcers is one of the greatest healthcare challenges in terms of reducing patient harm. The literature shows that although numerous reports and policy documents have been published, pressure ulcer prevention remains an ongoing challenge. A number of innovations have been published offering practising nurses and managers ideas for raising awareness of skin care and preventing pressure ulcers.

Student nurse selection and predictability of academic success: The Multiple Mini Interview project.

Background: With recent reports of public enquiries into failure to care, universities are under pressure to ensure that candidates selected for undergraduate nursing programmes demonstrate academic potential as well as characteristics and values such as compassion, empathy and integrity. The Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) was used in one university as a way of ensuring that candidates had the appropriate numeracy and literacy skills as well as a range of communication, empathy, decision-making and problem-solving skills as well as ethical insights and integrity, initiative and team-work.

Objectives: To ascertain whether there is evidence of bias in MMIs (gender, age, nationality and location of secondary education) and to determine the extent to which the MMI is predictive of academic success in nursing.

Learning about population-health through a community practice learning project: An evaluation study.

Increasing student nurse numbers requiring community placement learning opportunities has led to insufficient numbers of community nurses being available to support student nurses in the community. Although the study presented in the article is based in the UK this issue is reported widely in the literature across the globe. Universities in many countries have had to find innovative ways of providing community health learning opportunities for student nurses.

Active involvement of learning disabilities service users in the development and delivery of a teaching session to pre-registration nurses: Students' perspectives.

A teaching session about service users' experiences of accessing and receiving health and social care was designed and delivered by service users to first year BSc Nursing students. The aim was to enhance students' knowledge, skills and confidence in caring for people with a learning disability. An evaluation research study was undertaking at one university in London into the perceived effectiveness of the teaching session, including students' perceptions of the extent to which the service users' teaching session was useful, the impact of the session, its benefits and challenges and the sustainability of teaching sessions delivered by service users.

The experiences of student nurses on placements with practice nurses: A pilot study.

To prepare the registered nurse of tomorrow in the United Kingdom (UK) to care for patients in general practice (GP)-led services, today's student nurses need to have the opportunity to experience placements with practice nurses to enable them to make positive career choices to become practice nurses in the future. The role of the practice nurse is described in the article. As a pilot project, seventeen students undertook placements with practice nurses in one of seven GP practices selected by the London GP Deanery and the university as having fulfilled the criteria to support student nurses in placements.

A programme to reduce acquired pressure ulcers in care homes.

Prevention of pressure ulcers is a major health concern, especially for older people. Much of the literature related to prevention of pressure ulcers focuses on hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. There is less literature related to prevention of pressure ulcers in care homes.

'It's the hearing that is last to go': a case of traumatic head injury.

This article explores the literature related to acquired brain injury (ABI) and is followed by a case study of one patient with ABI, which reflects how the evidence, when implemented by a team of health professionals, can have a positive impact on recovery. Gregor is a middle-aged Polish man who suffered traumatic ABI when knocked down by a car. He spent a number of years in a specialist neurosurgical unit, then a rehabilitation unit, and for the past several years has been cared for in a care home.

Students' first year experience of a BSc (Hons) in nursing: a pilot study.

Background: All new nurses in England from 2013 will be educated at the point of registration to the degree level. A study was undertaken into the first-year experience of one cohort on the new degree programme at one university.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate nursing students' experience during the first year of the degree programme in terms of their engagement with the programme, its impact and value and their overall satisfaction.

Leadership development through action learning sets: an evaluation study.

This article examines the use of action learning sets in a leadership module delivered by a university in south east England. An evaluation research study was undertaking using survey method to evaluate student engagement with action learning sets, and their value, impact and sustainability. Data were collected through a questionnaire with a mix of Likert-style and open-ended questions and qualitative and quantitative data analysis was undertaken.

Students' perceptions of practice assessment in the skills laboratory: an evaluation study of OSCAs with immediate feedback.

Assessment of clinical skills is fundamental to undergraduate nursing programmes. However, enabling assessment to be a good learning experience as well is a challenge to nurse educators. The study presented here presents the change from using an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for summative assessment (with feedback given to students after results had gone to the examination board--6 weeks after the OSCE) to one with immediate feedback.

Nursing students' expectations and experiences of mentorship.

Background: The literature related to nursing students' mentorship experiences is surprisingly limited and research findings related to students' experiences of mentorship is often integrated with other components of clinical placement experiences.

Objectives: This study aimed to gain a greater understanding of students' expectations and experiences of mentorship and to identify the kind of support provided by the mentor that is most valued by the student, the role of the link lecturer in mentorship and how the university might further enhance the mentorship experience of their students.

Design: Mixed-methods exploratory sequential design was used.

Recruiting competent newly qualified nurses in the London region: An exploratory study.

Aim: This paper reports a study commissioned to address concerns that not all newly qualified nurses (NQNs) were perceived to be competent at the point of appointment to their first post. It seeks to understand how competence is interpreted in the context of selection and recruitment, and explore the different expectations and experiences of employing Trusts across the London region.

Background: Competence is a significant topic in nursing and there is much literature around the concept, what it means and how it relates to behaviours and values with no universally accepted definition.

Factors that enhance rates of completion: what makes students stay?

Background: This study was one of four projects commissioned by NHS London to examine the readiness for work of nurses upon completion of their pre-registration programmes. The study examined the factors that contribute to students completing their nursing programmes.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to explore understanding the factors that influence the attrition and completion rates of year 2 students on the adult field of a pre-registration nursing programme.

Personal health budgets: common myths and misconceptions.

Personal health budgets (PHBs) were introduced at 61 sites across England; 20 of which were evaluated in a report published in November 2012. There has been collective resistance to PHBs and negative reporting in the professional healthcare press. However, there is some early evidence that PHBs are proving to be successful.

Reducing avoidable harm caused by pressure ulcers.

This article reports on the successful work undertaken within one NHS trust to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers. The tissue viability nursing team at Medway NHS Foundation Trust devised, implemented and evaluated a strategy to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers. This involved devising a comprehensive database, intensive monitoring using root cause analysis, writing action plans using high-impact actions (HIAs) and innovative thinking to address and reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers and staff training in the use of the SKIN acronym.

How first experiences influence newly qualified nurses.

The beginning of a nurse's career can be a challenging time and first experiences can influence the retention of newly qualified nurses and their career progression. Nurses experience anxiety and lack of confidence as they make the transition from student to newly qualified nurse. St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, in collaboration with the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences at Kingston University/St George's University of London, embarked on an innovative programme of role and career development for newly qualified nurses that included a Signal Post Development Scheme.

A foot in two camps: an exploratory study of nurse leaders in universities.

Background: Nursing education was fully absorbed into universities in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s and thus is a relatively young academic discipline. In contrast to a lively literature on clinical nursing leadership, little attention has been given to the leadership of academic nursing as these roles encompass contract management, research and teaching.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the scope and meaning of leadership from the experience of nurse leaders in universities in the United Kingdom (UK).

Preceptors' perceptions of a preceptorship programme for newly qualified nurses.

Background: A study was undertaken into preceptors' perceptions of a preceptorship programme for newly-qualified nurses. The preceptorship programme is designed to enable newly qualified nurses to make the transition from student to registered nurse. Preceptors undergo a training programme to take on the role of preceptor.

A preceptorship programme for health visitors and school nurses: a pilot study.

This article presents a pilot study that was undertaken into the perceptions of newly qualified health visitors and school nurses of a structured preceptorship programme. The preceptorship programme involved each participant identifying personal goals and objectives linked to their appraisal, and participating in an action learning set over the first year following qualification. As part of the programme, each participant completed a work-related project.

A preceptorship programme for newly qualified nurses: a study of preceptees' perceptions.

Aim: This paper presents the evaluation of a preceptorship programme for newly-qualified nurses (NQNs) to determine preceptee engagement with the preceptorship programme, and the impact, value and sustainability of the programme from the preceptees' perspectives.

Background: The literature suggests that NQNs find the transition from student to qualified nurse to be stressful and that preceptorship can reduce this stress and promote adaptation to the new role.

Setting: This study took place in one NHS Healthcare Trust in South West London, UK.

Practising for progression into nursing: a collaborative approach to the preparation of potential nursing students.

A collaborative project was undertaken between the Clinical Skills Laboratory at the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences (FHSCS) at Kingston University/St George's University of London (KU/SGUL) and Kingston Borough Schools Vocational Development Service. The project was designed to address the challenge of preparing potential health care students to make informed decisions about a career in health care through the development of a strong interface between the FHSCS and local schools and colleges. School students were invited to attend sessions in the clinical skills/simulation laboratory working alongside student nurses to learn fundamental nursing skills.

Strategy to reduce avoidable pressure ulcers.

Pressure ulcers have a detrimental effect on patient health and wellbeing and place a significant economic burden on the NHS. NHS Midlands and East, a cluster strategic health authority, has embarked on a programme of "ambitions" to ensure high-quality care and patient safety. The SHA identified the elimination of all grade 2, 3 and 4 pressure ulcers by December 2012 as its first ambition.

Providing learning support to nursing students: a study of two universities.

In universities where significant numbers of nursing students come from non-traditional backgrounds, and where an equally significant proportion of students have English as a second language, provision of learning support is essential to ensure success and progression, and to prevent attrition. This paper presents an evaluative study of the support services provided to undergraduate nursing students in two universities in the United Kingdom (UK). Both universities have significant numbers of students from non-traditional backgrounds and who have English as a second language, and both institutions have in place a large array of student support mechanisms.

Safety Express: a strategic health authority's approach.

The Safety Express programme is a national workstream within the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) programme that is designed to improve health outcomes and quality care, as well as reduce costs associated with the following four patient harms: pressure ulcers, falls, urinary tract infections in patients with catheters and venous thromboembolism (VTE). NHS London developed a pilot project to implement Safety Express across London. This paper presents case studies of the outcomes of the Safety Express pilot in three locations in London.