Explaining nursing attrition through the experiences of return-to-practice students: a mixed-methods study.

Background: Nurse shortage is an international issue that has adverse effects on health and the quality of care of whole populations.

Aims: The study aimed to explore attrition experienced by return-to-practice students attending higher education institutions in England.

Methods: A mixed-methods design, involving questionnaires (=114) and in-depth interviews (=20), was used.

Understanding SCPHN students' experience of practice educator-led peer support groups.

Specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN) students are expected to develop significant skills and competencies in practice, whilst also achieving academic success. This workload can be very stressful for students, particularly as their placements with practice educators can isolate them from other students, reducing the valuable support that peers can provide. Practice educator-led peer support groups were established in an attempt to ameliorate student stress and improve wellbeing by providing peer support, whilst simultaneously delivering opportunities for learning and promoting preparedness for qualification.

Towards a team-based, collaborative approach to embedding e-learning within undergraduate nursing programmes.

E-learning approaches are incorporated in many undergraduate nursing programmes but there is evidence to suggest that these are often piecemeal and have little impact on the wider, nurse education curriculum. This is consistent with a broader view of e-learning within the higher education (HE) sector, which suggests that higher education institutions (HEIs) are struggling to make e-learning a part of their mainstream delivery [HEFCE, 2005. HEFCE Strategy for E-Learning 2005/12.

The educational preparation of nursing staff undertaking pre-assessment of surgical patients--a discussion of the issues.

This article discusses the education and training needs of nursing staff undertaking the pre-assessment of surgical patients in the context of role development within health care. The authors undertook this piece of work as part of a project to inform the development of a competency framework for use by registered nurses working in the field of pre-assessment screening and preparation of surgical patients. A selective review of the literature on the education and training needs of pre-assessment nurses, and nurses undertaking expanded roles has been undertaken and some of the emerging issues are debated.

The effectiveness of nurse-led surgical pre-assessment clinics.

Recent health initiatives have put the focus on patient-centred care, with the result that an ever greater number of nurses now provide a high-quality patient-focused service through a variety of roles in surgical pre-assessment. This article charts the development of this role and the concomitant models of surgical pre-assessment that have evolved in the NHS.