Using contribution analysis to evaluate health professions and health sciences programs.

Introduction/background: Course evaluation in health education is a common practice yet few comprehensive evaluations of health education exist that measure the impact and outcomes these programs have on developing health graduate capabilities.

Aim/objectives: To explore how curricula contribute to health graduate capabilities and what factors contribute to the development of these capabilities.

Methods: Using contribution analysis evaluation, a six-step iterative process, key stakeholders in the six selected courses were engaged in an iterative theory-driven evaluation.

Establishing quality standards for graduate entry master of nursing curricula in Australia and New Zealand: A Delphi study.

Aim: To describe the common elements of Graduate Entry Master of Nursing curricula and identify a set of standards and quality indicators for benchmarking purposes within and across jurisdictions.

Background: Internationally, there has been an increase in universities offering Graduate Entry Masters programs in Nursing. Such programs specify a bachelor degree as an entry requirement and then offer an intensive program of study that prepares graduates for registration as a nurse.

Materials matter: Understanding the importance of sociomaterial assemblages for OSCE candidate performance.

Introduction: The OSCE is a sociomaterial assemblage-a meshing together of human and material components producing multiple effects. Materials matter because they shape candidate performance, with potentially calamitous career consequences if materials influence performance unjustly. Although the OSCE literature refers to materials, few papers study the sociomateriality of OSCEs.

The defining characteristics of newly graduated nurses - A Delphi study.

Despite processes designed to ensure that graduates of accredited nursing programs possess the necessary skills and knowledge to enter the workforce, a gap remains between graduate capabilities and industry expectations of work-readiness. This study aims to identify the defining characteristics of work-ready graduate nurses from the perspective of a purposive sample of new graduates, employers and academics utilising a three-round Delphi design and to compare the findings. In Round One participants provided free-text descriptors of graduate attributes, core knowledge and skills.

Graduate entry students' early perceptions of their future nursing careers.

Graduate entry nursing programs designed for individuals with prior degrees in other disciplines are becoming increasingly popular internationally. They provide entry into nursing for people with unique skill-sets. Yet, little is known about why these individuals choose career change into nursing and what they expect from their new careers.

Graduate entry nurses' initial perspectives on nursing: Content analysis of open-ended survey questions.

Background: Graduate entry nursing courses offer individuals with prior degrees the opportunity to gain nursing qualifications and facilitate career change. While it is known that accelerated graduate entry courses are increasingly popular, the perceptions of nursing held by such individuals and the influence this has on those seeking to enter the profession are less clearly understood.

Objective: To explore graduate entry nursing students' perceptions of nursing on entering their pre-registration course.

An Historical Examination of the Development of Emergency Medical Services Education in the US through Key Reports (1966-2014).

Introduction: The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) approach to emergency prehospital care in the United States (US) has global influence. As the 50-year anniversary of modern US EMS approaches, there is value in examining US EMS education development over this period. This report describes US EMS education milestones and identifies themes that provide context to readers outside the US.

Is graduate entry education a solution to increasing numbers of men in nursing?

Males have traditionally constituted a very small proportion of the nursing workforce in many countries, including Australia. Together with a need to address the gender imbalance, nursing workforce shortages require strategies for recruiting new nurses, including males. This study examined characteristics of males entering one accelerated graduate entry masters pre-registration nursing program in Victoria, Australia.

A review of key national reports to describe the development of paramedic education in England (1966-2014).

Introduction: In the year 1966, important advances in mobile coronary care and trauma care in the UK and USA influenced globally the development of modern prehospital emergency services and paramedic education. In that year, to meet the evolving role of prehospital care in the UK, the 'Millar Report' specified a new syllabus for ambulance personnel in England. As the 50th anniversary of this report approaches, this paper reviews key national UK reports to describe the development of paramedic education in England over this period.