Learning to learn self-regulation in practice: a 2 cohort evaluation.

The transfer of nurse training into higher education following 'Project 2000' dramatically changed the status of student nurses. While the majority received a grant or bursary, students were no longer regarded as belonging to the hospital staffing complement. Elcock et al.

Associations between physical activity and health parameters in adolescent pupils in Egypt.

Physical activity (PA) could be protective against hypertension, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease. This quantitative study assessed the association between a PA intervention and three anthropometric parameters (weight, body mass index, body fat) and four physiological parameters (cholesterol level, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate) among secondary school pupils (N = 160) in Egypt through the school term. The pupils were randomised to an intervention group (80 pupils) and controls (80 pupils).

You get what you measure: Assessing and reporting student satisfaction with their health and social care educational experience.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) and national bodies are increasingly monitoring the satisfaction of their students with their educational experiences. Quantitative satisfaction surveys are often used, where HEI students rate the questionnaire items using Likert scale formats to express their perceived satisfaction. However, the literature shows considerable variations in how satisfaction has been gauged based on students' responses to such questionnaires.

The prevalence of verbal aggression against nurses.

There have been many anecdotal and press reports of verbal aggression against nurses. The authors undertook a structured review of the published literature on the topic. They found that no consistent definitions or time periods had been used, a consistent estimate of prevalence was impossible to establish, studies had been retrospective, and the commonest form of measurement had been self-report.

Influences on nurses' scoring of children's post-operative pain.

There is a lack of clarity as to why some nurses are not delivering optimal pain management to children post-operatively. This retrospective chart review study examined nurses' pain scoring on 175 children during the first 24 hours post-operatively. Data were analysed on the amount of assessments made, assessment scores recorded, as well as the age, gender and type of surgery performed.

Learning to learn in practice: An evaluation of a 35-day practice orientation programme.

The Practice Education Support Unit at Thames Valley University is committed to improving the quality of students' practice experience. Recent changes to the delivery of the Pre-Registration nursing curriculum have included the instigation of a 35-day practice orientation programme for students on the common foundation programme. The Brent and Harrow 'Student Experiences Group' developed and facilitated a 35-day programme for the March 2007 cohort within their learning community.

Post-operative pain: the impact of prescribing patterns on nurses' administration of analgesia.

Unlabelled: In the past 30 years, significant improvements have been made in the management of children's pain, with most children receiving analgesia post-operatively. However, the amount of analgesia administered to children after surgery varies depending on a number of factors.

Aims: To measure the difference between what children are prescribed for analgesia post-operatively and what they are administered in the first 24 hours following surgery and to explore the influence of the analgesic being prescribed 'as required' or regularly.

What do mentors find difficult?

Aims: (i) To assess whether mentors had a positive or negative attitude towards their role; and (ii) to discover what aspects of the role they found easy or difficult.

Background: The fact that mentorship is an important element in nurse training was recognized by Sir Leonard Peach, the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting and the Nursing and Midwifery Council which has recently published new standards to support learning and assessment in practice, which include standards for the preparation of Mentors, to be implemented by September 2007. There are many anecdotal reports of the problems which face mentors, but little firm evidence.

The training needs of health care support workers: results of a study of workers and their managers.

Aims And Objectives: This study was designed to assess the training needs of health care support workers. In the past, opinions on the topic have been varied, but were rarely based on empirical evidence.

Design And Methods: The study was designed as a self-report questionnaire survey of health care support workers and their managers in six units in health and social care, using as its basis 32 descriptors from the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework, levels 1 and 2.

Predicting who will drop out of nursing courses: a machine learning exercise.

Introduction: The concepts of causation and prediction are different, and have different implications for practice. This distinction is applied here to studies of the problem of student attrition (although it is more widely applicable).

Background: Studies of attrition from nursing courses have tended to concentrate on causation, trying, largely unsuccessfully, to elicit what causes drop out.

When is it safer to say nothing? Some considerations on biases in sampling.

In nursing research, once one has a solid design, one has still to think about-.a sampling strategy and implementation. Too often, the paraphernalia of inferential statistical reasoning is inappropriately deployed when the achieved sample can in no way be claimed to represent the drawn sample.

Reported pain after day surgery: a critical literature review.

Background: Despite technological advancements in anaesthesia and analgesia, reported pain levels after day surgery remains high. Whilst it is unrealistic to expect no pain, the level that constitutes 'acceptable' pain remains unclear because of inconsistencies in reporting. These inconsistencies have resulted from different interpretations of what pain is and the use of different measurement tools.