Australian student nurse's knowledge of and attitudes toward primary health care: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Nurses have a pivotal role in changing the focus of the health system toward a primary health care approach, yet little is known about the effectiveness of nursing students' educational preparation for this role.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate undergraduate Australian nursing students' knowledge of and attitudes toward the primary health care approach.

Design: A cross-sectional, descriptive research design was applied.

Discipline matters: embedding academic literacies into an undergraduate nursing program.

In recent years the higher education sector in Australia has been increasingly concerned with ensuring that the English language proficiency levels of students are commensurate with the academic and professional tasks that they must perform. In many universities, this heightened attention to language proficiency has driven changes to teaching and learning practices. This paper reports on a project to embed academic literacies development into a core first year subject within a Bachelor of Nursing program in a large, culturally and linguistically diverse, metropolitan university.

Identifying strategies to assist final semester nursing students to develop numeracy skills: a mixed methods study.

Background: It remains a grave concern that many nursing students within tertiary institutions continue to experience difficulties with achieving medication calculation competency. In addition, universities have a moral responsibility to prepare proficient clinicians for graduate practice. This requires risk management strategies to reduce adverse medication errors post registration.

Nursing students' appraisal of their professional portfolios in demonstrating clinical competence.

Portfolios are increasingly used to demonstrate and assess competence in nursing practice, yet when introduced in our Australian nursing school, reactions from students were mostly negative. A follow-up survey sought students' perceptions about the portfolio. Respondents acknowledged the portfolio's intrinsic worth but reported little extrinsic value beyond passing the assessment.

Peer learning partnership: an innovative strategy to enhance skill acquisition in nursing students.

The development of clinical skills for nursing students is a critical component of any undergraduate nursing program. Providing sufficient quality experience for students to develop competence has been recognised as a problem in skill acquisition. At the same time, peer learning has been identified as a valuable strategy for teaching and learning.