Strengthening communication education in an undergraduate nursing curriculum.

As effective communication is an essential professional competency that is conceptualized and developed during undergraduate education, the purpose of this study was to investigate and reinforce the role of communication in the nursing undergraduate curriculum. Analysis of faculty and student focus group discussions revealed the benefit of purposefully structuring and explicitly articulating communication education throughout the undergraduate curriculum for increased accessibility and visibility of communication education, expanded ranges of available teaching and learning methods and resources, and strengthened ability to address undermining mixed communication messages. These findings have implications for how to specifically include communication education in a learning-centered undergraduate curriculum.

Reducing the stigma of mental illness.

A national report on mental health, produced by the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, indicates that Canada lags behind other developed countries in awareness of mental health and mental disorders. The report points out that health-care professionals are among the groups that perpetuate the stigma associated with mental illness. The authors, representing the Canadian Federation of Mental Health Nurses education committee, advocate psychiatric/mental health courses and clinical practicums in undergraduate nursing education.