[Implementation of Objective Structured Clinical Examination I of the Department of Nursing--Introduction of Simulation-Based Education].

The Department of Nursing of the university revised its curriculum for students admitted in 2012 or later, including the introduction of integrated subjects. With the aim of improving the practical clinical skills of students and integrating knowledge, skills, and techniques, the following integrated subjects: Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) I held in the first term of the third-year (15 hours as one credit), and OSCE II held in the second term of the fourth year (30 hours as one credit), were adopted, and simulation-based education was introduced. In this report, we summarized our experience of a simulation education system for nursing students in the year 2014 aiming to improve students' skill of wheelchair transfer of a patient with left hemiplegia and patient's living environment.

[The development of a method to evaluate general ward nursing care practices targeted at families of cancer patients--identification and selection of items for evaluation].

As a first step to develop a method to evaluate general ward nursing care practices targeted at families of cancer patients, the current study aimed to identify and select items for evaluation. Forms of nursing care considered to be necessary for the families of cancer patients were extracted from previous literature and categorized. We identified 5 categories, and 20 items were created to reflect the type of nursing care in these categories.

[Themes and trends in nursing research on cancer patients' families].

The purpose of this study was to identify trends in nursing research on cancer patients' families published within the past 12 years (1996-September 2007, present) and examine their research themes. Five core categories were identified: 1) cancer nursing at home, 2) terminal care in a general ward, 3) family's experience in a terminal period and after bereavement, 4) family's experience and care during treatment, and 5) family systems. Findings showed that the following areas of research are being conducted: nursing research on a variety of therapies and care environments, research on nurses' awareness of the families of cancer patients and how this affects treatment, interventional research on how to implement study findings, and research activities based on family nursing.

[Current status of cancer nursing courses in the basic curricula of four-year nursing colleges: analysis of syllabi and survey results].

This study aimed to examine the status of cancer nursing courses at four-year nursing colleges, and to investigate the needs entailed in establishing such courses. Of 142 affiliate universities of the Japanese Association for Nursing Programs, we conducted a questionnaire survey in 2006 targeting the 19 universities with established courses in cancer nursing and analyzed their syllabi. The results of the questionnaire consisted of valid responses from 15 universities (78.