Community Practice Essay

Facilitating and obstructing factors for development of learning in clinical practice: a student perspective. Issues and innovations in Nursing Education. Journal of Advanced Nursing 34(1), 43–50; Priest, H. , 2004. Phenomenology. Nurse Researcher 11(4), 4–6; Stockhausen, L. , 2005. Learning to become a nurse: student nurses’ reflections on their clinical experiences. Australian Journal of Nursing 22(3), 8–14). The data were analysed using content analysis techniques, exploring their contextual meaning through the development of emergent themes (Neuendorf, K. A. 2002. The Content Analysis Guidebook. Sage Publications, London). The identified themes related to elements of students’ basic skill acquisition, the development of their working relationships with mentors, patients and others, the learning opportunities offered by community practice placements and the effects that such placements had on their confidence to practice. These themes are discuss ed with regard to the published literature, to arrive at conclusions and implications for future nursing education, practice and research. Author: M. R. Baglin Source: http://www. urseeducationinpractice. com/article/S1471-5953(09)00110-3/abstract Community nursing competencies: a comparison of educator, administrator, and student perspectives. Perceptions of functioning levels of baccalaureate students nearing graduation were assessed, comparing views of 15 educators, 15 health department administrators, and 185 students. A modified list of the 47 essential public health nursing competencies identified through the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Division of Nursing served as the basis for data collection and analyses. Student competencies in individual skills were ranked higher than group and community competencies by all three groups surveyed. Students ranked competencies at higher levels than educators and educators at higher levels than administrators. Although administrators continue to advise new graduates to work in acute care before entering community health, support for continuation of this practice was not observed based on administrator ratings. Author: Nickel JT,  Pituch MJ,  Holton J,  Didion J,  Perzynski K,  Wise J,  McVey B. Source: http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/7899221 Enhancing students’ perspectives of health through non-traditional community experiences. The shift in emphasis to community-based health care necessitates that opportunities be provided for nursing students to acquire an understanding of the complex nature of health. A qualitative study was used to demonstrate the benefits accrued by junior baccalaureate nursing students in non-traditional community settings. Key themes that emerged from data analysis included definitions of health and illness as context specific, and environmental factors influencing health. The study demonstrated that learning experiences with diverse communities can broaden students’ perspectives and understanding of health behaviours. Students gained an appreciation of the sociocultural variation in meanings of health and illness as well as of the social and political dimensions of health. Author: Sword W,  Noesgaard C,  Majumdar B. Source: http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/8313070 Student Nurse Attitudes Towards Homeless Clients: a challenge for education and Practice The purpose of this research was to describe attitudes of nursing students (and paramedic officers) towards marginalized clients. Convenience quota sampling in a major health faculty was employed. Students participated on a voluntary basis. A 58-item Likert scale, developed by the authors, assessed the student nurses’ attitudes. In general, attitudes towards homeless clients were neutral; detailed analyses, however, revealed that student nurses would decline to care for homeless clients in various situations. Personal experience with homeless patients and positive attitudes of nurses significantly contributed to increased quality of care and equality of treatment for homeless clients. Certain student nurse behaviors warrant immediate attention to prevent marginalized patients from being exposed to unfair, inaccessible and biased nursing care. Based on our results, we recommend that further research attention be paid to the role of ethics education and faculty behaviors, as faculty members serve as role models for professionalization. Zoltan Balogh Semmelweiss University, Budapest, Hungary,  zrinyi_m@freemail. hu,zrinyim@who. int Source: http://nej. sagepub. com/content/11/4/334. abstract Author: Miklos Zrinyi world Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Student Nurses Learn Lessons in Community Health on Tribal Reservations University of Washington School of Nursing students have the unique opportunity to complete a community health rotation on one of two Native American reservations on Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula—the only rural public health clinical offered by the school of nursing. The experience has not only helped students learn about a unique group of people, but also how to relate to any patient population in future community health work. Recently, teams of student nurses were assigned to the Fort Gamble S’klallam reservation and to the Suquamish reservation, focusing on four different projects. One group of students partnered with family services personnel in an obesity prevention program mirroring TV’s â€Å"The Biggest Loser,† in which the person who lost the most weight won a car. Other students developed a nutrition program for an early childhood development center. A third group was involved in educating the staff of an early childhood development center about the prevention of Hepatitis B infections. The remaining group conducted and transcribed interviews with individuals for a community assessment. The goal of the assessment was to understand the community’s perception of its strengths and problem issues and to discover which issues were most important to the community. Author: Megan M. Krischke, Source: http://insightsinnursing. com/2009/07/student-nurses-learn-from-community-immersion/ Foreign studies Foreign nurses can slip into communication  gap According to (marshall 2009) it’s not politically correct — but it’s a frequent complaint of hospital patients in Las Vegas: â€Å"The nurses don’t speak English! The complaint is inaccurate. Foreign nurses working in Las Vegas do speak English. All have passed English language competency exams to become licensed in Nevada. But the complaint also contains an element of truth. More than 15 percent of the Las Vegas nursing workforce is internationally trained, about five times the national averag e of 3. 5 percent, according to an expert at UNLV. Most of these nurses are from Asian countries — the Philippines, India, Japan and Korea. Their English is often heavily accented and they may not understand the nuances of American culture and lingo — which can create challenges for patients and doctors. Xu’s research has shown that foreign nurses have a difficult transition to the American health care system. A study he conducted on Chinese nurses in the United States found they often felt socially isolated and paralyzed by their communication inadequacies. Foreign nurses are also forced to adjust to differences in the job description in the United States, Xu’s research has shown. Asian nurses are accustomed to family members doing tasks like bathing and feeding the patient, and may feel such jobs are beneath their level of education, one of his studies found. Language and communication problems can have a direct effect on the quality of patient care, and on the perceptions patients have of their care, Xu said. An estimated 100,000 people die every year as the result of medical errors in the United States, and communication problems are believed to be a leading cause. Xu said it’s impossible to know how much internationally trained nurses contribute to medical errors because the area is grossly understudied. Author: Marshall Allen Source: http://www. lasvegassun. com/news/2009/mar/10/foreign-nurses-can-fall-communication-gap/ A Study of the Drivers of Commitment amongst Nurses: The Salience of Training, Development and Career Issues According to (McCabe etal 2) this study is to highlight factors influencing the commitment of nurses, and particularly focuses on the role of training, development and career issues. It provides the basis for a HRD framework, outlining policy choices in developing high commitment amongst nursing staff. Design/methodology/approach: The main themes and sub-themes relating to the drivers of commitment and the role of training, development and career issues were identified and explored employing a grounded theory, constant omparative approach. Findings: The main â€Å"fault-line† between nurses and the organization concerned resource management, and the introduction of general management concepts and practices. HRD practitioners should consider using the language and terms of reference familiar to nurses when devising HRD initiatives. Factors positively influencing the comm itment of nursing staff included shared values, involving a sense of â€Å"vocational† commitment towards patient care and nursing. Strong leadership, particularly concerning the role of line management, was seen as important in influencing commitment. Teamwork and support, from both line management and colleagues, was also important. Training and development were highly regarded by nurses, and could be a useful way of recognizing and acknowledging their contribution to health care delivery. Career progression and greater involvement were viewed favourably by some nurses and unfavourably by others. The main issue concerned the possible substitution of nurse practitioner responsibilities with administrative and managerial responsibilities. Research limitations/implications: The findings are solely based on interviews with nursing staff from two NHS organizations. In exploring the various drivers of commitment and the role of training, development and career issues the study’s focus was towards depth, as opposed to breath, of investigation. Practical implications: Valuable information for HRD practitioners and researchers on the drivers of commitment amongst nursing staff and the role played by training, development and career issues is provided. Originality/value: This paper is a useful study on exploring commitment amongst nursing staff and ways in which HRD practitioners and researchers can facilitate and develop commitment. The DoLE official added that while waiting for a chance to be employed overseas, nurses can venture into and already start income generating projects. However, she admitted that the high demand for nurses abroad is a really attractive career to pursue because of its obvious economic returns. Meanwhile, Pineda disclosed that the continuing demand for Filipino nurses overseas is expected to intensify, as the world’s northern countries experience longer lifespans and the graying of their population in the next five to ten years is sure to see the deployment of local nurses. Countries that will continue to offer employment opportunities include the Gulf States in the Middle East such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman,† she said. Further, European countries including the United Kingdom and Ireland will also continue hiring Filipino nurses, even as new markets are emerging in Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Netherlands. Canada, too, is a new market, while Australia and New Zealand likewise offer