At the HeArt of Nursing

Understanding the essence of care in nurses' lived stories: A phenomenological study

BACKGROUND

Caring contains understanding and connecting with the individual and the process of providing the healing effect. Nurses' awareness of the science of care can be improved by analyzing and sharing their care experiences, including their healing power, with members of the profession.

AIM

The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of care from nurses' experiences and the real-life stories told by nurses.

METHOD

A descriptive phenomenological design was used. A total of 124 stories told by 23 nurses participating in the training of Human Caring Theory constituted the sample of the study. The content analysis of the stories was carried out in four stages with Giorgi's phenomenological method analysis.

RESULTS

Three themes and six subthemes were derived from the 124 stories. Three main themes: (1) care holds mysteries, (2) care as praxis and (3) obstacles to caring relationship. The first main theme consisted of three subthemes; "Hearing the call for help", "Metaphysical presence" and "Discovery of the healing effect". The second main theme consisted of three subthemes; "Criticism of the objective approach", "Unforgettable experiences of carecaring experiences" and "Awareness of expertise".

CONCLUSION

The use of stories in the training of Human Caring Theory that centers care, besides facilitating learning, has created awareness among nurses about the 'Concept of Care' and has been an important step towards developing awareness of care among nurses.

Self-care while undertaking qualitative nursing research

BACKGROUND

Nursing research is usually carried out by registered nurses with some experience of practice. However, nurses may find that the role of the nurse researcher is very different from that of the practising clinical nurse and has its own challenges.

AIM

To explore the differences between the two roles and offer some guidance to nurses carrying out qualitative research, particularly research into sensitive topics.

DISCUSSION

Nurses need to be aware of various issues that could affect their ability to carry out nursing research and be emotionally traumatic.

CONCLUSION

There is a general need for greater awareness about the potential risks of carrying out qualitative research into sensitive topics.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Nurse researchers must consider self-care when planning a research project, assessing their role, personality, background, personal experiences and stress triggers, and ensuring peer and supervisory support, reflection and a healthy lifestyle.

Integrity in nursing students: A concept analysis

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this review was to clarify the concept of nursing student integrity. Unlike published reviews that highlight the absence of integrity, the author sought to identify the positive defining characteristics of integrity.

DESIGN

Concept analysis.

DATA SOURCES

A literature review was conducted using the Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health, Social Science Index, Psyc Info and Medline. Inclusion criteria included peer reviewed articles, written in English, with no limitation on publication date. The search also revealed that a concept analysis of integrity had not been performed.

REVIEW METHODS

Walker and Avant's (2005) eight step modification of Wilson's (1963) classic concept analysis procedure was used as the organizing framework to explore how the concept of integrity is defined in the current literature.

RESULTS

Nursing student integrity was analyzed using Walker and Avant's method of concept analysis: concept definition, defining attribute, model, borderline, related and contrary cases, antecedents, consequences and empirical referents (Walker and Avant 2005). Defining attributes to nursing student integrity were honesty, ethical behavior and professionalism. Antecedents to integrity included an academic culture of respect, characterized by student-faculty relationships derived from mutual respect, trust and a shared learning goal.

CONCLUSIONS

This review identified honesty, ethical behavior and professionalism as the defining attributes of integrity. The importance of faculty as role models of integrity was paramount in building a culture of honesty. Future research should explore faculty perceptions of their professional role as models of integrity, and faculty perceptions of behaviors that promote a culture of respect.

Personal and professional values held by baccalaureate nursing students

BACKGROUND

Values are ideals and beliefs that individuals and groups uphold and lie at the core of the diverse world of human behaviour and are expressed in every human decision and action, both consciously and unconsciously. They represent basic beliefs of what is right, good or desirable and motivate both personal and professional behaviour. In the context of nursing profession, values are essential in order to maintain high standards of the nursing care.

OBJECTIVES

This study was planned to examine changes in nursing students' personal and professional values between entering and graduating from an undergraduate nursing programme. Ethical considerations: Measures to protect participants included obtaining Deaconship of Nursing Faculty approval, obtaining signed informed consent and maintaining confidentiality.

METHODS

This study was designed as longitudinal quality. The research population included 143 students registered at a first grade of a nursing faculty for the 2009-2010 academic year. Data were collected with a Questionnaire Form, the Value Preferences Scale, the Professional Values Precedence Scale and the Nursing Professional Values Scale.

FINDINGS

According to the results, social values have statistical differences in 4-year nursing education. Nursing students in second class have higher score in terms of social values than those in third class. Also, majority of students ranked human dignity as first and justice as second and third from first to fourth classes, and they have very high scores on Nursing Professional Values Scale and its subscales and stated that all items of Nursing Professional Values Scale are very important.

CONCLUSION

As a result, nursing education has vital role in acquiring and maintaining professional values.

Professional values of Turkish nurses: A descriptive study

Background:

Professional values improve the quality of nurses’ professional lives, reduce emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, increase personal success, and help to make collaborations with the members of the healthcare team more frequent.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to describe the professional values of Turkish nurses and to explore the relationships between nurses’ characteristics.

Methods:

This was a descriptive study of a convenience sample consisting of 269 clinical nurses. A questionnaire was used to identify socio-demographic characteristics, and the Nurses’ Professional Values Scale was applied.

Ethical considerations:

Permission to conduct the study was received from the hospital and the Institutional Review Boards of the Süleyman Demirel University ethic committee.

Results:

The mean scale score of the participant nurses was 165.41 ± 20.79. The results of this study revealed that human dignity was the most important professional value for nurses, and the importance attached to these values showed statistically significant differences by age, length of service, educational level, marital status, position at work, and receiving relevant in-service training.

Conclusion:

Nurses’ Professional Values Scale scores showed that nurses give above average and attached importance to professional values.

High fidelity simulation in Spain: from dreams to reality

Clinical simulation has emerged as a powerful new tool for the learning and assessment of different skills and attitudes in patient care, by using innovative technology such as high fidelity simulators (HFS).

OBJECTIVE

To describe the current state of high fidelity clinical simulation in Spain and its principal characteristics.

METHODS

Descriptive observational study that analyzes information on the clinical centers that have HFS in our country.

RESULTS

There are currently a total of 80 centers with HFS in our country, mainly distributed in university centers (43), hospital and emergency centers (27), simulation centers and institutes of simulation (5), and the rest (5) associated to entities of diverse ownership. The temporal development of HFS has been slowly progressive, with a significant growth in the last 6 years. The majority (74%) have specific facilities, auxiliary equipment (60%), and professionals with a shared commitment (80%). It is already integrated into the training programs in 56% of university centers with HFS.

CONCLUSIONS

The development of HFS has been remarkable in our country, and is mainly related to university undergraduate and postgraduate clinical medical education. It would be useful to design a network of simulation training centers of Health Sciences in Spain, which would be operational, sustainable and recognized, to optimize the use of these facilities.

Changes in Taiwanese nursing student values during the educational experience

Professional values are standards for action and provide a framework for evaluating behavior. This study examined changes in the professional values of nursing students between their entrance to and graduation from an undergraduate nursing program. A pre- and post-test design was employed. A convenience sample of 94 students from a university in Taiwan was surveyed. Data were collected from students during the sophomore and senior years. Total scores obtained for the revised Nurses Professional Values Scale during the senior year of the nursing program were significantly higher than upon program entry. The ‘caring’ subscale was scored highest at both program entry and graduation, but the pre- and post-test scores were not significantly different from each other. The students scored significantly higher on the ‘professionalism’ and ‘activism’ subscales at post-test than they did at pre-test. Professional values changed in a positive direction between the beginning of the student nurses’ educational experience and their graduation. The results supported the premise that education had a positive effect on these students’ professional values but causality could not be assumed.

A Chinese version of the revised Nurses Professional Values Scale: reliability and validity assessment

The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a Chinese version of the revised nurses professional values scale (NPVS-R). The convenient sampling method, including senior undergraduate nursing students (n=110) and clinical nurses (n=223), was applied to recruit appropriate samples from southern Taiwan. The revised nurses professional values scale (NPVS-R) was used in this study. Content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and reliability were assessed. The final sample consisted of 286 subjects.

FINDINGS

three factors were detected in the results, accounting for 60.12% of the explained variance. The first factor was titled professionalism, and included 13 items. The second factor was named caring, and consisted of seven items. Activism was the third factor, which included six items. Overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.90, taken from values for each of the three factors of 0.88, 0.90, and 0.81, respectively. The Chinese version of the NPVS-R can be considered a reliable and valid scale for assigning values that can mark professionalism in Taiwanese nurses.

Threading Spirituality Throughout Nursing Education

In a survey of 132 baccalaureate nursing programs in the United States, few had defined spirituality or spiritual nursing care. There is a paucity of literature on spirituality in nursing education. This article describes the integration of spirituality in a baccalaureate nursing program. Interventions such as establishing a trusting relationship, providing and facilitating a supportive spiritual environment, responding sensitively to the patient's spiritual and cultural belief systems, demonstrating caring, acknowledging the importance of "presence" during spiritual distress, and integrating spirituality into the plan of care are reflected in student clinical journal entries.