Mental health and learning disability nursing students' perceptions of the usefulness of the objective structured clinical examination to assess their competence in medicine administration

An exploration of the practice, policy and legislative issues of the specialist area of nursing people with intellectual disability: A scoping review

The specialist field of intellectual disability nursing has been subjected to a number of changes since the move towards deinstitutionalisation from the 1970s. Government policies sought to change the nature of the disability workforce from what was labelled as a medicalised approach, towards a more socially oriented model of support. Decades on however, many nurses who specialise in the care of people with intellectual disability are still employed. In Australia, the advent of the National Disability Insurance Scheme offers an apt moment to reflect upon these decades of specialised nursing care as the context of this nursing care will continue to evolve. A review of the published literature was conducted to explore what has shaped the field in the past and how this might inform the future of this speciality area under new policy and service contexts. People with intellectual disability have specific health and support needs that require a specialised workforce. Specialist nurses continue to be needed for people with intellectual disability.

The use of psychiatry-focused simulation in undergraduate nursing education: A systematic search and review

Evidence on the use of simulation to teach psychiatry and mental health (including addiction) content is emerging, yet no summary of the implementation processes or associated outcomes exists. The aim of this study was to systematically search and review empirical literature on the use of psychiatry-focused simulation in undergraduate nursing education. Objectives were to (i) assess the methodological quality of existing evidence on the use of simulation to teach mental health content to undergraduate nursing students, (ii) describe the operationalization of the simulations, and (iii) summarize the associated quantitative and qualitative outcomes. We conducted online database (MEDLINE, Embase, ERIC, CINAHL, PsycINFO from January 2004 to October 2015) and grey literature searches. Thirty-two simulation studies were identified describing and evaluating six types of simulations (standardized patients, audio simulations, high-fidelity simulators, virtual world, multimodal, and tabletop). Overall, 2724 participants were included in the studies. Studies reflected a limited number of intervention designs, and outcomes were evaluated with qualitative and quantitative methods incorporating a variety of tools. Results indicated that simulation was effective in reducing student anxiety and improving their knowledge, empathy, communication, and confidence. The summarized qualitative findings all supported the benefit of simulation; however, more research is needed to assess the comparative effectiveness of the types of simulations. Recommendations from the findings include the development of guidelines for educators to deliver each simulation component (briefing, active simulation, debriefing). Finally, consensus around appropriate training of facilitators is needed, as is consistent and agreed upon simulation terminology.

Dental Undergraduate Views of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs): A Literature Review

Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are widely used in dental undergraduate assessment, often determining progression or graduation. Student evaluation of this assessment process is important, and this includes identifying the views of the student. The aim of this paper is to present a review of the current literature regarding dental student perceptions of OSCEs. A search of the PubMed database covering the period 1975 to 2015 identified 121 possible papers from which only six were suitable for review. The remaining papers were excluded due to them not reporting on dental undergraduate views. Students perceived the OSCE to be a valid assessment in three studies, but not in one. The educational benefit of an OSCE is well supported by these studies. OSCEs can induce high levels of anxiety compared to other forms of assessments, but this did not affect student performance. The majority of students would chose to have a similar format of assessment again, showing support for OSCEs. Further research using larger cohorts of students could be undertaken in order to support these finding which would give added evidence for the continuing use of OSCEs as a valid method of both dental undergraduate education and assessment.