Ethical and cultural competence of social- and health care educators from educational institutions - Cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The international mobility has increased cultural diversity in social- and health care. As such, ethical and cultural competence is an essential skill among educators. They are promoting the ethical and cultural competence and professional growth of students with diverse backgrounds and, therefore, must be ethically and culturally competent.

AIM

The aim of the study was to identify distinct ethical and cultural competence profiles of social- and health care educators and explore the associated factors.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used to collect quantitative observational data in 2020-2021. Competence profiles were identified by K-means clustering based on answers to an instrument focussing on educators' ethical and cultural competence.

PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT

Participants (N = 1179, n = 243) were social- and health care educators based at 10 universities of applied sciences and 10 vocational colleges in Finland.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The research adhered to good scientific practice. A research permit was received from each educational institution that participated in the study. The privacy of the participants was protected throughout the study.

RESULTS

The analysis identified three profiles of educators (A, B, C) based on self-assessed ethical and cultural competence. Profile A educators demonstrated high scores across all three competence areas. Profile B educators had high scores for ethical knowledge and intermediate scores for other competence areas. Profile C educators demonstrated intermediate scores across all three competence areas. An educator's pedagogical education was found to significantly influence which profile they belonged to.

CONCLUSIONS

The educators generally evaluated their ethical and cultural competence highly. Educators understand the importance of professional ethics in their work, but they need additional support in developing ethics skills in their daily work. Among all educators, there is a need for developing international and culturally diverse collaboration.

Ethical and moral considerations of (patient) centredness in nursing and healthcare: Navigating uncharted waters

This discussion paper aims to explore potential ethical and moral implications of (patient) centredness in nursing and healthcare. Healthcare is experiencing a philosophical shift from a perspective where the health professional is positioned as the expert to one that re-centres care and service provision central to the needs and desires of the persons served. This centred approach to healthcare delivery has gained a moral authority as the right thing to do. However, little attention has been given to its moral and ethical theoretical grounding and potential implications for nurses, persons served and the healthcare system. Based upon a review of academic and grey literature, centredness is proposed as a value-laden concept in nursing inquiry. Potential moral and ethical implications of centredness on nurses/healthcare providers, persons served and the healthcare system are discussed. These challenges are then considered within the context of normative and relational ethical theories. These perspectives may offer guidance relative to how one should act in those circumstances as well as an understanding as to how interdependency and engagement with the other person(s) can help navigate the challenges of a centred care approach. Viewing centredness through an ethical theoretical lens provides a valuable discourse to nursing in efforts to expand the knowledge base and integrate centred approaches into practice and policy.

Global nursing as visualised on the internet: a netnographic analysis of the emerging global paradigm in nursing

BACKGROUND

Positioned to face increasing issues relating to the growing and aging population, ill health, climate change, natural disasters, and humanitarian crises, nurses play a crucial role in responding to the challenges of globalisation. With nurses rising to meet these challenges, the term 'global nursing' has been coined. Given the ongoing proliferation of the term, it seems relevant to explore the key relationship of the concepts of 'global' and 'nursing' within the milieus provided through the internet.

AIM

To describe how global nursing as a concept is visualised in images on the internet.

METHOD

A cross-sectional observational design based on netnographic methodology was conducted. By searching the term 'global nursing' in the Google search engine, a total of 973 images illustrating 'global nursing' were collected and stored on one specific search occasion. The inclusion of data covered all regions but no other search limits.

RESULTS

The results show that global nursing, first and foremost, is visualised as an academic discourse, as a nursing activity, and as an approach to target sustainability. Further, the results also highlight that global nursing has manifested as a Western discourse, targeting students with access to resources and a humanitarian interest.

CONCLUSION

By paying attention to global nursing as it is presented in this study, it has been possible to provide valuable insights about colonial boundaries in the nursing discourse relating to globality. Based on these results, we stress that the nursing paradigm would benefit from a greater postcolonial awareness and some reflexivity connected with the global issues that nurses are facing. Impact statement: Global nursing is paradoxically visualised as something distant, connected to ideas of 'otherness', and of not belonging to the Western nursing community.

Breaking through the dilemma of whether to continue nursing: Newly graduated nurses' experiences of work challenges

BACKGROUND

Newly graduated nurses (NGNs) often encounter unique work challenges.

PURPOSE

To discover Taiwanese NGNs' experiences of work challenges.

METHOD

An interpretive qualitative design was chosen. In-depth interviews were completed with 25 NGNs working in clinical settings in Taiwan. Data were analyzed using content analysis.

RESULTS

The essential structure of NGNs' experiences of work challenges was described as struggling and breaking through the dilemma of deciding whether to continue nursing or quit. Four themes with ten subthemes were identified: 1. being tense as if walking on thin ice (fear of making mistakes, uncertainty of decision making for care practice); 2. suffering physical exhaustion and mental stress(work overload and shiftwork, the burden to be expected, unfamiliar work culture); 3. entering and adjusting to the profession (assessing self and deciding whether to stay in nursing, building up competency); and 4. gaining more confidence(problem solving, emotional control, finding an appropriate way for oneself).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate the significance of such experiences, and the results are useful for clinical instructors and administration to help NGNs overcome challenges.

Exploring the Perceptions of Core Values of Nursing in Taiwanese Nursing Students at the Baccalaureate Level

BACKGROUND

The core values of nursing are a standard component of the nursing curriculum in Taiwan. Therefore, these values provide an essential guide for educating and evaluating the learning outcomes of nursing students. Student perceptions of those core values that relate to the process of curricula learning are key to measuring the core values of nursing.

PURPOSE

This study explores the views on the core values of nursing of baccalaureate-level nursing students at a Taiwanese university.

METHODS

This qualitative study collected data from the reflection reports of 109 students and analyzed these data using thematic content analysis.

RESULTS

The results of this study identified that the learning of core values of nursing tends to utilize the latent curriculum rather than the open curriculum. Critical thinking was perceived and experienced by asking "why." General clinical skills and basic biomedical science were categorized collectively as care ability, which relates to the thinking, analysis, and mapping of client health problems. The value of communication and teamwork capability was defined as the sequential process of accepting, interacting, communicating, and collaborating. Caring was defined as contributing empathy with respect to one's self and to others. Ethics was defined as a moral perspective, as respecting others, and as prioritizing the needs of clients. Accountability was defined as a way of observing standards within the role given in a position. Finally, lifelong learning is a process of learning that encourages more aggressive learning.

CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The progress of core values of nursing in this study reflects positive movement and achievement. The participants expressed the perception that the core values of nursing enhance understanding, which enables nursing educators to reframe the nursing curriculum to meet their learning needs. The perceptions of nursing students of core values of nursing may be used as a guide to increase clinical nursing competence in healthcare.

Clinical group supervision for integrating ethical reasoning

Background:

Clinical group supervision has existed for over 20 years in nursing. However, there is a lack of studies about the role of supervision in nursing students’ education and especially the focus on ethical reasoning.

Aim:

The aim of this study was to explore and describe nursing students’ ethical reasoning and their supervisors’ experiences related to participation in clinical group supervision.

Research design:

The study is a qualitative interview study with interpretative description as an analysis approach.

Participants and research context:

A total of 17 interviews were conducted with nursing students (n = 12) who had participated in clinical group supervision in their first year of nursing education, and with their supervisors (n = 5).

Ethical considerations:

The study was based on the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki, and permission was obtained from the Regional Ethical Review Board in Sweden.

Findings:

The analysis revealed that both the form and content of clinical group supervision stimulated reflection and discussion of handling of situations with ethical aspects. Unethical situations were identified, and the process uncovered underlying caring actions.

Discussion and conclusion:

Clinical group supervision is a model that can be used in nursing education to train ethical reflection and to develop an ethical competence among nursing students. Outcomes from the model could also improve nursing education itself, as well as healthcare organizations, in terms of reducing moral blindness and unethical nursing practice.

Ethical principles in the work of nurse educator-A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The application of ethical principles within the teaching profession and nursing practice forms the core of the nurse educator's professional ethics. However, research focusing on the professional ethics of nurse educators is scarce.

OBJECTIVES

To describe ethical principles and issues relating to the work of nurse educators from the perspectives of both nurse educators themselves and nursing students.

DESIGN

A descriptive study using cross-sectional data and content analysis.

SETTINGS

Nursing education program involving students from nine polytechnics in Finland.

PARTICIPANTS

Nursing students (n=202) and nurse educators (n=342).

METHODS

Data were derived from an online survey, with two open-ended questions: Nursing students and nurse educators were asked to name the three main ethical principles that guide the work of nurse educators and also to describe ethical issues involved in the work.

RESULTS

Students most often named professionalism, justice, and equality as the main ethical principles for a nurse educator. Nurse educators considered justice, equality, and honesty as the main ethical principles. The content analysis showed that professionalism and the relationship between educator and student were the key categories for ethical issues as perceived by nursing students. Nursing students most often identified inequality between the nurse educator and nursing student as the ethical issue faced by the nurse educator.

CONCLUSIONS

Nursing students and nurse educators differed somewhat both in their views of the ethical principles guiding an educator's work and in the ethical issues arising in the work.

Comparison of professional values of Taiwanese and United States nursing students

Globalization is a part of modern life. Sharing a common set of professional nursing values is critical in this global environment. The purpose of this research was to examine the professional values of nursing students from two distinct cultural perspectives. Nurse educators in Taiwan partnered with nurse educators in the United States to compare professional values of their respective graduating nursing students. The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics served as the philosophical framework for this examination. The convenience sample comprised 94 Taiwanese students and 168 US students. Both groups reported high scores on an overall measure of values. They did differ substantially on the relative importance of individual items related to advocacy, competence, education, self-evaluation, professional advancement, and professional associations. Global implications for the collaborative practice of nurses from different cultures working together can be improved by first recognizing and then attending to these differences in value priorities.