The personal tutor as a role model for students: humanising nursing care

Exploring the role of communication in effective nurse leadership and patient care

Nurses have to be aware of their personal responsibility to demonstrate effective leadership and thereby contribute to safe and effective patient care. One of the primary skills that nurses can use to become effective leaders is communication. This article explores how communication is a vital tool in enabling nurse leaders to motivate their team members and advocate for patients. The author details some of the essential communication skills that nurses require if they are to promote person-centred care and explores the often-neglected areas of non-verbal and written communication. By possessing a full range of communication skills, nurses can empower themselves to lead clinical teams and advocate for patients.

Student nurse retention. Lived experience of mature female students on a UK Bachelor of Nursing (Adult) programme: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

AIMS

To explore the lived experiences of mature female students undertaking a Bachelor of Nursing (Adult) programme in the UK, to gain insight into the challenges and barriers faced by students and investigate the factors that support students who have considered leaving, to stay and continue with their studies.

BACKGROUND

There is a global shortage of nurses and challenges exist in ensuring that enough nurses are available to provide care in the complex and rapidly changing care environments. Initiatives introduced to increase the number of Registered Nurses (RN), include increasing the number of students enrolled on pre-registration nursing programmes. However, the success of this intervention is contingent on the number of students who go on to complete their course.

DESIGN

This qualitative study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which provided a methodological framework and analytical approach to enable an exploration of participants' individual and shared lived experiences.

METHODS

Eight female, mature students at the end of their second year of a Bachelor of Nursing (Adult) programme at a Higher Education Institution in South Wales participated in semi-structured, face-to-face interviews, which were analysed idiographically before group-level analysis was undertaken.

FINDINGS

The analysis revealed three superordinate themes: 'Ambition to become a Registered Nurse'; 'Jugging Roles' and 'Particular Support Needs for a Particular Student'.

CONCLUSION

Each student had a unique history, their past and present social and psychological experiences were multifaceted and complex. These differences resulted in varying degrees of resilience and motivations to continue their studies. These findings are important for ensuring that services develop and provide effective support to maximize retention and, ultimately, increase the number of students entering the RN workforce.

PATIENT OF PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No patient or public contribution.

IMPACT STATEMENT

This research expands on current literature regarding the needs of mature female students, a growing student nurse demographic. Every student had a dynamic set of circumstances and demonstrated that the identification of 'at-risk' students, purely based on demographics or information on a Curriculum Vitae, is problematic and potentially futile. This knowledge could be used to tailor University support systems and inform curriculum development and support systems for maximizing student retention. These findings are important for ensuring that services continue to develop and provide effective support to maximize retention and completion and, ultimately, increase the number of students entering the Nursing and Midwifery Council register.

Professional nurses supporting learners during professional socialisation in Limpopo province

Background

Professional nurses play a significant role in the professional socialisation of learner nurses during clinical placement. Clinical placements are areas of experiential learning as learner nurses come in contact with real-life experiences. Professional nurses are custodians of learners and need to offer them support.

Aim

The study sought to explore the role of professional nurses in supporting learner nurses during professional socialisation.

Setting

Four clinical health facilities in Limpopo province at different levels of care were purposely sampled to obtain information from different levels of care.

Methods

An ethnonursing approach and qualitative, explorative design was used. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to select 25 professional nurses. The criteria were professional nurses with 3 years of experience in professional socialisation and working in institutions accredited for clinical placement of learner nurses registered in the undergraduate programme. Data were collected through a face-to-face interview until data saturation was reached. Tesch's open coding system was used to analyse data.

Results

Professional nurses acknowledged that their responsibilities in supporting learners during professional socialisation are mentoring, teaching and being competent practitioners. Professional nurses were aware of their role in transferring ethical skills and knowledge to learners through professional socialisation.

Conclusion

The effectiveness of professional socialisation of learner nurses depends on the support offered during clinical placements.

Contribution

The study adds to the body of knowledge in nursing education and practice because when learners are offered support in the clinical areas, their learning journey will be of positive experience leading to competent practitioners.

All I missed in the therapeutic relationship: The lived experience narrative of a mental health nurse receiving mental healthcare

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: The therapeutic relationship is crucial for mental health practice, especially to practice that is recovery-orientated. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: This lived experience suggests that mental health professionals can be a long way from knowing the service users' feelings and their precise needs. The narrative reveals how mental health professionals maintain stereotypes and prejudices against people with mental health conditions and how these are reflected in their practice through lack of respect and users' dignity. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR MENTAL HEALTH NURSING?: This lived experience narrative highlights the need to humanize care.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The therapeutic relationship is not always functional in clinical practice due to various factors, such as lack of time, lack of job motivation, exhaustion and rejection towards the person cared for.

AIM

The aim of this study is to illustrate to professionals the needs of the persons they care for and how they see the world.

METHOD

The aim was achieved through the development of a lived experience narrative.

RESULTS

This lived experience narrative describes the experience of a mental health nurse since her first psychotic symptoms and her perceptions of the therapeutic relationship with mental health staff in her trajectory from the first psychiatric appointment until her last contact with the community mental health services.

DISCUSSION

This narrative suggests that mental health professionals are sometimes far from discovering what service users are feeling and their precise needs. This highlights the need to humanize mental healthcare.

Caring behaviours demonstrated to nursing students in the interpersonal relation with the faculty: A cross sectional study

BACKGROUND

Nursing students need to experience caring in their educational environment in order to learn how to care for the patients.

OBJECTIVE

The present study describes the caring model demonstrated by the faculty to the nursing students through their behaviours, from the perspective of both students and faculty members.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional, descriptive, observational study was conducted.

PARTICIPANTS

The sample included 286 students and faculty members.

METHODS

The Nursing Students' Perceptions of Instructor Caring assessing tool was used to gather the data.

RESULTS

After analysing 676 questionnaires, it was revealed a moderately high level of caring perceived by the students. The most appreciated dimension was control versus flexibility, reporting a mean value of 82.29 and a confidence interval from 81.14 to 83.44, and the least valued was appreciation of life's meanings, reporting a mean value of 63.90 and a confidence interval from 62.20 to 65.60. The students' perception of the care demonstrated by the faculty was significantly lower than the care that the latter believed to transmit in all dimensions (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The caring perceived by the student was expressed through behaviours that inspired confidence in them, promoted a climate of learning and support, helped them to recognise the meaning of life, showed them flexibility and fostered their professional autonomy. The findings of this study can help to improve nursing education by providing a view of the interpersonal relations that the students established during their training with the faculty.

Role and Function of the Clinical Tutor in Mental Health Nursing in Ireland

The clinical tutor (CT) in mental health nursing is a role aimed at supporting the learning needs of mental health nursing students undertaking a 12-month post-registration programme. This paper aims to examine the role of the clinical tutor in mental health nursing in Ireland by describing the experience of nursing students and key service stakeholders. A qualitative descriptive design was employed using focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. Two focus groups were conducted with 14 nursing students in the final week of their one-year programme. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with seven service stakeholders and service leaders. Participants reported positive experiences of working with the clinical tutor and valued the role in terms of educational and pastoral support. Participants suggested the role strengthened the link between theory and practice and enhanced the relationship between the higher education institute and clinical sites. However, a lack of clarity existed in terms of role description. Participants suggested the CT role enhanced the link between the university and clinical areas providing benefits to both student and service stakeholders. Implementing similar roles may benefit post-registration mental health nursing students in other jurisdictions. Further investigation on how the role operates from the perspective of those in the post may provide more clarity and enhance the development of such roles in the future.

Facilitators of professional socialisation of learners in the clinical learning areas: A qualitative systematic review

Background

Professional socialisation is significant in nursing as it involves immersing learners in the profession so that they adopt the ethical values and conduct of the profession. It is in the clinical learning areas where learners observe and practise those values. The objective of the review was to explore the factors that promote professional socialisation of learners in the clinical learning areas. The problem is the inadequate support for learner nurses in the clinical learning areas. The South African community has lost trust in nurses and that was even acknowledged in the national nursing summit in 2011.

Objectives

To present a review of the factors that facilitate professional socialisation among undergraduate nursing learners.

Method

A systematic review was conducted on literature from 2008 to 2018. The literature search focused on factors that facilitate professional socialisation of learner nurses. A search of databases was conducted in CINAHL, MEDLINE, Google Scholar and Science Direct. The search focused on literature on professional socialisation of learner nurses published from 2008 to 2018. The search resulted in 3035 articles which were further reduced to 13 after further synthesis. Critical appraisal skills programme was used to assess the quality of the studies.

Results

Three main themes emerged. Learner factors, factors in the clinical learning areas and interpersonal factors were identified as the factors that facilitate professional socialisation of learners.

Conclusion

Learners should have self-motivation and be supported and assisted to develop a positive professional identity. The clinical learning environment should have effective communication that fosters learning. Professional nurses should act as exemplary role models so that learners can emulate the conduct and practice. The review brought to light that the professional socialisation of learners is affected by the learner factors, clinical learning areas and personal factors.