A New Module in Caring for Older Adults: Problem-Based Learning and Practice Portfolios

Nurses' experiences of continuing professional development

Continuing professional development is regarded as part of the nursing role in the National Health Service. Health policy in the United Kingdom is built on the assumption that nurses' roles can be extended through continuing professional development which is also considered to be a key factor in nursing retention. Previous research has considered the provision of learning mainly from the perspective of managers and education providers. The purpose of this paper is to explore nurses' experiences of continuing professional development. The results presented in this paper form part of a larger survey (n=451, response rate=64.9%) designed to examine opportunities for continuing professional development and factors encouraging and discouraging uptake. An unexpectedly high number of respondents (n=125, 27.7%) commented extensively on their personal experiences of continuing professional development. These comments were analysed inductively. Five main themes emerged: who and what is continuing professional development for?; accessing continuing professional development; one size does not fit all; managing work, life and doing continuing professional development; and making the best of continuing professional development. Most responses were positive, but the demands of taking courses were perceived to encroach on life outside work, especially the need to complete lengthy assignments. Managers were perceived to operate as the gatekeepers to course admission and opportunities to implement new knowledge and expertise. No comments were received concerning the role of education staff in continuing professional development.

Training needs analysis. A literature review and reappraisal

Training needs analysis is the initial step in a cyclical process which contributes to the overall training and educational strategy of staff in an organisation or a professional group. The cycle commences with a systematic consultation to identify the learning needs of the population considered, followed by course planning, delivery and evaluation. Although much has been written about training needs analysis in relation to post-registration nursing education, there is disagreement concerning its impact on the training cycle and its potential to influence service delivery. This stimulated the literature review presented below. Initial searches of nursing databases identified 266 works. Twenty three (8.6%) contained empirical findings relating to post-registration nursing education in which assessment of training needs was presented as the major aim. Most of these accounts were concerned with the training needs of nurses in more than one organisation and were classified as macro-level training needs analysis. However, seven studies were concerned with a single, specific organisation (micro-level training needs analysis). Despite their smaller scale and more limited scope, micro-level training needs initiatives demonstrated greater methodological rigour, were more likely to consider the stakeholder perspective, to generate findings which could positively influence the rest of the training cycle and showed the greatest potential for influencing service delivery and quality of patient care. The review drew attention to the similarities between the training cycle and the audit cycle and resulted in the development of a model which could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the process and outcomes of future training needs analysis initiatives.

Issues surrounding professional portfolio development for nurses

This article discusses issues that underpin professional portfolio development for registered nurses. The findings were informed by a review of the pertinent literature. The literature was obtained by undertaking searches of a number of electronic databases and hand searches of key journals. It was found that portfolio development has been a requirement for re-registration for a number of years. However, there appears to remain confusion and uncertainty among professionals regarding the meaning and implications of portfolio development for nurses. For example, in the review conducted, the terminology used was often found to be confusing and expectations of how a portfolio should look are unclear. Conclusions can be drawn that practitioners may be in a quandary of how to develop and present evidence in what is now a mandatory requirement for re-registration, the maintenance of a professional portfolio.

Positively influencing student nurse attitudes toward caring for elders: results of a curriculum assessment study

Exposure to gerontological content has been shown to positively influence student attitudes toward elders. Our School of Nursing recently phased out one curriculum while implementing a new integrated curriculum. In the former, aging content was presented in a first-semester senior course. In the new curriculum, students were introduced to aging concepts in first-semester junior courses and additional content was integrated throughout the program. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the new integrated curriculum compared to the former in positively influencing attitudes toward caring for elders. An attitudes questionnaire was administered at 3 time points to students in each curriculum. Both groups, but particularly the integrated group, demonstrated statistically significant improvements in attitudes over time.

Critical-thinking types among nursing and management undergraduates

Watson and Glaser (1994) developed a short version, Form S, of their long-established Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA), as a quickly administered measure of critical thinking. This exploratory study used scores from the five sub-tests in Form S, with samples from two professional schools, nursing (n=233) and management (n=131) undergraduates, to identify the typology of critical-thinking types. Four clusters were identified, using a two-stage clustering procedure, in both samples. Discriminant analyses showed that 96% of participants were correctly classified using cluster membership and scores from the five sub-tests as discriminating variables. Implications and recommendations for education and training in critical thinking are presented as well as recommendations for future research on critical-thinking types.

Challenges of current geriatric education-inspired by the Nordic geriatric professors' meetings

Geriatric educators are faced with several different challenges. The rapid growth of aged population in the Western world has led to a growing need for health and social services and thus, an increased need for trained professionals in this field. In addition, new learning theories and activating learning methods have achieved wide acceptance in academic medicine. How has geriatric education applied these new learning methods? In this article we review the current status of academic geriatric education in Western countries in these respects. We especially review the literature of how geriatric training has been experimenting with the new learning methods.