Professional values gained in postgraduate nursing education from the perspectives of master's and doctorate graduates: A mixed-methods study

AIM

To determine the professional values of graduates of master's and doctoral programs in nursing and their views on the contribution of postgraduate education to their professional values.

BACKGROUND

In postgraduate education, which is an important catalyst of professional identity development, a professional is expected to specialize in a field, get into more depth professionally, internalize professional values, and reflect and strengthen these values. To shed light on this expectation, more information is needed to assess the impact of postgraduate education on professional values.

METHODS

A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used. Data were collected for the quantitative part of the study for 385 graduates of postgraduate nursing education programs in Turkey who were selected using the snowball sampling method, while the maximum variation sampling method was used to collect data from 12 individuals for the qualitative part of the study. The Nurses Professional Values Scale (NPVS) and a Semi-Structured Interview Form were used to collect data in October-December 2022. The quantitative data obtained in the study were analyzed using the SPSS software, and the qualitative data were analyzed using the MAXQDA software.

RESULTS

The mean total NPVS score of the participants was 130.32 ± 21.34 (possible range: 31-155). Among all dimensions, the highest mean score of the participants was in the caring dimension, followed by professionalism and activism. There were significant differences in the NPVS total and subscale scores of the participants based on their views on the contributions of age, institution where they worked, marital status, position at work, and postgraduate education to the acquisition of professional values. In the qualitative dimension of the study, two main themes were identified. One of these themes was the theme of professional values in postgraduate nursing education that covered the categories of professional values gained through postgraduate education, professional values that a nurse who has completed postgraduate education should have, and professional values in postgraduate nursing education. The second theme was the theme named recommendations for providing nurses with professional values through postgraduate education. The integration of data from both components indicated that the qualitative interviews enriched the quantitative findings.

CONCLUSION

It was concluded that postgraduate nursing education programs contribute greatly to the professional values of graduates and strengthen their professional values.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY

For the future of nursing, increasing professional strengths and visibility is significantly associated with professional values. This situation requires nurses with strong professional values. Graduate education programs in nursing should be developed in this direction and focus on development of professional values.

Facilitating flexibility in postgraduate nursing education through entrustable professional activities to address nursing shortages and career prospects

AIM

To communicate how the Dutch postgraduate nursing education landscape was redesigned using entrustable professional activities (EPAs). The goal of this initiative was to reduce training time, enhance transfer across nursing specialities and contribute to a better-aligned continuum of initial education, postgraduate education and continuing professional development.

BACKGROUND

Nursing shortages continue to worsen worldwide. An approach to address this growing shortage is to create a more flexible postgraduate training structure, offering training in the just-in-time and just-as-needed models. EPAs can be used as building blocks for training and assessment. Experience with EPAs (i.e. units of professional practice that can be entrusted once a trainee has demonstrated the required competencies) in health professions education, including nursing, is rising rapidly. While EPAs are largely used to create training flexibility within a programme, they can also be used to create flexibility across programmes. In 2018-2022, training hospitals and education institutions in the Netherlands collaborated in the CZO Flex Level Project to redesign the postgraduate nursing education landscape using EPAs.

DISCUSSION

The implementation of a flexible postgraduate nursing education model nationwide will face several challenges. An overview of these challenges and suggestions for future research on the effects of the new structure on nursing competence, satisfaction and career development are provided.

CONCLUSION

EPAs can imbue flexibility within and across training programmes. Designing an EPA-based educational landscape requires nationally coordinated efforts.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY

Redesigning educational structures to allow for more flexibility is critical to address major societal challenges in healthcare.

Transdisciplinary entrustable professional activities

Healthcare has become highly specialized. Specialists, in medicine as well as in nursing, determine much of the high quality of current health care. But healthcare has also become increasingly fragmented, with professionals trained in separate postgraduate silos, with boundaries often difficult to cross. While a century ago, generalists dominated patient care provision, now specialists prevail and risk becoming alienated from each other, losing the ability to adapt to neighboring professional domains. Current health care requires a flexible workforce, ready to serve in multiple contexts, as the COVID-19 crisis has shown.The new concept of transdisciplinary entrustable professional activities, EPAs applicable in more than one specialty, was recently conceived to enhance collaboration and transfer between educational programs in postgraduate nursing in the Netherlands.In this paper, we reflect on our experiences so far, and on practical and conceptual issues concerning transdisciplinary EPAs, such as: who should define, train, assess, and register transdisciplinary EPAs? How can different prior education prepare for similar EPAs? And how do transdisciplinary EPAs affect professional identity?We believe that transdisciplinary EPAs can contribute to creating more flexible curricula and hence to a more coherent, collaborative healthcare workforce, less determined by the boundaries of traditional specialties.

Validation Study of the Revised Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS): A Cross-Sectional Survey in Poland

Introduction

The use of a validated scale, Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS) to measure nurses' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care.

Aim

The purpose of this study was to analyse selected psychometric properties of the Polish version of the SSCRS, among them the applicability of the dimensions of spiritual care in nursing, ie, spirituality, spiritual care, religiosity and personalized care, to Polish conditions.

Methods

Poland-wide multicentre study with a cross-sectional validation design. The study was conducted between March and June 2019. Seven Polish Nursing Faculties accepted the invitation to participate in the study. A representative sample of 853 nurses enrolled in MSc (postgraduate) programs in nursing participated. After translation and cultural adaption of the SSCRS, the instrument underwent a full psychometric evaluation of its construct validity using (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha and correlation analysis), reliability (test-retest analysis), known-group validity (Student's t-test) analysis.

Results

The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the Polish version of the SSCRS was a three-factor model with "Activity-centred spiritual care" (9 items), "Emotional support-centred spiritual care" (5 items) and "Religiosity" (3 items) domains. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole scale was 0.902, and the alpha values for the individual domains were 0.898, 0.873 and 0.563, respectively. The three domains mentioned above seemed to provide a comprehensive understanding of spiritual care perceived subjectively by Polish MSc in nursing students.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated a substantial degree of similarity in the selected psychometric characteristics of the Polish version of SSCRS and the original scale.

"Teaching Through Your Fingertips": A Descriptive Study to Understand the Experiences and Needs of Online Educators in Postgraduate Nursing Education in Australia

Introduction

Even before COVID-19, enrolments in online postgraduate nursing and midwifery courses were growing globally. Teaching into planned online courses requires pedagogical considerations unique to the context.

Objective

The objective of this descriptive mixed methods study was to understand the experiences and needs of Australian online educators who taught into planned online postgraduate nursing or midwifery courses.

Methods

A 55-item online survey captured the experiences and needs of participants. This paper reports on the analysis of participants' qualitative responses in this survey, analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Forty-nine postgraduate educators participated in this study.

Results

Five core themes were identified: time is precious; redefining the educator role; understanding the pedagogical shift; online and alone; and learning to teach online. Many educators report lacking the skills and confidence to deliver high-quality education to postgraduate students through their fingertips.

Conclusion

This research highlighted that online educators need support through resources, education, and professional development.

Technical competency required by postgraduate psychiatric nursing students: A qualitative research

BACKGROUND

Technical skills result in the patient's safety. Psychiatric nurses need to learn and apply them to provide effective and secure cares. This study explains the technical competency required for postgraduate psychiatric nursing students.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This conventional qualitative content analysis study is part of a larger study on the clinical competency of postgraduate psychiatric nursing students performed in Iran in 2020. A qualitative study was conducted at universities holding master's degree courses in psychiatric nursing. Participants were instructors and postgraduate psychiatric nursing students, psychiatric nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists selected by purposeful sampling method. Sampling continued until data saturation was achieved. Data were collected through a semi-structured individual interview and were analyzed by conventional qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

The "technical competency" has two subcategories of "specialized knowledge" (including general nursing knowledge, psychiatric nursing knowledge, and basic knowledge of psychology) and "application of knowledge in practice" (including clinical experience, skills of psychiatric nursing interventions, educational skills, and research and evidence-based practice skills).

CONCLUSION

The psychiatric nursing student learns and operates knowledge of psychiatric nursing, psychology, education, and research, besides improving their knowledge of general nursing.

The clinical learning environment during clinical practice in postgraduate district nursing students' education: A cross-sectional study

AIM

To describe and compare the clinical learning environment in community-based home care and primary health care in postgraduate district nursing students' education.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study design.

METHODS

A convenience sample of postgraduate district nursing students was derived from five Swedish universities in 2016 and 2017.

RESULTS

The postgraduate district nursing students were generally satisfied with the clinical learning environment in their clinical placement. In clinical placement, several factors affected the students' opportunities to learn, such as sufficiently meaningful learning situations with multidimensional content. A working environment that imposed psychosocial strain and high levels of stress among the staff negatively affected the students' learning. To further improve their learning from clinical practices, the students need preceptors who have the skills and competence required to support more advanced reflections and critical thinking on caring situations.

Paths taken by Brazilian Nursing for the development of terminological subsets

OBJECTIVE

to discuss the paths taken by Brazilian Nursing in the development of terminological subsets of the International Classification for Nursing Practice.

METHOD

documentary research, carried out in master's dissertations and doctoral theses, which developed terminological subsets, available at the Bank of Doctoral Theses and Master's Dissertations of the Under-graduation Personnel Improvement Coordination. The variables were analyzed were institution, year; academic level, type of health service, methodological approach, clientele, theoretical reference, validation of terms, cross mapping, modeling of new concepts, validation of statements, method used for elaboration, term collection, finalization and dissemination.

RESULTS

124 doctoral theses and master's dissertations were found, 91 were excluded and 33 were included, 23 (69.70%) of which were master's dissertations, with the highest production in 2014 (n=10; 30.30%), with emphasis on the Northeast (36.36%); the 'Primary Care' scenario, with six studies (18.18%); and the predominant clientele was cancer patients. As for the methodological characteristics, in 96% of the studies, the quantitative approach was used; in 2%, a qualitative approach; and 2% associated the quantitative and qualitative approaches. As for the type of study, 60% were methodological and 24% descriptive-exploratory, with the Horta model being the most used (36%).

CONCLUSION

the paths are successful, yet still permeated by weaknesses in the validations and potentialities to standardize the language.

Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy and Professional Commitment Among Master Nursing Students

Developing countries face a shortage of nurses with higher education, such as those with a master's degree. However, few studies have investigated the interaction between career decision and professional commitment (PC) of nursing students, especially for postgraduates. This study performed correlation analysis for career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE) and PC of 545 nursing postgraduate students from nursing schools at 19 universities or colleges throughout mainland China, who came from different regions, and possessed different years of study and different types of degrees as well as part-time job experiences. Data reliability and validity were confirmed for both Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale for university students (CDMSE-R) and Professional Commitment Questionnaire (PCQ). We found positive correlations between factors of PC and CDMSE. The score of CDMSE was different between regions, degree types, grades, and part-time job experiences. According to our results, we suggest nursing education or career advisory services should promote the PC of nursing students according to factors of their CDMSE scores.