Sue Coffey

Opening the black-box of person-centred care: An arts-informed narrative inquiry into mental health education and practice

BACKGROUND Nursing education has a history of encouraging students to know their patients and to negotiate the in-between of art/science, person/profession, and intuition/evidence. Nurse-teachers know that students may abandon some values and practices when they encounter practice environments that are complex and have competing agendas. We are concerned that nursing knowledge is black-boxed, invisible and taken-for-granted, in healthcare settings. OBJECTIVES Our research explores how nursing students and nurses are constructing and enacting person-centred care in mental health education and practice. We want to understand the nursing standpoint on this significant ontological issue and to make nursing knowledge construction and utilization visible; illuminating how person-centred theory emerges from practice. DESIGN The process involved four 3-hour group meetings and an individual follow-up telephone conversation. SETTINGS Students and nurses met at a tertiary-care mental health organization. PARTICIPANTS Fourteen nurses (Registered Nurses and Registered Practical Nurses) and nursing students (Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Practical Nursing) participated in our inquiry. METHODS We used arts-informed narrative inquiry to explore experience through the arts such as metaphor, collage, poems, letters, and group conversations. RESULTS The black-box is opened as the inquiry reveals how nursing knowledge is constructed, assumptions are challenged and new practices emerge. CONCLUSIONS Our research is significant for education and for practice and is transferable to other populations and settings. Nurses are affirmed in person-centred values and practices that include partnership with those in their care, role modeling for colleagues and mentoring students and new nurses. Students participate in transferring their learning from school to practice, in the company of experienced colleagues; together they open the black-box to show how nurses conceptualize and enact person-centred care.

Trialing a contextual approach to academic honesty.

Concerns about academic honesty in higher education are widespread. To address this issue, faculty took part in a 3-year trial of a highly successful approach to academic honesty. Guiding this approach were an appreciation of student context, faculty orientation to student engagement, and available antiplagiarism technology.

Graduates’ Experiences of Transition and Transformation Following Completion of a Nursing Bridging Education Program

Background: Nursing bridging education (NBE) refers to educational programs that support learners to move from one level of educational preparation or practice to another.

EXPLORING SIMULATION UTILIZATION AND SIMULATION EVALUATION PRACTICES AND APPROACHES IN UNDERGRADUATE NURSING EDUCATION

Simulation-based learning (SBL) is rapidly becoming one of the most significant teaching-learning-evaluation strategies available in undergraduate nursing education. While there is indication within the literature and anecdotally about the benefits of simulation, abundant and strong evidence that supports the effectiveness of simulation for learning and evaluation in nursing education is slow to emerge and has yet to be fully established. As the use of SBL increases in nursing education, the need to evaluate students appropriately, accurately, and in reliable ways intensifies. Furthermore, as nursing programs increasingly consider SBL as direct clinical replacement in the context of increased student enrolment and dwindling clinical placements, standardized evaluation must play a vital role. Our study investigated simulation utilization and simulation evaluation practices and approaches employed among undergraduate nursing educational programs in Ontario, Canada, using a mixed methods approach. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a confidential online survey. The goal of our study is to establish a “picture” of current trends, practices, and approaches related to simulation that is employed within this entire province. An overview of the study findings and recommendations that have potential to make a substantial contribution to the growing evidence for best practices in the science of simulation will be discussed. Keywords: Simulation; Simulation-based Learning, Evaluation; Undergraduate Nursing Education

Developing a Pilot Online Learning and Mentorship Website for Nurses

The Ontario Nursing Connection (ONC) was a project funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. It used electronic telecommunication tools via the internet as a vehicle for information exchange and virtual connection for nurses and other healthcare professionals. With a focus on three themes (leadership, mentorship, and interprofessional practice), this innovative website attracted close to 11,000 site visitors in a 12-month pilot period. Registered users (N = 645) who participated in a variety of learning and mentorship opportunities hailed from 29 countries around the world. Enhancements to existing software modules and new programming specific to the design of the project were used to create a rich repository of resources (text-based, audio, audio-visual, and virtual) on a number of topic areas. Additionally, through a virtual mentorship program, the ONC provided real time opportunities for knowledge transfer and support for career mobility. Learning from this project can now be applied to the development of a more permanent portal focusing on these themes and utilizing readily available and easily accessible technology to support continuous learning and professional development for nurses and other healthcare professionals.