Background

Evaluation of a complex intervention are often described as being diminished by difficulties regarding acceptability, compliance, delivery of the intervention, recruitment and retention. Research of peer learning for nursing students have found several positive benefits while studies of peer learning for newly graduated nurses are lacking. This study aimed (1) to investigate the study process in terms of (a) first-line managers’ perspectives on the intervention study, the difficulties they face and how they handle these and (b) new graduates’ fidelity to the intervention and (2) to examine the effect of the peer learning intervention in workplace introduction for newly graduated nurses.

Methods

A mixed-methods approach using semi-structured interviews with eight managers, repeated checklist for fidelity and questionnaires conducted with 35 new graduates from June 2015 and January 2018, whereof 21 in the intervention group. The peer learning intervention’s central elements included pairs of new graduates starting their workplace introduction at the same time, working the same shift and sharing responsibility for a group of patients for 3 weeks. The intervention also included 3 months of regular peer reflection.

Results

Managers offered mostly positive descriptions of using peer learning during workplace introduction. The intervention fidelity was generally good. Because of recruitment problems and thereby small sample size, it was difficult to draw conclusions about peer learning effects and, thus, the study hypothesis could either be accepted or rejected. Thereby, the study should be regarded as a pilot.

Conclusions

The present study found positive experiences of, from managers, and fidelity to the peer learning intervention; regarding the experimental design, there were lessons learned.

Trial registration

Before starting data collection, a trial registration was registered at (Trial ID ISRCTN14737280).

There are nine study programmes awarding the degree bachelor in engineering (högskoleingenjör) at the University of Gävle. Some of these have only a few applicants, even though the graduates are appreciated by a relatively large regional primary and secondary sector industry. A major revision of the programmes is planned. One objective is to increase the attractiveness of the programmes. In the revised programmes, students are proposed to study most courses together during the first year of study, even if they belong to different engineering specializations. This is intended to improve the study environment. Students in programmes with low numbers of applicants will become part of a richer and livelier student collective. However, the attractiveness could further be problematized by asking to whom higher education is attractive. A special focus will be on increasing the admission of students from groups in society that have been underrepresented in higher education. More specifically this may be linked to individual factors such as the educational level of parents, family income, immigrational background and geography. There may also be societal explanations in traditions of gendered professions. Engineering programmes, and especially some of the specializations at the university, are dominated by male students. This study focuses on how universities can take action to further increase the attractiveness of the engineering programmes, with a special regard to groups that are known to be underrepresented among the students.

AIM: to describe why registered nurses decide to leave their work and to investigate relationships between registered nurses' working life and turnover (leaving the unit versus the profession).

BACKGROUND: Much research has explored nurses' intention to leave, while less research has looked at turnover and especially leaving the profession.

METHODS: Data were collected using questionnaires and interviews.

RESULTS: The three most common reasons for both groups (leaving the profession, n=40; leaving unit but not profession, n=256) were high workload, low salary and applied for and got a new job. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed statistically significant relationships between turnover and empowering structures, such as access to resources and informal power as well as the factor learning in thriving.

CONCLUSIONS: Structural empowerment, such as good access to resources and informal power, is important to keeping nurses in the profession, while learning seems to increase the risk of leaving the profession when variables such as vitality, resources, informal power and age are held constant.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: To counteract nurses leaving the profession, managers must provide nurses with good access to resources, informal power, such as networks within and outside the organization, and focus on nurses' vitality.

The purpose of this observational study was to describe the collaboration between first-year nursing students using peer learning during their first clinical practice education. In earlier, predominantly interview studies, peer learning has been described as a model with several positive outcomes. However, no studies on how students act in collaboration in a real-life context have been found. The present study observed sixteen arbitrarily paired nursing students (eight pairs) on three to five occasions per pair, in total 164 h from September 2015 to March 2016. Repeated unstructured observations including informal conversations were used. Using qualitative content analysis, one theme 'Involuntary collaboration leads to growth in different competencies' emerged and three categories 'Practising nursing skills and abilities when working together', 'Establishing knowledge by helping each other to understand' and 'Sharing thoughts, feelings, and knowledge and put them into words'. In conclusion, nursing students using peer learning were observed practising several competencies, some of them not so easily elicited according to earlier research as organization, nursing leadership, teaching, and supervision.

Aim

The aim of the present study was to elucidate health-promoting and -impeding aspects of peer-learning by examining nursing students' descriptions of learning together as peers, and how this might interact with their health.

Background

Peer-learning is a useful strategy for teaching and learning in nursing students' clinical practice education. In the research, benefits such as improved cooperation and increased self-confidence have been described and labelled as health-promoting.

Design

A qualitative descriptive approach Method Thirteen first-year nursing students aged 22-45 years, who had completed their first clinical practice education on a medical or surgical hospital ward, participated in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Result

Working as a pair was primarily described as positive, as the peers felt basic support from each other, even though they described negative experiences that limited their own development and challenged their patience.

Conclusion

Peer-learning as a model for supervision in clinical practice incorporates valuable health-promoting aspects, as the students felt safe, supported, increased self-confidence, and participation. The interaction between peers helped them grow as human beings, and the mutual support the peers felt was a vital health-promoting aspect that limited the impact of the described health-impeding aspects, which included sometimes finding peer-learning trying, stressful and irritating.

The University of Gävle is located in the city of Gävle, Sweden. It has 16,000 students (about 6,500 full time equivalent) and 700 employees. The University of Gävle has been working with sustainability for the last 25 years. The university has extensive experience in working with an environmental management system, certified according to ISO 14001 since 2004. It published its first sustainability report in 2017. This chapter presents the results from the 66 survey respondents. The main focus of the university is on cross-cutting themes. The economic, environmental, and social dimensions have fairly similar percentages. The contribution to sustainability is high and the strength is high. The ranking of the competences shows that Critical thinking and analysis is the highest, followed by Justice, responsibility, and ethics. The ranking of the pedagogical approaches resulted in Project- or Problem-based learning and Case studies were the highest, followed by Inter-disciplinary team teaching. The correlation analysis showed that Project- or Problem-based learning developed the most competences followed by Case studies and then Place-based environmental education. The competences most developed were Systems thinking, Anticipatory thinking, Strategic action, Personal involvement, and Justice, responsibility and ethics. The results highlight a holistic understanding and teaching of sustainability at the University of Gävle. The results provide a necessary mapping of the competences being developed by the educators and the university and the pedagogical approaches being used. Identifying sustainability trends and patterns in teaching at the University of Gävle can help to better integrate sustainability into all educational programmes, so that students can better contribute to making societies more sustainability.

District nurses are preceptors of district nurse students at the postgraduate level. These district nurse students are already registered nurses who have graduated and are now studying to become district nurses; this training is at the postgraduate level. As preceptors at the postgraduate level, district nurses play an important role in helping these students to achieve the learning outcomes of the clinical practice part of their education. However, there is a lack of studies on precepting at this level. Thus, the aim was to describe district nurses' experiences of precepting district nurse students at the postgraduate level. The study was descriptive in design and used a qualitative approach. Purposive sampling was used and nine district nurses from seven primary health care units in Sweden were interviewed. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. An overall theme ”Fluctuating between transferring knowledge and striving for reflective learning” and two subthemes emerged. The preceptors’ views on precepting and performance varied depending on the situation. The conclusions is that given the current learning outcomes for clinical practice education at the postgraduate level, district nurses need to bemore influenced by preception focused on reflective learning.

Assessment of students' learning and achievement requires active involvement of participating students, preceptors and lecturers. The lecturers have overall responsibility for both the content of the assessment and students' learning. The aim of the present study was to investigate lecturers' reflections on the mid-course discussion and final assessment that are part of nursing students' clinical practice education. The design was descriptive and had a qualitative approach. Repeated group discussions were undertaken with 14 lecturers at two university campuses in Norway. Five categories were identified: preparing for the three-part discussion, creating a collaborative atmosphere, facilitating student learning, verifying student learning, using the assessment tool to create the assessment discussion; one theme emerged: ‘being able to see and justify students’ learning processes'. Lecturers' reflections on both assessment discussions and students' learning proceeded from a clear pedagogical viewpoint.