Bereavement Support Services in a National Sample of Hospices: A Content Analysis

Although the Medicare Hospice Benefit mandates that hospices provide bereavement services to families for 1 year following death, it does not stipulate what services should be offered or how. Thus, this study aimed to explore the range of hospice bereavement services. This study stems from Cagle et al.’s (2020) prior study surveying 600 randomly selected agencies, stratified by state and profit status. Most participants (N = 76) worked as clinical supervisors or directors of patient services (41.6%) for medium-sized (53.2%), for-profit hospices (50.6%). Responses to “What types of bereavement support does your hospice provide to families?” were content analyzed. Analyst triangulation and peer debriefing enhanced trustworthiness. Four domains emerged: timing of support, providers of support, targets of support, and formats of support. Each domain reflected substantial variability. All hospices offered postdeath bereavement support. A minority described offering predeath support, often through bereavement risk assessment and supportive services targeting those at risk. Providers frequently included trained bereavement counselors, social workers, and chaplains. Less often, hospices leveraged familiar members of the decedents’ care team to encourage family participation. Although bereavement services predominantly targeted surviving adult family members of deceased hospice patients, services tailored to children and hospice-unaffiliated community members also emerged. The format of bereavement services demonstrated the widest variability. Commonly reported formats included written materials, support groups, and phone calls. Most hospices employed multiple formats. Although findings are consistent with prior research, the variability in each domain complicates rigorous investigation of which aspects offer the greatest benefit to bereaved family members.

Peningkatan Kompetensi Dosen Pembimbing Klinis Dalam Menyusun Soal OSCE (Objective Structered Clinical Examination)

This community service is taken in training form. Training is given to clinical supervisors with the aim of increasing the competence of clinical supervisors for evaluating achivement of clerkship in clinical learning process. The training used a four steps method, i.e: namely: determining the level of competence, compiling disease case scenarios, entering disease case scenarios into the OSCE template, completing information related to OSCE and assessment rubric. Using this method, clinical supervisors are proven to be better at composing OSCE questions. The results of this training, there is 7 OSCE questions had made from 7 departments. A review of these questions resulted in two questions that did not match between the level of assessment with the level of competence; one question that has excess time allocation and 2 questions that have less time allocation. In the future, the preparation of OSCE questions must be carried out routinely by clinical supervisors, so that clinical supervisors are used to preparing OSCE questions. The questions collected need to be revised so that they can be used in the OSCE exam.

Enabling nursing students to have a voice in designing a learning resource to support their participation in a clinical placement

Background: There appears to be a gap in the literature with regard to nursing students’ participation in designing learning resources to prepare them for the reality of clinical placements. In addition, the existing research on preparation focuses on skills competency and overlooks the emotional preparation required to navigate the practice context, while preparation of early-year students is not prioritised. Aim: This study had two aims: to provide nursing students with processes and tools to give them a voice in the development of learning resources to prepare for clinical placement; and to address some of the power imbalances between nursing students and clinical supervisors. Methods: This action research study was undertaken collaboratively with students and academic staff as co-researchers and was underpinned by the theoretical perspectives of transformational learning and person-centredness. It used a range of creative methods, such as workshops, critical creativity and critical dialogue. Conclusion: Emotional connection and vulnerability were found to enhance healthful (supervisory) relationships. The co-researchers developed a Student-Led Conversation Form and a process to support students to undertake and lead a conversation with their clinical supervisors and create shared values. Significantly, emotional preparation for clinical placements was found to be important for nursing students facing the reality of practice. Implications for practice: • Innovative approaches to curriculum development are enabled when academic staff authentically engage with nursing students • First-year nursing students experience a sense of empowerment when they engage in student-led learning • Person-centred learning requires academic staff and nursing students to be challenged to develop emotional literacy skills

Socialising of nursing students into homecare practice in Denmark: a Berger and Luckmann-inspired interview study

In 2016, Denmark's nurse education eliminated diagnoses, age and care settings from the curriculum. How students are trained for homecare is unknown. This article illuminates how students of non-Danish origin were socialised into homecare practice during nurse education in Denmark. Semi-structured interviews with eight students and a theoretical inspired latent thematic analysis of data were conducted. The SRQR checklist was used. The results are presented under three themes: Unprepared students stepped out from university college, Clinical supervisors as instructive and questioned role models, and Patients and relatives acted as co-supervisors. Theoretical highlights on homecare nursing were scarce from students’ perspectives. Clinical supervisors and encounters with patients and relatives in their homes socialised students into professional roles within homecare. The organisation of education in homecare pointed to a clinical, professional socialisation of nursing students in patients’ homes rather than a theoretical socialisation with an inherent formation at university college.

Should dental amalgams be used in dental training? The perspectives of dental academics at a university in South Africa

Dental amalgam has been used in dentistry for the last 150 years to restore posterior teeth. Concerns regarding the safety issues with amalgam due to its mercury content have lead to the introduction of composite dental material to restore posterior teeth. This has transformed the teaching and training trends of direct restorative materials for posterior teeth. This descriptive study aimed to gain insight into academic staff and clinical supervisors’ perceptions regarding the use of dental amalgams in the teaching of restorative dentistry. This study used a qualitative method of data collection. Two focus group discussions were conducted between March and May 2020. Seventeen participants were invited to participate. Fourteen responded and participated, yielding an 82% response rate. The data identified two major themes, viz. the challenges experienced with the teaching of dental amalgam and curriculum development recommendations. Clinical quota requirements, disposal of waste products, and occupational and environmental risks regarding mercury exposure were sub-themes. Some of the curriculum recommendations included the skills gained during cavity preparations, the training and quota requirements of dental materials, and teaching trends locally, nationally and internationally.This study revealed that dental amalgam is still an integral part of the restorative dentistry curriculum at the university. However, the teaching of resin composite now occupies more than fifty percent of the restorative dentistry curriculum. Academics and clinical supervisors show a greater affinity for the placement of composite restorations.

Nursing Students’ Challenges and Experiences of Undergoing Clinical Rotation Program during Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) contagion which has resulted in millions of casualties worldwide has been bringing pressure and challenges to nursing students undergoing clinical rotation programs. In Indonesia, several schools of nursing have issued policies to keep facilitating clinical rotation education in the hospital. This policy identified several challenges that the students should face. AIM: This study aimed to explore nursing students’ challenges and experiences undergoing clinical rotation programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive approach to content analysis was employed. The study participants were 31 nursing students who undergo clinical rotation. These participants were purposefully chosen to use criteria. Participants’ age ranged from 23 to 25 years and has passed both the intensive care unit and intensive cardiovascular care unit stage. Data were collected through focus group discussion which was carried out 4 times and each FGD lasted for 90–120 min then analyzed using content analysis method that includes five major segments: Introduction, coding, theme creation, thematic classification, and reporting. RESULTS: The themes from the study included negative emotion in the initial stage, positive emotions, a competency that difficult to achieve, and strategies for coping and self-care. CONCLUSION: Constructive emotion coping strategy is believed to assist students in dealing with challenges amid the clinical rotation program. Implementation of clinical rotation learning for nursing students requires preparation from various aspects, such as student readiness, clinical supervisors, and support from academic institutions.

Students’ interprofessional workplace learning in clinical placement

Students’ learning in the workplace during their clinical placements is an important part of their education to become healthcare professionals. Despite the number of studies of student interprofessional learning in clinical placements, little is still known about the significance of interprofessional learning and how it is facilitated and arranged for to occur. This article aims to investigate interprofessional learning between students collaborating in a workplace-driven arrangement integrated into a clinical placement. A focused ethnographic research approach was applied, comprising observations of ten students participating in the arrangement organised by clinical supervisors on a medical emergency ward at a Swedish university hospital, followed by group interviews. Using a boundary-crossing lens, the article analyses the workplace arrangement, in which students’ learning across professional boundaries and their negotiations around a boundary object were prerequisites to coordinate their interprofessional knowledge and manage emerging challenges while being in charge of care on the ward.

Supporting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Counselors: Considerations for Counselor Skills Training and Practice

Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) counselors require training, practice, and consultation strategies to address client-initiated microaggressions and racism in counseling. Utilizing critical race theory in counselor education, the authors offer a counseling skills model, based on Sue et al.’s microintervention concept, to support BIPOC counselor training and supervision. The authors describe strategies all counselors may use to address microaggressions and racism in counseling sessions with relevant ethical considerations. Implications for mental health counselors, counselor educators, and clinical supervisors are provided.