Implementing dedicated education units in 6 European undergraduate nursing and midwifery students clinical placements

Background Undergraduate students’ clinical experience, working directly with patients and the healthcare team is essential to ensure students acquire the necessary competence for practice. There are differences in the quality of clinical environments and in students’ clinical placement experiences and not all clinical sites are optimal learning environments. The Dedicated Education Unit clinical education model allows students to develop the practical knowledge, skills and professionalism they will need as nurses/midwives. Methods We employed the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to identify and compare barriers and facilitators in the implementation of the Dedicated Education Unit in 6 European undergraduate nursing/midwifery student clinical placement settings and to describe the experience of nurses/midwives involved in the Dedicated Education Unit model implementation and evaluation. A pre-post implementation interpretive assessment was based on participants’ responses to the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research construct questions. Results Although Dedicated Education Unit model implementation in our project was heterogeneous, no main implementation barriers were perceived. Qualitative data showed that educational-service collaboration, including a focus on mutual goals, organizational communication and networking, satisfaction of educational and healthcare professionals, and the establishment of a safe space for professional discussion and feedback, were considered facilitators. Conclusions This study describes the key elements guiding educational and healthcare stakeholders in Dedicated Education Unit implementation, engaging participants in the entire process, and offering other organizations the opportunity to consider the benefits of this clinical education model.

An Examination of the Clinical Learning Experience of Second Career Nursing Students in a Dedicated Education Unit: A Qualitative Study

Controversy exists between academic leaders and nurse executives in the health care system regarding whether or not new graduates especially second-career nurses are fully prepared to provide safe and effective patient care. Nurse educators are exploring innovative methods explored to improve clinical learning outcome and to foster successful career development of these students. The purpose of the paper is to examine the experience and self-regulated learning capacities of second-career nursing students who have received clinical teaching in a Veterans Affair Hospital’s dedicated education unit in the United States. The study setting is a 20-bed cardiac telemetry unit where staff nurses are purposely assigned to clinical teaching. Kuiper’s self-regulated learning model (Kuiper, 2005), a middle-range theory derived from constructivist theory, is used as the theoretical framework of the study. 13 students were recruited from the hospital’s partnership with a second-career program. The participants were asked to answer 10 open-ended questions during two focus group sessions of 6 and 7 people respectively. The conversations were audio-taped and transcribed. The scripts were input into a qualitative research software NVivo10 for data analysis. The study provides a glimpse into the lived experience of the second-career students. It compares the findings with those of prior published studies. It concludes that the dedicated education unit has a positive impact on second-career students’ self-regulated learning experience.

Dedicated Education Unit: Improving graduating nursing students’ preparedness for practice

Background and Objective: Majority of new graduate nurses are not adequately prepared to assume the dynamic and complex role of today’s professional nurse. The Dedicated Education Unit (DEU) is a clinical teaching model developed in response to the limitations of traditional clinical model (TCM). The aim of the study is to examine the readiness for practice and level of confidence in clinical decision making among graduating nursing students in the DEU and compare it with the students in the TCM.Methods: A pre-test/post-test design was used. The Casey-Fink Readiness for Practice was utilized in the pre and post-test surveys and the Nursing Anxiety and Self-Confidence in Clinical Decision-Making was used in the post test. Data were analyzed in aggregate and pre-test scores were compared to post-test scores at the cohort level using t-test.Results: The pre-test results showed no significant difference between the DEU and TCM groups. However, the post-test results showed higher levels of readiness for practice and higher self-confidence and lower anxiety in clinical decision making among the DEU students.Conclusions: The study provides evidence on the impact of the DEU in providing graduating nursing students with high quality clinical education to better prepare them for practice.