Health Nursing Students (health + nursing_student)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Learning to Support Children With Complex and Continuing Health Needs and Their Families

JOURNAL FOR SPECIALISTS IN PEDIATRIC NURSING, Issue 2 2007
Helen Farasat
PURPOSE.,This paper reports on the evaluation of a pilot placement for preregistration child health nursing students focused on supporting children with complex needs in their homes. CONCLUSIONS.,This type of placement can be beneficial in enabling students to develop practical skills, attitudes, and values that will assist them to provide appropriate support for this client group. The pilot placement clarified some of the major organizational and practical issues that must be considered. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS.,Developing opportunities for preregistration nursing students to learn to support children with complex needs and their families is possible and potentially beneficial. [source]


An exploration of mental health nursing students' experiences and attitudes towards using cigarettes to change client's behaviour

JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 8 2010
M. J. NASH msc pclt bsc (hons) rnt rmn fhea
Accessible summary ,,This study explores the experiences of mental health nursing students in using cigarettes as a means of token economy. ,,The majority of the sample experienced the use of this particular intervention in various settings but also reported that other items apart from cigarettes were also used as part of a reward system. ,,Respondents generally did not like this practice, feeling that it did not work well, led to client staff conflict, was implemented in an ad hoc way and rarely recorded in a care plan. ,,An open debate on tobacco control and the use of cigarettes in behavioural change programmes is urgently required. Abstract Using cigarettes to change client behaviour is a common, yet little studied, practice in mental health care. A questionnaire survey was used to explore mental health nursing student's experiences and attitudes to this practice. The sample was four cohorts of mental health nursing students (n= 151). Of them, 84% had experienced the practice of using cigarettes to change client behaviour in acute wards (73%), rehabilitation wards (28%) and elderly care (14%). Cigarettes were used to change client behaviour in areas such as attending to personal hygiene (57%) or engaging in the ward routine (39%). However, items such as leave (60%) or drinks (tea and coffee) (38%) were also reportedly used. Of the respondents, 54% inferred that the practice did not work well with 46% stating it was not written up in care plans; 52% felt it was an ad hoc practice, 60% inferred that at times it was used as a punishment while 55% intimated that they felt bad withholding cigarettes. There are ethical and moral dilemmas around using lifestyle risk factors as rewards or using client's nicotine addiction as a means of controlling behaviour. The question of whether this intervention should ever be used, given its associated health risk, requires more critical debate in clinical practice. [source]


Integration of theory and practice in learning mental health nursing

JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2002
T. MUNNUKKA RN PhD(Nursing science) PhD(Education)
This article describes an action research project that aimed at a better integration of theory and practice in the education of mental health nursing students. Two partners, an institute of nursing and health care and a university hospital, collaborated to develop a new educational programme for mental health nursing. The blocks of theoretical studies were implemented simultaneously with practical training, and the theory content was taught by nursing teachers as well as by nurse practitioners who worked on the teaching wards. In addition, the students had their own personal nurse-preceptors on the wards. The nurse managers were responsible for the educational level of the teaching wards and the director of nursing planned the teaching arrangements together with the nursing teachers. In all, the project involved over 50 different actors and several researchers. The results are encouraging: all the participants , students, preceptors, nurse managers and nursing teachers , found the project rewarding and they want to continue to develop and improve the level of teaching and learning in mental health nursing education. All the participants grew and developed professionally during the project. [source]


Mental health nursing students' experience of stress: burdened by a heavy load

JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2009
M. FREEBURN msc pgrad dip bsc(hons) rpn rnt
This paper reports research outcomes of a study into personal stress experienced by mental health student nurses undertaking a diploma programme in Ireland. It uses a phenomenological research approach. The sample was purposive and involved in-depth interviews with six students. The purpose of the study was to contribute to the knowledge of the impact of personal life stressors. Findings from this study focus on the following themes: event, meaning, effects, ability to move beyond the stress, influence on life and constraints and demands. Key points arising are that the stress experience does impact students' internal and external worlds, potentially lessening functioning and inhibiting growth and development. This paper presents student narratives that offer insights into their inner worlds, providing true accounts of the essence of stress for them. This knowledge has implications for lecturers, personal tutors, nurse educationalists and nursing curricula, highlighting need for more proactive approaches to the provision of guidance on professional support for students and staff. Insights derived from this study are relevant not only to mental health nurse education but also to academic staff delivering professional education programmes to healthcare practitioners in a variety of settings. [source]