Nurse education is how nurses are prepared to engage in the delivery of nursing care. Nursing students are educated by teachers who are usually dual qualified, being both experienced nurses and educators. Almost all countries worldwide offer nurse education courses relevant to general nursing, mental health nursing and the nursing of sick children. Courses leading to autonomous registration as a nurse typically last three years. Nurse education also provides post-qualification courses in specialist subjects within nursing. During recent decades, in many parts of the developed world, the emphasis on education has replaced the more practically focussed, but often ritualistic, training structure of conventional practitioner preparation. Educational pathways stress a broader awareness of other disciplines allied to medicine, and the utilisation of research when making clinical and managerial decisions. Orthodox training can be argued to have offered a more intense practical skills base, but emphasised the hand maiden relationship with the physician. This is now outmoded, and the impact of nurse education is to develop a confident, inquiring graduate practitioner who contributes to the care team as an equal. However, not all qualification courses yet have graduate status. It is possible to link recent developments in nurse education with feminism and the rising status of women in professional roles elsewhere.

Traditionally, from the times prior to Florence Nightingale, nursing was seen as an apprenticeship, often undertaken in religious orders such as convents by young females, although there has always been a proportion of male nurses, especially in mental health services. In 1860 Nightingale set up the first nurse training school at St Thomas' Hospital, London. Nightingale's curriculum was largely base around nursing practice, with instruction focussed upon the need for hygiene and task competence. Her methods are reflected in her "Notes on Nursing", (1898). Some other nurses at this time, notably Ethel Bedford-Fenwick, were in favour of formalised nursing registration and curriculae that were formally based in higher education and not within the confines of hospitals.

In contrast, nurse education in the United States has almost exclusively been conducted within university schools, although it is unclear who offered the first degree level programme. In Europe the University of Edinburgh was the first European institution to offer a nursing degree in 1972. Within the profession of nurse teaching, arguments continue about the ideal balance of practical preparation to do the job in a hands-on way with the need to educate the future practitioner to manage healthcare and to see "the bigger picture". To meet these requirements, nurse education aims to develop and nurture a lifelong learner who can adapt effectively to changes in both the theory and practice of nursing.

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Nursing / Midwifery News From Medical News Today

India To Provide Incentives For Medical Professionals To Work In Rural, Underserved Areas
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:00:00 -0700
In an effort to encourage medical professionals to provide services to low-income rural populations in India, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced an initiative that will significantly raise the salary of "doctors, specialists and para-medical staff" who elect to work in "rural, particularly far-flung and inaccessible areas," the Hindu reports.
Doctors And Nurses Facing Tough Choices
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:00:00 -0700
Doctors and nurses consider job security and the differences between primary care and specialties when choosing their career paths.The Business Courier of Cincinnati reports on an increase in nursing: "The recession has people craving a safe harbor, and nursing is probably the closest thing to it.
Washington State Nurse-Midwife Receives The Hattie Award, American College Of Nurse-Midwives' Highest Honor
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:00:00 -0700
Katherine Camacho Carr, CNM, PhD, a certified nurse-midwife, professor and assistant dean of graduate studies at the Seattle University College of Nursing, is the recipient of the 2009 Hattie Hemschemeyer Award from the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM.) The "Hattie" is ACNM's most prestigious award and was presented to Carr at ACNM's 54th Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Journal of Research in Nursing current issue

A commission into nursing; an insular exercise or a welcome opportunity?
Bishop, V. Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0000

A decade of improvement for cardiac patients in England
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Cardiac rehabilitation research: new perspectives for a new century
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Evidence-Based Nursing current issue

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[EBN notebook] A beginner's guide to probability
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Research in Nursing & Health

Pediatric nurses' thinking in response to vignettes on administering analgesics
Catherine Van Hulle Vincent, Erica J. Gaddy Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:03:00 -0000
Pediatric nurses are not administering available and recommended analgesics to hospitalized children after surgery. This descriptive study was conducted to examine 30 pediatric nurses' thinking - in response to case study vignettes - about pain assessment and morphine administration for children experiencing postoperative pain. Nurses considered numerous factors when assessing and managing children's pain, including pain level, vital signs, and facial expression. Nurses frequently relied, however, on behavioral and physiological manifestations, as opposed to self-report, when choosing whether to administer morphine. Nurses demonstrated misconceptions about pharmacokinetics and unwarranted concerns about the adverse effects of morphine. These findings partly explain why children continue to report high levels of pain after surgery and why nurses may not administer adequate analgesics to relieve children's pain. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health
Effects of coping skills training in school-age children with type 1 diabetes
Margaret Grey, Robin Whittemore, Sarah Jaser, Jodie Ambrosino, Evie Lindemann, Lauren Liberti, Veronika Northrup, James Dziura Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:42:00 -0000
Children with type 1 diabetes are at risk for negative psychosocial and physiological outcomes, particularly as they enter adolescence. The purpose of this randomized trial (n = 82) was to determine the effects, mediators, and moderators of a coping skills training intervention (n = 53) for school-aged children compared to general diabetes education (n = 29). Both groups improved over time, reporting lower impact of diabetes, better coping with diabetes, better diabetes self-efficacy, fewer depressive symptoms, and less parental control. Treatment modality (pump vs. injections) moderated intervention efficacy on select outcomes. Findings suggest that group-based interventions may be beneficial for this age group. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health
Research on the care environment: Celebrating signs of success, posing questions to advance future investigations
Bonnie Mowinski Jennings Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:42:00 -0000
No Abstract.

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