Scholarship: a journey of self-discovery.

PURPOSE: This article examines scholarship as a holistic process of self-discovery. METHODS: By using their own work as an exemplar, the authors illustrate how the scholarly projects they completed (whether consciously planned or not) helped them to evolve as individuals and scholars. They also demonstrate how those they chose by instinct might have helped them give more valuable service, than those they consciously planned. FINDINGS: They conclude that the scholarly journey affirms the indivisible nature of the scholar/person, and suggest reasons this idea might prove particularly useful to nursing currently.

The use of puppetry for health promotion and suicide prevention among Mi'Kmaq youth.

PURPOSE: North American aboriginal youth have been shown to exhibit some of the highest suicide rates in the world. In this article, the authors examine the main factors related to suicide among aboriginal youth and ways to redress what many consider the most important factor. MAIN FACTOR: While many factors contribute to suicide plans, the literature would suggest "discontinuity" with heritage to have a particularly negative impact that needs priority redress. STRATEGY: A group of Mi'Kmaq elders and an interdisciplinary group of academicians blended traditional Mi'Kmaq knowledge and Western Science knowledge to develop a strategy to address such discontinuity. It involved using puppets made from natural forest materials to promote culture, language, and history. This article describes the strategy, its rationale, as well as its relevance for, and application to, holistic nursing.

Effectiveness of continuing education programmes in nursing: literature review.

AIM: The aim of this paper is to review the literature on what facilitates or inhibits continuing education in nursing and to identify ways to make continuing education more effective. BACKGROUND: [corrected] Healthcare professionals have always been encouraged to update their knowledge and maintain clinical competence. The rapid changes currently taking place within healthcare systems have increased the pressure from direct care providers, professional bodies and the general public for nurses to engage in continuing education programmes. Despite a growing body of empirical research on this topic, the effectiveness and impact of continuing education remains underexplored. METHOD: A literature search was conducted in January 2005 using CINAHL, Medline, the Cochrane databases and the Internet. Keywords used were: 'continuing education', 'professional development', 'viability of continuing education/professional development programmes', 'evaluation of continuing education/professional development programmes' and 'effectiveness of continuing education/professional development programmes'. No date restrictions were imposed. RESULTS: Factors that facilitate the implementation of continuing education in nursing arise from individual, professional and organizational perspectives. While the philosophy behind continuing education is to encourage nurses to become lifelong learners, the learning method chosen for such programmes is often didactic in nature, as opposed to encouraging nurses to take initiative and direct their own learning. Continuing education is intended to ensure healthcare practitioners' knowledge is current, but it is difficult to determine if those who attend these courses are implementing what they have learnt. CONCLUSION: To make continuing education programmes more effective, nurses need to have a more participatory role in their learning. A concerted effort should be made to make continuing education attainable and realistic.

The Nurse Educator's clinical role.

AIM: This paper reports a two-phase descriptive study exploring the clinical role of the nurse educator in Malta. BACKGROUND: Previous studies indicate a number of similarities and differences in the clinical role of nurse educators by country of practice. These include importance assigned to the role, factors inhibiting/facilitating the role, means to eliminate barriers to the role, and perceptions of the ideal role. DESIGN AND METHODS: Data were collected using both quantitative and qualitative strategies. The quantitative phase involved asking all educators to fill in a time log of their academic and clinical activities for a 2-week period. In the qualitative phase, the first author interviewed five educators, five nurses and five students about their perceptions of factors which impact the nurse educator's clinical role, as well as what the ideal clinical role of the nurse educator should be. FINDINGS: Maltese nurse educators allot minimal time to their clinical role. Main reasons cited included workload, perceived lack of control over the clinical area, and diminished clinical competence. Nurse educators who frequented the clinical settings (who were either university or joint university and health service employees) where the study took place perceived that employment inequities among the various categories of nurse educators played an important role in the amount of time dedicated by each group to their clinical roles, and the importance individuals in these groups assigned to that role. The majority of interviewees saw the current role of nurse educators in Malta as preparing students for successful completion of the didactic sections of their programme, rather than preparing them with all the knowledge and clinical skills necessary to be competent practitioners. Participants considered that, when in clinical areas, nurse educators did focus on their students, as they should. However, they also thought that they often did not take the opportunity to forge links with professional staff. CONCLUSION: The clinical role of the Maltese nurse educator needs to be more multifaceted in approach.