Trends in nursing ethics research: Mapping the literature production.

BACKGROUND: There have been a number of debates in the field of nursing ethics. Researchers have focused on various aspects of nursing ethics, such as professional ethics, professional, nursing and ethical values. Within this research, a variety of literature reviews have been conducted, but to the best of our knowledge, bibliometric mapping has not yet been used. OBJECTIVE: This article aims to analyse the production of literature within nursing ethics research. RESEARCH DESIGN: In order to examine publishing patterns, we focused on publishing dynamics, prolific research entities and the most-cited articles. We additionally visualised the content of the literature using a novel mixed-method approach, combining bibliometric analysis and mapping with thematic analysis. Ethical considerations: In our study, ethical review was not required. FINDINGS: A total of 1416 information sources were found in the Scopus database. Overall, literature production has increased; however, in recent years, the quantity of published material has begun to decrease. The most prolific countries are the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and the most prolific source titles are Nursing Ethics, Journal of Advanced Nursing and Nursing Times. Lately, research in the field of nursing ethics has been focused more on life care (providing for the basic needs of older residents), moral distress and community nursing. DISCUSSION: The dynamics of research literature production showed an exponential rise in the number of published information sources - a rise which started in the period between 1974 and 1998. Since that period, the trend has stabilised, which might indicate that nursing ethics research is starting a transition to a mature phase. CONCLUSION: The innovative use of bibliometric analysis and mapping, together with thematic analysis, is a useful tool for analysis of research production in the field of nursing ethics. The results presented can be an excellent starting point for literature reviews and more exhaustive data, information and knowledge seeking.

Bibliometric Patterns of Research Literature Production on Nursing Informatics Competence.

BACKGROUND: Nursing informatics competence is a prerequisite for successful information management, evidence-based practices optimizing patient care health promotion, and communication with information communication technology-literate patients. METHOD: The aim of this study was to assess the trends in the production of nursing informatics competence research literature and to identify the most productive bibliometric entities. In addition to the correspondence analysis, bibliometric analysis and mapping were used to achieve the aim. RESULTS: A total of 366 information sources were extracted, 14.5% of which were sponsored studies. The production of research literature on nursing informatics competence is growing, but this research is only occasionally published in the most recognized nursing journals. CONCLUSION: Identifying where the intensive research on nursing informatics competence is beneficial to care for the patient of the future and building user-friendly online lifelong learning platforms, where a required level of nursing informatics competence could be acquired, are two gaps in the current research that should be covered in future.

Survey on specific nursing competences: Students' perceptions.

INTRODUCTION: The nursing profession requires sophisticated interdisciplinary knowledge and skills, which is why numerous nursing curricula are being developed all across the world. The aim of the study was to assess students' perspectives about competences, defined by the Tuning project, they acquired and developed since enrolment in the undergraduate nursing study programme. METHODS: A survey was performed amongst 69 postgraduate Master degree students at the Faculty of Health Sciences University of Maribor, Slovenia (nursing graduates) and the research results were analysed using conventional statistical and correspondence analysis. RESULTS: Most of the participants felt that they are more competent in their awareness of different roles, responsibilities and functions of a nurse together with the ability to practice within the context of professional, ethical, regulatory and legal codes. However they felt less competent in leadership, management, and team competences. CONCLUSIONS: According to the students' perceptions the current Nursing curriculum should be more future oriented and needs some core changes regarding the scope and level competences taught.

Research literature production on nursing competences from 1981 till 2012: A bibliometric snapshot.

BACKGROUND: When nurse education has moved away from a hospital based apprenticeship to a higher education institutions and new EU legislature enabled nurse workforce mobility, the term "competence" became an important concept in nurse education and practice. However, there is still a lot of confusion about its definition, how it should be assessed and implemented and which competences does a contemporary nurse need. OBJECTIVES: To find publishing patterns in the nursing competence research literature production, focusing on publishing dynamics, identifying prolific research entities, most cited papers, and visualising the content of the research. DESIGN AND DATA SOURCES: A bibliometric analysis of 370 information sources (288 original papers and 82 review articles) found in the Scopus database using the search string "nursing competenc*" for the period 1981-2012 was conducted. The SciMago database was used to identify country and source title ranks. METHODS: Common elements of bibliometric data were extracted from each information source. Descriptive, correspondence and text analyses were used on the retrieved bibliometric data. RESULTS: The production of research literature has a positive trend. The research on nursing competences is being performed on all five continents, however is not yet published in top journals. Most prolific countries are the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Australasia, and most prolific source titles are the Journal of clinical nursing, the Journal of nursing education and Public health nursing. The results confirmed the still persisting confusion in the definition of the competence and the emergence of the need for defining new nursing competences. CONCLUSIONS: Study confirmed that there are still open questions in the nursing competence research that will require actions on different levels including policy makers, educators and practising nurses.

Elderly people's interaction with advanced technology.

Aging of population is an inevitable process by which the number of elderly people is increasing. Rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT) is changing basic needs of elderly people; therefore society should ensure opportunities for elderly to learn and use ICT in a way to manage their daily life activities and in this way enable them participation in the information and knowledge society. The purpose of the study was to find out whether elderly are acquainted with the advanced technology and to what extent they use it or they desire to use it. Within the single point study we interviewed 100 randomly selected elderly people from different geographical regions in Slovenia. Results showed the differences in the use of advanced technology by Slovenian regions; therefore in the future activities should be focused on organizing promotional and demonstrational activities including ICT courses to increase elderly's motivation for ICT interaction.

Nursing informatics competencies: bibliometric analysis.

Information and communication technology is developing rapidly and it is incorporated in many health care processes, but in spite of that fact we can still notice that nursing informatics competencies had received limited attention in basic nursing education curricula in Europe and especially in Eastern European countries. The purpose of the present paper is to present the results of a bibliometric analysis of the nursing informatics competencies scientific literature production. We applied the bibliometrics analysis to the corpus of 332 papers found in SCOPUS, related to nursing informatics competencies. The results showed that there is a positive trend in the number of published papers per year, indicating the increased research interest in nursing informatics competencies. Despite the fact that the first paper was published in Denmark, the most prolific country regarding the research in nursing informatics competencies is United States as are their institutions and authors.

Information and communication technology as a tool for improving physical and social activity of the elderly.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) can enrich elderly people's lives in various ways. The objective of this interventional quasi-experimental research study among elderly people in Slovenia and Finland is to present associations and relations between computer/Internet use, physical activity and social inclusion before and after a ICT interaction. The first study (before interaction) included 58 (M=72,41) and the second study (after interaction) 45 (M=72,96) elderly people. The results showed an increased level of social inclusion and physical activity by the elderly after becoming acquainted with ICT. Additionally, through ICT interaction, the elderly people developed new friendships and so expanded their social networks, which they also found easier to maintain with support from ICT.