Perceived professional preparedness and identity among senior nursing students: a latent profile Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Senior nursing students' perceptions of their professional preparedness help them for expectations of their future nursing role with more confidence, and professional identity may contribute to cultivating nursing students' perceptions of professional preparedness. In this study we applied latent profile analysis to identify the latent profiles of perceived professional preparedness among senior nursing students and to examine their identity and predictors. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. A total of 319 senior nursing students from five universities in China were enrolled. Data were collected using the Perceived Professional Preparedness of Senior Nursing Students' Questionnaire and the Professional Identity Scale for Nursing Students. RESULTS: Three latent profiles were identified and labeled as "low perceived professional preparedness" (n = 90, 28.2%), "low clinical competency-low EBP (Evidence-Based Practice)" (n = 190, 59.5%), and "high perceived professional preparedness" (n = 39, 12.2%). Place of residence, average clinical practicum hours per day, part-time experience, good relationships with classmates, and feeling nobility toward nursing due to COVID-19 significantly predicted profile membership. The average professional identity score was also statistically different across the three profiles (F = 54.69, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Senior nursing students' perceptions of their professional preparedness were divided into three profiles, and out results show that promoting professional identity may effectively foster their perceived professional preparedness. This study therefore highlights the importance of targeted interventions by considering their distinct perceptions of professional preparedness patterns.

Using objective structured clinical examination to teach medication rights in undergraduate nursing education.

INTRODUCTION: Clinical partner feedback identified insubstantial student preparation and limited understanding of safe medication administration process. Faculty initiated a new teaching and evaluation approach to prepare students for safe medication administration processes in the practice setting. METHODS: The teaching method is a synthesis of situated cognition learning theory that emphasizes use of deliberate practice case scenarios in low fidelity simulation. Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) evaluates student critical thinking and application of the medication rights administration process. OUTCOMES: Data collection includes first and second attempt OSCE pass rates, occurrence of incorrect answers, and student feedback regarding the testing experience. Findings include a greater than 90 % pass rate on first attempt, 100 % pass rate on second attempt, and positive testing experience. CONCLUSION: Faculty now use situated cognition learning methods and OSCE in one course within the curriculum.

Emergency Medical Technician Training in Medical School on Preparation for Required National Board Exams and Clerkship Rotations: Results from a Student Survey.

Purpose: The University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville has incorporated Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training into the first semester curriculum with students becoming state-certified EMTs and completing one ambulance shift per month throughout their pre-clerkship years. Although there have been programs that have reported EMT experiences in the pre-clinical years of medical education, student perceptions of how the EMT experiences help prepare them for board exams and clerkships is limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to measure student perceptions regarding the impact of an EMT course and training in the pre-clerkship curriculum in medical school on helping prepare them for national board exams (ie USMLE® Step 1, 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK), 2 Clinical Skills (CS)) and clerkship rotations. Methods: Second-, third-, and fourth-year medical students at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville completed an anonymous voluntary survey with response rates of 66.3%, 55.2%, and 56.9%, respectively. The study was reviewed and exempted by the University of South Carolina Institutional Review Board. Results: Seventeen percent, 14%, and 41% of students agreed/strongly agreed an EMT course helped prepare them for the USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK, and Step 2 CS exam, respectively. Sixty-four percent of students agreed/strongly agreed that an EMT course and experience helped prepare them for clerkship rotations. Conclusion: The findings in this study support EMT training and experience as an EMT as one method to help prepare students for clerkship rotations.

Perceived professional preparedness of senior nursing students' questionnaire: Development and psychometric evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students' perceptions of their professional preparedness help them perform their independent nursing role with self-confidence. OBJECTIVES: To develop and psychometric testing of an instrument, the "Perceived Professional Preparedness of senior Nursing Students" questionnaire. DESIGN: Mixed-method exploratory study. METHODS: We conducted this study in two phases: (1) development of initial questionnaire through interview and literature review; (2) evaluation of psychometric properties of the instrument to introduce a reliable, valid tool. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: We assessed qualitative and quantitative face validity of initial questionnaire by administering it to 10 nursing students. Then, a panel of 10 nursing specialists determined the Content Validity Index. After modifying items, we assessed the construct validity of the 45-item questionnaire. A sample of 159 senior nursing students completed the questionnaire, and we conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using this data. To assess the test-retest reliability, 30 students completed the instrument twice with a two-week time interval. RESULTS: The Content Validity Index with the modified Kappa coefficient was calculated as ≥0.72, which is considered satisfactory. In exploratory factor analysis using the maximum likelihood method and varimax rotation, we extracted 19 items in four factors. This structure included 61.91% of the total variance. The factors were clinical competency, evidence-based practice, framework-oriented performance, and patient-centered care. Cronbach's alpha coefficient and McDonald's omega values higher than 0.70 and inter-class correlation coefficient above 0.90 for all factors confirmed reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a suitable fitting of the final developed model. CONCLUSION: The developed questionnaire is a valid, reliable tool to assess the perceived preparedness of senior nursing students for transition to the clinical setting. Further psychometric testing for this questionnaire on larger populations and in different contexts is suggested.

[Clinical Preparations: Status Quo and Challenges in the Future].

Dispensing clinical preparations requires the professional ability of pharmacists as specialists who understand the physicochemical properties of drugs. Clinical preparations contribute to the support of drug therapy and to commercialization by pharmaceutical companies. The Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacists published the Guidelines on Hospital Preparations and Use in 2012. Those guidelines were designed to improve the safety and utility of hospital preparations, indicate the standard procedures for treatment in hospitals, and show how to ensure the quality of hospital preparations. The expiration dates for clinical preparations should be determined, although this is not done for most because of the numerous hospitals and differences in their approaches to quality control. Furthermore, the acquisition of informed consent for the use of clinical preparations is inadequate. After the guidelines were released, some problems have occurred, such as the underfilling of prescriptions for progesterone vaginal suppositories and overdoses of selenium injections. It therefore appears necessary to consider the development of a new procedural manual on clinical preparations. In this symposium, I discuss relief or safety measures for clinical preparations.

How prepared are students for the various transitions in their medical studies? An Australian university pilot study.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Becoming a doctor involves a series of transitions that require medical students to be equipped with the appropriate knowledge, skills, confidence and professional approach at each step. This pilot cross-sectional study canvassed five cohorts immediately after completing Years 1-5 in a five-year undergraduate medical program (Gold Coast, Australia) regarding their preparedness for the next year. The survey, an amalgamation of two validated inventories, was tailored for each year group to include the expected competencies in five areas. Despite a low response, those who did participate provided valuable information regarding their competence and confidence in terms of their interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, their clinical skills, their ability to apply their theoretical knowledge and investigations. Time management and balancing work and their studies were some areas in which support might be needed. Generally, all student felt comfortable with the communication and physical examination skills but up to half of some of the more senior students were not confident towards dealing with a violent patient and about 20% did not feel at ease communicating and assessing a patient with a mental health issue. Students identified two other areas that requiring curriculum interventions: Working with patients who might be using non-allopathic medications and calculating drug doses. As both impact on patient outcomes, a follow-up study is required. Different recruitment strategies need to be investigated.

New graduate nurses' preparation for recognition and prevention of failure to rescue: A qualitative study.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: To explore new graduate nurses' experiences with recognition and prevention of failure to rescue. BACKGROUND: Failure to rescue is recognised as a quality-of-care indicator, a core measure of nursing care in hospitals, and a determinant for staffing in acute care facilities. Clinical reasoning is an essential component in preventing failure to rescue and should be emphasised in nursing education and new graduate orientation. Many nurses graduate without the ability to use clinical reasoning in providing patient care which can lead to adverse patient outcomes. DESIGN: A descriptive phenomenological design was used. METHODS: A purposive sample of 14 new graduate nurses from a nursing programme in the south-eastern USA, in practice for no more than eighteen months, was recruited. Individual one-on-one interviews were conducted from January-June 2016 and audio-recorded for accuracy. Data were evaluated using the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) guidelines. Recordings were professionally transcribed and reviewed. RESULTS: Using Giorgi's methods for data analysis, five main themes were discerned in the data: clinical preparation in school; experience with emergent situations; development of clinical reasoning; low confidence as a new graduate; and responding to emergencies. Within each theme, subthemes emerged. CONCLUSION: The words of the participants provided rich detail into the preparation of new graduate nurses and how nurse educators, managers and preceptors can better focus learning opportunities to prepare them for practice. Experiential learning combined with collaboration among education stakeholders will lead to a better prepared and more confident nursing work force. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Better preparation and continued support of new graduate nurses lead to positive patient outcomes and more satisfaction with their choice of nursing as a profession.

Positioning and Development of Hospital Preparations in China——Transformation of “Production Profit” to “Clinical Preparation” Model / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To probe into the positioning and connotation of hospital preparations in new era METHODS:To discuss the developmental orientation of hospital preparations based on relative literature RESULTS & CONCLUSION:In order to achieve further development of hospital preparations,we must accomplish the transformation of “production profit” to “clinical preparation” model