Best Practice Guidelines for use of OSCEs: Maximising value for student learning.

Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are a regular component of Bachelor of Nursing (BN) programs within Australia and internationally. OSCEs are a valuable strategy to assess 'fitness to practice' at the students' expected level of clinical practice within a nursing context where the importance of accurate patient assessment is paramount. This report discusses the integration of seven proposed 'Best Practice Guidelines' (BPG) into an undergraduate BN program in Queensland, Australia. A range of learning and assessment strategies was introduced in accordance with the adoption of these guidelines to maximise student engagement. There is some evidence that these strategies have directly assisted in enhanced student confidence around clinical practice and provide preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of BPG for OSCEs within nursing programs internationally.

Influence of quantum size effects on island coarsening.

Surface x-ray scattering and scanning-tunneling microscopy experiments reveal novel coarsening behavior of Pb nanocrystals grown on Si(111)-(7 x 7). It is found that quantum size effects lead to the breakdown of the classical Gibbs-Thomson analysis. This is manifested by the lack of scaling of the island densities. In addition, island decay times tau are orders of magnitude faster than expected from the classical analysis and have an unusual dependence on the growth flux F (i.e., tau is approximately 1/F). As a result, a highly monodispersed 7-layer island height distribution is found after coarsening if the islands are grown at high rather than low flux rates. These results have important implications, especially at low temperatures, for the controlled growth and self-organization of nanostructures.