Nursing students go through clinical supervision in primary health care settings but district nurses' (DNs) circumstances when supervising them are only briefly described in the literature. The aim of this study was to investigate DNs experience of supervising nursing students before and after the implementation of a new supervision model. Ninety-eight (74%) DNs answered a questionnaire before and 84 (65%) after implementation of the new supervision model. The study showed that DNs in most cases felt that conditions for supervision in the workplace were adequate. But about 70% lacked training for the supervisory role and 20% had no specialist district nurse training. They also experienced difficulty in keeping up-to-date with changes in nurse education programmes, in receiving support from the university and from their clinic managers, and in setting aside time for supervision. Improvements after the implementation of a new model chiefly concerned organisation; more DNs stated that one person had primary responsibility for students' clinical practice, that information packages for supervisors and students were available at the health care centres, and that conditions were in place for increasing the number of students they supervised. DNs also stated that supervisors and students benefited from supervision by more than one supervisor. To conclude, implementation of a new supervision model resulted in some improvements.

The aim of this article is to present a communication skills training curriculum for nursing students, based upon phenomenology. Research shows that nurses have difficulty prioritizing dialogue with patients, due to lack of time, organizational and cultural factors. Like other health care professionals, nurses may also have difficulties communicating with patients due to personal fears and shortcomings. The communication training curriculum based upon phenomenology aims at systematically training students to stay focused upon patients' and relatives' narratives, allowing them to reflect upon and better understand their current situation. This approach to communication is applicable in any clinical situation where it important to provide space for the patients' experiences. The philosophical principles guiding the training are presented here as well as the practical steps in the program. Finally, the approach is compared to other common communication methods used in nursing (motivational interviewing, caring conversations, empathy training). The authors hope that the article will highlight the nurses’ role as dialogue partner as well as emphasize the importance of communication skills training in nursing education. This approach can be refined, tested and modified in future research and may serve as an inspirational model for creating a generic communicative competence for nurses.

In an era of global aging, the steady increase in older people in Sweden and the United States is having a direct effect on nursing practice, presenting unprecedented opportunities and challenges in nursing education. The aim of this study was to highlight differences and similarities in curricular approaches to care of aged in Swedish and US baccalaureate nursing programs. The Swedish response rate was 100% (N=26); the US response rate was 36% (N=202). The results, which compare curricula approaches, have implications for nursing education in Sweden and the United States. Both include stand-alone and integrated courses on care of the aged, geriatrics and gerontology. Differences are noted in the percentage of programs that include care of the age in their curricula and the clinical education settings. Results of this study add to the sparse body of knowledge of cross-cultural nursing research on curricular approaches to geriatrics and gerontology, high-light similarities and differences in nursing education in two countries and invite dialogue among nurse educators. Future research is needed to address curricular issues on the aged population and cross cultural perspectives.

Nursing education needs to prepare students for care of dying patients. The aim of this study was to describe the development of nursing students' attitudes toward caring for dying patients and their perceived preparedness to perform end-of-life care. A longitudinal study was performed with 117 nursing students at six universities in Sweden. The students completed the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD) questionnaire at the beginning of first and second year, and at the end of third year of education. After education, the students completed questions about how prepared they felt by to perform end-of-life care. The total FATCOD increased from 126 to 132 during education. Five weeks' theoretical palliative care education significantly predicted positive changes in attitudes toward caring for dying patients. Students with five weeks' theoretical palliative care training felt more prepared and supported by the education to care for a dying patient than students with shorter education. A minority felt prepared to take care of a dead body or meet relatives.

The objective of this study was to investigate student nurses' ability to handle a pain assessment situation. A systematic way of working based on knowledge within the area is emphasised in nursing education today. The performance of 32 student nurses at a university college in Sweden took place in an arranged assessment situation that closely simulated clinical practice. The conversation between the student and the patient (a voluntary patient) was videotaped and analysed with content analysis according to predetermined components of pain assessment. The results showed that one-third of the students had performed adequately based on the requirements for pain assessment in the curriculum for nursing education. Two-thirds of the group did not handle the situation systematically and also showed a lack of knowledge of pain assessment, and among these was a group of students whose performance was inadequate. The results indicate that during their education it is very important for student nurses to obtain experience and guidance in how to work systematically and to have their knowledge and skills in pain assessment evaluated.

As part of a collaborative project involving Tanzania and Sweden, workshops were arranged for staff nurses in order to develop a forum for discussing the raised demands for supervision of nursing students during their clinical education. The aim was to meet nurses in educational workshops to initiate a dialogue on their views and experiences of supporting and supervising nursing students in their clinical studies. Their experiences of the workshops were also requested. Two groups of nurses in Tanzania (n=30), and six groups in Sweden (n=60) participated. The content, which was agreed between the project leaders in Tanzania and Sweden was carried out either on a whole day workshops or divided at three different occasions. Questionnaires were given before and about two months after, and workshops were also evaluated with an open-ended question immediately after. The nurses both in Tanzania and in Sweden appreciated the workshops as a possibility to create a dialogue and to discuss challenges in the supervision of students. Their views and experiences of the supervision role showed awareness of staff nurses as role models and teachers. Accomplishment of this partnership co-operation through arranging workshops has shown to be an easy and simple way of giving support to staff nurses for the supervision task.

The aim was to explore the major concerns of specialist nurses pertaining to academic learning during their education and initial professional career. Specialist nursing education changed in tandem with the European educational reform in 2007. At the same time, greater demands were made on the healthcare services to provide evidence-based and safe patient-care. These changes have influenced specialist nursing programmes and consequently the profession. Grounded Theory guided the study. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire with open-ended questions distributed at the end of specialist nursing programmes in 2009 and 2010. Five universities were included. Further, individual, pair and group interviews were used to collect data from 12 specialist nurses, 5-14 months after graduation. A major concern for specialist nurses was that academic learning should be "meaningful" for their professional future. The specialist nurses' "meaningful academic learning process" was characterised by an ambivalence of partly believing in and partly being hesitant about the significance of academic learning and partly receiving but also lacking support. Specialist nurses were influenced by factors in two areas: curriculum and healthcare context. They felt that the outcome of contribution to professional confidence was critical in making academic learning meaningful.

BACKGROUND: Statistics show that the number of older people in need of care is increasing worldwide, especially those with dementia. This implies demands on knowledge and competence among health care staff to care for them. In Sweden, Silviahemmet offers dementia care units the opportunity to become certified according to a special certification educational model. Silviahemmet provides educational programs for staff in dementia care and day care for person with dementia. All staff undergoes a systematic training course in dementia care. The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of how an educational model developed the perceived knowledge of staff caring for older persons with dementia in a nursing home.

METHOD: A phenomenographical approach was used and qualitative interviews were carried out with 13 staff members in a nursing home.

FINDINGS: The main results show that staff perceives the importance of knowledge, working together and creating a sense of fellowship. The care of persons with dementia requires a special approach and adherence. Participating in the educational program made the staff realize and acknowledge their tacit knowledge and the importance of reflection-in-action together in the team.

CONCLUSION: The results indicate the need for a common theoretical knowledge base and value system to achieve coherence in daily work.

The translation and adaptation of English instruments to be used with populations speaking other languages is an important and complex process which is attracting increased attention in nursing and health-related research. The aim of this article is to describe the translation process of the Nursing Clinical Facilitators Questionnaire (NCFQ) for testing in Norway. The instrument is a 28-item-questionnaire with a Likert-type (1-5) scale ranging from the descriptions "strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (5)". The aim of the instrument is to measure the efficiency of, and satisfaction with the supervision received from the nurse students' perspective. The NCFQ questionnaire was translated in six phases. The translation process was conducted systematically by applying the three methods described in the literature: the methods of forward-translation, back-translation and comparison followed by an empirical study (pilot test). The methods were chosen to test the quality of translation, establish semantic equivalence of the translated instrument and to estimate the cross-cultural relevance of the instrument. The translation process has given prerequisites to use the NCFQ questionnaire in a larger study and a possibility to compare different models for supervision of nursing students in the clinical part of their education.

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore postgraduate palliative care nursing students' experiences with simulation-based learning focusing on communication skills, as a learning method in palliative care education.

Background: Communication is one of several important competencies in palliative care and found to be challenging. Developing appropriate communication skills in palliative care requires education and practice. To provide postgraduate palliative care nursing students with the required knowledge and experience, practical and active learning approaches, such as simulation-based learning, can be applied. Several studies have explored undergraduate nursing students' experiences with simulation-based learning in palliative care. However, to our knowledge no studies have explored postgraduate palliative care nursing students` experiences with simulation-based learning focusing on communication skills in palliative care education.

Design: An exploratory descriptive design.

Methods: A qualitative method was employed. Three focus group interviews were conducted in May 2022 using videoconferencing (Zoom) with 11 postgraduate palliative care nursing students, eight of whom wrote reflective notes. Data were analysed using systematic text condensation.

Results: Three categories were identified in the data analysis: 1) from uncertain expectations to the real experience of simulation-based learning; 2) being a skilled professional in everyday life versus being observed in the scenarios; and 3) the balance between self-confidence and challenges in experiencing professional development and mastery.

Conclusions: Postgraduate palliative care nursing students seemed to experience anxiety towards simulation-based learning in palliative care education, as well as variable expectations for the approach. This could be due to their unfamiliarity with the learning method. The need for repetition was underlined and the students indicated that they would like to be able to participate in several simulation sessions to familiarise themselves with the approach. The contrast between being a skilled professional in everyday life and the pressure of being observed and judged in the scenarios was an important finding. Students outlined the desire to feel safe, but also highlighted the importance of being challenged to experience professional development and enhanced mastery. Generally, the findings indicate that academic and psychological safety should be a focus during simulation-based learning and instructors should understand that students may have varied learning strategies, divergent learning experiences and shifting beliefs in their own competencies.