Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 143, Hobart, 7001 Tasmania Australia.
School of Health Sciences and Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 143, Hobart, 7001 Tasmania Australia.
BMC Nurs. 2014 Dec 12;13(1):44. doi: 10.1186/s12912-014-0044-8. eCollection 2014.
The aged care sector is increasingly dominated by a less-qualified workforce at a time of increasing prevalence of complex health concerns, such as dementia. An Australian program to develop teaching aged care facilities is being undertaken to build the sector's capacity and provide nursing students with positive experiences of engaging with vulnerable clients. This research aimed to examine care staff potential to facilitate nursing student engagement with clinically relevant knowledge in the performance of hygiene care in a residential aged care facility.
This study was designed as an action research study. A cycle of reflection, planning, action, and evaluation is described to illustrate the carer mentor capacity to engage with and contribute to the learning of nursing students. Participants were second year student nurses (n = 10) on a four-week placement in a Tasmanian aged care facility in 2013 and their nurse/carer mentors (n = 17). Mentors participated in six action research meetings, and nursing students engaged in a parallel series of four feedback meetings during the placement.
At the beginning of the placement, nursing students exhibited a disregard for the clinical value of care provision. Students considered provision of hygiene care, in particular, the preserve of care workers and an inappropriate training exercise in the context of an undergraduate nursing qualification. To assist students to make links between core nursing competencies and hygiene care as well as to engender respect for their role within the aged care facility, carer mentors developed the Carer Assessment and Reporting Guide. Once implemented during the final weeks of the placement, the Guide improved student perceptions of resident hygiene care (reframed as assessment) and the role of facility care workers, as well as reinforcing carer self-esteem.
Hygiene care is replete with nursing competencies that are valuable for undergraduate learners, including assessments of skin integrity, mobility, cognitive function, bowels and urine, and basic hygiene. Nurse education programs should strive to address student misconceptions about care work in facilities to account for population level increases in care needs.
随着痴呆等复杂健康问题的发病率不断上升，老年护理行业的劳动力越来越缺乏资质。澳大利亚正在开展一项针对老年护理机构的教学计划，以提高该行业的能力，并为护理学生提供与弱势客户互动的积极体验。本研究旨在考察护理人员在住宅老年护理机构中进行卫生保健时促进护理学生参与与临床相关知识的能力。
本研究设计为行动研究。描述了一个反思、计划、行动和评估的循环，以说明护理员导师能够参与并促进护理学生的学习。参与者是 2013 年在塔斯马尼亚老年护理机构进行为期四周实习的二年级护理学生（n=10）和他们的护士/护理员导师（n=17）。导师参加了六次行动研究会议，护理学生在实习期间参加了四次平行的反馈会议。
在实习开始时，护理学生对护理服务的临床价值不屑一顾。学生们认为，特别是在本科护理资格的背景下，提供卫生保健是护理员的职责，而不是适当的培训练习。为了帮助学生将核心护理能力与卫生保健联系起来，并对他们在老年护理机构中的角色产生敬意，护理员导师制定了护理员评估和报告指南。该指南在实习的最后几周实施后，提高了学生对居民卫生保健（重新定义为评估）和机构护理员角色的看法，同时增强了护理员的自尊心。
卫生保健中充满了对本科学习者有价值的护理能力，包括皮肤完整性、活动能力、认知功能、肠道和尿液以及基本卫生保健的评估。护理教育计划应努力解决学生对设施护理工作的误解，以应对护理需求在人口层面的增加。
