Free COVID-19 clinical articles and learning modules for nurses and frontline NHS staff caring for COVID-19 patients from the Nursing Standard. Check it out, hope it helps.
Stay safe.
The Beautiful Cure: Harnessing Your Body’s Natural Defenses by Daniel M Davis
In his review Mark Honigsbaum argues that this book by Daniel Davis is a valuable guide to how our growing understanding of the immune system is transforming medicine. Check it out!
Bring nursing practice into the classroom – RCN Education Forum 2018_V2
Click on the link above to view the poster that formed the basis of our ViPER (Visual Presentation with Expert Review) presentation at the RCN Education Forum in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, 20-21 March 2018. I am really proud of this teaching model, delivered alongside fantastic colleagues from Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Dorset Healthcare. We think this represents an effective model for delivering education to nurses fit for the 21st century. The audience of clinicians and educators we presented to gave us excellent feedback which was overwhelmingly positive. What do you think?
Click on the link above to see our poster, ‘Promoting clinical decision making and teamwork in undergraduate nursing education: A mixed methods evaluation of team-based learning in applied pathophysiology’ by Branney, J, and Priego-Hernández, J, as presented at the Team-based Learning Collaborative 17th Annual Meeting, San Diego, 1-3 March 2018. Just two of the reasons we think Team-based Learning is fantastic for nurse education. What do you think?
Check out my new publication written with my great colleague at the University of Portsmouth, Jacqueline Priego-Hernandez, on Team-based Learning in nurse education. Highlights are that of 197 student nurses, most reported higher accountability (93%) and satisfaction (92%) with Team-based Learning, and 76% preferred TBL to traditional lectures. Click on the link below to find out why they preferred it:
Branney J, Priego-Hernandez, J, 2018. A mixed methods evaluation of team-based learning for applied pathophysiology in undergraduate nursing education. Nurse Education Today. 61, 127-133. Available online 16 November 2017: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.11.014
By Rebecca Hammond, the new Learning Disabilities student editor, Nursing Times
Another great blog post on the Nursing Times website on how if you want to be successful, you need to embrace failure. Don’t fear it, learn from it. Good advice. Read it here.
Waiting for the motivation fairy
by Hugh Kearns and Maria Gardiner
When you’ve a task to do such as writing an assignment it’s tempting to say “Mañana Mañana”. However, there are only so many “tomorrows” before the deadline and repeated delaying can contribute to unnecessary stress. Instead of giving in to procrastination, click on the image below to get some tips on how to get your drive back, and get your work done on time!
I’d like to pass on this message from Professor Rowntree as posted in a blog by Professor Debbie Holley, Centre for Excellence in Learning, Bournemouth University. This is a great opportunity to get what sounds like an excellent book and at no cost if you order next week, Hope you like the book and read on to find out more!
“I am posting here in the understanding that we share a concern with helping students improve their approaches to learning. Back in 1970 my book (Learn How to Study) was one of the first to pursue this aim and proved sufficiently useful to go through several editions until the pressures of work at the Open University meant I had to let it go out of print (and date) for some years.
Now I am retired, however, I have been able to bring it up to date and have recently published the 6th edition as a Kindle book (to make the most of digital portability and keep the price down). It is available both as a single volume and (for students who need only some of its content) with its content divided over five smaller Kindles.
The book enters a world in which there is vastly more advice on studying available than when it first appeared and most universities have developed materials and other support specific to their local needs. Nevertheless, colleagues may feel that an outside perspective (such as my book offers) can sometimes provide useful reinforcement. So I hope you will feel able to add it to the arsenal of resources you already provide or recommend to students.
The book normally costs £6.47 (including the free Kindle app that some students may need in order to read it on their favourite device). But for five days next week, Monday 15 – Friday 18th November, the book (and app) will be FREE to anyone who cares to download a copy from Amazon (at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UUD3JGY). Downloaders will be under no obligation and I will get no information about who they are”.
Exam Stress? Here’s how to cope by Ian Roberson
If the thought of exams fills you with dread, read this Exam stress article by Ian Robertson (right click and select rotate to get it facing the right way!) and see if, instead of interpreting your change in physiology around exam time (including increased heart rate, sweating) as anxiety, tell yourself you’re excited! This might sound crazy at first thought but consider this, if you interpret how you feel as being excited rather than anxious, you’ll probably get a better mark in your exam – that’s worth getting excited about.
[P.S. You may also not the article at the bottom of the page on facial recognition. Did you that BU has a Centre for Face Processing Disorders? Some people have real difficulty telling who someone is only by looking at their face, and rely on other things such as mannerisms, speech, hair, clothing etc. This difficulty in facial recognition is called prosopagnosia. In contrast, some people are ‘super-recognisers’ who may be of particular use in policing and national security. Have a look at the Centre’s website to find out more].
Editorial: Reflections on being a new nurse: 10 insights after four weeks as a registered nurse by Emma Blakey and Debra Jackson (2016)
When describing to student nurses what it is like when you first graduate I typically use the analogy of learning to drive a car: the ‘real’ learning happens after you pass your test. You pass the test and you are now a ‘driver’ – good luck to you, and everyone else on the road. While the analogy holds true to some extent – you are now a ‘nurse’, good luck to you and your patients – thankfully there is far more support for newly registered nurses compared to newly qualified drivers.
In the above-named editorial, newly registered nurse Emma Blakely generously describes ten insights based on her first month in practice which you will find useful, especially if you’re due to qualify soon. Emma does not shirk from the scariness of having to make autonomous, accountable, decisions on behalf of patients, including worrying about forgetting something:
“I had to stop myself from calling the ward at 11pm about a patient I had left earlier that evening” (Blakey and Jackson 2016)
She does also however highlight the support she has been offered – it is understood that she, like any other newly registered nurse, is not the finished product.
The learning curve is huge, but with the right support (don’t forget your old nursing tutors!), you will get there. The transition from student nurse to registered nurse can understandably feel scary enough but get this, Emma is also doing a PhD – now that is scary ; )
Florence Nightingale and the Machine 