University of Greenwich

About: University of Greenwich is a education organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 3749 authors who have published 9958 publications receiving 234340 citations.

Verbal abuse experienced by nursing students.

Abstract: Aim: This paper is a report of a study to describe the nature, severity, frequency and sources of verbal abuse experienced by nursing students while gaining clinical experience. Background: Verbal abuse of healthcare workers is currently receiving considerable attention and nursing students have been identified as a group vulnerable to experiencing workplace verbal abuse. Method: Questionnaires were distributed in 2005 to a convenience sample of 156 third year nursing students from one pre-registration nursing programme in England. A total of 114 questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 73.0%. Findings: Experience of verbal abuse was reported by 45.1% of respondents, 34.5% had witnessed other students experiencing this and 65.5% reported that they were aware of other students experiencing verbal abuse. The incidents involved patients in 64.7% of cases, 15.7% involved visitors or relatives and 19.6% involved other healthcare workers. Students reported experiencing threats to kill them, racial abuse and sexually oriented verbal abuse, with the majority of incidents occurring in general medical, mental health and general surgical clinical areas. Conclusion: Education and healthcare providers should prepare students to manage negative verbal exchanges during nursing education, and policies and support networks relating to managing verbal abuse in clinical practice should be available to nursing students.

Reflection and critical incident analysis: ethical and moral implications of their use within nursing and midwifery education

Abstract: Despite the dearth of rigorous empirical investigation, reflection and reflective practice have become buzz words in nursing and midwifery education. Reflection and critical incident analysis may be tools which can facilitate the integration of theory and practice. It is proposed that in the absence of explicit and thorough preparation of lecturers and students, together with very careful curriculum planning, these activities may be counter-productive or even harmful. In the absence of structure, reflection and associated critical incident analysis may lead to student disaffection or, worse, the potential for actual psychological disturbance. Empirical studies on the use of identified models of reflection and critical incident analysis are urgently needed to assist nursing and midwifery lecturers and students to achieve predictable learning outcomes for this potentially valuable activity.