Competence in nursing informatics among nursing students and staff at a nursing institute in Sweden

BACKGROUND: Information technology (IT) has slowly been implemented in many health-care organizations (i.e. hospitals). The use of computers has advanced to home care and long-term facilities. Consequently, it is important that nurses are able to demonstrate competence and feel confident in the use of IT. Yet, research has reported that nursing students have varying degrees of competence and experience with IT. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to ascertain nursing students' and nursing educators' self-reported attitudes, skills and experiences using IT. METHODS: Data were collected through a written survey distributed and completed by 247 nursing students (45 of whom were registered nurses who participated in extension courses) and 52 staff members from the nursing faculty at a university in Sweden. RESULTS: Two-thirds of the students and 92% of the nursing educators had access to the Internet from their homes. Of the students, 71% identified their IT skills as being sufficient for their current or future work as a registered nurse. Nurse educators were less confident in the students' ability, reporting that only 29% of nursing students had sufficient IT skills. Comparatively, 48% of the nursing educators believed that they themselves had sufficient IT skills for their role as a nurse educator. CONCLUSIONS: It is important that nursing students have basic IT skills and are familiar with e-mail, word-processing and various databases on the World Wide Web. Findings indicate that participants had a deficit in these skills, suggesting the need to integrate IT into the nursing curriculum.     

Hochschulerneuerung nach der Vereinigung der beiden deutschen Staaten?

The unification of the two German states in October 1990 had a significant impact on educational politics. The combination of two educational and university systems that were based on clearly divergent political and social foundations lay ahead. The thesis is discussed here that the unification of FRG and GDR could not lead to the renewal of universities in Germany but only to an adaptation of eastern society to western society. But with the foundation of a Faculty of Educational Sciences at the Technical University of Dresden (Land Saxony) successful attempts to renewals at an intermediate level are also presented. The author describes the production and realization of a project he helped to develop and at the same time addresses the emerging problems the new faculty triggered.     

THE NATURE OF COUNSELLING

The counsellor functions in a broad spectrum verging upon psychotherapy at one boundary and upon advice giving at the other and may also enrich the skills of others in the caring professions. In all cases, receptivity to the individual's thoughts and feelings is required. This capacity is enlarged by the counsellor's ability to extend his or her own self‐understanding and by willingness to learn from the client.