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Victoria Traynor

Publications and source records attributed to Victoria Traynor.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Student nurses' knowledge, skills and attitudes towards the use of portfolios in a school of nursing.

AIMS: The aims of this study are to examine the knowledge, skills and attitudes of student nurses about the value and purpose of portfolios and their relevance for professional development. BACKGROUND: Portfolios have become an integral aspect of student centred learning within nursing. The literature is generally positive about the benefits of portfolios but questions remain about their effective implementation. METHOD: A questionnaire was used to survey student nurses about the use of portfolios as a learning tool. The questionnaire was developed specifically for this study and was structured around a knowledge skills and attitude framework. RESULTS: The sample was 413 preregistration student nurses in one school of nursing in the UK across course, year of study and branch of nursing. The main findings reveal that students are unclear but positive about the purpose and use of portfolios. Specifically, academic tutors do not provide sufficient direction in the development of their portfolios. There is also evidence that students found portfolios more useful for exploring the 'art' of nursing, rather than the 'technical' skills of nursing. Students also reported that they would welcome a dedicated portfolio module. CONCLUSION: Students struggle with what is useful about portfolios and are unsure about its purpose. Nonetheless, they are positive towards portfolios as a learning tool and seem to acknowledge the usefulness of portfolios for professional development. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The importance of portfolios for professional development is now being emphasized but how academic tutors and clinical mentors support their development remains unclear. This study provides understanding about what support students would value.

Attitude↗
PubMed2005

Admiral nursing competency project: practice development and action research.

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: Admiral Nurses are specialist dementia care nurses working in the community with carers of those who have a dementia. The aim of the competency project (2000-2003) was threefold. Firstly to work collaboratively with these specialist nurses to facilitate the development a competency framework that reflects the needs of the Admiral Nursing Service. Secondly, to provide a way to structure evidence demonstrating evolving competency. Thirdly, to specifically enable the nurses to demonstrate evidence of achieving the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council's Higher Level Practice standard. DESIGN AND METHODS: The two complementary approaches of emancipatory action research and systematic practice development were adopted. Methods were taken from action research and systematic practice development approaches with an emphasis on promoting and enabling enlightenment, critical reflection, ownership and creating the best conditions for long-term commitment to the competency framework. RESULTS: The main outcome from this project was the development of a specialist nursing competency framework. The Admiral Nurses' Competency Framework is made up of a set of eight core competencies with three levels of competency statements, loosely structured around the Higher Level Practice standard, and guidance documentation to illustrate how work-based evidence can be generated to demonstrate competence. There were also process-derived outcomes associated with combining systematic practice development with emancipatory action research that had an impact on the culture. The main outcomes here were that practitioners engaged in and experienced learning about how to research their own practice and the consequences of doing this. They also learnt about specialist nursing practice more widely than Admiral Nursing. Finally, there was some increase in awareness about the culture within their teams and organizations. The final competency framework reflects the needs of the service, is owned by the majority of practitioners and project commissioners and this has had a positive impact on implementation. CONCLUSION: In this paper, we report on combining systematic practice development with action research to achieve immediate project aims. In addition we show how a project of this nature can contribute to developing skills in practitioners necessary for cultural changes in practice and contributes to wider issues of modernization within nursing and health care. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This competency framework will enable Admiral Nurses to demonstrate their level of specialist practice, as individuals and collectively as a service and it also promotes the principles of nurses as life long learners. This may have relevance to other groups of specialist nurses. The project has widespread relevance for two reasons. Firstly, it shows that nurses can be involved in designing and testing a competency framework as collaborators. Secondly, that to achieve this within the spirit of approaches, such as systematic practice development and action research, can be testing for all collaborators even were there is a shared or espoused aim.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Understanding the lives of older women.

AIM: To understand why some women adjust successfully in later life while others, in similar circumstances, become overwhelmed by life and dislike their old age. METHOD: Qualitative data were generated from field notes of participant observation carried out over ten months. In-depth interviews were also carried out with 11 young older and frail older women, aged 60 to 89 years, attending day centres. A grounded theory approach was adopted to collect and analyse participant observation and interview data. FINDINGS: Adjustment in later life occurs regardless of circumstance. Three areas were identified as being the main obstacles for many. These are depression, maintaining intimacy through friends and family, and managing the change process associated with older age. In addition, a core category of searching for meaning was discovered and used to understand how depression, intimacy and managing change affect adjustment in later life. CONCLUSION: Nurses could use their skills and experience of listening carefully to older patients to discover whether they are distressed, and assess whether there is a need for psychological and emotional support. There is a need for more research into carrying out adjustment work with older women who are struggling to enjoy their later years and with older men to discover themes that are relevant to them.

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