Field Of Professional Practice Research Articles

Implementation of evidence based practice in a development project on nurse students’ clinical education

Title: Implementation of evidence based practice in a development project on nurse students’ clinical education
 Synopsis: The evidence based practice (EBP) movement started at the beginning of 1970s in the field of medicine. The famous definition by Sackett et al. (1997, p. 2) defined evidence-based medicine as ‘the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients’. The idea of EBP was later introduced to other fields of professional practice in health and social care, as well as to the education of health professionals such as nursing education. The project named Knowledge in development (KID) focused on the development of clinical preceptorship in the context of nursing. Clinical preceptors are registered nurses and practical nurses who have the responsibilities of caring for patients and teaching nursing students at the same time. Nursing teachers working in the KID project were enthusiastic to implement the evidence based practice approach in the project work, by using different evidence bases.
 Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present how evidence based practices in the project work were implemented and to describe the experiences of the project group members about the implementation of EBP.
 Project setting: Two universities of applied sciences, two vocational institutes and four health-care organizations in Western Finland.
 Year of project: 2009-2013
 Target readers: Primarily project practitioners, project managers and teachers on the health care sector.
 Lessons learned: Based on the experiences gained in this project, the use of an evidence based practice approach in planning and implementing a development project in health care clinical and educational settings is recommended. 
 Competencies highlighted: Information literacy
 Related theory: The structure of different evidence bases presented by Rycroft-Malone et al. (2004), including research, clinical experience, patients, clients and carers, and local context and environment.

Human resource development at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities: origins and international growth

ABSTRACTThis article provides an overview of the history and current status of graduate and undergraduate Human Resource Development (HRD) programs at the University of Minnesota. The HRD program at the UMN is situated within the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development of the College of Education and Human Development. The program offers undergraduate, master’s, and PhD degrees, and is characterized by healthy enrollment numbers and a strong alumni base, both nationally and internationally. The UMN HRD program has a long history of significant contributions to the development of HRD with research and strong education programs which continue to influence the academic field and professional field of practice in the U.S. and internationally.

Validation of a moral distress instrument in nurses of primary health care.

ABSTRACTObjective:to validate an instrument to identify situations that trigger moral distress in relation to intensity and frequency in primary health care nurses. Method:this is a methodological study carried out with 391 nurses of primary health care, applied to the Brazilian Scale of Moral Distress in Nurses with 57 questions. Validation for primary health care was performed through expert committee evaluation, pre-test, factorial analysis, and Cronbach’s alpha. Results:there were 46 questions validated divided into six constructs: Health Policies, Working Conditions, Nurse Autonomy, Professional ethics, Disrespect to patient autonomy and Work Overload. The instrument had satisfactory internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha 0.98 for the instrument, and between 0.96 and 0.88 for the constructs. Conclusion:the instrument is valid and reliable to be used in the identification of the factors that trigger moral distress in primary care nurses, providing subsidies for new research in this field of professional practice.

Styring, professionel dømmekraft og faldgruber for fagprofessionel værdiskabelse

In the literature on public management, the dominant perspective of professional practice is a concern for lack of political accountability and a risk of self-interested behavior in the interaction with citizens. For many years, performance management has been seen as a solution to this concern. Within the field of professional practice, the dominant perspective is a concern that performance management hijacks the autonomy of professionals and contributes to the proletarization of the professions. Evidence for both perspectives is mixed and there is a lack of knowledge about how professionals handle these claimed conflicts and whether performance management can be seen as a solution to this. The article discusses a particular relationship between management and practice: the professional judgment and concludes that there are two pitfalls to support the quality of professional practice: external goal management of professional practice and the absence of a reflection culture in professional practice. The article is a contribution to the 10th anniversary of the university colleges and can be read as an analysis of the managerial and professional context students will encounter as graduated professionals.

Into the Contact Zone: A reflective evaluation of open online digital curation education

This article focuses on two UK based online courses in the field of digital curation and preservation; Introduction to Digital Curation, run by University College London, and The Beginner’s Guide to the OAIS Reference Model Course, run by the University of London Computer Centre. The courses are considered not against the frame of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) as a revolutionary force in education, but against the metaphor of the ‘contact zone’ (adopted from the work of Costis Dallas (2015)), as part of the ongoing development and establishment of digital curation as a field of study. Two dimensions of difference are examined; firstly that between face to face and online learning, and secondly that between different groups of learners (such as current professionals and future professionals).  It concludes that open online education is best seen as a contact zone less in the sense of being the teaching of a professional field of practice and more in the sense of advocacy and the provision of informative resources and enlightening experiences that pique the interest, increase awareness and most of all, make contact.

Conflict of interest: Nuances between principles and the aim.

A conflict of interest exists when a health care provider's primary interest is at risk of being biased by a secondary interest that would cause harm. This concerns the different fields of professional practice. Based on a supplement of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) about conflicts of interest inviting to analyze the situation under the "Do No Harm" ethical principle, diverse scenarios are described, showing the intricacy and controversy of this topic. Elimination of conflict is not always possible, and there is consensus that science-based interactions among private organizations, health care providers and health institutions can be beneficial to patients. However, it is clear that such interaction requires transparent regulations to both manage conflict of interest and minimize bias.

Training for Cultural Production and Management in Brazil

ABSTRACTThis article aims to contribute to the field of arts management by identifying the need to make cultural production/management an established field of professional practice and training in Brazil, and the challenges of doing so. To accomplish this, we reviewed several publications and we present first a discourse on theoretical texts in relation to the idea of culture and systems of cultural production and then an analysis of arts management publications in Brazil with observations about this field of work. In this article, we address the current paucity of training opportunities of this kind, the extent to which these roles have yet to be professionalized, and indicate, in the conclusion, that this is a matter of increasing importance and concern for cultural policy in Brazil.

An Overview of Forensic Structural Engineering

Forensic structural engineering has, in some countries, become and, in some others, is evolving into a designated field of professional practice of determining the causes of structural failures and identifying the parties responsible. The practice involves engineering investigations, rendering opinions and, if required, giving expert testimony in judicial proceedings. Whether they occur during construction or during their service lives, failures of constructed facilities are almost always followed by engineering investigations and resolution of claims. As the findings inevitably create claims of damage and often result in disputes and legal entanglements, the forensic structural engineer operates in an adversarial environment and therefore needs not only to be able to perform the necessary investigations but also to have an understanding of the ins and outs of the practice of forensic engineering–which this paper intends to enhance. This paper is an overview of the professional practice of forensic structural engineering and includes discussions of: what structural failure is, origins and causes of failures, types of cases of failures, importance of codes and standards, the standard of care for design professionals and duty to perform for constructors, brief outline of the process of forensic investigation, with references to detailed publications, meaning and importance of “reasonable degree of engineering certainty,” forms of dispute resolutions, who is and what the role of an expert consultant/witness is, a brief look at how the practices differ in various IABSE countries, and selected reference literature.

El efecto espejo: sexo, género y cuidado en las trayectorias profesionales y las jerarquías morales y laborales de la antropología en Colombia

Este artículo estudia las dimensiones de género, sexo y cuidado en los campos de desempeño y en la configuración de las trayectorias laborales de profesionales que se graduaron de la carrera de Antropología en la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, entre 1985 y el 2010. Se basa en una investigación cualitativa con perspectiva biográfica, etnográfica e histórica cuyo núcleo empírico fueron 35 entrevistas (34 en profundidad y una grupal) con dieciocho mujeres y diecinueve hombres que fueron seleccionados según una muestra conceptual que cruzó tres periodos de graduación (1985-1991; 1992-2005 y 2006-2010), procedencia geográfica, origen socioeconómico, sexo, generación, edad, estado civil y campo de desempeño profesional. En este trabajo se analizó la manera como las obligaciones con la familia de origen, la parentela y la prole, así como el cuidado de sí, han motivado pausas en la formación o postergación de la titulación y determinado diferencias sobre las opciones laborales y de contratación según el sexo de las personas entrevistadas. Con base en lo anterior, se puede concluir que las representaciones y prácticas de género en el campo profesional, de la ciencia y la técnica han modulado las asimetrías en las trayectorias laborales de las antropólogas y los antropólogos que fueron entrevistados, así como las de sus pares. El texto explora, además, cómo su devenir profesional ha estado a la vez marcado por condiciones del trabajo y contratación dispares y muchas veces precarias. Finalmente, este artículo propone —y muestra— que el cruce analítico de las categorías género, ética del cuidado y trabajos del cuidado arroja luces y contribuye al entendimiento de las particularidades del ejercicio y orientación de la antropología en Colombia, ya reseñadas y analizadas por la literatura académica disponible. Esto se logra mediante el análisis de la cultura de pares que ha caracterizado a esta disciplina y el choque entre jerarquías laborales y morales que ha regido sus campos de desempeño profesional.

Diversity in Arbitration in Europe: Insights from a Large Scale Empirical Study

While issues of gender and ethnic diversity have become prominent in all areas of law, there is reason to believe that the insular nature of the arbitration community, combined with the importance of personal connections to receiving career opportunities in arbitration will make diversity a particularly complex matter in arbitration as a field of professional practice. That is, while there is no evidence that arbitration practitioners are as a group any more likely to discriminate on the basis of ethnicity or gender than other legal professionals, fields in which career progression is tightly linked to receiving the support of “gatekeepers” can present particular obstacles for non-Male and minority practitioners, who may be less likely to make strong social connections with those gatekeepers, and so be less likely to receive opportunities for career progression.In 2014 a team at Brunel University, as part of a study being conducted for the European Parliament, undertook a large-scale survey of arbitration practitioners across the European Union and Switzerland. While this Survey was not primarily focused on questions of diversity, all respondents were asked to self-identify both their gender and their ethnicity, with selection of multiple ethnicities being permitted. Consequently, although the Survey aimed at offering a comprehensive picture of arbitration in all EU Member States and Switzerland, rather than focusing on the specific question of diversity, it generated information on both the levels of non-Male and ethnic minority involvement in arbitration, and, through cross-analysis of data, on career progression within arbitration of non-Male and ethnic minority arbitration practitioners. This article will provide a brief overview of these results, which do indeed indicate ongoing diversity-related problems within arbitration.

Delay Journalism Practice until Academic Scholarship is Mastered

This article argues that Australian journalists turned academics must prioritise learning the scholarship of the academy—the theorising and testing of ideas—ahead of journalism practice at the start of their academic careers. While acknowledging that some parts of journalism practice are winning acknowledgement as research outcomes in many academic communities, this article suggests that there are areas within a journalist’s professional field of practice that will continue to struggle to find acceptance as research. This article suggests that the narrow definition of what constitutes journalism as research is held not only by many people holding senior roles within Australian universities, but also those who hold positions of power within journalism faculties. This article suggests that journalists turned academics abandon their journalism, briefly, while they learn the vocabulary and skills required to have their work seen as genuine research, and that generally means after finalising a PhD.

The Evolution and Changing Context of Social Work Education

The nature of social work education has changed dramatically over the course of my academic career: From the degree(s) required for a faculty position to the number of years of practice experience; from expectations for research and publication, to criteria for promotion and tenure; from residential instruction to distance education; from an emphasis on foundation curriculum to practice competencies and outcomes; and, from a commitment to service to a quest to be the highest “ranked” program within the highest ranked institution. Given that change is an ongoing phenomenon, it is difficult to anticipate curriculum direction or plan one’s career path with a high degree of certainty. The future is often determined by external events, fate, where you are at a specific time, the assistance of others, and the opportunities that are presented. These changes and the evolution of social work education as a field of professional practice can best be demonstrated by reflecting on my own experiences in becoming a faculty member and serving in various academic positions over the last 45 years. The contrast between my personal experiences and those of the typical student in 2014 may help demonstrate some of the changes that have occurred in social work education over the intervening years.

Talking with children: Professional conversations in a participation perspective

How to talk with children is of great concern in many fields of professional practice, though conversations have various statuses within different contexts. The discussion of children’s rights to participation emphasized by The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC; United Nations, 1989 ) raises a number of questions about the significance of professional talking practices. A rights-based rationale is just one of many for talking with children. In this article, the question of how to talk with children as well as the question of how to analyze talk with children are addressed. Three possible analytical perspectives on participation and professional conversations are discussed: conversations as means for participation, participation as a theme in conversations, and conversations as a form of participation. The last one is employed in the analyses. To identify and conceptualize challenges in professional talking practices, I argue that a broader participation concept then the one offered in the UNCRC is required. Methodological discussions from research with children are made relevant for the discussion of professional practice. Drawing from empirical examples of 55 audio-recorded and transcribed conversations between child welfare workers and children in the action research project “Talk with us”—Professional practices and children’s participation, selected aspects of professional conversations with children are discussed: negotiating contracts, normative inquiries, and exploring labels. Conversations are analyzed as intergenerational practices, while children and adult professionals are analyzed as differently positioned participants in joint meaning-producing activities. Finally, normativity and the relation between process and result in studies of professional conversations with children are discussed.

Sex, drugs and the honour roll: the perennial challenges of addressing moral purity issues in schools

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in North America, public health and social reform advocates were quick to identify and exploit the nascent modern institution of public schools as opportune spaces in which to advance their progressive projects. In particular, psychoactive substance use (at first primarily alcohol drinking) and sexuality were regarded as two domains of morally-charged social activity in which desired attitudinal and behavioural outcomes could be achieved through school-based education. Since the advent of these early public health or ‘social hygiene’ efforts in schools, political responses and modern Western cultural norms about both drugs and sexuality have undergone significant transformation over the course of the twentieth century. At the same time, research on purported health or social risks of substance use and sexual activity – and their prevention and mitigation among young people – has burgeoned as a field of professional practice and academic inquiry. This article undertakes a brief comparative review of historical and contemporary approaches to school-based sexuality and drug education in North America. In so doing, it also explores how scientific knowledge about the topics of sex and drugs, and the corollary project of school-based ‘prevention’ in these domains, has been shaped by evolving ideological and cultural forces. It concludes that the issues of sexuality and drug use – still steeped in conceptions of moral purity and pollution – are likely to remain strongly contested terrain for school-based education.

Social Pedagogy: What Questions Can We Ask About Its Value and Effectiveness?

Social pedagogy is a field of professional practice associated with the care and education of young children, support of young people, and with family support that has an established place in many continental European countries. It has attracted attention in the United Kingdom (UK) for its potential relevance to the policy ambition of improving the generally poor educational and social outcomes for young people in public care. In this article, I discuss some issues arising from the task of establishing the value, or effectiveness, of the social pedagogic approach. Using findings from cross-national studies, I argue that there are various problems with measuring the ‘effectiveness’ of social pedagogy, but that in countries where social pedagogy is well established and supported by a policy and cultural context, its role in supporting children and families is highly valued. I conclude by considering some implications for the introduction of social pedagogy into the UK.

The forensic structural expert consultant/witness – US practices

Ever more structural failures make the news throughout the world. With the proliferation of failures, forensic structural engineering has become a field of professional practice of expert consultants/witnesses in both the investigation and litigation of failures. This paper is an overview of the qualifications, roles, ethics and scope of the work of expert consultants/witnesses who are retained after failures of structures in the USA.

Introduction to the special issue: The changing use and misuse of khat (Catha edulis)—Tradition, trade and tragedy

Within the last decade the hitherto little known psychoactive substance of khat has emerged as a regional and international issue. In the Horn of Africa khat production has spurred an economic boom, but dramatic increases in consumption have raised public health concerns. Given the complexity of the topic spanning multiple academic disciplines and fields of professional practice, the need for a systematic overview is urgent. To facilitate the exchange of information, prompt interdisciplinary research and alert international organisations and governments, the authors organised an international and interdisciplinary khat conference in 2009. This special issue of the Journal of Ethnopharmacology contains articles written by different conference speakers that present the current state of knowledge and the challenges for future research and politics.

Towards educational inclusion in a transforming society: some lessons from community relations and special needs education in Northern Ireland

This paper focuses on the socially constructed ideas that have come to be given the status of taken‐for‐granted knowledge within not one, but two, fields of professional practice in Northern Irish schools; community relations and special needs education. Dominant discourses were viewed as constructing norms around which educational professionals approached issues to do with difference and social justice—differences of attainment and disability in the case of educational special needs, and, in the case of school‐based community relations work, ethno‐political and religious differences. Our analysis identified some very powerful common discourses that served to maintain the status quo and limit the space for creative and pluralistic struggle. We argue that this process of unravelling or deconstructing professional meaning‐making in relation to education for diversity is a crucial first step towards the development of a more inclusive participative practice. In the final section, we consider some of the implications of our work and speculate about the meaning of educational inclusion within a transforming society.

El periodismo digital y la nueva formación cíber-periodística

The rise of digital journalism is directly related to the development of new technologies in the field of professional practice. This process is revolutionizing the craft of journalism, and especially the tools and techniques which he served. No longer be conceived without internet journalism, and therefore can be said that it is impossible to conceive without journalism journalism or digital cyberjournalism. The crisis of the journal paper, the funding crisis of the press and questioning the traditional model, coupled with the economic and financial crisis of our time, is giving encouraging the consolidation of the final cyberjournalism and new challenges in university education with the final consolidation of new technology in the academic studies in Information Sciences.

Forensic Structural Engineering–Focus on the United States

Ever more structural failures make the news throughout the world, and their investigation is becoming an active field of professional practice—often referred to as Forensic Structural Engineering. In most countries the engineering and legal professions have established practices, and others are considering or are using technical, business, and legal procedures modelled on United States (U.S.) practices—with both their effectiveness and faults—which employ expert consultants/witnesses in an adversarial environment retained by each party to the investigation of the failure and the litigation of the resulting claim. This paper is an overview of the important, and perhaps unique, aspects of those practices in the United States.