Are we teaching registration nurses appropriate skills for clinical practice: a respiratory perspective

This week’s blog is written by Dr Nicola Roberts (@DrNRoberts), Associate Professor at Napier University Edinburgh, who asks whether pre-registration nursing programs are teaching the best skills for contemporary clinical respiratory practice.

Our recent research examined what respiratory care content is taught in UK pre-registration nursing programs at approved educational institutions. The study, which was a freedom of knowledge (FOI) survey of 75 UK-based educational institutions (AEIs) approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), highlighted that there are differences in teaching in respiratory care. The study results also showed that the quantity of teaching time allocated varies across the UK when it comes to anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology and native and national respiratory guidelines. Breathing learning has been found to occur during practice, but here again the character and quality of this phenomenon are variable. We know that this kind of basic knowledge is significant because all nurses will cope with respiratory diseases sooner or later of their profession, even in the event that they don’t specialise in this field. But are we specializing in the unsuitable knowledge?

The way we deliver care is changing – much more rapidly consequently of the COVID pandemic. Often, people treating chronic diseases corresponding to respiratory diseases can be involved in patient education, either individually or as a part of a gaggle. Pulmonary rehabilitation is an ideal example of this. Many nurses conduct consultations via videoconference, telephone or app. How can we ensure that our future nurses can handle this? We know that many nurses in practice through the pandemic have struggled to upskill to adapt the way in which they deliver care. Should we be introducing our pre-registration students to a number of the consultation skills corresponding to motivational interviewing, conflict management and specific technical skills corresponding to undertaking consultations using digital tools and developing their educational skills to coach patients in group and individual settings? ? Some of those skills are developed in postgraduate studies, but is it already too late?

There is at all times the problem of incorporating more content into pre-registration programs, but we must make sure that we proceed to equip graduating nurses with the best skills to make sure nurses are confident within the workplace as they start their careers.

Further reading

How to coach patients (2011) https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/nurse-educators/how-to-educate-residents-25-05-2011/
Close A. Patient education: a literature review JAN https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.1988.tb01409.x

Roberts N, Welch L, Kelly C, Lippiett K (on behalf of the Research and Education Subcommittee, Association of Respiratory Nurse Specialists) (2021) Informing the long run of nursing: An exploration of respiratory teaching within the pre-registration nurse curriculum Nurse Education in Practice 57: 103254 doi: 10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103254

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