Resource planned for nurses who want to work in defence settings

A resource for those starting out in defence nursing is being developed by the RCN and Birmingham City University. 

The printed guide, due to be published in 2017, will help established and newly qualified nurses make the transition to defence nursing.

Speaking at the RCN international centenary conference on Tuesday, RCN defence nursing forum (DNF) chair Chris Carter said the college’s guide for newly registered nurses, Starting Your Career, was helpful as a basis for the forthcoming resource.

‘We wanted to develop something similar for those new to defence,’ he said.

Problem-based learning

Birmingham City University senior lecturer Bridget Malkin and colleague Claire Wilcox-Tolley talked about a six-week module their third-year nursing students undertake. And they discussed problem-based learning (PBL), an educational approach that both military and civilian nursing students at the university adopt to help prepare them for registration.

Ms Malkin and Ms Wilcox-Tolley are using their experience of PBL to help produce the resource.

Ms Wilcox-Tolley said: ‘The dynamic and rapidly changing nature of healthcare and defence nursing requires nursing to be equipped with certain skills.’

She said these included:

• Clinical reasoning.
• Problem-solving.
• Critical thinking.
• Information technology.
• Information literacy.

Ms Wilcox-Tolley said PBL helps to empower students with managerial, leadership and transferable professional skills.