Nursing in the 21st Century is characterised by continuous change. In addition nurses increasingly have to care for: patients with multiple pathology; chronic diseases and who come from more diverse backgrounds than ever before. In order to prepare nurses to function in such an environment nurse education will need to adopt pedagogical approaches that will engender the necessary cognitive and meta-cognitive skills. One such pedagogical approach is Bruner's theory of discovery learning. This paper explores the ways in which discovery learning can be used by nurse educators. It reviews the factors that led to the growth of modern constructivism and how nurse educators can use concepts such as heuristics and scaffolding and spiral curricula in order to better prepare nurses to be fit for graduation as registered nurses.

The link between the level of qualification described as competence of the nursing staff and the patient outcome is repeatedly indicated in patient’s safety studies. The Bologna process initiated in 1999 triggered a Europe-wide reform process in the field of education, leading to reforms in nursing education in Europe that promoted the academization of nursing in many countries. In this context, a shift from teaching to learning outcomes occurred which spurred the development of competence frameworks at the European, national and profession-specific level. Competence measurement instruments are important for improving nursing education as well as nursing practice. Studies using such instruments can point to the strength and limitations of the educational and of the health care system of the countries under study. The aim of this article is to describe the translation process of the English version of the Nurse Professional Competence (NPC) Scale to create a German version to be used within German-speaking countries within the European Network of Nursing Academies (ENNA). The background of translating the NPC Scale from English into German is a European research project initiated by ENNA in which 11 European Higher Education Institutes participated. The article proceeds by providing information about nursing work in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. By accounting for the nationally specific conditions of nursing education and by describing the translation process, the study points to the relevance of context specific conditions for measuring self-reported professional competences. Making transparent the translation process supports the applicability of this scale in other research projects.

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