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Taking the initial steps to integrate simulation into a nursing program can appear overwhelming to faculty and supportive personnel. This paper will describe an approach taken by one undergraduate nursing program in the United States that focused on integrating simulation into a clinical foundations nursing course. Current research was used to guide the design and implementation of simulation. Several key points from the literature were applied to the process; linking scenarios with didactic information, the importance of debriefing, and the need for repetitive practice. Using these concepts, simulation scenarios were constructed following the Nursing Education Simulation Framework. Three scenarios were subsequently implemented during the course, with data from students and faculty collected after each scenario. The results indicate the students perceived the design and implementation to be very agreeable, while faculty reactions to simulation remain mixed. However, there was universal support concerning the use of repetitive practice of foundational skills to enhance learning outcomes.

It is possible to develop generic criteria for the global assessment of clinical procedural skills. A third and a half of checklists, respectively, do not enable explicit assessment of the key competencies 'Infection control' and 'Safety'. Their assessment may be inconsistent in assessments which use such checklists.

Traditionally, research has been done on people with learning difficulties, rather than with them. However, attitudes to this issue are changing. On the one hand some people with learning difficulties are seeking more active involvement, while on the other both researchers and funding bodies are exploring ways to involve people more widely within the research process. This article gives examples of people with learning difficulties helping to set the research agenda; advising and assisting with research projects; undertaking research themselves; and being both the target of, and actively involved in, the dissemination of research. It concentrates on describing practical examples of involvement rather than the theoretical context and debates surrounding it.

The international literature on parents with intellectual disabilities (ID) has focused on concerns about their ability to parent and strategies to enable them to develop parenting skills. Traditionally, the views and experiences of parents themselves have not been the focus of studies. With this in mind, the authors talked to a cohort of 30 parents as part of a mapping study of issues and positive practice in supporting parents with ID and their children in the UK. They report on the parents' experiences of being provided with ongoing, proactive support, to enable them to parent to the best of their ability and describe the types of practical and emotional support that helped them to develop parenting skills and overcome wider problems, such as falling into debt, that were impacting their families. Enabling adults with ID to “parent with support” appeared to safeguard their children, whose health and safety is a primary object of concern for services. If parents had access to supports, they could keep their children and enjoy an enhanced quality of family life together. The authors conclude that with appropriate help from services parents can be enabled to support each other, to develop confidence, and to engage more positively with the professionals and systems responsible for safeguarding the welfare of their children.

Accessible summary• Transition means growing up and becoming an adult. There are a lot of changes and choices for young people at transition. • We found out what information young people, their families and supporters need at transition. • Young people with learning disabilities from North Somerset People First did the project with other researchers. SummaryThis article provides an overview of the methods and findings of a project, commissioned by the Social Care Institute for Excellence, to explore the information needs of young people with learning disabilities, their families and supporters at transition. It describes how a group of young people with learning disabilities were trained in research methods and undertook four focus groups with other young people with learning disabilities in England and Wales. Parallel focus groups involving their parents and supporters were conducted at the same time, facilitated by a family carer and professional respectively. The different kinds of information required are summarized: for example, all three groups wanted information about getting a job and going to college and about the transition process generally, but there were also differences in emphasis between the groups, which are described. Key issues in providing information at transition in ways likely to be most accessible to the different stakeholders are outlined.

Translation of genome science to improve health outcomes requires nurses to develop genomic competency and literacy, and a robust measure of genomic literacy is needed to advance evidence-based nursing education. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the Genomic Nursing Concept Inventory (GNCI), which is a scale to measure understanding of the genetic/genomic concepts most critical to nursing practice. Applying a multistep process, key concepts were drawn from essential nursing genetic/genomic competencies and validated by expert opinion. Surveys and cognitive interviews of baccalaureate nursing (BSN) students informed item development. A 52-item draft inventory was administered to 238 BSN students. Item analysis informed inventory reduction, and the resulting 31-item inventory was tested with 705 BSN students. Scale difficulty was 47%, item difficulty 13% to 84%, and Cronbach’s alpha 0.77. As scale refinement proceeds, the GNCI provides a useful measure of genomic literacy to inform curriculum design and evaluate outcomes in genomic nursing education.

Objective: To explore the impact of hand-held computers on patient care by identifying: (i) how often clinical staff accessed resources on hand-held computers to inform their clinical decision making; (ii) Which hand-held resources were thought to be most useful in the clinical setting; (iii) the barriers to using hand-held resources to support patient care. Design: A descriptive study comparing aspects of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) resource use in two phases, between August 2002 and December 2003. There was variability in the way that resources were accessed between the two studies. Setting: University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, an acute teaching hospital, and one primary care practice. Participants: A purposive sample of 14 clinical and librarian staff participated in phase one and 14 in phase two of the study. Participants consisted of consultants, nurses, pharmacist, junior doctors, clinical librarians, and a general practitioner. Main outcome measures: Baseline Data Questionnaire to identify the participants' level of knowledge and use of hand-helds on entering the study. End-of-phase questionnaire with self-reported measures of use of the hand-held and PDA resources during the study. Results: All of the participants used hand-helds in their clinical setting to support evidence-based practice and education, but with varying frequency. More staff reported using the hand-held to answer specific patient questions in phase two than phase one of the study. UK resources were preferred to American resources. The 'plug-in and go' method using Secure Digital (SD) cards was preferred to downloading resources from the Internet. Conclusions: Hand-held technology is emerging as an effective clinical tool to aid evidence-based practice and support the educational needs of clinical staff. The hand-held can provide a critical mass of information that is relevant, quickly accessible and in a coherent format: delivering clinical information at the point of need with a resulting benefit to patient safety.