Background and objectives The need to provide an empathic response to the care of people with dementia has long been advocated. Virtual reality‐based programmes continue to gain momentum across health sectors, becoming an innovative tool that provides staff with the opportunity to experience a dementia‐like experience within a relatively short time frame. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of an interactive training experience on moral, emotive, behavioural and cognitive elements of empathy. Research design and methods A qualitative exploratory design was adopted employing purposive sampling to identify participants, aged over 18 years, who participated in the Virtual Dementia Tour (VDT®) programme. Interviews were conducted over a two‐month period, and qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results The four components (moral, emotive, behavioural and cognitive) of empathy were reflected in findings. Overall the interactive training programme was perceived as useful, and emotionally, it provided an opportunity to “imagine what it is to live with dementia,” enabling a cognitive, moral and behavioural reflection to occur, enhancing the empathic state. Discussion In this study, the VDT® provides a different way of learning, with participants reporting the emergence of an empathic response. Results suggest that the emotional response laid the foundations to the behavioural or cognitive (objective and subjective) reaction which was underpinned by a moral reaction. Implications for practice Virtual reality programmes are one step in the process for healthcare professionals caring empathetically for people with dementia; however, further research is required.

This paper examines the efficacy of facilitation as a practice development intervention in changing practice within an Older Person setting and in implementing evidence into practice. It outlines the influences exerted by the critical realist paradigm in guiding emancipatory practice development activities and, in particular, how the former may be employed within an emancipatory practice development study to elucidate and increase understanding pertinent to causation and outcomes. The methodology is based upon an emancipatory practice development approach set within a realistic evaluation framework. This allows for systematic analysis of the social and contextual elements that influence the explication of outcomes associated with facilitation. The study is concentrated upon five practice development cycles, within which a sequence of iterative processes is integrated. The authors assert that combining critical realist and emancipatory processes offers a robust and practical method for translating evidence and implementing changes in practice, as the former affirms or falsifies the influence that emancipatory processes exert on attaining culture shift, and enabling transformation towards effective clinical practice. A new framework for practice development is proposed that establishes methodological coherency between emancipatory practice development and realistic evaluation. This augments the existing theoretical bases for both these approaches by contributing new theoretical and methodological understandings of causation.

It is anticipated that future work, outlined within this paper, will lead to important improvements in patient care and outcomes. Furthermore, this study provides evidence that a strong nursing and midwifery research agenda can be established upon genuine collaborations and partnerships across varying levels of research knowledge and skills, but with a shared purpose and shared values.

One of the major challenges for health services worldwide is managing the variations in care delivery associated with emergency general surgery (EGS) [1, 2]. Frequently, the standards of care delivered to these patient groups are considered to be suboptimal and heuristic [3, 4]. Patients with emergency surgical conditions need prompt attention, early diagnosis, and excellence in treatment to ensure good outcomes. To achieve these goals, a system with adequate planning, resourcing, and monitoring has to be in place. There is abundant local, national, and international evidence that clinical decision-making in EGS is frequently sub-optimal,