Ensuring newly registered nurses are prepared to tackle the increasingly complex care needs of the ageing population is the ambition of those behind a new research project in Scotland.
It will evaluate the impact of learning delivered to around 1,500 new nurses, focused on preparing them for the real-life scenarios they will face when caring for a deteriorating older patient.
“There is a recognised need to make processes of nursing care more person and context centred”
Steve Mullay
The project, to be carried out at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), has been selected and funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) as part of its spring 2025 research awards programme.
It will assess an enhanced learning module that uses enhanced scenario-based learning, in which the nursing students contextualise learning by applying it to realistic patient situations.
The study will then use workshop discussions with the newly registered nurses to gain insights into how well the module prepared them to function in today’s healthcare settings.
The findings will not only improve the module itself, but will be available to other educational programmes, contributing to better nursing practice overall, according to the university.
The UWS team comprises Dr Steve Mullay as principal investigator, alongside Kevin Lang, Murray Sherriff-Short, Claire Brew and Kelly McCourtney from the School of Health and Life Sciences.
Dr Mullay said: “Populations are growing older, and individual health and wellbeing needs are becoming more complex as a result.
“As such, there is a recognised need to make processes of nursing care more person and context centred,” he said.
“This project aims to gain insights into how well-prepared newly registered nurses felt they were to face this, after undertaking a new module within our nursing degree,” he noted.
“The study will focus on two important skills within it: reliable and accurate patient assessment, and safe and effective intravenous medication administration, particularly in an acutely deteriorating patient in a fast-changing clinical situation.”
Professor James Miller, principal and vice-chancellor of UWS, who is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, congratulated the team on receiving recognition for their research project.
“The team have identified an opportunity to enhance the student learning experience to ensure they make an invaluable impact as new nurses in the care of their patients – at all stages of their lives.”
He added: “The project also feeds into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goal three: good health and wellbeing.”
The UWS study – Keeping it Real’; Exploring a context-centred learning approach for preparing new nurses to address complexity in care – is among 71 projects chosen to receive funding by the RSE.
The royal society’s Research Awards Programme runs twice a year in spring and autumn. The latest group of funding recipients, announced today, will get money from a total pot worth £724,000.
It aims to support Scotland’s research sector by nurturing promising talent, stimulating research in Scotland and promoting international collaboration.
Other healthcare projects in the current funding round include ones investigating minimally invasive robotic total hip replacements and new treatments to kill problematic bacterial biofilms.
Meanwhile, others will also look at creating and sustaining hope in people living with cancer and a miniaturised urine collection system integrated with a drainage bag for intensive care patients.
RSE vice president for research, Professor Anne Anderson, said: “I congratulate these exceptional researchers and their international partners, and I eagerly anticipate the impact of their work.”
