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Hong Kong returned to the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China in July 1997. In the past, Hong Kong has been greatly influenced by the British system of nurses' training, which was very different from that in mainland China. As Hong Kong is now a part of China again, there is an increased opportunity for the exchange of experience and ideas among nurse educators. The First China-Hong Kong Nursing Education Conference has provided opportunities for the authors to gain a deeper understanding of the development of nursing education in China and Hong Kong. The authors believe that it is also important for China and Hong Kong to increase networking with the international nursing community. This paper has been written largely based on the information gathered from papers presented in the Conference and the discussion with nurse educators who attended the Conference, together with a review of literature. This paper focuses on comparing the history and present development of basic nursing education in both places. The future direction for the development of nursing education in these two places will also be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Developmental action inquiry (DAI) was chosen as the change strategy for introducing problem-based learning (PBL) in a pre-registration nursing programme. The central task was to transform the tutor and student participants to become collaborators in this curriculum reconstruction project. AIM: This paper expounds the way in which the action inquiry was constructed and in light of students' feedback analysis, the way in which PBL has made a difference in student learning was evaluated. DESIGN: Taking into consideration the change context and different group characteristics, the DAI was conducted in terms of two dynamically interlinked circles that formed partnerships between PBL core group members and tutors, and between tutors and students in coconstructing knowledge useful for PBL curriculum development. FINDINGS: The findings of the student evaluation questionnaire reveal that the majority of students felt PBL made a difference to their expectations of self, the student group and the teacher role in creating a facilitative environment to enhance learning. However, there was a significant difference among individual student group responses. The students' positive and negative PBL experience in self-learning, tutor-student interaction, and group-learning were identified as crucial factors contributing to these group variations. CONCLUSION: The evaluation findings show that a paradigm shift from teacher-centred to student-centred learning, from valuing self-learning to co-operative group-learning, and from theory-based to practice-based learning occurred among the students. DAI was found to be an effective change strategy for transforming participants to become collaborators in searching for useful knowledge and coconstructing the PBL learning context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of mentors in an undergraduate nursing programme in Hong Kong Aim of the paper. This paper reports the results of a multiple-phase study on a mentoring scheme for nursing students in one of the universities in Hong Kong. Using a qualitative approach, students’ perceptions of the various roles of mentors were collected, and this information was used as the basis to design a tool for subsequent evaluation of the mentoring scheme. Background. The nursing department in one of the universities in Hong Kong initiated and developed the idea of an ‘Honorary Clinical Instructors’ scheme (HCI scheme) for the supervision of the pre-registration nurses. The scheme was examined in a local context, where the Chinese culture dominated, so that a standardized protocol that takes into account the potential cultural dimensions could be established. Design. The mentoring roles outlined by the English National Board (ENB) for Nursing, Midwifery, Health Visiting were used as a framework to identify undergraduate nursing students’ perception of the effectiveness of mentors. Information gathered from interviews with Year 2 students (n=12) and Year 3 students (n=10) was used as the basis to design a questionnaire for subsequent programme evaluation. An evaluation questionnaire based on the interviewing results was developed for further evaluation of the mentoring scheme. Findings. After the mentoring scheme was evaluated in semester one, a series of strategies were designed to improve the preparation of mentors and the implementation of the scheme. The strategies were identified as effective by the significant differences in the perceptions students had towards the mentoring scheme in semester one and semester two (t189=–4·80, P < 0·001), with semester two (n=81) having a mean score difference of 8·69 higher than in semester one (n=110). Conclusions. It was concluded that the... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyse scientific papers published by Chinese authors in nursing journals included in the Science Citation Index Expanded and compare the published scientific papers from mainland China (ML), Taiwan (TW) and Hong Kong (HK). All articles published in 62 journals that were related to nursing originating from ML, TW and HK from 1999 to 2008 were retrieved from the PubMed and Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Knowledge database. The total number of articles published in nursing journals, impact factors and citation reports and articles were estimated for quantity and quality comparisons. The number of articles from the three regions increased significantly from 1999 to 2008. There were 1015 articles in total from the three regions: ML (48), HK (414) and TW (553) in PubMed. In the ISI Web of Knowledge database, TW derived the highest total citations (1755 citations from 500 articles), followed by HK (1316 citations from 347 articles) and ML (158 citations from 55 articles). HK had the highest average citations of 3.79, followed by TW (3.51) and then ML (2.87). The difference between the quantity and quality of nursing research articles published in ML, TW and HK is significant, although the gap appears to be narrowing. Long-term job stresses, low levels of education and language barriers are likely the main factors. ML, TW and HK have the same culture and ethnicity. We expect that ML will benefit significantly from increased exchanges with TW and HK in nursing research and education. We also speculate that TW and HK will benefit from exchanges because ML may have diverse nursing problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

thompson d.r., lopez v., lee d. & twinn s. (2004) Journal of Clinical Nursing 13, 131–135 SARS – a perspective from a school of nursing in Hong Kong Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a new infectious disease with significant morbidity and mortality that has had a major impact on health and health care services worldwide. Hong Kong has had a significant number of cases and deaths. Nurses, at the vanguard of the clinical health care team, have been particularly affected by it. The outbreak prompted the health authorities to implement a series of public health measures and hospital policies, including a guideline for the diagnosis and management of patients with SARS. This paper aims at providing an overview of what is known about SARS and the impact it has had in Hong Kong and to highlight from the perspective of a school of nursing the major clinical, educational and public health implications. The lack of understanding and uncertainty about the disease led to significant variation in the provision of information, contributing to the confusion and anxiety in the community. Therefore, there is a need to revise the nursing curriculum, to provide continuing education to all health care professionals, particularly with regard to infection control measures, and to revisit the range of public health policies to ensure the health of the community is protected by these policies. There also has been a reaffirmation of the importance of health promotion that highlights the importance of the partnership between nurses, health policy makers and public health personnel. It is evident that the organization and delivery of clinical practice, teaching and health promotion have to be flexible and responsive to a changing health scenario. Nurses must play a crucial role in the prevention, detection and containment of SARS. They will need to implement and ensure strict adherence to infection control measures and, in some circumstances, isolation and quarantine may be warranted. Attention to the psychological state of patients and family members should not be overlooked. Paramount is education of patients, families and members of the public at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To identify issues and challenges of genomics education in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. Background: The use of genetics/genomics in health care, such as genetic testing, pharmacogenomics and tumour profiling in the context of cancer, is increasing. The rapid application of genetics/genomics in clinical practice requires healthcare providers to be competent to practise genetics‐related patient care. Sources of evidence: We reviewed current practices in genomics education in nursing in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, including the opportunities for nurses to advance their knowledge and recommendations to incorporate genomics education in the nursing curriculum in these regions. Findings: While many citizens and health professionals recognize the importance of new and exciting research areas of genomics/genetics, there are still many gaps in the translation of genetic/genomic medicine into clinical practice. There is also a similar lack of genetics professionals in China. Conclusion: Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China face challenges in promoting genetic education in nursing. A strategic approach in a coordinated effort ineffectively translating genomic knowledge into healthcare practice should be established in these three regions. Implications for nursing and policy: Nursing educators in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China should link with the international nursing community (e.g. Global Genomics Nursing Alliance) and form closer networks to improve education in the area of genetics and genomics. From a policy level, genomics education is suggested to be incorporated in nursing curriculum to enhance nurses' competency in incorporating genetics/genomics service into patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background It is important to integrate adolescent health domains into pre-service nursing education in order to enhance undergraduate nursing students' competencies in promoting adolescent health. Aim To determine the effectiveness of a structured adolescent health summer programme for Chinese undergraduate nursing students. Methods A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate differences in the Chinese undergraduate nursing students' perceived competency in promoting adolescent health. A stand-alone adolescent health course was implemented as an intervention with pre- and post-tests of a 2-week intensive summer programme in 2010. The questionnaire included demographics, adolescent health competency checklist and programme evaluation. Descriptive statistics with the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test and the Mann- Whitney U-test were used for data analysis. Results Of the 113 nursing students, seniors perceived higher adolescent health competence mean scores than the juniors in the post-test phase. Majority of nursing students revealed the increasing awareness of the importance in promoting healthy lifestyle behaviours and psychosocial well-being after attending the summer programme. They agreed that nurses do have a role to play. Limitations This 2-week summer programme may only have short-term impacts on students' perception. Conclusions A stand-alone adolescent health summer programme can prepare nursing students to respond to the health issues of adolescents by enhancing their competence in health need assessment and service delivery. Implications for nursing and health policy Nurses serve in a leadership role for health policies and programmes. In nursing education, it is important for students to understand how to put in place policies to resolve adolescent health issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student nurses' perception and understanding of elder abuse. International Journal of Older People Nursing , 283-289 doi: 10.1111/j.1748-3743.2009.00196.x The aim of this study is to investigate student nurses' perception, knowledge and awareness of elder abuse. It is evidential that elder abuse tends to be unrecognized and is often hidden from public awareness. Nurses who work with older people are expected to be knowledgeable of the causes and detection of elder abuse. A quantitative approach using a questionnaire was used to collect data from 245 student nurses from year 1 and 3 of a 4-year bachelor's degree programme. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from the two cohorts of the nursing programme. A 25-item questionnaire was used to investigate participants' perception and awareness of elder abuse. Some 47.8% ( n = 86) year 1 students and 76.9% ( n = 50) year 3 students perceived that they were not well trained in identifying or handling elder abuse. Year 1 and 3 students ranked the top thre e most common abuses differently. In addition, 38% of year 3 students thought that it was largely the responsibility of social workers rather than nurses, to deal with cases of elder abuse. The study reveals that nurses-to-be, who are generally expected to be part of the joint force to protect older people against abuse, did not find themselves adequately prepared to fulfil this responsibility. The findings provide useful information from which more comprehensive content about elder abuse can be developed in the gerontological nursing curriculum, to better prepare future nurses by increasing their basic understanding of elder abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]