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To explore midwifery students' (and as new graduates') experiences and level of satisfaction about a student-led midwifery model of care. This was a qualitative study to elicit rich descriptive data from the participants. Thematic analysis was used. The students were interviewed at the end of their final year of study and they were subsequently interviewed at the end of their graduate year. Two overarching themes were identified from the qualitative findings from the first and second interviews including the students building and sustaining important relationships and transitioning from a student to new graduate. The midwifery students valued the opportunity to spend one year in a student-led model of care so that they could build and sustain important relationships with women and their team including the mentor midwife as new graduates. The students developed confidence by being respected by midwives and enabled them to advocate for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complementary therapies are making a significant and cost effective contribution to the health of the community, especially in relation to chronic disease management and prevention of disease. Because of the increased use of complementary therapies, nurses, and other health professionals need to be familiar with specific practices so that they can assist clients to make informed decisions in the use of these therapies. Importantly, with the increased interest in complementary therapies, there is a need to ensure these practices are safe, cause no harm and are used to enhance the well-being of patients. This paper reports on the design, implementation and evaluation of a complementary therapies course and a linked Thai cultural studies tour. The course was implemented at The University of Newcastle for the first time in 2009 with an enrolment of 200 students. It is an elective course for both nursing students and those from other disciplines. In this paper we describe the reasons for the introduction of this course and its value in nursing education. We then provide an overview of the course and report on evaluation results from both the course and the Thai cultural studies tour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify, critique and synthesise the evidence about the impact of Appreciative Inquiry on improving nursing and midwifery students as they transition into becoming new graduates. An integrative review. The databases were: Pubmed, Ovid Medline, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health and Scopus. A Whittemore and Knafl's (2005) five stage approach was used to appraise the primary literature related to nursing and midwifery students transitioning into becoming new graduates. A total of 805 articles were retrieved and six studies met the inclusion criteria and included in this review. These studies have shown that Appreciative Inquiry as an intervention can be used to improve nursing and midwifery students' experiences as they transition into becoming new graduates. Three overarching themes were identified: caring, connecting and nurturing, transforming the workplace and work practices and appreciating and enabling nurses and midwives as a profession. Appreciative Inquiry offers a creative, exploratory and compassionate method to improve positive change for nursing and midwifery students as they transition into becoming new graduates. The impact of caring, nurturing nurses and midwives who mentor nursing and midwifery students makes a difference in increasing the likelihood that graduates will remain in the profession and establish fulfilling relationships with both colleagues and people. • Appreciative inquiry is beneficial in improving nursing students' experiences. • Appreciative inquiry is beneficial in improving midwifery students' experiences. • The nursing and midwifery workforce are using Appreciative Inquiry more often. • Appreciative inquiry improves and enhances relationships between people. • Appreciative inquiry focuses on what is working well and the strengths and values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]