University event showcases the latest developments in nurse education
A nursing event, which will showcase the latest in educational research and development in the nursing profession, is to be held at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh in November.
The ENTER 2015 (Enhancing Nursing Through Educational Research) conference, a collaboration between ten Scottish universities which specialise in nursing, will promote the latest educational research taking place within the nursing profession. It will also share information on recent developments within the profession.
It is thought the two day event will attract professionals and students from all fields of nursing practice, as well as those working within education and research.
Conference Chair, Ailsa McMillan from Queen Margaret University’s Division of Nursing, explained: “This type of event is essential in enabling our nurses to deliver safe, effective, person-centred care. It offers an excellent platform to share best practice and network with colleagues.”
The themes of the conference include student experience, learning in practice and innovative approaches to nurse education. Seminars, workshops and posters will be presented by students and practitioners from both practice and education.
Professor Gary Rolfe, Emeritus Professor of Nursing, Swansea University, will open the conference with the second international Nurse Education Today (NET) lecture which looks at nursing and the idea of liberal education. Professor Jan Dewing, the Sue Pembrey Chair of Nursing at Queen Margaret University; Derek Barron, Associate Nurse Director, Mental Health Services at NHS Ayrshire & Arran; and Dr Paul Gilfillan, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Queen Margaret University will take part in a ‘fish bowl’ conversation about some of the most pressing issues in nursing today.
The event will take place at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh on Thursday 12th and Friday 13th November 2015. Places are still available for student and nursing professionals, as well as other health professionals, who have an interest in nursing and nurse education.
Notes to Editor
Professor Gary Rolfe’s key note speech will look at nursing and the idea of liberal education. See below for an outline of the lecture:
NURSING AND THE IDEA OF LIBERAL EDUCATION
Much of the blame for the recent appalling failures of care at Stafford Hospital and elsewhere in the UK has been directed at an over-educated nursing workforce that is 'too posh to wash'. In the second NET International Lecture I will take the opposing view that nurses are generally under- rather than over-educated. In the twenty years since nursing education moved en-mass into the higher education sector, I will suggest that universities in the UK and across the world are in rapid retreat from the values, ideals and practices of education towards a form of higher vocational training. Whilst this turn to the world of work might appear at first sight to suit the project of nursing education, I will argue that what is desperately needed at present is a far broader liberal education curriculum focused on the arts and humanities. How we might go about building such a curriculum within a higher education system that rewards measurable outcomes above caring and compassion is a question to which we must all now turn our attention if the nursing profession is to address the challenges of the current 'crisis in caring'.
- Nursing has a long history at Queen Margaret University and is one of the original subject areas which led to the creation of QMU as we know it today. Over the years, the nursing portfolio has rapidly grown and today a number of nursing and nursing related courses are on offer. In addition to the BSc (Hons) Nursing programme, QMU offers a number of postgraduate and post-registration courses. Lecturers teach across all courses and are constantly in contact with all levels of the nursing profession, which greatly benefits students. We also have important links with international nursing departments through staff exchanges.
For further media information please contact Lynne Russell, Communications Manager, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, E: lrussell@qmu.ac.uk T: 0131 474 0000, M: 07711 011239, or Jon Perkins, Press and PR Officer, E: jperkins@qmu.ac.uk ; T: 0131 474 0000.
