TV aid to nurses

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33664, 14 October 1974, Page 6

TV aid to nurses

. Closed circuit telei vision is being used as a , teaching aid by two | lecturers in nursing at Massey University. The equipment w’as given to Massey by the Nurse/ Education and Research Foundation. The lecturers are Miss Nancy Kinross and Mrs Murna Thomson. At present, 60 students are enrolled in nursing papers, and nearly all are registered nurses. The

• I courses, therefore, are not designed to teach basic nursing skills, but the appli1 cation of modern nursing : theory. i Miss Kinross says, i “Nurses today must have ■ the knowledge and skills to operate as independent prac1 titioners, which means being able to make decisions about the patients they care for. i To augment the supervised nursing practice included in the course, videotape was chosen as the best- method of observing and teaching nurses about their relationship with patients.”

Even correspondence students are taught by closed circuit television ,but whether internal or external, the emphasis is on developing skills to allow nurses to bring about improvements in the patients’ health. The Hospital Boards' Association and the Department of Health have both been helpful in assisting students throughout the ■ country by making appropriate arrangements for the clinical practice requirements of the course.

Next year the first graduates with a major certificate in nursing will emerge. The nine papers available centre on the nurse and patient, the nurse .and the immediate group she works with, and the role of the nurse within the hospital. Miss Kinross and Mrs Thomson both hold master’s degrees, and Miss Kinross is at present doing research for a Ph. D.