〔Purpose〕The purpose of this study to assess the reliability and validity of the Nursing Skills Learning Strategies Scale, which was designed to measure learning strategies employed by nursing students in their acquisition of nursing skills.

〔Methods〕A questionnaire including the draft version of the Nursing Skills Learning Strategies Scale was sent to 682 third-year nursing students by post, and an exploratory factor analysis of their data was conducted （Survey 1）. Another survey was then performed using the leaving method, targeting 213 nursing students; in this survey, the aforementioned scale’s concurrent validity with the Metacognitive Strategies Scale and the test-retest reliability were evaluated （Survey 2）.

〔Results〕Four factors comprising 17 items were identified in the exploratory factor analysis: planning/adjustment, peer learning, cognitive orientation, and emotional adjustment. Regarding the reliability of the Nursing Skills Learning Strategies Scale, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the overall scale was 0.82, and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient for the test-retest reliability was 0.69. Regarding the concurrent validity, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient between the Nursing Skills Learning Strategies Scale and the Metacognitive Strategies Scale as an external criterion was 0.55.

〔Discussion〕The Nursing Skills Learning Strategies Scale was found to have good reliability and validity, as evidenced by its Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, test-retest results, and construct and concurrent validity.

〔Purpose〕We developed a scale for measuring risk sensitivity in nursing students and tested the reliability and validity of the scale.

〔Methods〕A primary survey was performed with a questionnaire originally created based on the literature and the results were used to create a preliminary risk sensitivity scale （44 items）. A questionnaire survey including external reference scale items was then administered to 774 first to fourth year students enrolled in a nursing college. The responses from 602 students were subject to exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.

〔Results〕A high goodness of fit value was attained for a nursing student risk sensitivity model comprised of 25 items in six subscales：［ability to execute safety acts］, ［ability to use risk experiences］, ［ability to acquire risk information］, ［risk avoidance preparedness］, ［risk response preparedness］ and ［risk detecting and monitoring ability］. Cronbach’s α coefficient for the scale was 0.93. Analysis of correlation between risk sensitivity score and the external reference scales showed a moderate positive correlation with the two subscale scores, “interest in safety” and “safety consideration”, of a safety awareness scale, with r＝0.5 （p＜0.01）. A weak positive correlation was observed with the Need for Cognition Scale, with r＝0.2−0.3 （p＜0.01） and a weak negative correlation was observed between the “impulsive errors” subscale of the error proneness scale and the ［ability to execute safety acts］ subscale, with r＝−0.23 （p＜0.01）.

〔Discussion〕We confirmed the internal consistency and construct validity of the developed scale, although the criterion-related validity has yet to be determined. The developed scale can be used by nursing students to self-assess their own risk sensitivity prior to the start of practical training so that they can set the necessary study goals to act safely and attain a state of preparedness for practical training.

〔Purpose〕The present study was conducted to examine clinical nurses’ experience of teaching nursing students in clinical training, and discussed the meanings of their experiences.

〔Methods〕Semi-structured interviews were conducted involving eight clinical nurses with experience of teaching in clinical training, and the data acquired from the responses were analyzed qualitatively and inductive.

〔Results〕The following five core categories were extracted as experiences of teaching trainees：“the need for sincere interactions to student”, “need for a learning environment that does not cause anxiety”, “recognition of positive results of teaching”, “as difficult as the puzzlement to a laboratory work”, “reflection as a leader”.

〔Discussion〕The meanings of the above-mentioned experiences and their relationships were discussed, and the following results were obtained: clinical nurses who provided students with guidance in clinical training were required to address and solve many different problems arising from interactions with a variety of people, which encouraged them to develop a view of teaching, leadership, and management skills, as well as improve their abilities to implement nursing care and train newly recruited nurses.

〔Purpose〕This study aimed to clarify content in basic nursing education which is necessary for newly graduated critical care nurses.

〔Method〕Data were collected by paper-based open-ended questionnaires for 304 senior critical care nurses and 46 newly graduated critical care nurses. Senior critical care nurses　were asked about the content of education which they want newly graduated nurses to learn thoroughly in basic nursing education. Similarly, newly graduated critical care nurses were asked about the content of education which they want to learn thoroughly in basic nursing education. Collected data were analyzed by text mining.

〔Results〕The results showed that the most frequently cited words used by senior critical care nurses were “attitude”, “greeting”, “report”, “tongue”, “consultation”, “communication”, “a respectable citizen”, and others. However, these words were not mentioned by newly graduated nurses. Using principal component analysis and cluster analysis （K-Means）, these data were classified into the following categories: for the senior nurses, “nursing assessment based on medical evidence”, “nursing procedures such as injections, intravenous, and blood samples”, “nursing care of patients whose condition was aggravated suddenly”, “consultation, report, contact”, “viewpoint of physiological data”; and similarly, for the newly graduated nurses, “diseases of patients in ICU,” “nursing care for patients with mechanical ventilation”, “drugs to use for lifesaving”, “practical postoperative nursing care”, “managing transfusions”, “nursing care using medical equipment when a patient’s condition was aggravated suddenly”.

〔Discussion〕The present findings demonstrate that senior nurses regarded “consultation, report, contact” as important; however, newly graduated nurses did not recognize this point. On the other hand, newly graduated nurses regarded “nursing care for patients with mechanical ventilation”, as important. While the senior nurses regarded fundamental skills as important, the newly graduated nurses regarded specialized critical care skills as important.

〔Purpose〕We implemented a multi-tasking training program for nursing students who were scheduled to graduate. Our first objective was to evaluate nursing skills after implementing the training program. Then, to evaluate the effects of the training program, evaluations were repeated immediately after its implementation and 3 months after graduation.

〔Methods〕A total of 145 undergraduate nursing students who had undergone basic nursing training in A Prefecture were included in the program. All students provided consent to participate in the program. The program consisted of the following two tasks: Task 1 involved dealing with interruptions at work; Task 2 involved handling a patient in the same room as another patient undergoing a medical emergency. Self-evaluation of nursing skills was performed using a 4-step scale to rate the 20 items outlined on the basis of the goals of the training. These items were grouped in 5 categories. The results were then analyzed.

〔Results and Discussion〕Only one item in Task 1 was rated by students as significantly “accomplished.” This suggested that students found it difficult to make accurate judgments when their work was interrupted and when dealing with patients. For Task 2, items in the categories, “Judging my own abilities” and “Nursing practices appropriate for the situation” were rated by the students as significantly “accomplished.” On a questionnaire filled out 3 months after graduation, most students replied that the training period and difficulty level of the tasks in the program were appropriate. The students also believed that the program allowed them to revise their own skills, and participation in it motivated them for their future careers as nurses.

〔Objectives〕This study is to clarify the learning experience in the course of performing research of graduate nursing college students.

〔Methods〕Participants included students of nursing universities who undertook nursing research. Data was collected in focus group interviews after the participants had completed a nursing research task, following which it was qualitatively analysed by an inductive approach. Student accounts were transcribed and categorized according to simple coded sentences. Ethical considerations involved explanation of the objectives and methods of nursing research to participants a week prior to the interviews. Consent was obtained after providing participants with written and verbal confirmation that participation in the study was voluntary, that they were free to withdraw at any time without being disadvantaged in any way and that personal information would be protected and anonymity maintained. This study was approved by the university ethics committee.

〔Results〕There was a total of 4 groups and 20 participants, with 4−6 study participants per group. We extracted a total of 175 codes. The learning experiences obtained through the process of graduation work were indicated as “acquisition of knowledge on, and attitude towards, the meaning and method of the research”, “search and clarification of research theme”, “actual practice of research method through trial and error”, and “increased interest in research”. Through the series of research procedures, students developed “awareness gained from opinion exchanges with tutors and other research members”, “sense of achievement to complete the research course”, and “sense of role and responsibility as a representative of research collaborators”. For students, being able to reach the research goal was indicated as “a pride gained from being able to lead the research to the desired result” and “a wish to further develop the research under advanced themes”.

〔Discussion〕This survey demonstrated that allowing students to independently establish a study theme and complete a thesis brings “a sense of achievement obtained from completing the research course” through “unaided quest”. For tutors, the importance of acknowledgement and support for the students’ “engagement in the research method consisting of trial and error” was suggested, which allows students the “acquisition of knowledge on, and attitude towards, the meaning and method of the research” and “increased interest in research”. The significance of graduate work as an educational method in training nursing professionals equipped with academic knowledge and skills of a university graduate was also indicated.

〔Purpose〕The purpose of this study was to clarify what students learned through shadowing psychiatric nurses.

〔Methods〕Nursing students shadowed nurses in their psychiatric nursing practicum with observational viewpoints-assessment skills, communication skills, and so on. Thirty-two of these records were analyzed using Berelson’s content analysis method.

〔Results〕Eleven categories were extracted by analysis. In each viewpoint, students were able to observe situationalized, individual care and changes according to each patient’s condition on specific occasions. Moreover, in about 60 percent of all recorded items, students inferred the nurses’ intents and bases for the care they provide by accessing their own knowledge and observing patients’ reactions.

〔Discussion〕In each viewpoint, it was considered that students were able to study the features of psychiatric nursing, and they understood that each relation between nurses and patients evolves into an aspect of psychiatric nursing. Furthermore, students guessed nurses’ intents and bases of care automatically, observing the context of the speech and actions of the nurses and patients, and it became an opportunity to tie up and experience how the knowledge that they studied would be connected with practice.

〔Purpose〕To examine the elimination support learning process of newly graduated nurses based on what instructions from senior nurses they could remember and state.

〔Methods〕I conducted semi-structured interviews with six new nurses three and six months after they started working as nurses. Each interview lasted for approximately 50 minutes.

〔Results〕Instructions from senior nurses, initially intended to help with basic techniques learned through providing living activity support, was found to have progressed to ancillary techniques for treatment that the novice nurses keenly felt important to know. The senior nurses first wanted the new nurses to have a perspective of efficiently carrying out routine work. After that, they required them to be involved with the patients to support their lives. The key instructions initially focused on support techniques, but then changed to assessing and judging patient conditions. The attitudes of the novices changed during this process. In the beginning they followed the instructions of the senior nurses. Then, the novices considered their own ways for implementing elimination support while being exposed to the diversified perspectives of the senior nurses.

〔Discussion〕In six months the new nurses have come to pay attention to patient conditions. They are now working to implement support techniques based on scientific evidence, and have started performing elimination support with their own styles, reflecting their understanding of patients as living persons.