Dedicated Education Unit
A collaborative pilot project between CDHB & CPIT School of Nursing
What is a DEU?
A DEU is a practice area dedicated to supporting undergraduate nursing students on clinical placement. The DEU environment encourages collegial relationships between students, nursing staff and clinical lecturers. The concept of one-to-one preceptorship is expanded to include all DEU staff.
Features of a DEU
- DEUs provide an optimal clinical learning environment for nursing students by utilizing well proven teaching learning strategies drawing on the expertise of both clinical (CDHB) and teaching (CPIT) staff.
- Students are supported in practice by a dedicated Clinical Liaison Nurse (CLN) and a dedicated Academic Liaison Nurse (ALN).
- All staff working within the DEU, such as Registered Nurses, Enrolled Nurses, Nurse Assistants, pool nurses, allied professionals and the medical team, support teaching and learning opportunities for undergraduate nursing students.
- Student peer teaching is encouraged.
Student assessments are undertaken with the student by the CLN and ALN after consultation with DEU staff and patients
For further information about the DEU view the PDF below;
Background to the DEU Project (PDF: 21Kb)
The DEU Advisory Team
Isabel Jamieson(CPIT), Rose Whittle(CPIT), Michelle Casey(CDHB), Deb Sims(CPIT), Teresa Kilkenny(CDHB), Janine Hale(CDHB)
Key Roles:
Clinical Liaison Nurse (CLN):
The Clinical Liaison Nurse (CLN) is a RN who is a permanent staff member from the DEU. They oversee the undergraduate nursing students during their clinical placement in the DEU. The CLN promotes and facilitates student learning by providing consistent and accessible support for both clinicians and undergraduate nursing students for the duration of the clinical placement. They are rostered to ensure maximum contact and availability for students throughout the duration of the clinical placement. Extra time is allocated to the CLN to provide an orientation programme for students, to facilitate learning opportunities and to complete CPIT student assessments, in conjunction with the Academic Liaison Nurse (ALN).
CLNs are allocated the following time while the DEU has students on placement:
- 8 hours annually to attend a DEU workshop
- 8 hours administration/preparation per student placement prior to the arrival of students
- 8 hours for orientation activities with students
- 1.5 hours per student for formative assessment
- 1 hour per student for summative assessment
- 0.5 hours daily for CLN related activities
On a day to day basis the CLN liaises with key personnel regarding the students’ role, learning needs and progress. The role is predominantly one of facilitation and co-ordination to enhance the learning opportunities for the student rather than clinical teaching.
The CLN acts as a liaison person:
- Between DEU staff, students, ALN, Charge Nurse Manager (CNM), Nurse Educator (NE) and Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
- With all clinical staff in the DEU regarding the student’s role, learning needs and progress
- With the ALN in relation to the student’s progress and completing assessments
- To assist students with the integration of theory and practice.
In addition, the CLN works in conjunction with, and supports the ALN to enable students to meet their clinical course outcomes by:
- Providing a structured orientation to the clinical area for students
- Arranging student rosters
- Allocating student to DEU staff, student peers and patients/clients
- Organising student experiences including working with allied health professionals and rotating to specialist or related areas
- Anticipating and organising additional learning opportunities for students in relation to their patient or client. and in collaboration with the RN supervising the student , i.e. endoscopy clinic, theatre and community agencies Working with students on a one-on-one basis as required
- Providing ongoing feedback to students throughout their clinical placement
- Working in partnership with the ALN and DEU staff to undertake student assessments
- Working with the ALN to develop ‘action plans’ for students if required.
Academic Liaison Nurse (ALN)
The Academic Liaison Nurse (ALN) is a RN who is a tenured member of the CPIT academic teaching staff. They are permanently assigned to a specific DEU to provide clinical teaching and support learning for students. The ALN works with all nursing students in the DEU as well as with all DEU staff and hence becomes known to those staff. This enhances the relationship between clinical and academic staff and facilitates ALN integration into the DEU team.
The ALN works in conjunction with, and in support of the CLN, to provide ongoing feedback to students. They help to support and encourage students to:
- Socialise into the professional nursing role
- Demonstrate their knowledge and skills
- Explore theory and practice links, including the clinical application of Evidence Based Practice
- Develop appropriate communication, clinical decision making and clinical practice skills.
- Identify and apply curriculum threads to clinical practice
The ALN also supports DEU staff to:
- Increase their knowledge and understanding of the BN programme
- Set realistic expectations for students of different years
- Undertake research and quality assurance activities
- Enhance their role as clinical teachers if requested
Comparison of the current model and the pilot DEU model of clinical teaching and learning
|
Preceptorship Model
|
DEU Model
|
|---|---|
| No dedicated on-site support person | CLN(s) identified for each DEU |
| Lack of consistent Clinical Lecturer (CL) | Consistent ALN who becomes familiar with the DEU practice area |
| CL and preceptor responsible for student orientation | ALN and CLN responsible for student orientation. (Supernumerary time provided for the CLN) |
| Individual preceptors responsible for facilitating the students learning | All DEU staff responsible for facilitating student learning |
| Clinical assessment completed by the preceptor and CL | Clinical assessment completed by CLN and ALN with staff input (Supernumerary time provided for the CLN) |
| Some CDHB staff unfamiliar with BN curriculum | CLN and DEU staff are familiar with BN curriculum |
| Students are responsible for their own learning | Students are responsible for their own learning |
| CLN coordinates student learning on a day-to-day basis | |
| CLN is supported by the ALN/CPIT Course Leader | |
| CLN provides on-site, consistent and accessible support to students and staff | |
| Student peer teaching encouraged | |
| ALN is able to offer on-site teaching sessions/research support to staff and students | |
| 1-2 students per ward/unit | Increased student numbers. Minimum six per DEU |
| CL allocated several students across the CDHB therefore duty hours allocated to the CL spread across clinical areas | Contact hours for the ALN are consolidated so that the ALN is able to spend increased time in the DEU. More Students = more ALN support |
Summation Report
Establishing DEU for Undergraduate Nursing Students: Pilot Project Summation Repor (PDF : 561Kb)
Project team members contact details:
Rose Whittle
Clinical Manager
RN, MEd (Dist), BA(Ed), AdvDipN(CP), Plunket Cert, Applied Science Cert, CertAdultTchg
CPIT
03 940 8292
whittler@cpit.a.c.nz