Women Rugby Union Coaches’ Experiences of Formal Coach Education in Ireland and the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Study

Although the sport of rugby union has expanded globally in both the men’s and women’s formats recently, there remains an under-representation of women coaches across all contexts. Research has focused its analysis on the under-representation of women coaches in a select few sports such as soccer. No extant research has empirically analyzed this under-representation within rugby union. This study addressed this research lacuna on why this under-representation exists from the perspective of 21 women rugby union coaches based within the United Kingdom and Ireland. The specific research objective was to analyze the coaches’ lived experiences of attending formal coach education courses in rugby union. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed thematically and conceptualized via an abductive logic against LaVoi’s Ecological-Intersectional Model and Pierre Bourdieu’s species of capital. Supportive and positive themes reported how the coach education courses had been delivered in a collegiate and lateral manner. Courses thus acted as settings where greater amounts of cultural and social capital could be acquired from both course tutors and peers. This enabled social networks to be made that were used for continual professional development beyond the courses. Barriers and negative experiences orientated upon the lack of empathy imparted by course tutors on account of men having fulfilled these roles on most occasions. Recommendations on how national governing bodies can improve the experiences of women coaches attending future coach education courses are discussed.

Simulation educators in clinical work: the manager's perspective

PurposeInformation is scarce on healthcare managers' understanding of simulation educators' impact on clinical work. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore healthcare managers' perceptions of the significance of clinically active simulation educators for the organisation.Design/methodology/approachHealthcare managers were invited to be interviewed in a semi-structured manner. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify and analyse patterns of notions describing the managers' perceptions of simulation educators' impact as co-workers on their healthcare organisations.FindingsThe identified relevant themes for the healthcare unit were: (1) value for the manager, (2) value for the community and (3) boundaries. Simulation educators were perceived to be valuable gatekeepers of evidence-based knowledge and partners in leadership for educational issues. Their most prominent value for the community was establishing a reflective climate, facilitating open communication and thereby improving the efficacy of teamwork. Local tradition, economy, logistics and staffing of the unit during simulation training were suggested to have possible negative impacts on simulation educators' work.Practical implicationsThe findings might have implications for the implementation and support of simulation training programs.Social implicationsHealthcare managers appreciated both the personal value of simulation educators and the effect of their work for their own unit. Local values were prioritised versus global. Simulation training was valued as an educational tool for continual professional development, although during the interviews, the managers did not indicate the importance of employment of pedagogically competent and experienced staff.Originality/valueThe study provided new insights about how simulation educators as team members affect clinical practice.

An Authentic, Practice-Based Assessment as a Catalyst for Continuous Professional Development

Over the last ten years, pharmacy practice has changed significantly in Canada. It is more important than ever to ensure that the profession engages in continuing professional development in order to keep up with changing practice and changing public demand and scrutiny. The question is, how do we ensure that the required continual professional development occurs and is applied to practice? One Canadian regulator, the Ontario College of Pharmacists, has attempted to address this question by assessing the success of a number of quality assurance options in terms of addressing the competence of pharmacists, and by extension their ability to learn and apply their learning in an ongoing manner. This case study presents three policy options; an analysis of those options; and finally, an evaluation of the best option for this regulator. The policy alternatives considered include a continuing education/professional development requirement, standardized simulated assessment (i.e., observed structured clinical examination) and authentic practice-based assessment. For the Ontario College of Pharmacists, an authentic practice-based assessment approach seems effective at stimulating quality improvements in pharmacists’ practice, likely because the assessment acts as a catalyst for pharmacists to engage in continuing professional development in order to maintain competence.

Free Open Access Med(ical edu)cation for critical care practitioners

Free Open Access Med(ical edu)cation refers to an online community of knowledge relating to medicine. Originating from practitioners in emergency medicine, it has since spread to critical care, internal medicine, prehospital medicine, paediatrics, and allied health professionals and continues to grow at an advanced rate. Weblogs (‘blog’ for short), emails, social media (in particular Twitter), recorded audio material ((podcasts), and video material are all produced on a daily basis and contribute to the continual professional development of trainees and consultants worldwide. In this article, we explain its background, rise to prominence, and explore some of its controversies.

Continual Professional Development (CPD): Improving Quality of Nursing Care in Nepal

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