A holistic approach to competence seems to be compatible with the use of portfolios to assess competence in nursing students, but the concept and its implementation is still evolving. A variety of assessment methods are needed for assessment and portfolios appear to have the potential to integrate these. Reflection is an essential component of a portfolio, as are the student-teacher relationship and explicit guidelines for constructing the portfolio. Issues of rigour in assessment of portfolios need to be addressed, but the assessor's professional judgement will inevitably enter into this assessment.

Nursing today, with its individualistic approach to care, shares many of its underlying beliefs and values with the school of philosophical thought known as phenomenology. The research method derived from phenomenology considers that the true meaning of phenomena can only be explored through the experience of them as described by the individual. This paper explores the features of phenomenology as a research method in relation to its relevance for nursing by first discussing the philosophical underpinnings of the method, and then proceeding to an examination of the features of the method with relation to research design, and data analysis. The specific issues of validity and generalizability are developed further, with reference to the criticisms levelled at the phenomenological method from the alternative quantitative paradigm. Finally, the author discusses the relevance of phenomenology for nursing, and concludes that, as a research method within the qualitative paradigm, it has a great deal to offer nursing as a humanistic discipline.

The concept 'expert' has become common in the nursing literature since Benner's (1984) work more than a decade ago. Whilst the term has a common meaning, it is apparent that when used in nursing it refers to a multitude of attributes and lacks clear definition. This paper uses the strategy for concept analysis developed by Walker & Avant (1988) to seek an operational definition for the concept of 'expert', and suggests the defining attributes of: possession of a specialized body of knowledge and skill; extensive experience in a field of practice; highly developed levels of pattern recognition, and acknowledgement by others. These are discussed in relation to nursing practice and the circumstances under which the concept is used. Development of cases is carried out to exemplify the concept, and the antecedents and consequences of the attributes are discussed, suggesting that the concept lacks clarity, both in conceptualization, and in use. A first definition of the concept is posed to open debate concerning the relevance of the term for the future. The conclusions reached suggest that whilst an operational definition is unlikely to be found, because of the problems of definition and measurement, it is possible, through various strategies, to recognize expert practice and use it to further develop nursing. Furthermore, it is likely to become increasingly important to recognize and reward expert practitioners, given the political and economic constraints in health care today.

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This paper describes the experiences of eight staff nurses who were students in the first cohort of a Project 2000 course in a pilot district during their post-qualification year. A qualitative approach, informed by phenomenological methodology, was adopted in order to present these experiences alongside the meaning attributed to them by the nurses. Taped, focused group discussions, using semi-structured interviews, were analysed. This yielded five themes which describe the structure of these experiences from "coming out of school' through to the acknowledgement and confidence in themselves as a different kind of nurse to those trained on previous traditional courses. The findings suggest that the vision of the United Kingdom Central Council in proposing Project 2000 courses is likely to be realized. These nurses had gained the competent technical and clinical skills expected of any nurse. However, they also displayed skills previously absent in newly-qualified nurses, such as evidence of analytical decision-making and confident interpersonal skills, which are likely to enable them to take an equal place amongst other members of the multi-professional team in the future. Although competent practitioners, the process they had undergone to reach this had, at times, been traumatic. The implications arising from the study are that more attention needs to be paid to the personal and professional development needs of Project 2000 nurses, both at the end of the course and in their first post-qualifying year.