The revised cognitive continuum promotes awareness of the nature and the variety of patient-centred judgement tasks and decisions in nursing, how to select the most suitable intervention tactic from available options, and the fallibility of all forms of human judgement from intuitive/experiential to analytic/rational. Hence, it is recommended for use as an educational tool and practice guide to facilitate theory development and the practice of judgement and decision-making in nursing.

Further collaboration between education and health service partners is recommended to integrate clinical decision-making throughout the nursing curriculum, enhance the development of such vital skills, and facilitate the transition from student to Registered Nurse.

Phenomenological research appears relevant to nursing as it seeks to understand how individuals perceive and make sense of their lived experience. This paper outlines the principles of hermeneutic phenomenology and demonstrates how these can be applied to the design of a research study.

This article aims to provide a conceptual blueprint of mentoring with which to analyse mentoring in nurse education following its incorporation within Higher Education. A literature review of the concept of mentoring identifies tensions between an inherent nurturing versus controlling duality. This theme is explored with reference to a 'Comprehensive Mentoring Model' (Anderson and Shannon, 1995) which is critiqued from feminist, psychodynamic and pedagogical perspectives. An alternative 'SCARCE' model proposes supervision for mentors, greater challenge for mentees and awareness of the politics of mentoring. The 'SCARCE' model is then applied to educational change within nurse education, raising questions about the adequacy of support systems for mentors.

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