Aim. To describe patients' experiences of counselling, defined as information giving and advice by nursing staff, in the emergency department. A particular focus was on the waiting period and on the importance of family participation in counselling. Background. Counselling is a widely studied topic in nursing. Too little is known about counselling in emergency departments and especially about participation of family members and suitability of counselling for the patient's life situation. Design. Descriptive quantitative study. Methods. Data were collected by questionnaires from patients (n = 107) visiting a hospital emergency department. The data were subjected to statistical analysis. Results. Forty-two per cent of patients arrived at the emergency department with a family member: spouse or cohabiting partner, mother, father or daughter. Patients were fairly satisfied with the counselling. The presence of a family member was important to the majority of patients (75%). About half of the patients wanted information concerning their illness, condition and treatment to be given to their family members. Those visiting the department with a family member were more satisfied with counselling and felt that it promoted their participation in care. Conclusion. It is to encourage patients' family members to participate in counselling situations in emergency departments. However, the type of information passed on to family members should be carefully discussed and prepared. Relevance to clinical practice. Patients' family members seem to be important partners in counselling situations. The presence of family members supports patients in the emergency department during the waiting period and helps them orientate in their situation. When family members are present, issues which patients wish to discuss should be carefully planned. Family presence should be encouraged in emergency departments.Key words: acute care, counselling, emergency care, emergency department, family nursing Accepted for publication: 9 July 2008 BackgroundAcute illness may give rise to feelings of helplessness, uncertainty and fear in patients when they arrive at the emergency department. An acute illness amidst unfamiliar surroundings and medical equipment can cause stress (Fredriksen & Ringsberg 2007). Acute illness often comes on suddenly and is characterised by unpredictability and uncontrollability. Patients' perceptions are also influenced by how much the illness changes their life situation. The more feelings of relinquishment and loss they experience, the more anxious and vulnerable they are. A perceived lack of control over the situation and separation from family are also perceived as threatening (Fredriksen & Ringsberg 2007 Because of the patient's vulnerability, the nursing staff providing patient counselling in the emergency department need to show special sensitivity (Towle & Weston 2006). In this study counselling is defined as information giving and advice concerning illness and care.Acutely ill patients expect to receive safe care. They...

Objective: The study is a descriptive survey based on quantitative and qualitative data. Its purpose is to describe leaders’ self-assessed competence and learning needs in small and medium-sized health and social care enterprises as part of a larger research and development project in Finland. The information produced will be used in planning a simulation-based coaching intervention. The project partners are a health technology enterprise and two educational institutions.Methods: Data were collected in late 2017 from 23 leaders of 20 enterprises using an internet-based questionnaire. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows and the qualitative data using inductive content analysis.Results: The leaders felt confident about their ability to organize day-to-day activities, but reported learning needs related to interaction and entrepreneurship. Training was required in supporting staff in challenging situations, in understanding group dynamics and in developing dialogic interaction and emotional intelligence. The leaders were interested in learning how to market their services and improve the competitiveness of their enterprise with help of digitalization and networking, and how to prepare for the reform of health and social services. Most leaders were involved in practical care work and reported a need to update their clinical skills.Conclusions: Increasing self-management contents and fostering an entrepreneurial attitude in nursing and social work curricula may provide one answer to the learning needs reported in this study. Simulation-based education can provide an effective learning environment for both students and professionals in health and social services.

Background and objective: This paper presents a sub-study of an ongoing research and development project (August 1, 2017-December 31, 2019), whose aim has been to use simulation-based coaching to meet social and healthcare staff’s self-reported learning needs in 20 small and medium-sized enterprises in Finland. Two regional educational institutions are responsible for the management of the project. The study aim was to examine the development of self-rated professional competence and expertise of social and healthcare staff, following a simulation coaching project.Methods: An electronic questionnaire was used to collect information about participants’ self-rated expertise, first in November 2017 and again in May 2019 following the simulation-based coaching intervention. IBM SPSS for Windows 25 was used to analyse the data.Results: The respondents appreciated simulation coaching as an effective way of developing expertise and the continuous learning skills of professionals. In this project, coaching was considered to be especially suitable for theoretical and practical management of acute situations; for keeping up with change in society; for anticipating development needs, and for promoting the attractiveness and competitiveness of the company where they worked.Conclusions: The simulation coaching concept, which involves action-based and concrete ways of developing theoretical and practical competence, is well suited for social and healthcare professionals undertaking continuing education. Using the companies’ own facilities facilitates participation and application of new knowledge and skills.