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Background: The use of non-sterile gloves (NSG) has become routine in the delivery of health care, often for procedures for which they are not required; their use may increase the risk of cross contamination and is generally not integrated into hand hygiene audit. This paper describes a small-scale application and validation of an observational audit tool devised to identify inappropriate use of NSG and potential for cross contamination. Methods: Two observers simultaneously observed the use of NSG during episodes of care in an acute hospital setting. The inter-rater reliability (IRR) of the audit tool was measured corrected for chance agreement using Kappa. Results: A total of 22 episodes of care using NSG were observed. In 68.6% (24/35) of procedures there was no contact with blood/body fluid; in 54.3% (19/35) NSG-use was inappropriate. The IRR was 100% for eight of 12 components of the tool. For hand hygiene before and after NSG removal it was 82% (Kappa = 0.72) and 95% (Kappa = 0.87). Conclusions: In this small-scale application of a glove-use audit tool we demonstrated over-use and misuse of NSG and potential for cross transmission on gloved hands. The audit tool provides an effective mechanism for integrating glove use into the audit of hand hygiene behaviour.

Researchers examining academic success often quantify it in terms of assessment grades. This assumption is questioned here by considering the students' understanding of academic success. The presented study aimed to identify students' views of its definition and the factors they perceive as crucial in attaining it. Sixteen undergraduate Psychology students at a modern university in London, United Kingdom took part in one of three focus groups. Participants defined academic success as: the accomplishment of the learning process; gaining subject knowledge; and developing employability skills. Thematic analysis of the collected data resulted in two themes: intrinsic factors, including motivation, self-directed learning and personal skills; and extrinsic factors, including teaching content and the student support structure. The discussion of these results at the conference led to the conclusion that achieving academic success and minimising skill gaps for employability post qualification requires the intrinsic elements to be addressed as an integral part of the compulsory programme rather than presented as optional add-ons. VignetteA second-year student requested an urgent appointment for academic advice from her personal tutor. She demanded an explanation of how the degree classification was calculated to make sure she pitched her efforts correctly for the upcoming assessments, in order to achieve the final grade that she had in mind (which was a 2:1). Her reasoning was that in order to maximise her employability, it was crucial to balance her time between achieving the required grade and gaining the appropriate level of work experience.

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Research examining the links between Mental Toughness, Positive and Negative Affect and Academic Success was presented at the Annual Higher Education STEM Conference (HEA STEM). The results indicated that undergraduate students of psychology (n = 141) showed a positive correlation between Control of Life (a component of Mental Toughness) and Academic Success, as measured by their grades. Further relationships between components of each scale were found to differ between genders. Females showed negative relationships between Confidence in Abilities and Control of Emotion and Academic Success, while males showed links only between Commitment and Positive Affect, and Commitment and Academic Successboth of these being positive relationships. In this conference reflection piece, the results of this research will be examined in the light of the wider discussions on employability in relation to 'Resilience' and how Academic Success is measured.