title: Certificate-trained staff nurses' perceptions of the changes in nursing education in Ireland from certificate to diploma level.
abstract: Over the past decade, nursing education in Ireland has experienced revolutionary changes, during which the hospital-based apprenticeship certificate model of nurse training was replaced with a college (diploma level) education model. This article reports on a qualitative study that explored traditionally trained staff nurses' perceptions of their role in the facilitation of learning for diploma students in clinical contexts and their attitudes toward such students. A central issue that emerged was participants' perceptions of the diploma program vis-à-vis the traditional apprenticeship training to which they themselves had been exposed. Guided by the strategy of grounded theory, in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 participants, and interview transcripts were analyzed. Three subthemes emerged: feeling the old way was best, confusion and uncertainty, and acceptance of change. These subthemes reflect the finding that although certificate-trained staff nurses thought the traditional apprenticeship model of educating nurses was superior and expressed confusion and uncertainty about the concept of supernumerary status, a sense of acceptance of change also mediated their accounts.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Dympna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brady
authors.forename: Abbey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hyde
mesh_terms: D002568:Certification; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007494:Ireland; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D013663:Teaching / Q000639:trends*