title: Enhancing assertiveness in district nurse specialist practice.
abstract: District nurse (DN) care delivery has undergone substantial change in recent years due to changing demographics and service delivery demands that have called for a move of care delivery from secondary to primary care. The title District Nurse is recorded with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) on completion of the Specialist Practice Qualification in District Nursing (SPQ DN), which purports to be a 'transformational' course that prepares future caseload holders to manage their team and prioritise care delivery effectively. This article explores the need for assertiveness skills in this role in response to Australian research, and outlines the pedagogic interventions implemented during the SPQ DN course to enhance this skill. Assertiveness scores were monitored for the duration of the course and demonstrated a significant increase-a topic that is now the subject of a future, funded study.
authors.affiliation: Director of Postgraduate Studies, Lecturer in Nursing and Award Lead for Specialist Community Nursing (District Nursing), School of Nursing and Midwifery, Keele University.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Green
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001242:Assertiveness; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000072184:Nurse Specialists / Q000523:psychology*; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D064691:Nurses, Community Health / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: assertiveness; community; district nurse; leadership; management