title: Design and Evaluation of Reform Plan for Local Academic Nursing Challenges Using Action Research.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study identifies challenges to the first nurse training program for undergraduate nursing students at a nursing and midwifery school in Iran using a collaborative approach in order to improve the program.
  
  
  METHODS
  Action research was used as a research strategy with qualitative content analysis and quantitative evaluation. The participants were 148 individuals from nursing academic and clinical settings, including administrators, faculty members, students, and staff nurses. We obtained approval from the research deputy and ethics committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran for this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lack of coherence in the educational program and implementation of the program, inadequate communication between management inside and outside the organization, insufficient understanding of situations by students, and improper control of inhibitors and use of facilitators in teaching and in practice were among the major challenges in the first training process in the context of this study. After classification of problems, the educational decision-making authorities of the school developed an operational program with stakeholder cooperation to plan initial reforms, implementation of reforms, reflection about the actions, and evaluation. Comparison of student satisfaction with the collaborative learning process versus the traditional method showed that except for the atmosphere in the clinical learning environment (p>.05), the mean differences for all dimensions were statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results confirm the overall success of the revised partnership program, but stressed the need for further modification of some details for its implementation in future rounds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Nursing Care Research Center in Chronic Diseases, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran; Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Marziyeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asadizaker
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: zhilasaeedi@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Zhila
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Abedsaeedi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Heidarali
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abedi
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Azadeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saki
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education*; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015402:Nursing Education Research / Q000458:organization & administration; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology; D013663:Teaching; D035502:Trust
keywords: clinical nursing research; health services research; teaching