Novice nurses currently feel unprepared for the social dynamics of the workplace, due to a lack of assertiveness. Although clinical placements in nursing curricula should prepare student nurses for the demanding work environment, they do not seem to meet these expectations. Our study looked into Dutch students’ experiences of clinical placements as a learning environment for assertiveness. Twelve semistructured interviews were conducted and thematically analyzed, revealing three themes and four subthemes. Clinical placements varied greatly in their capability to stimulate assertiveness development. The team's supportiveness toward students and the didactical skill of the coach mainly influenced this capability. In general, students lacked a clear professional role with regards to their colleagues, stifling assertive behavior with the fear of failing the clinical placement. Our findings indicate that future-proof nursing curricula should support the development of assertive interprofessional conduct in students both before and during clinical placement.
One challenge novice nurses face at the start of their career is coming to grips with the tumultuous working environment and its social dynamics. Assertive behavior and interprofessional communication play a key role in maintaining one’s health throughout this process: skills which novice nurses feel they lacked in their education. Within their education, clinical placements providea true-to-life working environment to train these skills. However, studies show that assertive behavior and interprofessional communication skills are not structurally addressed within this learning environment. To alleviate this theory-practice gap, our study focused on developing a digital tool together with nursing students that helps them structurally reflect upon and monitor these skills. Our main question was: How do students want to reflect upon their assertive behavior and interprofessional communication during their clinical placement using a digital tool?
We investigated the effects of reflex-based self-defence training on police performance in simulated high-pressure arrest situations. Police officers received this training as well as a regular police arrest and self-defence skills training (control training) in a crossover design. Officers' performance was tested on several variables in six reality-based scenarios before and after each training intervention. Results showed improved performance after the reflex-based training, while there was no such effect of the regular police training. Improved performance could be attributed to better communication, situational awareness (scanning area, alertness), assertiveness, resolution, proportionality, control and converting primary responses into tactical movements. As officers trained complete violent situations (and not just physical skills), they learned to use their actions before physical contact for de-escalation but also for anticipation on possible attacks. Furthermore, they learned to respond against attacks with skills based on their primary reflexes. The results of this study seem to suggest that reflex-based self-defence training better prepares officers for performing in high-pressure arrest situations than the current form of police arrest and self-defence skills training. Practitioner Summary: Police officers' performance in high-pressure arrest situations improved after a reflex-based self-defence training, while there was no such effect of a regular police training. As officers learned to anticipate on possible attacks and to respond with skills based on their primary reflexes, they were better able to perform effectively.
