Background
Emergency, trauma, and critical care nursing are relatively new specialities in sub-Saharan Africa, it is therefore, essential that those who study at a higher level share their knowledge and expertise with their peers and other students. Student journals can play a key role in supporting the development of skills in writing for publication, an essential aspect of dissemination of good practice. Evidence has shown that undergraduate students who published in a student journal were more likely to go on to publish in international journals and take on academic positions.
Project aims
To enable Birmingham City University students from three low-income countries completing a critical care nursing course to gain the skills to move the specialist nurse agenda forward through a student journal.
Countries involved
- Zambia
- Malawi
- Botswana
Final outcome
The journal is published twice a year and consists solely of student entries. A student and staff editorial board and peer reviewers have been established. The teaching teamwork and reviewers work with students to enable them to transform academic assignments into articles for publication in the journal. As each student completes their academic journey; they attend a workshop on the final step of submitting their articles to an international peer reviewed journal. For sustainability beyond the lifetime of the education programme, the student journal will transition into the CCNAZ bi-annual journal.
Access to context specific evidence from low-income countries remains a challenge for many critical care nurses working in this setting, the International Perspectives in Emergency and Critical Care Nursing journal is an example of how to address this imbalance, which in the short term provides a medium to share good practice and in the longer term should improve publications from within this region.