Clinical Learning and Teaching Innovations in Nursing

This book provides an in-depth insight into the Dedicated Education Units (DEU) clinical learning strategy. It shows how DEUs work and explains the concept, philosophy, principles, practical implementation and first-hand experiences of this ground-breaking, global work-integrated learning strategy. It presents the benefits of DEUs and offers insight into how DEUs can provide real options for solving the increasingly complex dilemma of providing more students with more experiences of hands-on practice while reducing costs and ensuring greater numbers of work ready graduates. The book serves as a reference for nurse student education and is particularly salient for those setting up a DEU. It can be used as a springboard for work-integrated learning innovations for all practice-based disciplines.

Dedicated Education Units (DEU) provide a flexible clinical learning strategy with a focus on founding principles and adaptation to different clinical contexts rather than a concrete model for clinical learning. DEUs are essentially clinical environments in which students develop a sense of security to explore learning opportunities, knowing there are people present who will ensure they do not make intractable errors; people who will guide and support them to achieve optimal learning. Whilst developed initially for nurse education, DEUs can be adapted to other professional learning settings.

• DEU
• Dedicated Education Unit
• action research
• clinical education partnerships
• clinical learning environment
• clinical learning strategy
• clinical nurse education
• communities of practice
• cost-effective clinical learning
• effective learning
• hands-on nursing
• higher education
• learning opportunities
• nursing education
• practice-based disciplines
• practice-based learning
• staff capacity building
• staff development
• theory to practice
• transformational change

• School of Nursing and Midwifery, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

  Kay Edgecombe, Margaret Bowden

Policies and ethics