Carin Magnusson

Dr Carin Magnusson


Lecturer in Health Services Research
+44 (0)1483 684552

Academic and research departments

School of Health Sciences.

About

University roles and responsibilities

  • Teaching and supervision
  • Supporting with all aspects of research projects

    Research

    Research interests

    Teaching

    Publications

    G Finnerty, C Magnusson, R Pope (2007)Women's views of student midwives' involvement in maternity care, In: Evidence Based Midwifery5(4)pp. 137-142

    Background. Despite a focus on user involvement in healthcare services and education in the UK, there is little evidence of women's views of education in midwifery practice. Aim. To identify women's perceptions of clinical teaching and learning in midwifery practice, in order to inform the midwifery curriculum. Method. Qualitative structured telephone interviews were conducted with 18 women who had been involved in a larger study that had used non-participant observation visits in hospital and community environments, 12 of whom were primiparae Thematic content analysis of the data was undertaken, based on a framework used in the larger study. Findings. Women described both physical and emotional support as being offered by student midwives. Some talked about student midwives' tentativeness and reduced confidence levels during episodes of care, but most expressed appreciation for the students' presence. Conclusions. More innovative ways to involve service users in the midwifery curriculum are needed, alongside research to evaluate them. More careful consideration needs to be given for student midwives' involvement in maternity care, with better preparation for both students and women. © 2007 The Royal College of Midwives.

    HT Allan, C Magnusson, K Horton, K Evans, E Ball, K Curtis, M Johnson (2015)People, liminal spaces and experience: understanding recontextualisation of knowledge for newly qualified nurses., In: Nurse Educ Today35(2)pp. e78-e83

    BACKGROUND: Little is known about how newly qualified nurses delegate to health care assistants when delivering bedside care. AIM: To explore newly qualified nurses' experiences of delegating to, and supervising, health care assistants. DESIGN: Ethnographic case studies. SETTINGS: In-patient wards in three English National Health Service (NHS) acute hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: 33 newly qualified nurses were observed, 10 health care assistants and 12 ward managers. METHODS: Participant observation and in-depth interviews. FINDINGS: We suggest that newly qualified nurses learn to delegate to, and supervise, health care assistants through re-working (`recontextualising') knowledge; and that this process occurs within a transitional (`liminal') space. CONCLUSIONS: Conceptualising learning in this way allows an understanding of the shift from student to newly qualified nurse and the associated interaction of people, space and experience. Using ethnographic case studies allows the experiences of those undergoing these transitions to be vocalised by the key people involved.

    C Magnusson, M O'Driscoll, P Smith (2007)New roles to support practice learning - Can they facilitate expansion of placement capacity?, In: NURSE EDUCATION TODAY27(6)pp. 643-650 CHURCHILL LIVINGSTONE
    C Magnusson, G Finnerty, R Pope (2005)Methodological triangulation in midwifery education research., In: Nurse Res12(4)pp. 30-39

    This paper describes how the use of methodological triangulation can enrich the research process. The first section of the paper provides a brief outline of a national research project that studied 'pairs' of student midwives and their mentors in practice, and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the approach. It then moves on to describe the combination of methods chosen for one aspect of the project before providing illustrative examples from the data that show how the triangulation of methods gave depth to the analysis

    G Finnerty, L Graham, C Magnusson, R Pope (2006)Empowering midwife mentors with adequate training and support, In: British Journal of Midwifery14(4)pp. 187-190

    In this article, the authors illuminate some of the hidden aspects of the mentor role, which often go unnoticed in challenging clinical settings. Four key areas have been selected for the purpose of stimulating thought and debate on current mentorship issues: preparedness for the mentor role; management of students' clinical learning and skills development; processes of practice assessment and support for the mentoring role. The findings demonstrate the need for increased funding to enhance the clinical curriculum. This includes formal protection of time for mentors to provide quality learning experiences. Investment in the mentor/student dyad is essential as successful mentoring can literally be a 'gift' to student midwives.

    'Organisational governance'--the systems, processes, behaviours and cultures by which an organisation leads and controls its functions to achieve its objectives--is seen as an important influence on patient safety. The features of 'good' governance remain to be established, partly because the relationship between governance and safety requires more investigation.

    HT Allan, C Magnusson, K Evans, E Ball, S Westwood, K Curtis, K Horton, M Johnson (2016)Delegation and supervision of healthcare assistants’ work in the daily management of uncertainty and the unexpected in clinical practice: invisible learning among newly qualified nurses, In: Nursing Inquiry23(4)pp. 377-385 Wiley

    The invisibility of nursing work has been discussed in the international literature but not in relation to learning clinical skills. Evans and Guile’s (Practice-based education: Perspectives and strategies, Rotterdam: Sense, 2012) theory of recontextualisation is used to explore the ways in which invisible or unplanned and unrecognised learning takes place as newly qualified nurses learn to delegate to and supervise the work of the healthcare assistant. In the British context, delegation and supervision are thought of as skills which are learnt “on the job.” We suggest that learning “on-the- job” is the invisible construction of knowledge in clinical practice and that delegation is a particularly telling area of nursing practice which illustrates invisible learning. Using an ethnographic case study approach in three hospital sites in England from 2011 to 2014, we undertook participant observation, interviews with newly qualified nurses, ward managers and healthcare assistants. We discuss the invisible ways newly qualified nurses learn in the practice environment and present the invisible steps to learning which encompass the embodied, affective and social, as much as the cognitive components to learning. We argue that there is a need for greater understanding of the “invisible learning” which occurs as newly qualified nurses learn to delegate and supervise.

    K Cresswell, A Howe, A Steven, P Smith, D Ashcroft, K Fairhurst, F Bradley, C Magnusson, M McArthur, P Pearson, A Sheikh (2013)Patient safety in healthcare preregistration educational curricula: multiple case study-based investigations of eight medicine, nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy university courses, In: BMJ QUALITY & SAFETY22(10)pp. 843-854 BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP
    A Steven, C Magnusson, P Smith, PH Pearson (2014)Patient safety in nursing education: Contexts, tensions and feeling safe to learn, In: NURSE EDUCATION TODAY34(2)pp. 277-284 CHURCHILL LIVINGSTONE
    MF O'Driscoll, PA Smith, CM Magnusson (2009)Evaluation of a part-time adult diploma nursing programme - 'Tailor-made' provision?, In: NURSE EDUCATION TODAY29(2)pp. 208-216 CHURCHILL LIVINGSTONE

    Additional publications