The role of clinical vigilance and awareness in Scottish undergraduate mental health nursing students’ formation of confidence and knowledge in novel psychoactive substance-related healthcare treatment

Novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) present a significant challenge to healthcare professionals working in Scotland. An area that has not previously been researched is student nurses’ feelings of knowledge and confidence in relation to NPS. This study aimed to provide data on this topic. An evidence-based presentation on NPS was produced. Five undergraduate mental health nursing students at a Scottish university were recruited as participants. They completed identical quantitative questionnaires assessing perceived levels of knowledge and confidence surrounding NPS pre- and postwatching the presentation. A focus group followed where the participants were asked how their perceived levels related to feelings of competence. The results showed that participants valued knowledge on clinical vigilance and awareness (CVA) over other themes measured, with it appearing to act as a lens by which to understand NPS-related phenomena observed in practice. These findings are explored in relation to the concepts of the theory–practice gap and the null curriculum. The author argues that knowledge pertaining to CVA may play a crucial role in helping to resolve the theory–practice gap in the context of NPS by facilitating nursing student understanding of the relative salience of knowledge and skills developed in other clinical contexts to this area of working, with this also acting as a vehicle by which NPS-relevant knowledge may be transferred from its place in the null and hidden curricula to that of the explicit curriculum. CVA is also considered alongside Rhodes and Lancaster's concept of evidence making and Race's idea of emergent causality, with the author arguing that CVA may help facilitate student nurses’ orientation toward attitudes consistent with the former and avoid problematization (in the Foucauldian sense) of relevant service users aligning to the latter.