Dedicated Education Units in nursing: the concept

This chapter situates the origins of the Dedicated Education Unit historically and geographically. The author details the conceptualisation of the Dedicated Education Unit at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia, in the mid-1990s as a strategy to develop collaborative partnerships between the university and clinical venues and as a clinical learning environment that can meet students’ and clinical and academic staff’s learning, teaching and professional development needs while utilising existing resources. The author explains the catalysts for the Dedicated Education Unit and her thought processes, which include a critique of models of clinical learning and identifying the factors that impact on the clinical learning environment. She traces the Dedicated Education Unit’s conceptualisation from lessons learned from the critique to the development of principles, new academic and clinical staff roles and responsibilities (and the attendant increased collaboration between the university and clinical venues) and considerations related to student learning outcomes, curriculum, timetabling, cost and resources.