Manchester's early critical care nurses -a history -educating our today and tomorrow by learning from our past

Introduction: Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others1 Critical care nursing in the 21st Century is at a crossroads. COVID-19 has demonstrated more than ever the central importance of well-educated critical care nurses to the delivery of high quality and safe care. The world has woken up to the fact that neither beds nor ventilators an intensive care unit make. There is much to learn from the past two years that will inform our future. But I believe there is another history -an earlier one that has not yet been told. This is equally important to our learning and identity as nurses. But is in danger of being lost. The contemporary history of intensive care medicine in Britain describes how innovations and advancements in medicine, surgical techniques, pharmacology, engineering, and science have -since the 1950s -interconnected to create today's 21st Century critical service.2 We read of the medical greats, the barriers they overcame to become the 'firsts' in application of techniques that are commonplace and readily accepted canons in treating the critically ill in our care. The history occasionally alludes to the nursing role or misses it completely. There is no doubt nursing was fundamental to the proliferation of intensive care in Britain from the 1960s. Yet, this is largely missing from the historical record or written from the medical perspective. A nurse contributor to the Wellcome Witnesses Seminar reflecting on the nursing contribution wrote: 'If you did a nursing/ICU seminar you'd get another perspective and more nurses attending'2 This is the basis for this research. The finding of nurses lost voices. Captured critical care nurses' stories will, through a process of narrative analysis, be critically evaluated and shared. Not simply as interesting anecdotes -but as a basis for enhancing professional identity and belonging -to learn from, inspire, and inform the future. 'Thinking historically does not just mean thinking about the past;it involves seeing oneself in time, as an inheritor of the legacies of the past and as a maker of the future'3 Objectives: Research aim -to explore this history form the perspective of retired nurses and one ICU at North Manchester General Hospital working between 1967 & 2000. To share with conference emerging findings. To stimulate a conversation about this hidden history and the possibilities it offers future professional learning. Methods: Oral history and narrative analysis. Oral history is described as a research methodology that collects histories of neglected ordinary people that would otherwise be lost.4 And deemed crucial to the capturing of nursing work.5 Results: Ongoing archival work -13 interviews recorded (2 male nurses/1 consultant). Thematic analysis. Emerging themes: unique professional relationships built as hierarchies flattened. Shared education. Increased autonomy. Separate. Special. Pushed boundaries. Conclusion: Incomplete, yet this work and sharing stories from the foundations of critical care nursing has the power to motivate and inspire the professional critical care nurse of 2021 - more than education -history, legacy, pride.

University student experiences of work-based placements during COVID-19 pandemic: an inter-disciplinary survey of allied health and social work students

Purpose: Work-based placements are central to the university education of allied health and social work (AHSW) students. As a result of COVID-19, the clinical learning environment of students' work-based placements was dramatically altered resulting in numerous documented challenges. This inter-disciplinary study aimed to evaluate AHSW students' perceptions and experiences of completing a diverse range of work-based placements during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: This study was a mixed-method inter-disciplinary study using an anonymous online survey consisting of multiple choice, Likert scale and free text questions. Mixed-methods design supported amalgamation of insights from positivism and interpretivism perspectives and enabled research questions to be answered with both breadth and depth. 436 students were invited to participate who were enrolled in five AHSW educational university programmes: speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, radiation therapy and social work. Data collected was analysed using both quantitative (descriptive and analytical statistics) and qualitative (thematic analysis) methods. Findings: 118 students participated (response rate: 27%) representing a range of AHSW disciplines who attended diverse placement settings. While there was extensive disruption in the learning environment leading to increased levels of stress and concern, a triad of individual and systemic supports helped to ensure positive work-based placement experiences and student success for the majority of AHSW students during COVID-19: (1) university preparation and communication;(2) placement site and supervisor support;and (3) students' resilience and capacity to adapt to a changed work-place environment. Originality/value: This inter-disciplinary study reports the work-based placement experiences from the professional education programmes of healthcare students during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving a unique view of their perspectives and learning during this unprecedented crisis. © 2022, Duana Quigley, Claire Poole, Sinead Whiting, Erna O'Connor, Claire Gleeson and Lucy Alpine.

The impact of COVID-19 on music venues in regional South Australia: A case study

As spaces of social, cultural and economic production, small regional music venues are an under-explored research area that can offer insights into changing music and performance practices, place-making, and the connections between urban and regional communities. Within the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the state of precarity in which such venues operate is emphasized and exacerbated. This article will present preliminary findings from our case study of a small, regional music venue in the mid-north of South Australia that has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated government restrictions. The pandemic has dramatically changed the way that live music is both performed and experienced, and a case study such as this offers an opportunity to discuss its impact on niche cultural and community spaces that are geographically and socially removed from the urban milieu and its policy settings. Preliminary findings suggest COVID-19 brought about both challenges (capacity restrictions and disruption of interstate travel for audiences and artists) as well as opportunities (strengthening the presence of rural voices in policy settings). The case study also highlights the need for further research on strategies for developing and sustaining regional touring pathways throughout South Australia. © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2021