ABSTRACT
AIM: The aim of this study was to describe the cultural context of academic nurse educators through the use of ethnography. BACKGROUND: This cultural context has seldom been explored from the perspective of nursing faculty. METHOD: Twelve interviews, followed by ethnographic data analysis, identified domains with related components describing this culture. RESULTS: Participants cited metaphors of water (e.g., sink or swim, keeping head above water) in describing the culture. Challenges included demanding workloads, challenging interchanges, negotiating a complex bureaucracy, and finding trusted individuals willing to provide a network of support. Faculty reported interactions to be guarded, uncivil, and conflict avoidant within a bureaucracy of slow pace of work, resistance to change, heavy workloads, and requirements for scholarship that are not clear or consistently enforced. CONCLUSION: Clinical nurses who enter the academic culture must learn patterned ways of thinking and earn credibility. A key to adaptation is finding colleagues who will provide a support network.
Subject(s)
Anthropology, Cultural , Faculty, Nursing , Humans , LearningABSTRACT
Taking part in regular physical activity (PA) is important for young adolescents to maintain physical, social and mental health. Schools are vibrant settings for health promotion and the complexity of driving a whole-school approach to PA has not been tested in the Irish school context. The feasibility of the pilot programme of the Department of Education and Skills second level Active School Flag (SLASF) is needed. SLASF is a two year process that consists of the Active School Flag (ASF) certificate programme (year 1) and the ASF flag programme (year 2). This protocol paper is specific to the first year certificate process. Three schools around Ireland were recruited as pilot schools to carry out the year-long SLASF programme with 17 planned actions involving the entire school. Students in the transition year programme have a particular role in the promotion of PA in SLASF. Data collection consists of physical measures, accelerometers, survey data and interviews at the beginning and the end of the academic year. The primary focus on the feasibility of the programme is through process evaluation tools and fidelity checks consisting of implementation of the SLASF programme through whole-school surveys, focus group discussions of key stakeholder groups, as well as one-to-one interviews with a member of management at each school and the SLASF coordinator of the school. Secondary outcomes include PA levels and its social cognitive theories based correlates through physical health measures, surveys carried out pre- and post-intervention, as well as focus group discussions of the students. The results of this study are needed to improve the development of the SLASF through a predetermined stopping criteria and inclusion into systems thinking approaches such as the Healthy Ireland Demonstration Project.
ABSTRACT
A multicomponent reaction of indane-1,3-dione, an aldehyde and an amine-containing aromatic compound leading to the formation of indenopyridine-based heterocyclic medicinal scaffolds has been investigated. It was found that the yields significantly improve when oxygen gas is bubbled through the reaction mixture, facilitating the oxidation of the intermediate dihydropyridine-containing compounds to their aromatic counterparts. Investigation of the reaction scope revealed that formaldehyde, as well as various aliphatic, aromatic and heteroaromatic aldehydes, works well as the aldehyde component. In addition, substituted anilines and diverse aminoheterocycles can be utilized in this process as the amine-containing component. Preliminary biological evaluation of the synthesized library identified a pyrimidine-based polycycle, which rivals the anticancer drug etoposide in its toxicity and apoptosis inducing properties toward a human T-cell leukemia cell line.
