Intensive care as a specialty of choice for registered nurses: A descriptive phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND: Shortage and retention of experienced nurses are crucial matters and internationally acknowledged, particularly in specialty areas such as Critical Care. AIM: To explore the experiences of registered nurses in their first and fourth years of practice in an adult intensive care unit. STUDY DESIGN: This descriptive phenomenological study was conducted over 4 years. Eligible participants were interviewed at two different points in their career. Ten registered nurses were interviewed after three to 6 months of employment in an adult intensive care unit (Phase One). Five of the same participants were interviewed in their fourth year of practice (Phase Two). FINDINGS: Findings related to factors influencing the participants' choice of specialty and their retention are reported in this paper. Two themes emerged from Phase One: a unique environment, positive and negative emotions, unclear expectations, and the journey of a registered nurse. Two themes generated from data collected in Phase Two included a unique environment and being a proficient nurse. In both phases, nurses considered the Intensive Care Unit a stimulating learning environment. CONCLUSIONS: This paper highlights that the registered nurse's perception of the Intensive Care Unit and Intensive Care Nursing influenced their choice of specialty, and learning opportunities influenced their decision to remain in the Intensive Care Unit. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The findings of this study inform action areas for healthcare organizations and nursing managers. Challenges, learning opportunities and the nature of critical care nursing should be considered target areas for organizations to promote and develop as part of critical care nurses' retention strategies. Education not only for new graduate nurses but also for all registered nurses should be ongoing.

Spirituality, religiosity, and personal beliefs of Australian undergraduate nursing students.

PURPOSE: To explore Australian nursing students' perceptions of spirituality, religiosity, and personal belief. BACKGROUND: Spiritual and religious literature support the benefits to patients' physical and mental health. Nurses have an ethical obligation to understand and incorporate patient's spiritual beliefs and values into the care plan. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using the 32-item WHO-QOL-SRPB questionnaire. SAMPLE: The sample consisted of 483 undergraduate nursing students in Sydney, Australia. RESULTS: There were 21% male and 79% female students; age ranged from 18 to 56 years, with a mean age of 26.53 (SD = 7.32). There were no significant difference between male and female nursing students, but there were difference in SRPB scores between first-, second-, and third-year students and between religious affiliations. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Spirituality is multidimensional and multilevel and is interconnected with religiosity and personal belief. Nurses need to understand their own spirituality before they can incorporate spirituality in their patient care.

Trying to make a difference: the Malawi experience of a Tuberculosis (TB) nurse specialist.

The incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) in the world is on the rise and is a major public health threat affecting a third of the world's population. TB is reportedly the second most common illness causing death in Sub-Saharan Africa, second only to HIV/AIDS. The developing world is most vulnerable, with factors like poverty, malnutrition, overcrowding, poor access to healthcare services and limited or lack of diagnostic facilities and trained healthcare personnel all compounding the extent of this global epidemic. While there may be many studies on medical management of the illness, there is very little understanding and lack of standardized terms, protocols and models of care that describe nurses' efforts in TB management. Thus, a study into factors that impact on nursing management of TB patients in Malawi and Australia was a quest to investigate the impact of nursing care on patients' well-being. It involved collecting data from Australia and Malawi to compare and contrast how different environments impinge on patients' care and outcomes.