Steps towards empowerment: an examination of colleges, health services and universities.

In Australia, nursing educators work across three main contexts - training colleges, health services and universities. Because the pace of change for nursing has increased dramatically and the curriculum is becoming even more crowded, educators in these contexts are likely to be experiencing work-related stress. This study investigated this issue utilising a purposive sampling strategy to interview a cross section of nurse educators and those supporting educators. Eighteen in-depth interviews were completed, which included fourteen nurse educators and four key stakeholders. Qualitative analysis revealed that regardless of context, nurse educators found their role rewarding but there are common challenges. These included: Work role pressures, a non-validating culture, the pace of change, isolation and concern for the profession. There are also differences amongst the cohorts. Finally, participants elaborated on specific solutions to these problems and there is strong support for the establishment of a national community of practice to bring diverse educators together to share, support, extend and evaluate each others' work.

In my day II: Reflecting on the transformative potential of incorporating celebrations into the nursing curriculum.

Understanding one's history is a powerful way to build a sense of belonging, identity and connection. Similarly, history learning can be a powerful component in the core curriculum for undergraduate nursing. History learning develops thinking skills transferable to and necessary in nursing practice. Additionally, awareness about the profession's struggles, achievements and enduring concerns is raised and belief that an individual or group can have influence is affirmed. Perseverance, commitment and seeing the big picture gives a nurse's career meaning and purpose. All of these factors can produce a transformed perspective in today's learners, who are often present-focused, isolated and disconnected from the past and the profession. This paper reports an evaluation of a second interactive learning experience held at the University of the Sunshine Coast to celebrate International Nurses Day 2010. In a previous paper, we shared our initial insights after the success of the first event, and now build upon those insights by examining the transformative learning provoked by the experience, from the points of view of students and staff.

The 'realities' of part-time nursing: a grounded theory study.

AIM: To develop a theory that explains the 'realities' of part-time nursing. BACKGROUND: While little is known about the phenomenon of part-time nursing, increasing numbers of nurses work in part-time employment. METHODS: Grounded theory. RESULTS: The problem that part-time nurses shared was an inability to achieve their personal optimal nursing potential. Motivators to work part-time, employment hours, specialty, individual and organizational factors formed contextual conditions that led to this problem. Part-time nurses responded to the challenges through a process of adaptation and adjustment. CONCLUSION: Harnessing the full productive potential of part-time nurses requires support to limit the difficulties that they encounter. The developed theory provides a valuable guide to managerial action. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Nurse Managers need to consider the developed substantive theory when planning and managing nursing workforces.

Nurses' motivators to work part-time.

There has been a trend of growth in part-time employment within the Australian nursing workforce and currently half of the profession work part-time. While the literature across disciplines has postulated reasons behind preferences for part-time employment, little is known about nurses' motivators to work part-time. In an era of nursing shortages that form considerable barriers to meeting healthcare service demands, a clear understanding of these motivators is critical for the effective planning and management of the nursing workforce. A grounded theory study that explored the phenomenon of part-time nursing found that nurses' motivators to work part-time were complex and identifiable with nursing, establishing that nurses' working time decisions are made in contexts that may be unique to the profession. This paper provides an exhaustive description and explanation of one cohort of part-time nurses that accounts for variations between nurses and provides an understanding of the complexity of factors that contribute to nurses' decisions to work part-time.

The benefits and use of shock advisory defibrillators in hospitals.

Survival to discharge following a cardiac arrest is dependent on rapid and effective basic and advanced life support. Paramount to a rapid response is access to sufficiently trained health care providers, who have a duty to perform basic life support and initiate early defibrillation. In hospitals, defibrillation remains the domain of specially prepared staff and the type of defibrillator used might be crucial to rapid and effective defibrillation. The advent of automatic external defibrillators has increased the range of people who can use a defibrillator successfully. For nurses, arguably a lack of familiarity about the benefits of and the use of automatic external defibrillators are the greatest barriers to nurse-initiated defibrillation programmes. This paper explores the use of automatic external defibrillators, their relationship to the associated defibrillator waveforms and the benefits of their use by registered nurses within the hospital setting.

Focus group methodology: explanatory notes for the novice nurse researcher.

Focus group methodology is a qualitative research approach that provides the potential for authentic quality data to be captured by using the candour and spontaneity of participants in an atmosphere of dynamic group interaction. The use of this methodology within nursing research is growing as it provides a qualitative approach that can produce quality data and can be used effectively by both experienced and novice researchers. The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance to the novice nurse researcher who may be considering using this methodology so that appropriate use is promoted and practical advice for its use may generate quality data.

The need for a new advanced nursing practice role for Australian adult critical care settings.

The current deficit of knowledge related to advanced nursing practice in Australian adult critical care settings presents a barrier to future role development. This paper reports the findings of one theme identified by a research study that explored issues related to the potential for a new advanced nursing practice role for these settings. The qualitative approach of focus group methodology was used to collect data from a purposive sample of regional Queensland critical care nurses (n = 26). Thematic content analysis of the data identified concepts that progressively contributed to five major themes. This paper will report the findings related to the theme that there is a need for a new advanced nursing practice role for adult critical care settings. Participants perceived that nurses are already practising at advanced levels that may predetermine a new role. There was believed to be a need for recognition of and legal sanction for critical care nurses' present practices that extend beyond the current scope of nursing practice. Participants proposed that critical care nurses may be more competent than inexperienced medical personnel in this environment and participants wanted consistent levels of autonomy for advanced practices. The current career structure was seen to be a failure and many participants perceived the lack of opportunities for critical care nurses to advance up the clinical career pathway as problematic in recruitment and retention issues. The findings of this study provide new information that makes an important contribution to further exploration of advanced nursing practice role development for Australian adult critical care settings.

Confusion prevails in defining 'advanced' nursing practice.

The Australian nursing profession has accepted the challenge to support and encourage advanced nursing practice role development. A critical review of national and international literature highlights that there is no singular definition or understanding of 'advanced' nursing practice. Instead difficulty with nomenclature and clarification of levels of nursing are perpetuated by unclear distinction between 'advanced', 'specialist' and 'expert' nursing practice. This paper presents the findings of a review of the literature and posits that ambiguity and lack of consistency in defining 'advanced' nursing practice is hampering the progression of the profession towards the development of consistent advanced practice roles in Australia. It is proposed that a universally accepted definition would provide a vehicle for future Australian role development so that all advanced practice roles have a common genesis and national consistency results.