The commonality and synchronicity of mental health nurses and palliative care nurses: closer than you think? Part one.

The role of the palliative care nurse emphasizes the need for holistic care, and as this role has developed it has become evident that palliative care nurses require skills which, arguably, not all registered general nurses possess; particularly, skills pertaining to the psychological, social and spiritual domains of the person. In order to identify the skills that such nurses may require, there may be merit in considering other specialities of nursing which pay particular attention to the psychological, social and spiritual domains of the person. Consequently, this two-part paper explores the areas of commonality and synchronicity between palliative care nurses and mental health nurses. The authors argue that this commonality is best articulated under the headings: defining the needs of the client group, the role of the nurse in non-physical care, the nurse--client relationship, and the locus of control. They also argue that the differences between these groups of nurses are best articulated under the headings: facilitation/confrontation, and the focus on physical care. Part one of this paper therefore focuses on the first three areas of alleged commonality, with part two focusing on the fourth commonality, the key differences and the implications of such similarity. Given these areas of similarity the authors argue there is a case for reconsidering if the RGN qualification is an essential requirement for working within palliative care or if those with other skills -- skills based on 'being with' rather than 'doing for' -- such as RMNs, should be thought of for such roles.

The commonality and synchronicity of mental health nurses and palliative care nurses: closer than you think? Part two.

This is the second of a two-part paper which explores the areas of commonality and synchronicity between palliative care (PC) nurses and mental health nurses. The authors argue that this commonality is best articulated under the headings: defining the needs of the client group, the role of the nurse in non-physical care, the nurse--client relationship, and the locus of control. They also argue that the differences between these groups of nurses are best articulated under the headings: facilitation/confrontation and the focus on physical care. Part one focused on the first three areas of commonality, whereas this paper focuses on the fourth commonality, the locus of control. It also focuses on key differences and the implications of such similarity. The paper highlights the practice, education and research implications of this alleged commonality. It suggests, given the evidence that clients perceive the therapeutic relationship as the vital and unique aspect of PC nursing, that those working within palliative care need to question whether or not RGN registration is an essential requirement, or whether those with other skills, such as psychiatric/mental health (P/MH) nurses, should be considered for such roles. It highlights the need for the provision of post-basic counselling courses and the potential value for PC nurses of receiving clinical supervision from P/MH nurses or mental health liaison nurses. Lastly, it posits that the research issues arising out of this alleged commonality centre on the potential impact such transitions in care delivery may have on the care delivered, on the nurses themselves and on the clients.

Mental health nurses and qualitative research methods: a mutual attraction?

Mental health nurses and qualitative research methods: a mutual attraction? In response to issues arising out of curriculum developments, the authors wished to examine more closely the potential reasons why psychiatric/mental health (P/MH) nurses appear to gravitate towards certain research methodologies. This paper therefore briefly examines the essential differences between qualitative and quantitative research paradigms, focusing on philosophical, epistemological and methodological issues. It then proceeds to examine some of the essential characteristics and attributes of P/MH nurses and suggests some differences in emphasis between these and other disciplines of nursing. The authors posit that psychiatric/mental health nurses are drawn to the qualitative paradigm as a result of the potential synchronicity and linkage that appears to exist between the practice of mental health nursing and qualitative research. This apparent synchronicity appears to centre around the three themes of: (a) the purposeful use of self; (b) the creation of an interpersonal relationship; and (c) the ability to accept and embrace ambiguity and uncertainty. Given this alleged synchronicity the authors argue that there are implications for nurse education and nursing research. Further it is possible that each nursing situation where the mental health nurse forms a relationship and attempts to gain an empathic sense of the individual's world is akin to an informal phenomenological study, the product of which would be a wealth of qualitative data. However, as this would be a subconscious, implicit process, the data would remain predominantly unprocessed. The authors conclude that perhaps these data are the knowledge that expert practitioners draw upon when making intuition-based clinical judgements.

Enamel mottling in a non-fluoride community in England.

In 1974--75 an assessment of mottling in incisor teeth was carried out on a random sample of 13- to 14-year-old children in Liverpool, England. The number of children examined was 463. All of these children were born and had lived in Liverpool when the fluoride content of the water supply had averaged 0.12 parts/10(6). The mouth prevalence of mottling was 42.5%. The tooth prevalence of mottling was 9.6%. There was no sex difference. The data obtained was compared with those of other authors and confirmed that a considerable proportion of mottling observed in fluoride and non-fluoride communities was caused by factors other than ingested fluoride.