Community Health Nurses' Spirituality Shapes Their Practice Working With Indigenous Communities in British Columbia, Canada.

Common conceptions of spirituality in nursing often concentrate on nurses providing spiritual care, but there is insufficient research indicating how nurses' spirituality impacts their nursing practice. This study examines how Indigenous and non-Indigenous community health nurses' experiences of spirituality, regardless of any religious affiliation, shape their nursing practice with Indigenous communities. Results indicate that spirituality is a pervasive nursing ethic manifesting respect, connectedness, love, acceptance, caring, hope, endurance, and compassion toward clients. Participants' experiences of spirituality promote self-awareness, open-mindedness, and acceptance of others and encourage participants' reflexivity, which grounds their nursing practice. Nurses' spiritual awareness fosters an appreciation for Indigenous community healing, leading to more reciprocal interactions with community members. Significantly, these participants provide care spiritually; they do not provide spiritual care.

A new term.

A new term begins and parents everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief as the reliable routine of school resumes. No more trying to think of interesting things to do with energetic under 10's or tired teenagers. Now the battle of bedtime and the dreaded morning alarm clock begins.

An online training resource for clinical supervision.

This article describes the development and evaluation of an online clinical supervision resource. Technology-based learning is on the increase and is viewed as an excellent resource that offers flexibility to managers, educators and students. However, by creating a more flexible approach to training, nurses may feel under pressure to conduct and complete this training outside of their normal working hours. This article reports on the findings and explores the issues surrounding implementing an online training programme for registered nurses.

Perioperative death: a critical reflection-on-action.

Perioperative death is thankfully not a regular occurrence in UK operating theatres. However, when it does occur the perioperative practitioner is often denied the opportunity to grieve. The use of a clinical supervision session enabled a critical reflective approach to be followed after the death of a patient in the operating theatre.

Elective caesarean section: a case study.

Caesarean section as a means of delivering babies has been around for centuries with numerous references to the procedure appearing in ancient writings (Simm & Matthew 2008). It is now the most common major surgical intervention carried out on women in the world, with between 23% and 30% of deliveries in the UK performed by caesarean section (Beech 2004). This rate is all the more surprising when one considers that caesarean section accounted for just 5.3% of UK births in 1973 (Kitzinger 1998). This rising rate has many implications for both clinical practice and the NHS. An Audit Commission report (1997) suggested that each 1% rise in the caesarean section rate would cost the NHS five million pounds per year. However, the increased rate also has clinical implications, with some studies suggesting that maternal mortality is three to seven times greater following abdominal rather than vaginal birth and maternal morbidity is proportionately even greater, even with elective procedures (McCourt et al 2004).

A systematic review protocol on the use of teaching portfolios for educators in further and higher education.

AIM: This paper is a review protocol that will be used to identify, critically appraise and synthesize the best current evidence relating to the use of teaching portfolios for educators in further and higher education. BACKGROUND: While portfolio use as a means to assist students in further and higher education has undergone extensive research and review, their use as a tool to assist educators has yet to receive systematic attention. Reviews conducted on studies related to portfolio use and undergraduate students have suggested that a teaching portfolio may have a benefit for educators in higher education as a means to provide relevancy and focus to their teaching. DESIGN: The objectives of the review are to evaluate how a teaching portfolio assists educators in teaching and learning; to evaluate the effects of maintaining a teaching portfolio for educators in relation to personal development; to explore the type of portfolio used; to determine whether a teaching portfolio is perceived more beneficial for various grades and professional types; and to determine any motivating factors or workplace incentives behind its implementation and completion. A search of the following databases will be made: MEDLINE, CINAHL, BREI, ERIC and AUEI. The review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute guidance for systematic reviews of quantitative and qualitative research. CONCLUSION: The review will offer clarity and direction on the use of teaching portfolios for educators, policymakers, supervisory managers and researchers involved in further and higher education.

Corneal transplant surgery.

Corneal disease is one of the major causes of blindness worldwide. Removal of the damaged cornea and transplant of donated tissue is often the only option available to patients to improve and restore vision. This paper discusses corneal transplant with consideration given to penetrating keratoplasty (PK), a traditional full thickness corneal transplant and three other surgical techniques that offer an alternative to the traditional PK surgery: deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK), deep lamellar endothelial keratoplasty (DLEK) and limbal stem cell transplant.

The value of portfolio building and the registered nurse: a review of the literature.

The purpose of this literature review is to explore the value of portfolio building and the registered nurse under the following themes: assessment of competence; work-based reflection; lifelong learning; creating career pathways and the contribution a portfolio makes to the professional development of the nurse. This review concludes that for portfolios to work effectively, nurses and their employers require a working partnership to see the value and the opportunities that exist through the development of a personal portfolio. The need exists for an organisational culture of learning that encourages a facilitative environment combined with nurses who support their colleagues and explore their skills through experiential learning. This work was submitted in part fulfilment for the Degree of Master of Science in Nursing at Queen's University of Belfast, School of Nursing and Midwifery in 2007 and was supported by ERFF.

Increasing surgical throughput in a busy day procedure unit.

In August 2001 the Mater Hospital in Belfast opened a new day procedures unit. The unit comprises an admissions area, two theatres, an endoscopy suite and a 23-bed ward, with one theatre almost solely dedicated to ophthalmic surgery. There are three consultant ophthalmologists who currently perform cataract, orbital, corneal, vitreoretinal and plastic surgery on a regular basis. In the four years that the unit has been running we have had a 57% increase in ophthalmic day case surgery.