Physical touch in a changing world : guidance for the mental health nurse

Physical contact with other people is an essential health activity (Johansson et al., 2020). For example, caring for one another is expressed through physical touch, whether it be soothing a small child who is crying, embracing a lover, or physically supporting a frail, older person (Strozier et al., 2003). Likewise, physical contact is used to connect people socially through, for example, greeting one with a handshake or, in some cultures, kissing cheeks or touching noses (Prisco, 2014). Physical touch can also be used inappropriately, as evidenced by ongoing reports of child and elder abuse or exploitation through unequal or gendered power roles (Davin et al., 2019

Leadership during times of crisis : towards recovery

Abstract not available

Home-based work and ergonomics : physical and psychosocial considerations

[Extract] This column considers some health and psychosocial impacts of HBW during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also discusses the ways and means by which workers can support themselves and others, physically and psychosocially, while working from home, whether during times of crisis or as common practice in the future

A unified call to action from Australian nursing and midwifery leaders : ensuring that Black lives matter

Nurses and midwives of Australia now is the time for change! As powerfully placed, Indigenous and non-Indigenous nursing and midwifery professionals, together we can ensure an effective and robust Indigenous curriculum in our nursing and midwifery schools of education. Today, Australia finds itself in a shifting tide of social change, where the voices for better and safer health care ring out loud. Voices for justice, equity and equality reverberate across our cities, our streets, homes, and institutions of learning. It is a call for new songlines of reform. The need to embed meaningful Indigenous health curricula is stronger now than it ever was for Australian nursing and midwifery. It is essential that nursing and midwifery leadership continue to build an authentic collaborative environment for Indigenous curriculum development. Bipartisan alliance is imperative for all academic staff to be confident in their teaching and learning experiences with Indigenous health syllabus. This paper is a call out. Now is the time for Indigenous and non-Indigenous nurses and midwives to make a stand together, for justice and equity in our teaching, learning, and practice. Together we will dismantle systems, policy, and practices in health that oppress. The Black Lives Matter movement provides us with a ‘now window’ of accepted dialogue to build a better, culturally safe Australian nursing and midwifery workforce, ensuring that Black Lives Matter in all aspects of health care. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. *Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliates “Wendy Cross, Catherine Hungerford and L. Shields” is provided in this record*

Coping with chronic cardiovascular disease in Iran : a qualitative study

The effects of chronic cardiovascular disease can challenge the achievement of treatment goals and recovery outcomes. This study explores the ways in which patients cope with the effects of chronic cardiovascular disease, from the perspectives of patients, family caregivers, and health professionals. The qualitative study was conducted from May 2019 to September 2020 in Isfahan, Iran. Thirteen people with chronic cardiovascular disease, 6 family caregivers, and 16 healthcare professionals participated in semi-structured individual interviews. Transcripts were analysed thematically. Findings suggest that people with chronic cardiovascular disease use a range of coping strategies, both positive and negative, to adjust to their conditions. The positive strategies include managing their health-related symptoms, drawing on religious or spiritual beliefs, and accessing social and relational supports. Negative strategies can include over-reliance on family members for support, leading to reduced activity and loss of independence. Understanding the nature of the strategies used by patients provides an important means by which health service providers can support patients to further develop positive coping strategies. This, in turn, will enable patients to achieve higher levels of wellbeing. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

Indigenist leadership in academia : towards an aspirational model of mindful servant leadership

The tertiary education landscape in Australia has changed over the past decade, in line with developments in other occupational settings and environments across the western world (Bienen, 2012). Australian universities are now more performance-based (Guthrie & Neumann, 2007); have insecure, non-government sources of funding (Moll & Hoque, 2011); place a strong emphasis on globalisation (Stromquist & Monkman, 2014); and have modified the way in which they support Indigenous programs (Gunstone, 2008). These kinds of changes suggest the need for academics, including Indigenous academics, to demonstrate strong leadership and management skills and abilities. For Indigenous academics, these requirements are in addition to the challenges related to ‘being black in white spaces’ (see Asmar, Mercier, & Page, 2009; White, 2009), thereby increasing the pressure not only to lead but also to be seen to lead. There is a need, then, to develop indigenist leadership models that is rigorously based on evidence and best practice

Population effectiveness of the pentavalent and monovalent rotavirus vaccines: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Abstract Background Rotavirus was the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in infants and young children prior to the introduction of routine vaccination. Since 2006 there have been two licensed vaccines available; with successful clinical trials leading the World Health Organization to recommend rotavirus vaccination for all children worldwide. In order to inform immunisation policy we have conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observation studies to assess population effectiveness against acute gastroenteritis. Methods We systematically searched PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, Cinhal and Academic Search Premier and grey literature sources for studies published between January 2006 and April 2014. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they were observational measuring population effectiveness of rotavirus vaccination against health care attendances for rotavirus gastroenteritis or AGE. To evaluate study quality we use used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for non-randomised studies, categorising studies by risk of bias. Publication bias was assessed using funnel plots. If two or more studies reported a measure of vaccine effectiveness (VE), we conducted a random effects meta-analysis. We stratified analyses by World Bank country income level and used study quality in sensitivity analyses. Results We identified 30 studies, 19 were from high-income countries and 11 from middle-income countries. Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization for laboratory confirmed rotavirus gastroenteritis was highest in high-income countries (89% VE; 95% CI 84-92%) compared to middle-income countries (74% VE; 95% CI 67-80%). Vaccine effectiveness was higher for those receiving the complete vaccine schedule (81% VE; 95% CI 75-86%) compared to partial schedule (62% VE; 95% CI 55-69%). Two studies from high-income countries measured VE against community consultations for AGE with a pooled estimate of 40% (95% CI 13-58%; 2 studies). Conclusions We found strong evidence to further support the continued use of rotavirus vaccines. Vaccine effectiveness was similar to that reported in clinical trials for both high and middle-income countries. There is limited data from Low income settings at present. There was lower effectiveness against milder disease. Further studies, should continue to report effectiveness against AGE and less-severe rotavirus disease because as evidenced by pre-vaccine introduction studies this is likely to contribute the greatest burden on healthcare resources, particularly in high-income countries

Enriching for rumen bacteria to degrade the Pimelea plant toxin simplexin, in an anaerobic in vitro fermenter

Three species of Australian native plants, Pimelea trichostachya, P. simplex and P. elongata, are endemic to the arid rangelands of Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia and are responsible for Pimelea poisoning, also known as St George or Marree disease. Pimelea poisoning occurs in cattle ingesting Pimelea plants, with the orthoester simplexin identified as the responsible toxin. There is no effective treatment and economic losses have been estimated at over $50 million during significant Pimelea poisoning events. In a previous feeding trial, animals were fed increasing amounts of Pimelea, and after initially showing signs of poisoning, the animals appeared to adapt to ingesting Pimelea, possibly through rumen microbial degradation of the toxin (Fletcher et al., 2014). Kangaroos, forestomach fermenters, often graze pastures containing Pimelea with no apparent ill effects. To investigate the degradation effect further, a series of 30 day in vitro, anaerobic fermentations were undertaken

Nurse participation in legal executions: An ethics round-table discussion

A paper was published in 2003 discussing the ethics of nurses participating in executions by inserting the intravenous line for lethal injections and providing care until death. This paper was circulated on an international email list of senior nurses and academics to engender discussion. From that discussion, several people agreed to contribute to a paper expressing their own thoughts and feelings about the ethics of nurses participating in executions in countries where capital punishment is legal. While a range of opinions were presented, these opinions fell into two main themes. The first of these included reflections on the philosophical obligations of nurses as caregivers who support those in times of great need, including condemned prisoners at the end of life. The second theme encompassed the notion that no nurse ever should participate in the active taking of life, in line with the codes of ethics of various nursing organisations. This range of opinions suggests the complexity of this issue and the need for further public discussion