Assistant grade nurses and nursing students : a diary study

Background Little is known about the role of the assistant grade nurse in the clinical development of pre-registration nursing students during their practice placements; even less is known about this relationship in the mental health field. Aim To explore the relationship between assistant grade nurses and mental health nursing students. Methods Using a phenomenological approach, diaries of nine participants – three nursing students, three assistant grade nurses and three mentors – helped to inform semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings Students recognised that a substantial percentage of their practice was supervised by assistant grade nurses. There was also a clear connection between assistant grade nurse supervision and the delivery of direct care. Conclusion This study has confirmed the existence of a more extensive educational relationship between assistant grade nurses and mental health nursing students than had previously been recognised

Investigating the potential use of sparse-input reanalyses to homogenise long-term land surface air temperature records

The correction of meteorological observational records (homogenisation) for non climate artefacts is an important task. Very few, long-term meteorological station series are entirely free of non-climatic influences. Climate data homogenization aims to identify and remove these non climate factors. Numerous methods of homogenisation have been developed over the decades. Current state of the art approaches generally proceed using pairwise difference series between observations from a network of reference stations and the station under assessment. Such methods work well in well sampled regions such as Europe and North America, but are less successful in poorly sampled regions and epochs. Reanalyses are produced by assimilating available observations into a forecast model, producing complete fields that are consistent with: the input data, the model physics, and any external boundary conditions prescribed. Full-input reanalyses which assimilate data from all available sources have previously been used to homogenise radiosonde data records. This work sets out to investigate if sparse-input reanalysis products that only assimilate surface pressure and use prescribed sea-ice, sea surface temperatures and changes in atmospheric composition, can act as a suitable reference series for the homogenisation of land surface air temperatures and to compare the results to established methods. It is found that sparse-input reanalysis products have successively improved in their quality with each new generation. The most recent product from NOAA-CIRES – 20CRv3 – has comparable overall statistical properties when interpolated to station locations and differenced to pairwise differences. In well sample regions neighbour-based comparisons remain favourable, but in sparser regions and epochs –20CRv3 may be preferable. The 20CRv3 product is therefore used to identify breakpoints and then 4 distinct approaches are used to adjust the series. Two of these directly use the 20CRv3 fields to estimate adjustments, while the remaining pair use apparently homogeneous neighbour station series wherever possible. The resulting set of estimates show reasonable overall behaviour looking at station series behaviour, spatial anomalies and spatial trends. The thesis highlights the potential for sparse-input reanalysis to provide a substantial methodological degree of freedom in the homogenisation of global land surface air temperature estimates, but further work is required in developing an operational version

Data Logging System for a Synthetic Aperture Radar Unit

A small, existing radar unit lacked the ability to automatically store the data it was receiving, which made its use clunky and cumbersome. A system was constructed to allow an on-board microprocessor to track distance traveled, and automatically store the data output from the radar unit to a portable memory unit for later data processing. Distance traveled is determined using a specially designed mobile cart, which electronically converts the rotation of a wheel into an electrical signal while also providing stability for taking accurate radar measurements. The output data from the radar unit is stored as a properly-formatted sound file to allow for immediate data analysis

Improving coordination through information continuity: a framework for translational research

BACKGROUND There is good evidence that coordination can have beneficial impacts on patient care and outcomes but the mechanisms by which coordination is to be achieved are poorly understood and rarely identified in relevant policies. One approach suggests that continuity of information is a key element but research is yet to provide guidance on how to optimise coordination through improving continuity in healthcare settings. DISCUSSION In this paper we report on the development of a conceptual framework of information continuity in care coordination. We drew on evidence from systematic reviews of coordination and empirical studies on information use in integrated care models to develop the framework. It identifies the architecture, processes and scope of practices that evidence suggests is required to support information continuity in a population based approach to care coordination. The framework offers value to policy makers and practitioners as a map that identifies the multi-level elements of an integrated system capable of driving better coordination. Testing of the framework in different settings could aid our understanding of information continuity as a mechanism for linking coordination strategies that operate at different levels of the health system and enable synthesis of findings for informing policy and practice.This study was supported by a grant from the Ian Potter Foundation to the Menzies Centre for Health Policy. The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing

Autistic traits and positive psychotic experiences modulate the association of psychopathic tendencies with theory of mind in opposite directions

Various clinical disorders, including psychopathy, and autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, have been linked with impairments in Theory of Mind (ToM). However, although these conditions can co-occur in the same individual, the effect of their inter-play on ToM abilities has not been investigated. Here we assessed ToM abilities in 55 healthy adults while performing a naturalistic ToM task, requiring participants to watch a short film and judge the actors' mental states. The results reveal for the first time that autistic traits and positive psychotic experiences interact with psychopathic tendencies in opposite directions to predict ToM performance-the interaction of psychopathic tendencies with autism traits was associated with a decrement in performance, whereas the interaction of psychopathic tendencies and positive psychotic experiences was associated with improved performance. These effects were specific to cognitive rather than affective ToM. These results underscore the importance of the simultaneous assessment of these dimensions within clinical settings. Future research in these clinical populations may benefit by taking into account such individual differences

Boldness psychopathic traits predict reduced gaze toward fearful eyes in men with a history of violence

Research with developmental and adult samples has shown a relationship of psychopathic traits with reduced eye gaze. However, these relationships remained to be investigated among forensic samples. Here we examined the eye movements of male violent offenders during an emotion recognition task. Violent offenders performed similar to non-offending controls, and their eye movements varied with the emotion and intensity of the facial expression. In the violent offender group Boldness psychopathic traits, but not Meanness or Disinhibition, were associated with reduced dwell time and fixation counts, and slower first fixation latencies, on the eyes compared with the mouth. These results are the first to show a relationship of psychopathic traits with reduced attention to the eyes in a forensic sample, and suggest that Boldness is associated with difficulties in orienting attention toward emotionally salient aspects of the face

Time's up. Descriptive epidemiology of multi-morbidity and time spent on health related activity by older Australians: a time use survey

Most Western health systems remain single illness orientated despite the growing prevalence of multi-morbidity. Identifying how much time people with multiple chronic conditions spend managing their health will help policy makers and health service providers make decisions about areas of patient need for support. This article presents findings from an Australian study concerning the time spent on health related activity by older adults (aged 50 years and over), most of whom had multiple chronic conditions. A recall questionnaire was developed, piloted, and adjusted. Sampling was undertaken through three bodies; the Lung Foundation Australia (COPD sub-sample), National Diabetes Services Scheme (Diabetes sub-sample) and National Seniors Australia (Seniors sub-sample). Questionnaires were mailed out during 2011 to 10,600 older adults living in Australia. 2540 survey responses were received and analysed. Descriptive analyses were completed to obtain median values for the hours spent on each activity per month. The mean number of chronic conditions was 3.7 in the COPD sub-sample, 3.4 in the Diabetes sub-sample and 2.0 in the NSA sub-sample. The study identified a clear trend of increased time use associated with increased number of chronic conditions. Median monthly time use was 5-16 hours per month overall for our three sub-samples. For respondents in the top decile with five or more chronic conditions the median time use was equivalent to two to three hours per day, and if exercise is included in the calculations, respondents spent from between five and eight hours per day: an amount similar to full-time work. Multi-morbidity imposes considerable time burdens on patients. Ageing is associated with increasing rates of multi-morbidity. Many older adults are facing high demands on their time to manage their health in the face of decreasing energy and mobility. Their time use must be considered in health service delivery and health system reform.This work was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council ID (402793, 2006)