An exploration of nurses' experiences of caring for people from different cultures in Ireland

This study aimed to explore the experiences of both student and qualified nurses of caring for patients from different cultures in one region of Ireland. In particular it explores the concerns and challenges experienced and how nurses dealt with them in their daily practice. Using a grounded theory approach, ten focus groups and thirty individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with student and qualified nurses. As data were collected, it was simultaneously analysed using the classic grounded theory methodological principles of coding, constant comparison and theoretical sampling. This study described the different challenges nurses face when caring for patients from different cultures and the coping strategies adopted to deal with such challenges in their daily practice. It provides a comprehensive picture of the personal, professional and organisational factors that contribute towards culturally insensitivity. Lack of knowledge leading to uncertainty was the consistent main concern that emerged for informants. Feelings of ambiguity were further influenced by an awareness of potential ethnocentric beliefs, values and stereotypes and the culture of the organisation in which informants learn and work in. The data reveals how nurses used rafts of disengagement strategies as a means of dealing with their lack of cultural knowledge. The culture within the organisation facilitated the disengagement and allowed it to go unnoticed. Accepting less than perfect care and becoming indifferent to the needs of patients who are not Irish is evident in the data. This went unchallenged and consequently culturally insensitive and sometimes even discriminatory care was perpetuated. This study has implications for nurse education and leaders and managers in clinical settings. Although this study specifically explored nurses’ experiences of caring for patients from different cultures, the findings may have wider implications for nursing practice in Ireland. It highlights the need for nurses to understand themselves and the way in which they form relationships with patients from different cultures. It reiterates the need for greater consideration into how culturally compassionate competence development is taught, learnt and perhaps more importantly applied in practice. Although acknowledging the organisational constraints and education deficiencies that were evident, this study highlights the need for greater individual and organisational commitment to culturally competent care

Using Twitter to Support Students' Design Thinking

The goal of the short-term study abroad course “International Perspectives on Biomedical Engineering Design” is to enable students to consider sociotechnical factors in designing clinically translatable solutions. In addition, comparison of healthcare systems in Europe and the United States enables students to see the impact of culture on healthcare because people in these locations have similar medical resources. Students seek to define an actionable problem statement that summarizes the needs and insights identified through interviews with healthcare professionals. Methods recommended for formulating actionable problem statements include creating a Madlib or want ad. However, such approaches did not resonate with our student group. In this presentation, we describe our experiences using Twitter as a method for students to succinctly write actionable problem statements that spur creative problem solving.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Coordinating Summer Undergraduate Research Programs for Expanding Diversity and Impact: Opportunities and Challenges

During summers 2015-2017, we operated a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site, “Biomedical Engineering Community of Undergraduate Research Scholars for Cancer” (BME CUReS Cancer) at The University of Texas at Austin. The directors of the BME CUReS Cancer program have sought to multiply the impact of our Site by embedding students supported by other summer research experience grants, which we refer to here as Affiliated Scholars. In this paper, we will discuss the opportunities and challenges we encountered in coordinating these summer undergraduate research programs. CUReS Scholars were matched with a summer project from among a rich variety of research endeavors within strategic areas identified by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Each Scholar was part of a research team with both faculty and graduate student mentors, a mentoring system that is effective and widely employed. Scholars also benefited from: a research skills boot camp their first week; weekly educational seminars with fellow summer scholars led by the program directors; shared on-campus housing; and social events. Affiliated Scholars were supported by a variety of other funding mechanisms with a variety of research areas. By grouping these scholars into the CUReS structure with a shared scientific theme of engineering approaches to cancer research, regardless of their funding source, we sought to facilitate their identification with a larger, diverse student cohort. Criteria across the programs introduced challenges to establishing a shared community, such as subsets of Affiliated Scholars entering the summer program with existing social relationships. We will discuss specific challenges and opportunities we observed and provide recommendations for blending a primary REU with Affiliated Scholars based on our experiences.Cockrell School of Engineerin

The Talking Points Tool: A Brief Intervention to Support Predoctoral Student and Faculty Advisor Communication

Excellent relationships between predoctoral students and faculty supervisors can lay the foundation for a satisfying degree program and productive future. Contrarily, poor relationships can frustrate both students and supervisors. We examined mentoring experiences focused on career development. Students desired enhanced career mentoring but were uncomfortable approaching their supervisors with these concerns. Faculty advisors reported willingness to support students’ career development, yet expected students to initiate those conversations. Responding to this communication disconnect, we developed a brief intervention to facilitate conversations—a Talking Points Tool (TPT). In this paper, we examine whether the TPT influenced students’ career conversations and development.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Resigned indifference: an explanation of gaps in care for culturally and linguistically diverse patients'

Aims: To develop a theory that explains students and registered nurses’ behaviours when caring for culturally and linguistically diverse patients’. Background: Despite ongoing calls for improvements to the quality of patient care, the continued reports of substandard care to patients from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are concerning. Methods: A classic grounded theory methodology incorporating focus groups (n-10) and individual interviews (n-30) with students and registered nurses in one region of Ireland. Findings: Participants resolved their main concern of uncertainty through disengagement (masking, distancing and fitting in), which was sustained by resigned indifference, resulting in gaps in care. Resigned indifference explains how participants were aware of the consequences of disengagement, but became resigned and accepting of substandard care. Conclusion: This study explains how nurses want to provide quality care, but gaps in care to culturally and linguistically diverse patients’ are perpetuated through resigned indifference. Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse Managers need to understand nurses’ behaviours as a means of supporting collective ways of addressing gaps in care for culturally and linguistically diverse patients. Strategic leadership in developing culturally responsive structures is essential. Nurturing nursing values such as; commitment, compassion, and courage through education and leadership is a priority

Quitting behaviour in good (and bad) work places

This paper argues that the decision to quit is strongly influenced by employee perceptions of the quality of the work environment (QWE), and that ignoring QWE can lead to incorrect conclusions concerning the influence of other factors on the quitting decision. However, our empirical results also illustrate that some of the antecedents of quitting, namely high levels of stress, gaining information about important decisions and changes, and changes in job satisfaction, are only significant if the overall QWE is perceived to be good; if the QWE is perceived to be bad then these factors appear to have no significant influence on the quitting intention of the worker. This paper contributes to the literature through a work environment approach to understanding the complexities of the quitting decision.Department of Labou

Equilibrium Configurations of Strongly Magnetized Neutron Stars with Realistic Equations of State

We investigate equilibrium sequences of magnetized rotating stars with four kinds of realistic equations of state (EOSs) of SLy (Douchin et al.), FPS (Pandharipande et al.), Shen (Shen et al.), and LS (Lattimer & Swesty). Employing the Tomimura-Eriguchi scheme to construct the equilibrium configurations. we study the basic physical properties of the sequences in the framework of Newton gravity. In addition we newly take into account a general relativistic effect to the magnetized rotating configurations. With these computations, we find that the properties of the Newtonian magnetized stars, e.g., structure of magnetic field, highly depends on the EOSs. The toroidal magnetic fields concentrate rather near the surface for Shen and LS EOSs than those for SLy and FPS EOSs. The poloidal fields are also affected by the toroidal configurations. Paying attention to the stiffness of the EOSs, we analyze this tendency in detail. In the general relativistic stars, we find that the difference due to the EOSs becomes small because all the employed EOSs become sufficiently stiff for the large maximum density, typically greater than $10^{15}\rm{g} \rm{cm}^{-3}$. The maximum baryon mass of the magnetized stars with axis ratio $q\sim 0.7$ increases about up to twenty percents for that of spherical stars. We furthermore compute equilibrium sequences at finite temperature, which should serve as an initial condition for the hydrodynamic study of newly-born magnetars. Our results suggest that we may obtain information about the EOSs from the observation of the masses of magnetars.Comment: submitted to MNRA

Parametric Power Spectral Density Analysis of Noise from Instrumentation in MALDI TOF Mass Spectrometry

Noise in mass spectrometry can interfere with identification of the biochemical substances in the sample. For example, the electric motors and circuits inside the mass spectrometer or in nearby equipment generate random noise that may distort the true shape of mass spectra. This paper presents a stochastic signal processing approach to analyzing noise from electrical noise sources (i.e., noise from instrumentation) in MALDI TOF mass spectrometry. Noise from instrumentation was hypothesized to be a mixture of thermal noise, 1/f noise, and electric or magnetic interference in the instrument. Parametric power spectral density estimation was conducted to derive the power distribution of noise from instrumentation with respect to frequencies. As expected, the experimental results show that noise from instrumentation contains 1/f noise and prominent periodic components in addition to thermal noise. These periodic components imply that the mass spectrometers used in this study may not be completely shielded from the internal or external electrical noise sources. However, according to a simulation study of human plasma mass spectra, noise from instrumentation does not seem to affect mass spectra significantly. In conclusion, analysis of noise from instrumentation using stochastic signal processing here provides an intuitive perspective on how to quantify noise in mass spectrometry through spectral modeling

A Research Agenda for Appearance Changes Due to Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent forms of cancer in the US. It is estimated that more than 180,000 American women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2008. Fortunately, the survival rate is relatively high and continually increasing due to improved detection techniques and treatment methods. However, maintaining quality of life is a factor often under emphasized for breast cancer survivors. Breast cancer treatments are invasive and can lead to deformation of the breast. Breast reconstruction is important for restoring the survivor’s appearance. However, more work is needed to develop technologies for quantifying surgical outcomes and understanding women’s perceptions of changes in their appearance. A method for objectively measuring breast anatomy is needed in order to help both the breast cancer survivors and their surgeons take expected changes to the survivor’s appearance into account when considering various treatment options. In the future, augmented reality tools could help surgeons reconstruct a survivor’s breasts to match her preferences as much as possible