Thinking critically about the occurrence of widespread participation in poor nursing care

AimA discussion of how Arendt's work can be productively re-contextualized to provide a critical analysis of the occurrence of widespread participation in poor nursing care and what the implications of this are for the providers of nursing education.BackgroundWhile the recent participation of nurses in healthcare failings, such as that detailed in the Francis report, has been universally condemned, there has been an absence of critical analyses in the literature that attempt to understand the occurrence of such widespread participation in poor nursing care. This is a significant omission in so far as such analyses will form an integral part of the strategy to limit the occurrence of such widespread participation of nurses in future healthcare failings.DesignDiscussion paper.Data sourcesArendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil and Thinking and Moral Considerations: A Lecture. In addition, a literature search was conducted and articles published in English relating to the terms care, compassion, ethics, judgement and thinking between 2004–2014 were included.Implications for nursingIt is anticipated that this discussion will stimulate further critical debate about the role of Arendt's work for an understanding of the occurrence of poor nursing care, and encouraging additional detailed analyses of the widespread participation of nurses in healthcare failings more generally.ConclusionThis article provides a challenging analysis of the widespread participation of nurses in poor care and discusses the opportunities confronting the providers of nursing education in limiting future healthcare failings

Poor care and the professional duty of the registered nurse

Concerns have been raised in recent years about standards of care in the UK. Notable failures have been identified in the care of vulnerable older adults. This article identifies and discusses some logical steps which might be taken to minimise the risk of individual and systemic care failure in settings for older adults. These steps include frank discussion about ageism to promote empowerment and respect for older people; ensuring robust policies are in place that support and encourage the reporting of poor care; and ensuring that registered practitioners are aware of their accountability for their actions and also their omissions should they witness poor care. In addition to reducing the risk of poor care, these steps could contribute to having a more confident, competent and empowered workforce

Willis and the generic turn in nursing

Over the past months a series of articles in the journal have drawn attention to concerns about aspects of the quality of nursing care in the UK (Paley, 2013; Darbyshire, 2013; Rolfe and Gardner, 2014; Roberts and Ion, 2014). Jackson et al.’s (2014) recent review of the whistleblowing literature indicates that these concerns are more widespread. This view is echoed by Ion et al. (2015) who noted that student nurses from across the world encountered poor practice while on placement. In the UK this has led to a good deal of reflection with some arguing that the problem is a function of chronic under funding of health services and a workforce which is understaffed (Randall and Mckeown, 2014). For others, the issue is tied to the way in which nurses are educated. This is the view taken by Lord Willis whose Shape of Caring report was published in March (Willis, 2015)

Developing the social media presence of @NurseEducToday by using Twitter

The use of social media (SoMe) has increased significantly over the last ten years. Twitter, one example of the SoMe was developed in 2006 aimed to communicate with small groups. Since its inception Twitter has been embraced as an important professional communication platform by clinicians, academics, educators, students and researchers. Tweets are increasingly used to build collaborative relationships, showcase research and communicate innovative clinical and educational information

I want it all and I want it now. Challenging the traditional nursing academic paradigm

A recent Twitter chat facilitated by the @NurseEducToday socialmedia team provoked a particularly strong reaction among a range of contributors. The focus of the discussion – expectations of the nurse academic – resulted in a high level of engagement from several participants who clearly held strong views, which were surprisingly polarised. Here we explore aspects of this polarization; and what it might mean for nurses working in academia. Our aim is to reflect on what this dialogue might tell us about current thinking in the profession, specifically around how nurse academics see themselves, what they expect from self and others, and what they are prepared to do to meet these,often, self-generated expectations

Nursing and midwifery students' encounters with poor clinical practice:a systematic review

The aim of this paper was to systematically review evidence about nursing and midwifery students’ encounters with poor clinical care.We undertook a systematic review of English language empirical research using multiple databases from inception to April 2016. Hand searching was also undertaken. Included papers contained accounts of empirical research which reported on students’ encounters with poor care. These were quality-assessed, information was extracted into tables, and study results were synthesized using thematic analysis.N=14 papers met inclusion criteria; study quality was moderate to good. Study synthesis revealed four themes: i) encounters with poor practice: students encounter poor practice that is likely to be worthy of professional sanction; ii) while intention to report is high in hypothetical scenarios, this appears not always to translate to actual practice; iii) a range of influencing factors impact the likelihood of reporting; iv) the consequences of encountering and subsequently reporting poor practice appeared to have a lasting effect on students.Research is required to determine the frequency and nature of students' encounters with poor care, when and where they encounter it, how to increase the likelihood that they will report it, and how they can be supported in doing so

Student nurses' gender-based accounts of men in nursing

Stereotypes of nursing as a female profession and of male nurses as gay can limit male recruitment. This UK-based focus-group study examines whether student nurses reproduce or challenge such views. Using discourse analysis, discussion transcript segments dealing with male nurses’ gender or sexuality were examined for turn design, sequential organization, and procedural relevance. Results showed participants characterized such stereotypical constructions of male nurses as held only by other people. They themselves, however, used gender-based distinctions to problematic male nursing. These findings indicate nursing students would benefit from training which emphasizes the positioning of men and women within society