Patients' expectations of the maintenance of their dignity

Aims and objectives. To explore patients' views regarding the factors that contribute to the maintenance of their dignity while in hospital, together with their perceptions of whether or not these were realised. Background. It has long been recognised that a consideration of patients' dignity in the hospital setting is of paramount importance and its maintenance can contribute to the 'emotional comfort' that may assist recovery. There have been several attempts to define dignity as a theoretical concept, but few studies of the factors that contribute to its maintenance from the patients' perspective. Design. A phenomenological hermeneutic approach was used. Method. Interviews were conducted with 102 patients in three hospitals in the UK over 18 months. The intention was to interpret what was being said and also the underlying meaning of how patients considered that their dignity was compromised. Results. The findings revealed that although many patients were satisfied with the maintenance of their dignity while in hospital, a significant number were not. Six key themes that contribute to the preservation of their dignity were identified - privacy; confidentiality; communication and the need for information; choice, control and involvement in care; respect and decency and forms of address. Patients provided details of their expectations with respect to these factors. Conclusions. Patients, irrespective of their situation and degree of health have their own expectations in relation to their dignity. These need to be assessed and matched by relevant nursing activities to assist recovery. Relevance to clinical practice. Nurses have an important role in meeting patients' expectations of how they would like their dignity to be maintained. The identification of the most important factors that contribute to this from patients' perspective will help develop dignified nursing practice. © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Performativity and professional development: the gap between policy and practice in the English further education sector

The New Labour government identified the further education (FE) sector as a vehicle to deliver its central policies on social justice and economic competitiveness in England, which has led to a torrent of initiatives that have increased central scrutiny and control over FE. Although the connections between social justice, economic competitiveness and education are hegemonic in mainstream British politics, they are unfounded. Therefore, FE can only fail to deliver fully the government's central programme. Thus, a gap exists between policy initiatives and practice in colleges even, paradoxically, where reforms are ostensibly successful. In order to illustrate this gap and how it is maintained this paper considers one specific reform: the statutory obligation for teachers in English FE colleges to undertake 30 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) annually. Evidence from small-scale exploratory research suggests that this initiative has had little impact on patterns of CPD, though the government's quantifiable targets are being systematically met. This paper argues that a symbiosis of performativity has evolved where the government produces targets and colleges produce mechanisms to 'evidence' their achievement, separate to any change in practice and thus maintaining the gap between policy and practice

Room for improvement? The impact of compulsory professional development for teachers in England's further education sector

After years of neglect, the New Labour government has identified the further education (FE) sector in England as being the crucial means to achieve two policies at the centre of their project: social justice through widening participation in education and enhancing the skills of the nation's workforce to compete in a globalised economy. This has led to FE and the staff who work there being more and more closely scrutinised and directed by the government, and from September 2007 teachers in FE colleges in England are required to participate annually in at least 30 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) in order to maintain their qualified status. This and many of the other government initiatives are associated with restrictive and impoverished notions of professionalism, but the sanctioning of CPD chosen and recorded by the staff themselves, rather than their employers, may allow room for a more meaningful and autonomous professionalism to evolve

La ninfa Ilike

15 páginas, 14 fotografías, 1 dibujo. El trabajo está publicado en la serie Anejos de AEspaLV, siendo el título del libro "Debate en torno a la religiosidad protohistórica", publicada por el Instituto de Historia. CSIC. IAM. Noticia de la publicación en http://www.eehar.csic.es/publicaciones/3 .[EN]The late ibero-roman vase -a sort of local crater- from La Alcudia of Elche shows on the observe the bust of a winged woman emerging form the earth. On tje reverse, two busts of men are regarding her, one of them wearing the lion-skin of Hercles. Two intertwined serpents accompany these mythical figures. Perhaps we deal with a foundation or aetiological legend. The winged goddes could be Ilike, the remote tree nymph, which gives her name to the new colony. One of the tituli picti from the Cueva Negra (Fortuna, Murcia) mentions a certain "ex ilice", "who comes from the oak". The expression could be associated to this representation.[ES]El tardío crateriforme iberromano de La Alcudia de Elche, con una mujer alada en surgimiento sobre el anverso y dos bustos de varones que la contemplan -uno de ellos con leontea, Heracles- junto a serpientes entrelazadas del reverso, invita a ver en esta secuencia una leyenda de fundación: ella puede ser Ilike, ninfa-árbol de tiempos remotos que da nombre a la nueva colonia ilicitana. La representación se contrasta con la mención "ex ilice", "procedente de la encina" en uno de los tituli picti de la vecina Cueva Negra (Fortuna, Murcia).Peer reviewe