The Patriotic Consensus: Unity. Morale, and the Second World War in Winnipeg (Book Review) by Jody Perrun

Reivew of The Patriotic Consensus: Unity. Morale, and the Second World War in Winnipeg by Jody Perru

Developing critical thinking: student perspectives

Discussion paper outlining preliminary results of a research project which examines the difficulties that undergraduate law students experience in developing their analytical legal problem solving skills. The research tests the theory that students do not naturally develop these skills through ordinary law teaching but may require dedicated teaching or an alternative approach

Job satisfaction of New Hampshire nursing faculty

The nursing shortage is a growing concern with the shortage of nurse faculty restricting entry of qualified students. A descriptive study of faculty from 11 New Hampshire nursing schools was conducted to determine nurse faculty satisfaction and factors contributing to satisfaction. A modified version, sent electronically of the Nurse Faculty Satisfaction Questionnaire measured faculty satisfaction. Of 159 faculty invited 74 (47%) participated. Overall, NH nurse faculty were highly satisfied as nurse educators with 78.4% rating overall satisfaction of 8 or higher on a 0 - 10 scale. The top three satisfiers were opportunity to work independently, sense of accomplishment from work, and the variety of activities. The highest level of dissatisfaction was rate of pay for position (60.8%), amount of work required (31.1%), and degree of technical support available (29.8%). While NH nurse educators would recommend a nurse become a nurse faculty, pay is a serious detractor in recruiting new faculty

The relationships between nurse care, attitude of patient and nurse with cancer patient satisfaction

This study investigates the relationships between nurse care, attitude of patient and nurse with cancer patient satisfaction using the quantitative methodology. In Libya, the challenge of medical facilities and treatment is a current issue. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the patients’ satisfaction at National Cancer Institute Misurata, Libya. The participants were 217 cancer patients of National Institute of Oncology located in Misurata, Libya. The study scale was adopted and adapted from that used by previous researchers to measure nurse care, nurse attitude, patient attitude, hospital service quality and patient satisfaction on a 5-point Likert scale. The nurse care, nurse attitude and patient attitude are independent variables and cancer patient satisfaction is the dependent variable in this study. On the other hand, hospital service quality and patient characteristic are control variables. SPSS software was used to analyses the data collected. The analyses of this study included descriptive statistic, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. The study found that on the overall basis, there is a significant statistical relationship between nurse care and cancer patient satisfaction, and there is a significant statistical relationship between attitude and cancer patient satisfaction. The sub-hypotheses show that there are no a relationship between interpersonal skills of nurse care and efficiency of nurse care with cancer patient satisfaction which suggest there might be interactions between these variables. Result also shows that for the sub-hypotheses, only patient attitude and cancer patient satisfaction indicated significant relationship, while there is no significant relationship between nurse attitude and patient satisfaction. This also indicates of possible interactions between the variables. On an overall basis, it can be concluded that to increase in the satisfaction level cancer patient, the management do it by focusing on improving the level of nurse care, nurse attitude and patient attitude

Nurse Practitioner Competency Standards: Findings from Collaborative Australian and New Zealand Research

Background: The title, Nurse Practitioner, is protected in most jurisdictions in Australia and in New Zealand and the number of nurse practitioners is increasing in health services in both countries. Despite this expansion of the role there is scant national or international research to inform development of nurse practitioner competency standards. Objectives: The aim of the study was to research nurse practitioner practice to inform development of generic standards that could be applied for the education, authorisation and practice of nurse practitioners in both countries. Design: The research used a multi-methods approach to capture a range of data sources including research of policies and curricula, and interviews with clinicians. Data were collected from relevant sources in Australia and New Zealand Settings: The research was conducted in New Zealand and the five states and territories in Australia where, at the time of the research, the title of nurse practitioner was legally protected. Participants: The research was conducted with a purposeful sample of nurse practitioners from diverse clinical settings in both countries. Interview and material data were collected from a range of sources and data were analysed within and across these data modalities. Results: Findings included identification of three generic standards for nurse practitioner practice namely, Dynamic Practice, Professional Efficacy and Clinical Leadership. Each of these standards has a number of practice competencies, each of these competencies with their own performance indicators. Conclusions: Generic Standards for nurse practitioner practice will support a standardised approach and mutual recognition of nurse practitioner authorisation across the two countries. Additionally these research outcomes can more generally inform education providers, authorising bodies and clinicians on the standards of practice for the nurse practitioner whilst also contributing to the current international debate on nurse practitioner standards and scope of practice

Competency and Capability: Imperative for Nurse Practitioner Education

Objective The objective of this study was to conduct research to inform the development of standards for nurse practitioner education in Australia and New Zealand and to contribute to the international debate on nurse practitioner practice. Setting The research was conducted in all states of Australia where the nurse practitioner is authorised and in New Zealand Subjects The research was informed by multiple data sources including nurse practitioner program curriculae documents from all relevant universities in Australia and New Zealand, interviews with academic convenors of these programs and interviews with nurse practitioners. Primary argument Findings from this research include support for masters level of education as preparation for the nurse practitioner. These programs need to have a strong clinical learning component and in-depth education for the sciences of specialty practice. Additionally an important aspect of education for the nurse practitioner is the centrality of student directed and flexible learning models. This approach is well supported by the literature on capability. Conclusions There is agreement in the literature about the lack of consistent standards in nurse practitioner practice, education and nomenclature. The findings from this research contribute to the international debate in this area and bring research informed standards to nurse practitioner education in Australia and New Zealand

Sister Catherine Black: ‘King’s nurse, Beggar’s nurse.’

Sister Catherine Black had a long and interesting nursing career. She worked as a nurse throughout the First World War, both on the home front (where she worked with the pioneering plastic surgeon, Harold Gillies)and in base hospitals and casualty clearing stations on the Western Front. Towards the end of her career, she became the private nurse of King George V, nursing him until his death in 1935. This article gives an overview of her life and nursing career

A snapshot of Australian nurse practitioners' extended practice activities

Introduction The Australian Nurse Practitioner Project (AUSPRAC) was initiated to examine the introduction of nurse practitioners into the Australian health service environment. The nurse practitioner concept was introduced to Australia over two decades ago and has been evolving since. Today, however, the scope of practice, role and educational preparation of nurse practitioners is well defined (Gardner et al, 2006). Amendments to specific pre-existing legislation at a State level have permitted nurse practitioners to perform additional activities including some once in the domain of the medical profession. In the Australian Capital Territory, for example 13 diverse Acts and Regulations required amendments and three new Acts were established (ACT Health, 2006). Nurse practitioners are now legally authorized to diagnose, treat, refer and prescribe medications in all Australian states and territories. These extended practices differentiate nurse practitioners from other advanced practice roles in nursing (Gardner, Chang & Duffield, 2007). There are, however, obstacles for nurse practitioners wishing to use these extended practices. Restrictive access to Medicare funding via the Medicare Benefit Scheme (MBS) and the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) limit the scope of nurse practitioner service in the private health sector and community settings. A recent survey of Australian nurse practitioners (n=202) found that two-thirds of respondents (66%) stated that lack of legislative support limited their practice. Specifically, 78% stated that lack of a Medicare provider number was ‘extremely limiting’ to their practice and 71% stated that no access to the PBS was ‘extremely limiting’ to their practice (Gardner et al, in press). Changes to Commonwealth legislation is needed to enable nurse practitioners to prescribe medication so that patients have access to PBS subsidies where they exist; currently patients with scripts which originated from nurse practitioners must pay in full for these prescriptions filled outside public hospitals. This report presents findings from a sub-study of Phase Two of AUSPRAC. Phase Two was designed to enable investigation of the process and activities of nurse practitioner service. Process measurements of nurse practitioner services are valuable to healthcare organisations and service providers (Middleton, 2007). Processes of practice can be evaluated through clinical audit, however as Middleton cautions, no direct relationship between these processes and patient outcomes can be assumed