Creating a positive workplace culture

This article considers the link between emotional resilience and the mental and physical wellbeing of healthcare staff, and how this affects leadership and patient care. The authors outline six steps to building and sustaining emotional resilience. In two NHS surveys (Boorman 2009, Healthcare Commission 2010) staff reported that their physical health and emotional wellbeing affected their ability to undertake daily activities and their ability to care for patients. Some NHS trusts are addressing staff wellbeing through emotional resilience training. Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, for example, includes it in its preceptorship programme, which supports transition from student to staff nurse.     

Developing a healthy OR workplace

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INNOVATION IS REQUIRED to develop a positive work environment in the OR.

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COMPONENTS OF A HEALTHY OR workplace identified by staff members of three surgical departments are quality practice standards, excellence in patient care systems, a functional physical environment, effective staff systems, meaningful role definition and clarity, and identified guidelines for teamwork.

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IN ONE OR, STAFF MEMBERS working on a communication team developed and implemented an action plan to enhance respect in the OR setting. AORN J 85 (June 2007) 1213-1223. © AORN, Inc, 2007.

     

Toward a nursing gerontology

An overview of studies that pertain to the care of the elderly and a review of psychosocial gerontologic nursing research during the past 25 years (1951-1976) is presented. Methodologic problems and conceptual issues of these investigations are discussed; gaps in research are identified: suggestions for further nursing gerontologic studies are proposed: and implications for graduate education, clinical training, and preparation for research are presented.     

Creating a healthy workplace: a participatory organizational intervention

Participatory research is, in theory, an approach that is attractive and easy to apply. However, in practice this type of research poses numerous challenges. This article presents recent information on healthcare workers who have experienced a participatory organizational intervention aimed at reducing the work constraints and creating a healthy workplace. Three main challenges emerged from this experience: mobilizing the team and creating a relationship of trust among the participants; creating a healthy organization in partnership with those in other professions; and implementing the proposed changes.     

Toward a hybrid artificial pancreas

Management of insulinopenic diabetic individuals centers on administration of insulin by means of multiple injections, a wearable or implantable insulin-infusion pump, or a whole-organ or segmental-pancreas transplant. Preliminary trials indicate that surgical implantation of a hybrid device containing living insulin-secreting tissue may function as a combined glucose sensor and insulin-infusion pump. By means of a chamber composed of a semipermeable membrane shaped into hollow fibers or a box surrounding endocrine tissue, pilot studies have shown that isolated islets of Langerhans, fragments of insulinoma, or a fetal pancreas retains function for days to weeks, as judged by the ability to sustain euglycemic conditions in chemically induced diabetic rats. Lacking clear proof that normalizing blood glucose levels will prevent vascular complications of diabetes in humans, the case for further development of a hybrid (tissue plus fabricated components) device rests mainly on optimistic extrapolation of results attained in the chemically induced diabetic rat and dog. For the minority of diabetic patients who have insulin-dependent diabetes, the benefit afforded by a bionic device establishing internal insulin release regulated by silently sensed blood glucose level is more than enough payoff for the discomfort and surgery involved in its implantation. Further trials of a hybrid artificial pancreas in the dog appear warranted as a logical extension of preliminary studies with this species.