Making Conflict Work for You

About 40 nurses at the Cleveland, Ohio, Visiting Nurse Association walked off their jobs in 1982 after administrators at the agency sought to eliminate a caseload clause from an already existing contract. The nurses charge the management of the VNA has failed to keep its commitment on the issue of caseload and therefore is in breech of contract (VNA Strike Continues, 1982). Ever since the new home health care manager refused her salary increase, Johanna has been angry and miserable in her job as staff nurse at a private home health care agency. For the past four years, she had regularly received good performance ratings as well as salary increases. She knew the reason she was refused her raise was because the new administrator, a woman five years her junior in age as well as experience, resented her knowledge and expertise. Now Johanna is thinking of quitting. Bob and Jerry had been coming to the group for over three months. The community health nurse started the group for veterans recovering from recent amputations. Lately, however, group members were beginning to stop coming to the meetings. The only problem Ken, the community health nurse, could think might be the cause was that Bob and Jerry had monopolized the past three meetings and there was little participation from the other group members. Ken could feel the tension mounting, and even he began to dread coming to the group because he felt frustrated and helpless dealing with Bob's and Jerry's behavior.     

Making more of IT. Interview by Lynne Pearce

Susan Hamer is at the forefront of helping nurses to see the benefits of information technology to their practice.     

Group-based Training for General Practice in Norway: Making a New Model Work

In operation since 1985, the Norwegian five-year postgraduate educational programme for general practitioners is based on one year's hospital training and four years of training in general practice. One of its main components is a two-year goup-based educational programme. Since there was little previous experience to rely on when setting these groups to work, there has been some concern as to whether the system would work - and how. This paper summarizes the practical experience of the first 45 groups established, based on a questionnaire filled in by the group leaders during their third one-week trainer course. There had been few problems that were not solved by the groups themselves. All 45 groups, including 326 participants, fulfilled the 40 scheduled three-hour meetings within two and a half years. This group-based educational system is now an alternative to the traditional one-to-one trainer/trainee relationship established in many countries as a part of the postgraduate training for general practitioners.     

A Nursing Care Monitoring and Evaluation System: Making it Work in Differentiated Practice

This article describes the evolution of a chart audit tool that became an integral part of a nursing care monitoring and evaluation system at two healthcare agencies in South Dakota. These agencies, an acute care hospital and a federal healthcare agency, continue to use the audit tool for multiple purposes within their institutions. The initial design of the tool had two objectives: to measure objectively the quality and effectiveness of patient care provided by the nursing staff and to educate nurses about expectations of their roles as case managers or case associates. The tool has been revised and continues to be modified to fit needs within hospital, ambulatory care, and community based care settings, to meet program standards for accreditation, and other purposes within each agency.     

Nurses get IT right

When nurses get involved in IT selection, the resulting system supports their work and saves the organization time and money.     

Data collection and IT

Nurses must ensure that the data they routinely collect on their nursing activities is helping to improve patient care and is not just a paper--or electronic--exercise.     

IT Matters in Behavioral Health

While behavioral health faces the same barriers to widespread implementation of information technology, it has several unique needs that make such implementation critical. This article provides a look at the unique challenges of, and opportunities for, IT ubiquity in behavioral health.