Validity and reliability of the scientific review process in nursing journals – time for a rethink?

As pressure to publish increases in the academic nursing world, journal submission numbers and rejection rates are soaring. The review process is crucial to journals in publishing high quality, cutting‐edge knowledge development, and to authors in preparing their papers to a high quality to enable the nursing world to benefit from developments in knowledge that affect nursing practice and patient outcomes and the development of the discipline. This paper does not intend to contribute to the debate regarding the ethics of reviewing, but rather seeks to explore notions of how the quality of the reviewing process can be enhanced to benefit authors, the reviewers, and the state of nursing knowledge. Furthermore, a call is made to editors to devise strategies for aiding reviewers to attain higher validity and reliability within the reviewing process by establishing clear standards and expectations and to ensure published work is judged against industry norms for quality.     

Does the use of antibiotics in food animals pose a risk to human health? A critical review of published data

The use of antibiotics in food animals selects for bacteria resistant to antibiotics used in humans, and these might spread via the food to humans and cause human infection, hence the banning of growth-promoters. The actual danger seems small, and there might be disadvantages to human and to animal health. The low dosages used for growth promotion are an unquantified hazard. Although some antibiotics are used both in animals and humans, most of the resistance problem in humans has arisen from human use. Resistance can be selected in food animals, and resistant bacteria can contaminate animal-derived food, but adequate cooking destroys them. How often they colonize the human gut, and transfer resistance genes is not known. In zoonotic salmonellosis, resistance may arise in animals or humans, but human cross-infection is common. The case of campylobacter infection is less clear. The normal human faecal flora can contain resistant enterococci, but indistinguishable strains in animals and man are uncommon, possibly because most animal enterococci do not establish themselves in the human intestine. There is no correlation between the carriage of resistant enterococci of possible animal origin and human infection with resistant strains. Commensal Escherichia coli also exhibits host-animal preferences. Anti-Gram-positive growth promoters would be expected to have little effect on most Gram-negative organisms. Even if resistant pathogens do reach man, the clinical consequences of resistance may be small. The application of the 'precautionary principle' is a non-scientific approach that assumes that risk assessments will be carried out.     

How can we achieve evidence-based practice if we have a theory–practice gap in nursing today?

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how nursing can achieve evidence-based practice when a theory-practice gap exists in nursing today. The paper commences with an introduction to the concept of evidence-based practice and a discussion of the relationships between theory, practice and the theory-practice gap. An analysis of the two concepts will then be presented from within the four pillars of nursing, namely management, practice, research and education. The paper will conclude with a discussion of whether evidence-based practice can be achieved in view of the theory-practice gap.     

What is a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment? A review of the literature

Assessment is the foundation on which nursing care is delivered. The aim of this paper is to better understand the content (what information nurses seek about consumers) and the process (how they go about gathering that information) of a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment in practice. Using terms, such as 'nursing', 'mental health', and 'assessment', the CINAHL, Medline, and PsycINFO databases were searched for studies that describe the content and process of a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment. Although studies of aspects of mental health nursing assessment, such as the assessment of risk or carer burden, were found, no single study described both the content and process of a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment in practice. In Australia, a comprehensive assessment is codified as a competency to practice nursing; however, the standards of practice set for mental health nurses are less clear on what constitutes a comprehensive assessment or how this should be undertaken. The peer-reviewed literature describes assessment as both an independent and interdependent activity. It is described as informal, and there is evidence that comprehensive mental health nursing assessments are not well documented. The credibility of training and research into mental health nursing requires that the content and the process of a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment needs to be clearly defined.     

The family theory–practice gap: a matter of clarity?

Despite recognition of the importance of family in health-care and progress in family theory development, there has been limited transfer of family theory to acute care nursing practice. We argue that this family theory-practice gap results from a persistent lack of conceptual clarity in family nursing and other barriers. Lack of conceptual clarity takes the form of conceptual overlap and semantic inconsistency, as well as the complexity of language found in the family nursing literature. Barriers include practice contexts, relational problems, and knowledge types. Our exploration begins with a brief discussion of the intimate link between nursing theory and practice followed by an overview of some issues associated with the family nursing theory-practice gap. Based on a synthesis of family nursing literature, problems associated with conceptual clarity in family nursing theory are explored. We conclude with recommendations for family nursing research to develop concepts grounded in nursing practice.     

A brief analysis of historical trends in nursing education: is there application to the current environment?

The history of nursing is circuitous and inconsistent; it has not always been based on scientific principles and delivered by providers with ethical and moral standing. Much of the image of nursing relates directly to the education, or lack of, over the course of its natural history. This article is a snapshot of the history of nursing education with application to the issues, risks, and changes of today.     

An application of the mini review to a complex methodological question: how best to research public health nursing and service quality?

This paper describes a mini review which enabled the identification of a suitable methodology to undertake a study about quality in the public health nursing in the Republic of Ireland. Reviews of literature increasingly adopt the methods of systematic review. In general, these methods have been developed to answer clearly focussed clinical questions. In this paper, we adopt the key elements of systematic review, comprehensive identification of relevant material and selection based on objectively defined validity, to a different type of question, that of an appropriate methodology to examine quality in the public health nursing service. In doing so, we demonstrate that questions of clinical effectiveness are but one application for systematic review.     

Thriving – a useful theoretical perspective to capture the experience of well‐being among frail elderly in nursing homes?

AIM: The aim of this article is to discuss the concept of thriving and its adequacy in describing the experience of well-being among physically frail nursing home residents. BACKGROUND: There is a lack of theoretical perspectives describing nursing home residents' experience of well-being. METHOD: The article is based on a literature review and analysis of how the concept of thriving is used in different professional traditions. Three different theoretical perspectives are presented: (1) thriving as an outcome of growth and development; (2) thriving as a psychological state; (3) thriving as an expression of physical health state. In the second part of the paper, the three perspectives are discussed. CONCLUSION: The authors suggest that there is a need to develop a new concept: that of thriving in physically frail nursing home residents. The article discusses how each of the three theoretical perspectives may contribute to the formation of this concept.     

Is there a place for ontological hermeneutics in mental-health nursing research? A review of a hermeneutic study

A lot of research carried out within the context of mental-health nursing using qualitative data collection tools claims that it is hermeneutical, with usually just a short section describing the hermeneutical methodology as though it is a very broad philosophical approach. Criticisms of the latter approach more often than not concentrate on the level of the data collection tools without getting to grips with the underlying hermeneutical philosophy. This paper examines the difference between methodological and ontological hermeneutics and then gives an example of a piece of research using the latter approach. It is then argued that criticisms of the hermeneutical approach usually only concentrate on methodological hermeneutics with the consequence that they seriously misapply their criticisms if the research is using ontological hermeneutics.     

A review of children's nursing: but does it have a future?

With less than 35,000 registered children's nurses in the UK it is timely in the 10-year anniversary issue of the British Journal of Nursing to examine the progress of children's nursing. This article explores the ramifications of the outgoing UKCC's 'Fitness for Practice and Purpose' document (UKCC, 2001) and its legacy to the incoming Nursing and Midwifery Council. The argument as to whether preregistration nurse training should become generic with specialization occurring as a postregistration activity will be debated.     

Holism in nursing and health promotion: distinct or related perspectives? – A literature review

Scand J Caring Sci; 2011; 25; 798–805
Holism in nursing and health promotion: distinct or related perspectives? – A literature review Background: The concept of holism is central in health promotion as well as in nursing. Holism or a holistic view on health was identified as one of the key principles of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and is linked to social ecology and the determinants of health. Aims: To explore how the term holism was defined and/or described in Nordic articles with a health‐promotion approach, and how holism aspects were related to nursing and health promotion, and to the other key principles of the Ottawa Charter. Methods: Abstracts were first identified by the search word ‘health promotion’ as a keyword. The search was limited to 1986–2008 and abstracts written in English by authors with a Nordic affiliation. Abstracts/articles for this study were subsequently selected from these abstracts using the search words ‘holism’ and ‘holistic’ and analysed by quantitative and manifest qualitative content analysis. Findings: The sample included 23 articles: one theoretical, two reviews and 20 empirical studies. Sixteen articles included a hospital setting or nursing perspective. A holistic perspective could be extracted from most articles. No larger but several minor differences were identified in the way holism aspects were related to nursing and health promotion respectively. Conclusion: There is a risk that the individual patient perspective of holism in nursing may result in less chance of reaching larger groups of patients with chronic diseases and mental health problems, not least the most vulnerable ones.