Student nurse selection an experiential approach

This article deals with the problems of selecting student nurses. It outlines the problems of using interview as the major selection procedure and goes on to present an alternative format which has now been in use for 5 years. This format is built around the use of experiential exercises designed to give the candidate a better chance to show what they have to offer and for the school to gain a greater insight into the persons potential as a nurse.     

''Working the system''. Achieving change through partnership working: an evaluation of cancer partnership groups

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate the characteristics and achievements of cancer partnership groups--collaborative service improvement groups formed of NHS staff and service users--in the 34 cancer networks in England, and in particular to explore the influence that such groups had on local cancer services. DESIGN: A qualitative approach employing a structured telephone survey, face-to-face interviews and documentary analysis. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Thirty cancer networks in England with an active Partnership Group completed the telephone survey. From these 30 networks, six networks were subsequently selected from which service users and NHS professionals involved in partnership groups and NHS professionals who were non-members were recruited to take part in face-to-face interviews. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Partnership groups were established in the majority of cancer networks. Typically, these groups were at network level, been established for less than a year, met once every 2 months, and were populated with both service users and health-care professionals. Five common activities and achievements were identified: establishment of the group itself; acting as a 'reference' group for consultation; networking and representation on other groups; patient information and communication and proactive influencing. Activities progressed in scale and complexity as groups evolved. Groups had learnt the basics of change management and some identified a more sophisticated understanding of change processes in the NHS as essential for the group's motivation and survival. When gauging the impact of involvement strategies it would seem important to subscribe to broad indicators of success that include both process and outcome measures.     

Stroke and its rehabilitation: the perceived role of the nurse in medical and nursing literature

Henderson (1980) claims that, the unique function of the nurse renders her 'rehabilitator par excellence'. This paper seeks to examine the perceived role of the nurse in the rehabilitation of stroke patients, to assess the extent to which the literature reflects Henderson's claim as a reality, or as a chimerical ideal.     

Natural sociology and moral questions in nursing: can there be a relationship?

This paper argues that the current sources of material for the debate of moral questions in health care in general and nursing in particular, are inadequate. The current bases of nursing's knowledge and values are explored, and the conclusion drawn that reliance upon theory developed by other disciplines has led to theories which are wholly inappropriate to explain either how nursing is practised or even how it ought to be. A case is made that naturalistic sociological methods such as participant observation have the greatest possibilities to describe and explain moral conduct in nursing. Further, these methods can produce a view of reality more consistent with the experiences and feelings of the patients or clients and other health workers. It would seem that data and theory generated using this perspective could better inform the debates of moral philosophers than the currently dominant sources of their case material, the views of the medical and legal professions.     

Approaching models of nursing from a postmodernist perspective

This paper explores some questions about the use of models of nursing These questions make various assumptions about the nature of models of nursing, in general and in particular Underlying these assumptions are various philosophical positions which are explored through an introduction to postmodernist approaches in philosophical criticism To illustrate these approaches, a critique of the Roper et al model is developed, and more general attitudes towards models of nursing are examined It is suggested that postmodernism offers a challenge to many of the assumptions implicit in models of nursing, and that a greater awareness of these assumptions should lead to nursing care being better informed where such models are in use     

The extent of parental compliance with timing of administration of their children's antibiotics

Antibiotics are widely prescribed to children, and the responsibility for ensuring adequate administration typically rests with parents However, compliance with antibiotic medication is generally low, and previous studies often fail to specify the criteria for compliance adequately In particular, little attention has been paid to accuracy of timing of antibiotic administration outside hospital, even though timing is important in maintaining therapeutic drug levels The current study examined the self-reports of 75 mothers of their behaviours in administration of antibiotics to their children, with particular attention being paid to the frequency and timing of administration The study found that, when timing of doses was considered, only seven parents could be considered as fully compliant with dosage instructions, a much lower proportion than indicated in previous studies which applied a more lenient definition of compliance The implications of this finding are discussed, with particular reference to the role of the nurse and to the comparative usefulness of different definitions of compliance     

The Delphi technique: a worthwhile research approach for nursing?

Since its introduction as a research approach in the late 1940s the Delphi technique has had over 1000 published research utilizations. Most of these have been in the field of social policy. However, a review of contemporary nursing literature suggests that it is becoming a popular choice among nurse researchers. With its focus on maximizing participant's judgements and decision-making abilities the Delphi technique is a useful tool in the research armoury of a young profession. However, questions remain about its scientific respectability. This paper gives an overview of what the Delphi technique is, the criteria for selecting it as a research approach, the studies where it has been used and its advantages and disadvantages.     

Issues in the supervision of postgraduate research students in nursing

Some general points are made in this paper about the nature of postgraduate research degrees, and the process which results in a thesis is set out These are followed by considering the degrees in a nursing context and also in relation to the social sciences Next the aims of postgraduate research degree programmes are considered Approaches to the matching of students are set out Among those discussed are mentoring, collegiality, classification and framing, and the use of workshops In the conclusion, some desired outcomes of the supervisory process are suggested     

The Work Environment Scale: a comparison of British and North American nurses

Previous research into stress in nursing has identified different sources of stress for different specialties without specifying the source of that stress or providing comprehensive understanding of the variables that might contribute to it. This study examines the work environment of 209 nursing staff using the Work Environment Scale. Significant differences were found between a UK sample and the original American norms. Further research highlighted significant interactional effects between demographic variables and the subscales of the WES, and these may form the basis for future research.     

Obesity

While recognizing that many factors may contribute to the causation of ischaemic heart disease, this project attempts an in-depth examination of just one of them--obesity. The author has endeavoured to discover if there are sex differences in the incidence of obesity and whether or not obesity is related to age. Whilst recognizing the limitations of the small sample used in this project some tentative conclusions/speculations will be outlined. Some attempt has been made to discover if the average person is aware of what is meant by the term 'obesity' and if they see themselves as having this problem. Because of an intuition that people may become obese due to bad eating habits and ignorance about the nutritional value of certain foodstuffs, subjects were asked to list the calorific value of certain foods and their responses are discussed. A further attempt was made to ascertain whether the respondents had ever gone on a diet and if so, the type of diet and the success or otherwise of this measure. The subjects were further questioned to discover their level of knowledge regarding the possibility of certain disorders arising as a consequence of obesity and asked to outline what action they would take if they were faced with these consequences. Some conclusions have been drawn regarding the actions which would be taken when faced with crippling consequences. Finally, an attempt has been made to discover if some psychosocial states contributed to the causation of obesity or whether obesity leads to some psychosocial problems.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)