General practitioners' views on a mental health service

Aim : This study set out to investigate general practitioners (GPs) views on a Mental Health Service. It seeks their views on how well the Trust is providing those services and suggestions for change and development of the service.
Method : A short survey questionnaire which addressed the major services offered was sent to all GPs in the Grampian region. The data were analysed using non-parametric statistical techniques.
Findings : Maybe rather surprisingly, GPs felt that the service provision overall was of a good standard. Two areas which GPs suggested required more provision were highlighted.
Conclusion : The survey was used to inform Trust Management of GPs views and as a basis for meetings with GPs about the service. As a result new services have been developed.     

Binary constructs of forensic psychiatric nursing: a pilot study

The aim was to develop an Information Gathering Schedule (IGS) relevant to forensic psychiatric nursing in order to establish the perceived differences in the three levels of security, high, medium and low. Perceived differences in the role constructs of forensic psychiatric nursing is said to exist but the evidence is qualitative or anecdotal. This paper sets out a pilot study beginning in 2004 relating to the development of two rating scales for inclusion into an IGS to acquire data on the role constructs of nurses working in these environments. Following a thematic analysis from the literature two sets of binary frameworks were constructed and a number of questions/statements relating to them were tested. The Thurstone Scaling test was applied to compute medians resulting in a reduction to 48 and 20 items for each respective framework. Two 7-point Likert scales were constructed and test–retest procedures were applied on a sample population of forensic psychiatric nurses. Student's t -test was conducted on the data and the results suggest that the IGS is now suitable for application on a larger study. The IGS was piloted on a small sample of forensic psychiatric nurses. The two scales were validated to coefficient values ranging from 0.7 to 0.9. Amendments were made and the IGS was considered acceptable.     

The nursing profession and its relationship with hospital managers

This paper describes the relationship between the professional nursing and managerial imperatives in health care and explains some of the ways the managerial culture affects the working environment of professional nurses. It goes on to highlight some of the professional developments of the last 17 years and describes how these could augment the difference in imperatives. Finally it suggests ways in which the nursing profession might develop to maintain its unique contribution to health care, whilst embracing the managerial domain. This is necessary to ensure that professional nursing is nurtured and not overwhelmed by workloads and empirical assessments of nursing outputs.