Nursing Colleagues Research Articles

Lesbian self-disclosure. Strategies for success.

1. Lesbian nurses must decide whether to share information about lesbian culture with their nursing colleagues. 2. Making calm rejoinders to homophobic remarks, using policies on minority status and affirmative action, promoting competitive liberalism between institutions, and using marketing techniques can aid lesbian self-disclosure to individuals and institutions. 3. Nurses who are open about being lesbian can provide healthy role models for their colleagues and patients.

Soliciting Hospital Newsletter Articles

I keep my newsletter fairly brief and publish it quarterly, so I have plenty of time to practice my author-finding techniques between editions. This also gives me more time to come up with something on my own, if necessary. Although this article is presented in jest, I am not above anything that works to get contributions for my newsletter. Sometimes we editors are just that desperate.

The information seeking behaviour of nurses in the UK

Little has been written about the information needs and information seeking behaviour of nurses. The British Library funded project described here has sought to identify the kinds of information sought by nurses and student nurses; their use of libraries was investigated. The study found that nurses most often need information in relation to patient or client care and for their own personal interest. They are least interested in information that relates to new courses or jobs or in preparing for interviews for them. An individual's own journals and their nursing colleagues are the main sources of information

A Mother Speaks to Her Nurse Colleagues

A Mother Speaks to Her Nurse Colleagues

Ready for battle.

As a newly elected member of the English National Board, I would like to thank my fellow nurses, friends and colleagues who voted for me.

A comparison of hospice and hospital: care goals set by staff

It has been suggested an important difference between hospice and hospital care is that hospice care is more geared to the attainment of patient and family goals, and that these goals concern a broader range of comfort, psychosocial, and rehabilitation issues. This study investigated whether such differences exist. Structured interviews were conducted with doctors and nurses in two NHS hospices, and three medical and two surgical wards of a district general hospital (DGH), to ascertain their goals of care and treatment for random samples of newly admitted terminally ill cancer patients (29 in the DGH and 29 and 28 in the hospices). DGH doctors set fewer goals in total, dealing with fewer issues, than hospice doctors or DGH nurses, and took longer to do so. Hospice and DGH nurses did not differ in the number or content of goals set, or speed of goal setting. DGH doctors set fewer goals concerning rehabilitation and the patient's emotional state than hospice doctors or DGH nurses, and fewer goals concerning patient-family relationships and the family's emotional state than hospital nurses. The hypothesis that hospice care is more 'goal-oriented' than hospital care is supported in relation to doctors, but not nurses. The staff's follow-up assessments showed greater perceived success in one hospice than the other hospice or the DGH. The optimism of nurses' and doctors' goals was similar from the outset in one hospice, became similar in the other hospice, but diverged in the DGH, with the nurses setting less optimistic goals after the first week. These differences illustrate poorer communication between DGH staff than hospice staff about what they were trying to do for their patients. To parallel the hospices' approach, DGH doctors should heed the views of their nursing colleagues and attend more positively to their patients' rehabilitation and emotional needs, to patient-family relationships and to the families' emotional needs.

Nurses' perceptions of inter- and intra-professional relationships: an analysis of support from nursing and physician colleagues in rural hospitals.

Nurses employed in ten rural hospitals in Canada completed questionnaires designed to examine their perceptions of the strength of the professional relationship which existed among nurses and between nurses and physicians. Four questions addressed the availability of nursing education programs and the attendance of nurses and physicians at such programs. Seven questions examined the nurses' perception of physician interest in nursing education and the encouragement received from their nursing colleagues to participate in learning activities and medical management decision making. Chi square analysis was undertaken to determine whether the colleagial relationships differed by hospital or medical staff characteristics. Forty percent of the nurses felt that the majority of of physicians were supportive of continuing nursing education. Sixty-three percent indicated their nursing colleagues encouraged them to attend educational programs. The results indicate that physician participation in nursing continuing education was greatest in communities with the fewest health resources (an acute hospital with fewer than 50 beds). In contrast, encouragement to participate in continuing nursing education was highest in settings where the hospital provided both acute and extended care services, had more patient admissions and a greater availability of educational programming.

Operating Room Nursing: The Perioperative Role

This is a well-organized and comprehensive book on operating room (OR) nursing. History buffs will enjoy the detailed descriptions and photographs of the evolution of surgery. Almost every chapter begins with a pertinent historical review, such as the development of anesthesia. While this book will find its largest audience in student nurses and practicing OR nurses, it would be worthwhile for surgeons and anesthesiologists to read, particularly the chapter describing the perioperative role. Physicians and nurses work in a close colleagial relationship in the OR, dependent on each other for a successful and rewarding professional practice. Yet, few physicians or nurses really understand each other's professional expectations. This book clearly defines the professional practice of OR nursing. Physicians who support and encourage such professionalism will certainly gain respect from their nursing colleagues. A great deal of attention has been devoted to the format of this book. Topics follow in logical

Joint Board of What?

Occasionally consultants are asked by their nursing colleagues to support an application to attend a Joint Board course. More often than not the response is to throw up one's hands in horror and say ‘Not another management course. Don't nurses do any nursing these days?’ I believe that if doctors knew a little more about the Joint Board and its courses they would press more vigorously for secondment of nurses for this purpose; it must be noted that the numbers of psychiatric nurses who attend is abysmally low. There are relatively few courses available throughout the country, and Areas seem unwilling to accept responsibility for putting on such training programmes. Even those which are available do not always receive adequate support, largely, no doubt, because so many psychiatric hospitals are understaffed and cannot spare nurses to attend.