Search results

The purpose of this paper is to report findings of a review of a unique program that has helped to address workforce needs and support Registered Nurses (RNs) working in a public mental health service in Australia. RNs are employed, facilitated to gain clinical experience in diverse mental health settings, and funded to study a graduate diploma in mental health nursing. Upon completion, there is no obligation to continue working for the health service, but most RNs have chosen to do so.

A case study approach was taken to review the Program, using the focus group method of data collection. Past and present Program participants, and also their mentors and managers, were interviewed about the Program's benefits and challenges.

The findings highlight the many successes of the Program and also suggest areas for development. One of these is the need to examine the curriculum content of the graduate diploma and consider requirements around clinical experience. Another area of concern is the “us/them” culture identified, which involves RNs who have no postgraduate tertiary qualifications marginalising RNs undertaking further study. Such a culture has the potential to undermine the profession locally and also more broadly.

Findings of the review provide valuable insights for other health services and also academic providers who seek to address ongoing workforce issues related to mental health nursing.

This study explores the trajectory and challenges faced by a doctoral researcher in her successive attempts to gain access for conducting an ethnography within the production or organisation of a musical theatre performance. Contemplating the four unsuccessful access attempts and the final, triumphant one, we ponder the reasons and impediments for conducting research within this particular context. We operate under the premise that research access possesses a relational characteristic, contingent upon the relationships established between the researcher, the researched, potential informants and the dynamics of the field as a whole.

This is an exploratory and qualitative study, and the empirical research is based on an ethnographic-inspired case study of the organisation/production of a musical theatre play in São Paulo, SP, Brazil, which we have given the pseudonym MusiCom.

The study contributes by allowing us to affirm that access is intertwined with at least two aspects: the peculiarities of the organisation itself and the characteristics or context in which it exists or is constructed, and the identity of the researcher, developed during the formal access negotiations through the relationships formed between her and the subjects during the dynamics of the field.

Our contribution reinforces the numerous challenges posed to researchers when conducting ethnographies and illustrates how access relies not solely on the skills, aptitudes and learning of the researchers.

This chapter narratively examines the value of scholarship grants to seven underrepresented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students who attended the same research comprehensive university. The scholarships that the students in our convenience sample received were awarded by six National Science Foundation grant programs in the United States. A literature review tracing the effects of scholarships, instrumentalism, and the core purpose of education sets the context for this narrative investigation. The four pillars comprising the theoretical framework are value, experience, story, and identity. The seven stories of impact that emerged from the narrative inquiry reveal multiperspectival insights into the value of scholarships to students' lives, careers, and selves. Moreover, we also explore how scholarship recipients established their sense of value in autonomous and committed ways while promoting their personal welfare and seeking the common good of others. All of these important considerations contribute to the national and international literature relating to diversity, higher education, STEM careers, and the power of scholarship grants to transcend instrumentalism privileging workforce demands.

Recovery approaches to healthcare are now an important feature of the mental health policies and plans of many western countries. However, there are continuing challenges to the operationalisation of these approaches. The purpose of this paper is to consider how to overcome these challenges, using insights gained from health managers and practitioners who have been involved in the process of implementation.

The analysis is undertaken through a descriptive single-case embedded study of the implementation of Recovery into a public mental health service in Australia. The unit of analysis that features in this paper is the perceptions of the implementation of Recovery-oriented services, of health managers and practitioners.

The analysis suggests that although health service managers followed many of the recommendations that can be found in the research literature to support achievement of Recovery-oriented services, there was a need to go further. For example, practitioners in the case study context were educated about the principles of Recovery and provided with new processes of clinical documentation to support their work, however these practitioners felt they were ill-equipped to address complex issues of practice, including the management of clinical risk and professional accountability issues. This raises questions about the content of the education and training provided, and also about the ongoing support provided to practitioners who work within a Recovery-oriented framework.

The descriptive single-case embedded study of the implementation of Recovery is the first of its kind in Australia. Findings of the study provide insight for other health service organisations committed to effectively implementing Recovery-oriented services.

Work‐related musculoskeletal disorders following patient contact represent a major concern for health care workers. Unfortunately, research and prevention have been hampered by difficulties ascertaining true prevalence rates owing to under‐reporting of these injuries. The purpose of this study is to determine the predictors for under‐reporting work‐related musculoskeletal injuries and their reasons.

Multivariate analysis using data obtained in a survey of Veterans Administration employees in the USA was used to determine underreporting patterns among registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants. Focus groups among health care workers were conducted at one of the largest Veterans Administration hospitals to determine reasons for under‐reporting.

A significant number of workers reported work‐related musculoskeletal pain, which was not reported as an injury but required rescheduling work such as changing shifts and taking sick leave to recuperate. The findings indicate that older health care workers and those with longer service were less likely to report as were those working in the evening and night shifts. Hispanic workers and personnel who had repetitive injuries were prone to under‐reporting, as were workers in places that lack proper equipment to move and handle patients. Reasons for under‐reporting include the time involved, peer pressure not to report and frustration with workers' compensation procedures.

This study provides insights into under‐reporting musculoskeletal injuries in a major US government organization. The research indicates that current reporting procedures appear to be overtly cumbersome in time and effort. More flexible work assignments are needed to cover staff shortfalls owing to injuries. Health education on the detrimental long‐term effects of ergonomic injuries and the need for prompt attention to injuries should prove useful in improving rates of reporting.

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate a pilot training programme run by Health Education North West to promote clinical leadership amongst general dental practitioners (GDPs). New powers and responsibilities for clinicians have caused a fundamental shift in the way that local services are planned and delivered in England. GDPs are being appointed onto the boards of local professional networks (LPNs) to influence the way that services are delivered at a local level. Analogous to clinical commissioning groups in medicine, the role of LPNs is to ensure that GDPs lead change and drive up the quality of service provision. Clinical leadership has been argued to be fundamentally important in these new structures, but has received little attention in the dental literature.

Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were held with participants of the pilot to explore their understanding and experience of clinical leadership. These were recorded, transcribed verbatim and underwent thematic analysis.

Nineteen codes were identified and organized into four themes: nature of clinical leadership, challenges for clinical leaders in dentistry, Leadership Exploration and Discovery programme evaluation and future direction.

The research provides an understanding of how GDPs conceptualise clinical leadership and provides recommendations for future leadership training programmes.

This is the first evaluation of a leadership programme for GDPs and so helps address the paucity of evidence in the dental literature.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the influence exerted on the thought of F.A. Hayek by the work of the biologist and founder of system theory, Ludwig von Bertalanffy. The author’s methodology includes textual analysis and archival work. It is argued first of all that Bertalanffy provided Hayek with a conceptual framework in terms of which he could articulate the philosophical significance of his theoretical psychology. In particular, Bertalanffy’s work afforded Hayek a set of concepts that helped him to articulate the relationship between mental and physical events – that is, between mind and body – implied by his theory. The second part of the chapter builds on the first by exploring how Hayek subsequently applied the abstract conceptual framework or ontology set out by Bertalanffy to the economy. In this way, Bertalanffy’s ideas helped Hayek to articulate and shape his emerging view of the economy as a complex adaptive system, which consists of different ‘levels of organisation’, which displays ‘structural’ or ‘emergent properties’, and which evolves over time on the basis of those group-level properties.

The most significant event for the School has been the announcement of the creation of the National Centre for Management Research and Development. The Centre is due to open in 1986 and will provide research facilities for up to 20 major projects designed to improve the competitiveness of Canadian business practices.

Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.