A longitudinal study of stress and psychological distress in nurses and nursing students.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate how differences in life events and stress contribute to psychological distress in nurses and nursing students.

Background: Stress is an issue for nursing students and qualified nurses leading to psychological distress and attrition.

Design: A longitudinal study using four time waves was conducted between 1994-1997.

"A wealth of knowledge": A survey of the employment experiences of older nurses and midwives in the NHS.

Background: The United Kingdom's National Health Service workforce is ageing, and the specific needs of this sector of its workforce need to be addressed. Nursing and midwifery shortage is a worldwide issue, and with increasing demands for care the retention of older nurses and midwives is crucial.

Objectives: To report on the employment experiences of nurses and midwives with a particular focus on issues relating to age, ethnicity, ill-health and disability.

Employment experiences of older nurses and midwives in the NHS.

Aim: To examine the employment experiences of older nurses and midwives working in the NHS.

Method: A total of 27 semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with nurses and midwives to identify positive and negative aspects of their working lives in the NHS. The interviewees were selected from a potential pool of 87 nurses and midwives who had consented to be involved in an earlier part of the study.

Quality assurance and UK nurse education.

Aim: To evaluate the quality assurance model for nursing education in the United Kingdom (UK) for the first nine months after the inception in 2002 of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Method: A specially designed questionnaire was administered to representatives of higher education institutions where nurse education took place and representatives of the NMC in all four countries of the UK.

Results: Quality assurance activity had taken place across the UK, mostly in the shape of validation events.

Quality assurance in UK nursing education: public protection in the era of streamlined assessment.

This paper describes recent reforms of quality assurance (QA) for the education of nurses, midwives and health visitors and reports qualitative findings from a study of how they are working out in practice. This study reported whether the stakeholders consider the system to be adequate for the principal aim of public protection. Using a postal survey and interviews, QA in nursing, midwifery and health visiting is compared and contrasted in the four countries of the United Kingdom.

Prison health care: a review of the literature.

The prison population is increasing and the health problems of prisoners are considerable. Prison is designed with punishment, correction and rehabilitation to the community in mind and these goals may conflict with the aims of health care. A literature review showed that the main issues in prison health care are mental health, substance abuse and communicable diseases.

Learning from carers' experiences: helping older people with dementia to eat and drink.

Eating and drinking difficulties are common in people with dementia and yet some health staff are inclined to neglect this important area of care. This article explores how, combined with the skills of nurses, the experiences of those caring for relatives with dementia can help potential problems to be avoided.

Clinical competence assessment in nursing: a systematic review of the literature.

Background: The assessment of clinical competence has returned to centre stage of nurse education. However, there is little evidence to support the use of clinical competence and a wide variety of methods for its use.

Research Question: The present study was designed to investigate the evidence for the use of clinical competence assessment in nursing.

Mortality, morbidity, and 1-year outcomes of primary elective total hip arthroplasty.

No representative data exist on the risks of adverse outcomes of total hip arthroplasty (THA) in the United Kingdom. A prospective observational study of unselected THA operations was carried out in 5 U.K.