Targets culture wastes energy on wrong things.

Healthcare targets have been in the news a lot - and not in ways that offer comfortable reading. Missed emergency department waiting-time targets and patients waiting longer for treatments have made headlines.

Embracing the care home challenge.

'I thought I knew everything, but I have discovered a whole new world. Working in a care home is challenging, but so rewarding.' This was the confession of a care home manager who moved to the sector 3 years ago, after working for 28 years in the NHS.

Embracing diversity.

I AM now the director of RCN Scotland but I started my nursing career in Dublin. As an Irish woman moving to Edinburgh, the culture shock was more intense than I had anticipated because the approaches taken in Ireland and Scotland to health care and daily life turned out to be so different. Thirty years on, I still appreciate the effect of cultural differences on our lives.

Nursing shaping and influencing health and social care policy.

Aim: This paper seeks to consider how nursing as a profession in the United Kingdom is developing its role in shaping and influencing policy using lessons learnt from a policy study tour undertaken in the United States of America and extensive experience as a senior nurse within the government, the health service and more recently within a Professional Organization.

Background: The nursing profession faces major changes in health and health care and nurses need to be visible in the public debate about future models of health and health care.

Methods: This paper critically reviews recent UK and USA literature and policy with relevance to nursing.

Applying to the European Research Area Network Scheme (ERA-NET): collaborative working for nursing and midwifery research.

Aim: This paper reports on work undertaken to achieve an application for monies from the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme by some key stakeholders, working with a nursing and midwifery research agenda at national policy levels.

Background: A short outline of the European Commission's European Research Area Network scheme is given in order to set the paper in context, and the vision underpinning the application is discussed.

Conclusion: The paper describes the processes that were undertaken to bring to fruition such collaborative work, and some key lessons are outlined.

Nursing and midwifery research in Scotland: from partnership to collaboration.

Nurses and midwives form the workforce that provides the greatest proportion of direct care to service users. They have the ability to make a significant impact not only on the quality and outcomes of patient care, but also on service users' and carers' perceptions of the care experience. It is therefore vital that nursing and midwifery practice has a robust knowledge and evidence base.

Nursing and midwifery research in scotland.

THE NURSING and midwifery workforce is the largest clinical staff group in NHSScotland, with 37,260 whole time equivalent qualified staff.

Evaluating the funding and capacity of research in Scotland.

This paper will discuss the results of a scoping exercise carried out as part of a strategy to inform subsequent models of infrastructure funding. The exercise showed that Scotland has less research capacity in nursing and midwifery than the UK as a whole. Following the publication of a nursing and midwifery research strategy for Scotland, initiatives are being put in place to fund an increase in research capacity and capability in the nursing and midwifery professions.

Using training needs analysis to implement change.

This article describes the application of a systematic approach to training needs analysis prior to a major change in practice. The authors suggest that such a systematic approach is a central component in the successful management of change.

Isolation and partial characterization of a prothrombin-activating enzyme from the venom of the Australian rough-scaled snake (Tropidechis carinatus).

A prothrombin activator from the venom of Tropidechis carinatus has been isolated by means of gel filtration and benzamidine-based affinity chromatography, a novel use of the latter technique. Two bands possessing prothrombinase activity were obtained from the affinity chromatography procedure and designated A1 and A2. The bulk of the enzyme activity was recovered in peak A2 which represented 27-31% of the starting activity and a 14-16-fold purification.

Changing nursing practice through continuing education: a tool for evaluation.

In light of the current cost-orientated, rapidly changing health service, continuing education providers are challenged to achieve the greatest benefits for the service. Given this culture it is argued that it is essential for nurses to acquire the skills to continually learn, and that for managers there is seen to be a measurable change in a recommended practice or behaviour. To meet these challenges it is essential that continuing educators plan, implement and evaluate programmes in partnership with clinicians and managers.

Practical applications of snake venom toxins in haemostasis.

Snake venom toxins have an established role in the coagulation laboratory for the assay of haemostatic parameters and a potential role for therapeutic treatment of thrombotic disorders. In the laboratory, snake venom thrombin-like enzymes (SVTLEs) are used for the assay of fibrinogen and detection of fibrinogen breakdown products and dysfibrinogenaemias. Importantly, because SVTLEs are not inhibited by heparin, they can be used for assaying antithrombin III and other parameters in samples which contain heparin.

Isolation and characterisation of two haemorrhagic proteins (HTa and HTb) from the venom of Bitis gabonica (Gaboon viper).

Two distinct haemorrhagic proteinases, HTa and HTb, were isolated from the venom of Bitis gabonica by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography with native mol. wts of 180,000 and 111,000, respectively. After reduction with dithiothreitol, smaller mol.