Enacting global health in the nursing classroom.

Globalization presents nurses with the challenges and an ethical responsibility of being competent caregivers within a global society. The link between globalization and global health, and the contributions nursing can make to the global health environment are described in the delivery of a new required course for undergraduate nursing students in a four year degree program. Innovative approaches for the delivery of this course are described, which even though living locally, can encourage nursing students to think globally.

The complexity of living with hepatitis C: a Newman perspective.

Newman's theory of health as expanding consciousness was used to explore the patterns and their meaning for people living with chronic hepatitis C. A hermeneutic dialectic method was used to engage nine participants who had been diagnosed with hepatitis C. Patterns and themes were identified and included struggling to overcome, transcending the illness, and wanting to give back.

Making visible the contributions of the clinical nurse specialist.

This paper reviews the knowledge gap regarding the contributions of the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) in Canada. As a first step to deal with this gap, we address how the CNS role has been conceptualized and studied in Canada. Because the CNS is a clinical leader with a primary focus on improving the quality of nursing and patient care, we propose the Spheres of Influence Model for studying the contributions of the CNS.

Needle exchange as a safe haven in an unsafe world.

Introduction And Aims: The purpose of this paper is to describe the meaning of needle exchange programs from the perspectives of users who access such programs.

Design And Methods: We conducted observations, 33 semistructured interviews and two focus groups with users at four needle exchange sites. Qualitative description was used to analyse the data.

Impact: a case study examining the closure of a large urban fixed site needle exchange in Canada.

Introduction: In 2008, one of the oldest fixed site needle exchanges in a large urban city in Canada was closed due to community pressure. This service had been in existence for over 20 years.

Case Description: This case study focuses on the consequences of the switch to mobile needle exchange services immediately after the closure and examines the impact of the closure on changes in risk behavior related to drug use, needle distribution and access to services The context surrounding the closure was also examined.