Developing cultural competence through self-reflection in interprofessional education: Findings from an Australian university.

Interprofessional education and cultural competence are both necessary for health professionals working in interprofessional teams serving diverse populations. Using a pre-post-survey case series design, this study evaluates a novel learning activity designed to encourage self-reflection and cultural competence in an Australian interprofessional education context. Undergraduate health professional students in a large subject viewed three 7-15 minute videos featuring interviews with persons of a minority cultural, linguistic, or sexual group who were living with a disability or managing a health condition.

Focus on Feeding! Evaluation of a framework for maximizing mealtime in aged care facilities.

Unintentional weight loss is a health risk for residents of aged care facilities, a concern for families and places demands on nursing staff. An existing weight loss framework to assess and manage residents' weight developed by a multidisciplinary team was implemented and evaluated with nurses and residents in aged care facilities within an area health service of Sydney, Australia. Thematic analysis generated seven binary concepts relating to relational, procedural, behavioural, physical, psychological, environmental and temporal aspects of feeding assistance provided by nurses to residents.

A decision model for community nurses providing bereavement care.

Community (district) nurses play a significant role in assisting and supporting bereaved informal carers (family members and friends) of recently decease clients of palliative care. Bereavement care demands a wide range of competencies including clinical decision-making. To date, little has been known about the decision-making role of community nurses in Australia.

Participant perceptions of a community-based lifestyle intervention: the CHIP.

Issue Addressed: The Coronary Health Improvement Project (CHIP) is a community-based educational initiative designed to improve cardiovascular fitness and other health indicators associated with common, lifestyle-related health disorders in developed societies. Evaluations of the CHIP since the late 1990s, though yielding positive statistical results for change in participant physical health indicators, have not included qualitative assessments of the CHIP experience from the perspectives of CHIP participants.

Methods: Data were obtained using a mixed methods survey design via a questionnaire completed by 79 respondents (71% female) who had participated in Australian CHIP programs.

Procedural pain in neonates in Australian hospitals: a survey update of practices.

Aim: The study aims to determine whether there has been improved uptake of the evidence for the management of procedural pain in neonates throughout Australia.

Methods: An Australian-wide survey was undertaken to determine the use of breastfeeding and sucrose and whether a clinical practice guideline (CPG) or pain assessment tool was used.

Results: Data were available from 196 (91%) of the 215 eligible hospitals.

Community palliative care nurse experiences and perceptions of follow-up bereavement support visits to carers.

Community (district) nurses (CNs) are well positioned to provide follow-up home visits to bereaved families and carers of their recently deceased palliative clients. An Australian survey of CN's (n = 58, response rate 29%) described their experiences of bereavement support visits, perceptions of their role in bereavement care and their professional support needs. Although positive experiences were commonly reported, with 95% of participants considering bereavement follow-up visits as consistent with their role, 53% found the visits difficult for reasons such as the nurse or client not understanding the purpose, the CN's excessive personal identification with the client's situation, the emotional intensity of visits, and lack of confidence or skills despite prior training.

Nursing students' appraisal of their professional portfolios in demonstrating clinical competence.

Portfolios are increasingly used to demonstrate and assess competence in nursing practice, yet when introduced in our Australian nursing school, reactions from students were mostly negative. A follow-up survey sought students' perceptions about the portfolio. Respondents acknowledged the portfolio's intrinsic worth but reported little extrinsic value beyond passing the assessment.

Challenges for professional care of advanced dementia.

Qualitative methodology based on action research identified challenges when caring for persons with advanced dementia, as perceived by key professional providers. Data collection was via five focus groups (total n = 24) and 20 follow-up individual interviews. Participants included palliative care, aged care and dementia specialist nurses, medical specialists from an area health service, residential aged care staff and general medical practitioners.

Parental stress and satisfaction in the non-tertiary special care nursery.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study examining the effects of using headbox oxygen and continuous oxygen positive airway pressure treatments for respiratory distress on stress and satisfaction of parents with infants in a special care nursery, and the relationship between parental stress and satisfaction.

Background: Continuous positive airway pressure respiratory support is increasingly used in special care nurseries worldwide. Almost nothing is known about effects of different types of respiratory support on the stress and satisfaction of parents with babies in the special care nursery.

The value of participatory action research in clinical nursing practice.

This paper demonstrates the value of participatory action research (PAR) and promotes its use by nurses in clinical practice. PAR has gained popularity in nursing and health-care research, offering a way of developing practice-based knowledge that can improve nursing care. PAR is described in detail: what PAR is, how to use PAR in clinical practice, and the steps in the PAR cycle as applied during an exemplar study in which nurses used PAR to address their concerns and develop, implement and evaluate a model of care in an acute medical ward.

A comparative study of the effect of food consumption on labour and birth outcomes in Australia.

Objective: to explore the effect of volitional food consumption by women during labour on labour and birth outcomes.

Design: a comparative design using concurrent controls.

Setting: four public hospitals in Sydney, Australia.

A survey of role stress, coping and health in Australian and New Zealand hospital nurses.

Background: Previous research has identified international and cultural differences in nurses' workplace stress and coping responses. We hypothesised an association between problem-focused coping and improved health, emotion-focused coping with reduced health, and more frequent workplace stress with reduced health.

Objectives: Test the above hypotheses with Australian and New Zealand nurses, and compare Australian and New Zealand nurses' experience of workplace stress, coping and health status.

The relationships among workplace stressors, coping methods, demographic characteristics, and health in Australian nurses.

Nursing is known to be stressful. Stress detrimentally can influence job satisfaction, psychological well-being, and physical health. There is a need for increased understanding of the stress that nurses experience and how best to manage it.

Natural eating behavior in latent labor and its effect on outcomes in active labor.

This study examined the effect of eating during the latent phase of labor on the hospital-estimated labor duration and birth outcomes for the mother and baby. A prospective, comparative trial with concurrent controls compared labor duration and outcomes of 176 low-risk, nulliparous women who birthed at four hospitals in Sydney, Australia. Food was voluntarily consumed by 82 women, whereas 94 consumed clear fluids only.