Exploring the Knowledge and Use of Standardised Nursing Terminology Across Australia.

Standardised nursing terminologies (SNTs) support the visibility of nursing work and documentation, enabling data sharing and comparison. An online survey assessed the knowledge and use of SNTs and revealed barriers and enablers to their use by Australian nurses. Just over half of the respondents were familiar with SNTs before the survey, a quarter reported a reasonable understanding of SNTs, just under half reported previous use of a SNT, and less than 14% indicated a current use of a SNT in their workplace.

Improving pain management of abdominal pain in children presenting to the paediatric emergency department: a pre-post interventional study.

Background: In 2007, the Mater Children's Hospital Emergency Department participated in the Emergency Care Pain Management Initiative funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council National Institute of Clinical Studies (NHMRC-NICS). The findings of this NHMRC-NICS research across eleven paediatric emergency departments highlighted deficits in pain management of abdominal pain. Specifically pain assessment, timeliness of analgesia, and pain management guidelines were found to be lacking.

Characteristics of effective interventions supporting quality pain management in Australian emergency departments: an exploratory study.

Background: It is well established that pain is the most common presenting complaint in Emergency Departments. Despite great improvements in available pain management strategies, patients are left waiting for longer than 60min for pain relief on arrival to the emergency department. The aim of this study was to describe interventions that lead to successful implementation of the National Health and Medical Research Council approved guidelines Acute Pain Management: Scientific Evidence (2nd Edition) that include specific recommendations for best practice pain management.

Pandemic (H1N1 influenza 2009 and Australian emergency departments: implications for policy, practice and pandemic preparedness.

Objective: To describe the reported impact of Pandemic (H(1)N(1) ) 2009 on EDs, so as to inform future pandemic policy, planning and response management.

Methods: This study comprised an issue and theme analysis of publicly accessible literature, data from jurisdictional health departments, and data obtained from two electronic surveys of ED directors and ED staff. The issues identified formed the basis of policy analysis and evaluation.

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza in Australia: Absenteeism and redeployment of emergency medicine and nursing staff.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of Pandemic (H(1)N(1)) 2009 Influenza on the Australian emergency nursing and medicine workforce, specifically absenteeism and deployment.

Methods: Data were collected using an online survey of 618 members of the three professional emergency medicine or emergency nursing colleges.

Results: Despite significant increases in emergency demand during the Pandemic (H(1)N(1)) 2009 Influenza, 56.

Leadership: the critical success factor in the rise or fall of useful research activity.

Aim: To describe how momentum towards building research capacity has developed through aligning research activity with executive responsibility via strategic planning processes that direct operational structures and processes for research activity.

Background: Reflecting on the development of research capacity over many years at complex tertiary referral hospitals reveals that building nursing knowledge is too important to be left to chance or whim but needs a strategic focus, appropriate resourcing and long-term sustainability through infrastructure.

Key Issues: A number of key approaches we uncovered as successful include: (i) articulation of questions consistent with the strategic direction of the health context that can be addressed through research evidence; (ii) engagement and dissemination through making research meaningful; and (iii) feedback that informs the executive about the contribution of research activity to guide policy and practice decisions.

Nurses' moral sensitivity and hospital ethical climate: a literature review.

Increased technological and pharmacological interventions in patient care when patient outcomes are uncertain have been linked to the escalation in moral and ethical dilemmas experienced by health care providers in acute care settings. Health care research has shown that facilities that are able to attract and retain nursing staff in a competitive environment and provide high quality care have the capacity for nurses to process and resolve moral and ethical dilemmas. This article reports on the findings of a systematic review of the empirical literature (1980 - February 2007) on the effects of unresolved moral distress and poor ethical climate on nurse turnover.

A comparison of activities undertaken by enrolled and registered nurses on medical wards in Australia: an observational study.

Background: The past decade has seen increasing patient acuity and shortening lengths of stays in acute care hospitals, which has implications for how nursing staff organise and provide care to patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the activities undertaken by enrolled nurses (ENs) and registered nurses (RNs) on acute medical wards in two Australian hospitals.

Design: This study used structured observation, employing a work sampling technique, to identify the activities undertaken by nursing staff in four wards in two hospitals.

Developing a research-active clinical environment within the emergency department: a case study.

Historically, nursing research undertaken in the clinical setting has been problematic. Problems included small samples, weak methodology, poorly designed tools, limited analyses, and little dissemination. These issues have made it difficult to apply some of the research within an evidence-based framework.

The effect of aromatherapy massage with music on the stress and anxiety levels of emergency nurses: comparison between summer and winter.

Aims And Objectives: This research aimed to evaluate the use of aromatherapy massage and music as an intervention to cope with the occupational stress and anxiety that emergency department staff experience. The study also aimed to compare any differences in results between a summer and winter 12-week massage plan.

Background: Emergency nurses are subjected to significant stressors during their work and it is known that workloads and patient demands influence the role stress has on nurses.

The motivation of health professionals to explore research evidence in their practice: An intervention study.

Aim: To assess the impact of multifaceted clinically focused educational strategies that concentrated on introducing dementia care research evidence on health professionals' awareness and inclination to use research findings in their future practice.

Background: The promise of evidence-based practice is slow to materialize with the limitations of adopting research findings in practice readily identifiable.

Method: A pre- and post-test quasi experimental design.