Nurse ethicists: Innovative resource or ideological aspiration?

In recent years, there have been growing calls for nurses to have a formal advanced practice role as nurse ethicists in hospital contexts. Initially proposed in the cultural context of the USA where nurse ethicists have long been recognised, the idea is being advocated in other judications outside of the USA such as the UK, Australia and elsewhere. Such calls are not without controversy, however.

HONESTY AND INTEGRITY IN AUTHORSHIP ATTRIBUTION.

The publication of peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and books have become an important hallmark of the professional, academic, social and scientific credibility of the nursing profession.

ETHICS, EVIDENCE AND THE ANTI-VACCINATION DEBATE.

On 11 October 2016 the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) released a position statement on 'Nurses, midwives and vaccination' (www.nursingmidwiferyboard. gov.

THE ETHICS OF 'NUDGING'.

Over the past several years increasing attention has been given to the social engineering process of 'nudging' (also called 'choice architecture') and its impact as a mechanism designed to deliberately manipulate and incentivise people to think and act in a presumably beneficial direction.

RENOWNED NURSING ETHCIST BOWS OUT.

Megan-Jane Johnstone was delving into the study of philosophy at New Zealand's Waikato University in the early 80s when her lightbulb moment hit.

Nursing Strategies for Engaging Families of Older Immigrants Hospitalized for End-of-Life Care: An Australian Study.

Background: Engaging with families of older non-English-speaking background (NESB) immigrants hospitalized for end-of-life (EOL) care can be challenging, especially when their cultures, lifeways, and family decision-making processes are unfamiliar to the nurses caring for them. Despite the recognized importance of family engagement when providing EOL care, the issue of ethnic minority family engagement has received little attention in the field.

Aim: To explore and describe the strategies nurses use to facilitate engagement with families of older immigrant NESB patients hospitalized for EOL care.

Culture matters: indigenizing patient safety in Bhutan.

Studies show that if quality of healthcare in a country is to be achieved, due consideration must be given to the importance of the core cultural values as a critical factor in improving patient safety outcomes. The influence of Bhutan's traditional (core) cultural values on the attitudes and behaviours of healthcare professionals regarding patient care are not known. This study aimed to explore the possible influence of Bhutan's traditional cultural values on staff attitudes towards patient safety and quality care.

Inattentional blindness and failures to rescue the deteriorating patient in critical care, emergency and perioperative settings: Four case scenarios.

Background: Failure to identify and respond to clinical deterioration is an important measure of patient safety, hospital performance and quality of care. Although studies have identified the role of patient, system and human factors in failure to rescue events, the role of 'inattentional blindness' as a possible contributing factor has been overlooked.

Objectives: To explore the nature and possible patient safety implications of inattentional blindness in critical care, emergency and perioperative nursing contexts.

THE HARMS OF HATE SPEECH.

In 2009, Andrew Bolt, an Australian journalist and right wing columnist, published two articles in the Herald-Sun in which he impugned the identity and authenticity of 'fair skinned' Aboriginal people. His articles conveyed the offensive messages that fair-skinned Aboriginal people 'were not genuinely Aboriginal and were pretending to be Aboriginal so they could access benefits that are available to Aboriginal people' (http://www.austlii.

Fostering trusting relationships with older immigrants hospitalised for end-of-life care.

Background: Trust has been identified as a vital value in the nurse-patient relationship. Although increasingly the subject of empirical inquiries, the specific processes used by nurses to foster trust in nurse-patient relationships with older immigrants of non-English speaking backgrounds hospitalised for end-of-life care have not been investigated.

Aims: To explore and describe the specific processes that nurses use to foster trust and overcome possible cultural mistrust when caring for older immigrants of non-English speaking backgrounds hospitalised for end-of-life care.

THE MORAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE.

On 14 April 2016, ABC News and The 7:30 Report both reported the case of a 46 year old man who died from hepatitis B believed to have been contracted from another patient while on dialysis at a Melbourne hospital (http://www.abc.net.

Recognising and responding to 'cutting corners' when providing nursing care: a qualitative study.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of this study is to report on a key finding of a larger study investigating the 'gaps' in patient care that registered nurses encounter during the course of their practice. A key finding of this larger study was that 'cutting corners' was a gap discerned by nurses.

Background: 'Cutting corners' has been characterised as a 'violation' and threat to patient safety, although there is a paucity of research on this issue.

Assuaging death anxiety in older overseas-born Australians of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds hospitalised for end-of-life care.

Background: Death anxiety is a known phenomenon in older people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD) hospitalised for end-of-life (EOL) care . Little is known about how nurses assuage death anxiety in this population.

Aims: To investigate strategies used by nurses to assuage death anxiety and facilitate a good death in older CALD Australians hospitalised for EOL care.

'Hands-on' assessment: A useful strategy for improving patient safety in emergency departments.

Background: Patient assessment is an essential nursing intervention that reduces the incidence and impact of errors and preventable adverse events in emergency departments (EDs). This paper reports on a key finding of the ED nurse component of a larger study investigating how registered nurses manage 'discontinuities' or 'gaps' in patient care.

Methods: The larger study was undertaken as a naturalistic inquiry using a qualitative exploratory descriptive approach.