Understanding the recruitment and retention of overseas nurses: realist case study research in National Health Service Hospitals in the UK.

This paper illustrates one of the possible applications of critical realist ideas to the analysis of health services, in the use of comparative case study research design, to elucidate the causal social processes underlying events. In the research reported here, a comparative research design was used as a basis for improving our understanding of the processes involved in the assimilation of overseas nurses (OSN) into the salient long-term workforce of the National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in the UK. The work brought to light the salient experiences of overseas nurses during their initial work in the NHS hospitals, and these were used as a basis for developing an account of the general mechanisms typically underlying the recruitment and assimilation at work.

Classroom-based and distance learning education and training courses in end-of-life care for health and social care staff: a systematic review.

Background: Staff from a range of health and social care professions report deficits in their knowledge and skills when providing end-of-life and palliative care, and education and training has been advocated at a range of levels.

Aims: To review the literature related to classroom-based and distance learning education and training initiatives for health and social care staff in end-of-life and palliative care, in terms of their target audience, extent, modes of delivery, content and teaching and learning strategies, and to identify the most effective educational strategies for enhancing care.

Design: A systematic review of the literature evaluating classroom-based and distance learning education and training courses for health and social care staff in end-of-life and palliative care.

Mandatory communication skills training for cancer and palliative care staff: does one size fit all?

Purpose Of The Research: There is increasing recognition of the importance of good communication between healthcare professionals and patients facing cancer or end of life. In England, a new national 3-day training programme called 'Connected' has been developed and is now mandatory for all cancer and palliative care professionals. This study aimed to explore the attitudes of staff in one region to undertaking this training.

Overseas nurses in the National Health Service: a process of deskilling.

Aims And Objectives: This paper shows that overseas nurses (OSN) recruited to UK hospital trusts become deskilled in technical aspects of clinical practice.

Background: Existing research reports that many newly recruited OSN are prevented from using technical skills acquired in training abroad, to the detriment of the National Health Service (NHS) and the concern of the nurses themselves.

Design: The author conducted case study work in three NHS hospital trusts in the northwest of England.