Using simulation to promote nursing students' learning of work organization and people management skills: a case-study.

Simulation is becoming widely used in nurse education. However, reports concerning its use focus almost exclusively on describing experiences with high-fidelity manikin simulation used to teach students a range of psychomotor skills and clinical procedures. Simulation has enormous potential as a learning tool and can provide much more than just a basis for safely learning clinical skills.

Therapeutic friendliness and the development of therapeutic leverage by mental health nurses in community rehabilitation settings.

In a world dominated by technology and driven by fiscal policy emphasis, the therapeutic relationship as a healing modality is still a central theme to mental health nurses (MHN) in their everyday work. This research, as part of a PhD program, used a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore the process of therapeutic relationships and professional boundaries. The current paper outlines how therapeutic friendliness provides a connection for the therapeutic relationship to develop but in doing so requires a balancing of the therapeutic relationship and constant maintenance of the professional boundary.

Australian men's long term experiences following prostatectomy: a qualitative descriptive study.

The experiences of men in the immediate postoperative period following surgery for primary prostate cancer are well reported in the literature. Recognition of the unresolved morbidity encountered by men in the medium term suggests that a more complete understanding of how men cope in the long term is needed. Health professionals are deserving of a more complete literature for the purpose of providing holistic care for this group of men, providing informed advocacy and better support for men living with the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Advancing practice through prescribing: is there a better way?

The literature demonstrates a clear relationship between the rate of adverse effects and the number of prescribers that a service consumer may consult. This brings into question the benefits, for the service consumer, of nurses prescribing. Given the complexities of care for certain population groups, for example older people, it is suggested that there is greater benefit in professionals working collaboratively toward the best outcome for the person in care, with nurses offering more informed advice to their partners in service delivery.

'They first killed his heart (then) he took his own life'. Part 2: Practice implications.

This paper is the second in a two-part series dedicated to mental health needs of refugees and asylum seekers. Against a background of selective review of literature and context in paper 1, this paper describes practical steps in meeting the mental health needs of refugees and asylum seekers. Nurses see refugees and asylum seekers at the very point of their distress--often outside of or external to immigration detention facilities.

Community educators as supporters in ethnographic research.

The present article describes ethnographic research on the structure and function of bilingual community educators (CEs) as brokers of information involving culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. An important aspect of CE involvement was supporting the chief investigator to engage CALD communities to interpret their understanding of mental health and mental illness, and make appropriate choices about their health care. CEs advised the chief investigator on the appropriate use of language when dealing with mental and emotional health issues so that CALD community people were not isolated from the research process.

Emergency mental health nursing for self-harming refugees and asylum seekers.

This article describes the structure and function of emergency mental health nursing practice for self-harming refugees and asylum seekers on Temporary Protection Visas. Emergency nurses working in accident and emergency departments or as part of crisis intervention teams will see self-harming refugees and asylum seekers at the very point of their distress. This clinical paper is intended to support nurses in their practice should they encounter an adult asylum seeker needing emergency mental health care.

Providing emergency mental health care to asylum seekers at a time when claims for permanent protection have been rejected.

In total, 90% of 'boat people' who make it to Australia's migration zone are assessed as legitimate refugees and given Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) allowing them to stay in Australia for 3 years in the first instance. With an increasing number of individuals and families on TPV having their claims for a Permanent Protection Visa (PPV) rejected, this paper argues using the National Mental Health Plan 2003-2008 as a guide, for interventions that are culturally and linguistically appropriate, thus, aiming to minimize risk from exposure to extreme mental stressors in the event of an application for a PPV being rejected. Continuity and integration of mental health care involving key stakeholders is best achieved by bridging discrete elements through preparing for visa appeals and reviews, news from home and ongoing psychosocial stressors--in the context of different episodes, interventions by different providers, and changes in mental distress.

Adolescent standing postural response to backpack loads: a randomised controlled experimental study.

Background: Backpack loads produce changes in standing posture when compared with unloaded posture. Although 'poor' unloaded standing posture has been related to spinal pain, there is little evidence of whether, and how much, exposure to posterior load produces injurious effects on spinal tissue. The objective of this study was to describe the effect on adolescent sagittal plane standing posture of different loads and positions of a common design of school backpack.