The social world of Australian practice nurses and the influence of medical dominance : An analysis of the literature
- Authors: Mills, Jane , Hallinan, Christine
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Nursing Practice Vol. 15, no. 6 (2009), p. 489-494
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- Description: In Australia, the number of practice nurses is growing at a rapid rate. On the nursing landscape, this group of nurses stand out because of their relationship with the Australian Government who both fund them, and concern themselves with their continuing professional development. This paper provides a construction of the social world of Australian practice nurses, identifying stakeholders in the business of practice nursing. Literature produced by the various social world segments is analysed for the influence of medical dominance on the role, image, power and politics of practice nurses.
Perceptions of hand hygiene amongst health care workers in Sibu, East Malaysia
- Authors: Birks, Melanie , Coyle, Meaghan , Porter, Joanne , Mills, Jane
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Infection Control Vol. 8, no. 1 (2012), p. 10-13
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- Description: The importance of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of disease is universally accepted. Nonetheless, many health care professionals, in spite of acknowledging the significance of this practice, are not always vigilant in carrying out hand hygiene. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of the perceptions of health care workers in relation to hand hygiene. This study employed a quantitative survey design to ascertain the perceptions of hand hygiene amongst health care professions in the unique location of Sibu, East Malaysia. A modified World Health Organisation questionnaire was used to gather data that was subjected to descriptive analytical techniques. The outcomes of this research indicated that those sampled recognise the importance of performing hand hygiene both for themselves and others. Participants rated a number of activities as of particular value in promoting hand hygiene. The findings of this study reinforce much of the literature, particularly in relation to need for education, resources and supportive measures in ensuring good hand hygiene practices. Recommendations from this study suggest the need for future larger research studies that explore additional socio-cultural factors and employ more diverse methods to enhance the validity of the findings.
Models of health service delivery in remote or isolated areas of Queensland: A multiple case study
- Authors: Birks, Melanie , Mills, Jane , Francis, Karen , Coyle, Meaghan , Davis, Jennifer , Jones, Janet
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing Vol. 28, no. 1 (2010), p. 25-34
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Australian rural and remote registered nurses' experiences of learning to provide antenatal services in general practice : A pilot study
- Authors: Mills, Jane , Birks, Melanie , Francis, Karen , Miles, Maureen , Jones, Janet
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Nursing Practice Vol. 16, no. 4 (2010), p. 319-325
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- Description: This article reports on a pilot vocational study programme for provision of antenatal services in the general practice environment. The concurrent evaluation study assessed practice nurses' experiences of undertaking the pilot programme, the level and applicability of the content, and the mode of delivery. General practitioners' understanding of the role of the nurse in providing antenatal services, and the actual and potential impact of this new role on models of service delivery and care were also investigated. Women receiving care from practice nurses within this new model of service delivery and care were also of interest in this study. Findings showed that the current role of the general practice nurse in caring for pregnant women is restricted to assisting the general practitioner to complete their assessment of clients. Organizing clinical placement with a midwife was a major barrier to completing the pilot programme.
Factors that make the health care professions an attractive career option in East Malaysia
- Authors: Birks, Melanie , Coyle, Meaghan , Porter, Joanne , Mills, Jane
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Singapore Nursing Journal Vol. 38, no. 1 (2011), p.18-22
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- Description: A shortage of health care professionals, particularly nurses, has led to the development of strategies to increase recruitment to these disciplines. This paper describes the findings of a study of factors that attract nurses and related health care professionals to their chosen discipline. A survey design was employed, in which a questionnaire was administered at a research seminar with the intent of demonstrating the conduct of research in real time. Seventy-six health care professionals participated in this survey. Most respondents were female and employed as nurses. The mean age of participants was 39 years. The ability to help others, training being provided and job security were rated highly by respondents as factors attracting them to their profession, along with the ability that to combine work and family commitments. While the findings reported here reflect some similarities with those of earlier studies, the demographically different sample may account for many of the differences.
Registered nurses as members of interprofessional primary health care teams in remote or isolated areas of Queensland : Collaboration, communication and partnerships in practice
- Authors: Mills, Jane , Francis, Karen
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Interprofessional Care Vol. 24, no. 5 (2010), p. 587-596
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- Description: Nurses represent the largest occupational group of health care professionals in Australia. The ratio of nurses to population is relatively consistent, unlike other health care professional groups (including medical doctors and allied health staff) whose numbers decline as population density and distance from metropolitan areas increases. Nurses working in areas where other health care professionals are limited or absent have expanded scopes of practice with their work being more generalist than specialist. The role of nurses in remote and isolated areas of Queensland, Australia was the focus of a commissioned multi-case research project. Findings reported in this paper relate to the position of registered nurses as part of an interprofessional team. These findings indicated that, in some instances, local health care teams were limited to a single nurse and Indigenous health care worker/s, while in others the teams were more diverse. In all cases collegial support was available either locally or via telecommunication technology. Understanding the role of each team member, having useful strategies to enhance communication and work collaboratively were identified as essential criteria for "good practice".
Australian rural maternity services: Creating a future or putting the last nail in the coffin
- Authors: Francis, Karen , McLeo, Margaret , McIntyre, Meredith , Mills, Jane , Miles, Maureen , Bradley, Angela
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Rural Health Vol. 20, no. 5 (2012), p. 281-284
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- Description: Nurses and midwives are the largest group of health providers in Australia (60%), and with increasing remoteness, this proportion increases substantially.1 The recruitment and retention of nurses, and more specifically midwives in rural health services, is at crisis point. Sustainable birthing services will be reliant on a stable, regenerative workforce. Key to this goal is the education of nurses, midwives and doctors, all of whom have stringent pre-service professional placement quotas in order to meet required competencies to practice. The rural workforce crisis in maternity care has been a driving force in health care reform.2 Rural innovation has involved negotiating the space between increased medical risk and the need for a healthy pregnant woman to have the option of staying within her local community to have her baby.3,4 Rural nurses and midwives together with rural doctors agree that continuity of care, irrespective of how it is achieved, is associated with the best outcomes for women and their families in rural locations.4–6 Continuity of care can be achieved using a shared-care medical model involving obstetricians and general practitioners, or midwifery-led primary maternity care services. In the process of securing maternity services that provide continuity of care, the influence of specialist obstetricians, a limited resource in rural locations, has been moderated, and unique solutions to local problems have resulted in the formation of collaborative relationships involving rural nurses, midwives and general practitioners. This polemic makes an argument for a review of the current regulatory requirements for both the education of undergraduate rural nurses and midwives, and the continuing registration of rural midwives who work predominantly in nursing roles. In doing so, the authors provide an overview of the dilemmas facing policymakers, educators, health services managers and clinicians in the provision of sustainable maternity services in rural and remote Australia.
Supporting the evolution of a research culture among nurses in Malaysia
- Authors: Birks, Melanie , Francis, Karen , Chapman, Ysanne , Mills, Jane , Porter, Joanne
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: The Australian journal of advanced nursing Vol. 27, no. 1 (2009), p. 89-93
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- Description: This paper describes a project to promote a research culture amongst nurses in Malaysia. The project, funded by the Australian Government’s Australia Malaysia Institute, and implemented by a group of Australian nurse academics, provided a rare professional development opportunity to nurses in urban and remote areas of Malaysia
Factors affecting evidence translation for general practice nurses
- Authors: Mills, Jane , Field, John , Cant, Robyn
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Nursing Practice Vol. 17, no. 5 (2011), p. 455-463
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- Description: This paper explores the domains of influence affecting practice nurses' ability to find, evaluate and use clinical evidence. A cross-sectional survey of general practice nurses (n=590) in Victoria, Australia in 2008 provided data for a principal components analysis. The research replicates a study undertaken in the UK using the Developing Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire. Five domains of influence on nurses' translation of evidence were identified: skills in finding/reviewing evidence; barriers to finding/reviewing evidence; knowledge from published sources; knowledge from other sources; and barriers or facilitators to change. Each domain was interpreted as underlying the relationship of nurses with evidence-based practice and was comparable to the original study's findings when subjected to factor analysis. Findings from this study show that the Developing Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire-Au is a valid and useful instrument in determining the influences on practice nurses' ability to effect knowledge translation and conduct practice based on evidence. Given these findings, a new model is proposed that explains the influence of a number of domains on Australian general practice nurses' translation of knowledge into practice. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.