The lure of the bush : Do rural placements influence student nurses to seek employment in rural settings?
- Authors: Lea, Jackie , Cruickshank, Mary , Paliadelis, Penny , Parmenter, Glenda , Sanderson, Helena , Thornberry, Patricia
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Collegian Vol. 15, no. 2 (May 2008), p. 77-82
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- Description: The aim of this study was to investigate whether rural clinical placements for student nurses at a rural university in New South Wales influence their decision to join the rural and remote Registered Nurse workforce. The study utilised a convenience sample of final year Bachelor of Nursing students at a rural university campus, and consisted of two stages of data collection. Stage One employed a pre- and post-clinical placement survey design that elicited both demographic and qualitative data. Stage Two consisted of individual interviews with a sample of final year nursing students while they were on a rural clinical placement. The findings highlight the factors that influence final year students' decisions to seek employment in rural healthcare facilities. These findings will be of interest to nurse academics concerned with ensuring that undergraduate nursing curricula relate to rural nursing practice in Australia and to those involved in recruitment of new graduate RN's to rural nursing practice.
An exploration of the capacity of general practice nurses to improve the prevention and management of childhood obesity
- Authors: Paliadelis, Penny , Parmenter, Glenda
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Primary Health Care Conference
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- Description: E1
Bush Battles: The Challenges of Providing Acute Health Care in Rural Contexts in Australia
- Authors: Parker, Vicki , Giles, Michelle , Parmenter, Glenda , Higgins, Isabel , Paliadelis, Penny , White, Angela
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: The 16th International Interdisciplinary Conference Vol. 9, p. 377-377
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- Description: Introduction. In Australia, the rural health care environment is characterized by increasing disadvantage in relation to access to services and resources. Within this context, health professionals are challenged to provide what they feel is good-quality health care in a community of which they are a part. This paper presents the results of a study which aimed to • identify challenges confronting health care professionals in rural acute care settings and • facilitate interprofessional collaboration in working toward improved patient outcomes and staff participation. Method. A mixed method approach involved a consultative, participatory process. An initial survey was followed by focus groups and workshops. The target population was health care professionals across disciplines, in rural acute care facilities within one large Area Health Service in NSW, Australia. Workshops facilitated interdisciplinary collaboration to identify strategies for addressing concerns with the aim of developing priorities for practice change projects. Results. Results highlighted issues to do with staffing, isolation and communication as most significantly impacting on staff and patient outcomes. Access to resources and support services was the most frequently cited challenge. Results were consistent across professions and sites within the Area Health service. Focus groups identified a range of issues related to geographic and professional isolation, working with and apart from larger centers, generalist practice, and insufficient services and staff. Conclusion. Findings point to the urgent need to support clinicians through the mobilization of strategies that are context specific, locally based and led, but at the same time transferrable across sites.
Overcoming writers' block: The development of a new collaborative nursing and midwifery journal that encourages and supports novice writers to publish research projects
- Authors: Parmenter, Glenda , Paliadelis, Penny , Parker, Vicki , Giles, Michelle , Turner, Catherine
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 21st international nursing research congress
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Disseminating research
- Authors: Paliadelis, Penny , Parmenter, Glenda , Lea, Jackie
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Research methods in nursing and midwifery; Pathways to evidence-based practice p. 416
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Negotiating Intersections: Inter-Professional Practice in Rural Health Care Contexts
- Authors: Parker, Vicki , Mitchell, Rebecca , McNeil, Karen , Ahrens, Yvonne , Higgins, Isabel , Parmenter, Glenda , Paliadelis, Penny , Giles, Michelle
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: International Journal of Qualitative Methods Vol. 11, p. 750-751
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- Description: Health care in most contexts depends on teams of professionals with diverse skills working together synergistically to achieve optimal outcomes for patients and their families. The way is which interprofessional practice occurs in rural healthcare varies from that which occurs in metropolitan areas. This variation reflects the social, economic and geographic characteristics of rural communities. Further, rural workforce challenges and lack of access to resources and services are compounded by the difficulties associated with the intersection of speciality driven metropolitan models and the generalist models of care that are a feature of rural health care. This study’s aim was to examine how IPP happens in rural contexts, and to identify barriers, enablers and existing and potential models of IPP. Interviews were conducted with health professionals (nurses, doctors and allied health) in a range of rural healthcare contexts (Hospitals, GP practices, Multi-Purpose Services and Community centres) in NSW, Australia. Interview data were supplemented with document review and review of communication systems. Findings suggest that the nature of IPP in rural contexts is diverse and determined by a number of critical factors including rurality, connection to community, availability of staff, funding programs and specific interests and skills of staff. Rural IPP is characterised by a small numbers of professionals across few professions, focus on generalist practice and informal communication systems. IPP is growing in response to changes in government funding models and policy and through the establishment or strengthening of pivotal co-ordinating roles, with a clear mandate to involve other professionals and patients in decision making.
Rewriting the ‘rights' to get it right: An explorative study of medication administration practices
- Authors: Harris, J , Paliadelis, Penny , Parmenter, Glenda
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: NETNEP 2012 4th International Nurse Education Conference
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- Description: E1
The challenges confronting clinicians in rural acute care settings: a participatory research project
- Authors: Paliadelis, Penny , Parmenter, Glenda , Parker, Vicki , Giles, Michelle , Higgins, Isabel
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural and Remote Health Vol. 12 (online), no. (2012), p.
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- Description: In Australia, as in many other developed countries, the current healthcare environment is characterised by increasing differentiation and patient acuity, aging of patients and workforce, staff shortages and a varied professional skills mix, and this is particularly so in rural areas. Rural healthcare clinicians are confronted with a broad range of challenges in their daily practice. Within this context, the challenges faced by rural acute care clinicians were explored and innovative strategies suggested. This article reports the findings of a study that explored these challenges across disciplines in acute healthcare facilities in rural New South Wales (NSW), Australia. METHODS: A mixed method approach, involving a consultative, participatory 3 stage data collection process was employed to engage with a range of healthcare clinicians from rural acute care facilities in NSW. Participants were invited to complete a survey, followed by focus group discussions and finally facilitated workshops using nominal group technique. RESULTS: The survey findings identified the respondents' top ranked challenges. These were organised into four categories: (1) workforce issues; (2) access, equity and opportunity; (3) resources; and (4) contextual issues. Participants in the focus groups were provided with a summary of the survey findings to prompt discussion about the challenges identified and impact of these on their professional and personal lives. The results of the final workshop stage of the study used nominal group process to focus the discussion on identifying strategies to address identified challenges. CONCLUSIONS: This study builds on research conducted in a large metropolitan tertiary referral hospital. While it was found that rural clinicians share some of the challenges identified by their metropolitan counterparts, some identified challenges and solutions were unique to the rural context and require the innovative solutions suggested by the participants. This article provides insight into the working world of rural healthcare clinicians and offers practical solutions to some of the identified issues. The findings of this study may assist rurally based healthcare services to attract and retain clinical staff.
Effective interprofessional collaboration in rural contexts : A research protocol
- Authors: Mitchell, Rebecca , Paliadelis, Penny , McNeil, Karen , Parker, Vicki , Giles, Michelle , Higgins, Isabel , Parmenter, Glenda , Ahrens, Yvonne
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Advanced Nursing Vol. 69, no. 10 (2013), p. 2317-2326
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- Description: Abstract AIM: To describe the research protocol that will be used to investigate factors contributing to effective interprofessional practice in a rural context in Australia. BACKGROUND: Interprofessional practice is a key strategy for overcoming rural health challenges; however, our knowledge of interprofessional initiatives and consequences in rural areas is limited. DESIGN: A modified realistic evaluation approach will be used to explore the structures, systems, and social processes contributing to effective interprofessional outcomes. This 'context-mechanism-outcome' approach provides a useful framework for identifying why and how interprofessional practice works in rural contexts. METHOD: Initial propositions regarding the factors that explain effective collaborative practice will be generated through interviews with lead clinicians, policy-makers, and clinician managers. Clinician interviews, document analysis, and multi-participant focus groups will be used as evidence to support, refine, or redevelop the initial propositions. This will allow the development of a model of rural interprofessional practice that will explain how and why collaborative approaches work in rural environments. This study is funded by an Institute of Rural Clinical Services and Teaching grant (January 2010). DISCUSSION: Rural healthcare challenges are well documented; however, studies investigating the nature of interprofessional practice in rural contexts are not common. Rural contexts also present research design, particularly data collection, challenges. This proposed research is one of the first to identify the factors that facilitate or constrain effective interprofessional work in rural settings. This is particularly important, given the continuing workforce shortages and maldistribution and poorer health outcomes in rural communities globally.
How health professionals conceive and construct interprofessional practice in rural settings : A qualitative study
- Authors: Parker, Vicki , McNeil, Karen , Higgins, Isabel , Mitchell, Rebecca , Paliadelis, Penny , Giles, Michelle , Parmenter, Glenda
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: BMC Health Services Research Vol. 13, no. 500 (2013), p.1-11
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- Description: Background Although interprofessional practice (IPP) offers the potential to enhance rural health services and provide support to rural clinicians, IPP may itself be problematic due to workforce limitations and service fragmentation. Differing socioeconomic and geographic characteristics of rural communities means that the way that IPP occurs in rural contexts will necessarily differ from that occurring in metropolitan contexts. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors contributing to effective IPP in rural contexts, to examine how IPP happens and to identify barriers and enablers. Methods Using Realistic Evaluation as a framework, semi-structured interviews were conducted with health professionals in a range of rural healthcare contexts in NSW, Australia. Independent thematic analysis was undertaken by individual research team members, which was then integrated through consensus to achieve a qualitative description of rural IPP practice. Results There was clear evidence of diversity and complexity associated with IPP in the rural settings that was supported by descriptions of collaborative integrated practice. There were instances where IPP doesn’t and could happen. There were a number of characteristics identified that significantly impacted on IPP including the presence of a shared philosophical position and valuing of IPP and recognition of the benefits, funding to support IPP, pivotal roles, proximity and workforce resources. Conclusions The nature of IPP in rural contexts is diverse and determined by a number of critical factors. This study goes some of the way towards unravelling the complexity of IPP in rural contexts, highlighting the strong motivating factors that drive IPP. However, it has also identified significant structural and relational barriers related to workload, workforce, entrenched hierarchies and ways of working and service fragmentation. Further research is required to explicate the mechanisms that drive successful IPP across a range of diverse rural contexts in order to inform the implementation of robust flexible strategies that will support sustainable models of rural IPP.
'Right' for publication: Strategies for supporting novice writers across health and medical disciplines
- Authors: Paliadelis, Penny , Parker, Vicki , Parmenter, Glenda , Maple,
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Health Review Vol. , no. (2014), p.165-168
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Disseminating research
- Authors: Paliadelis, Penny , Parmenter, Glenda , Lea, Jackie
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Research methods in nursing and midwifery; Pathways to evidence-based practice p. 376
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Looking after yourself : Clinical understandings of chronic-care self-management strategies in rural and urban contexts of the United Kingdom and Australia
- Authors: Carr, Susan , Paliadelis, Penny , Lhussier, Monique , Forster, Natalie , Eaton, Simon , Parmenter, Glenda , Death, Catharine
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Sage Open Medicine Vol. 2, no. (2014), p.1-9
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- Description: Objectives: This article reports on the outcomes of two similar projects undertaken during 2011–2012 in Australia (Rural Northern New South Wales) and the United Kingdom (Urban Northern United Kingdom) that sought to identify the strategies that health professionals employ to actively involve patients with chronic conditions in the planning and delivery of their care. In particular, this study explored understandings and contexts of care that impacted on the participants’ practices. This study was informed by the global shift to partnership approaches in health policy and the growing imperative to deliver patient or client-centred care. Methods: An ethnomethodological design was used, as ethnomethodology does not dictate a set of research methods or procedures, but rather is congruent with any method that seeks to explore what people do in their routine everyday lives. Focus groups and interviews were employed to explore the strategies used by a range of primary health-care providers, such as general practitioners, nurses, social workers, diabetes educators, dieticians and occupational therapists, to support clients to effectively manage their own chronic conditions. Results: Data from both studies were synthesised and analysed thematically, with the themes reflecting the context, similarities and differences of the two studies that the participants felt had either facilitated or blocked their efforts to support their clients to adopt self-care strategies. Conclusion: Supporting patients/clients to engage in actively self-managing their health-care needs requires changes to clients’ and clinicians’ traditional perspectives on their roles. The barriers and enablers to supporting clients to manage their own health needs were similar across both locations and included tensions in role identity and functions, the discourse of health-care professionals as ‘experts’ who deliver care and their level of confidence in being facilitators who ‘educate’ clients to effectively manage their health-care needs, rather than only the ‘providers’ of care.
Looking after yourself: Understandings of chronic-care self-management models in rural and urban contexts of UK and Australia
- Authors: Paliadelis, Penny , Carr, Susan , Lhussier, Monique , Forster, Natalie , Eaton, Simon , Parmenter, Glenda , Death, Catharine
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: NET 2014
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- Description: This paper reports on the outcomes of a two related projects undertaken during 2011-2012 in Australia (Rural Northern NSW) and the UK (Urban Northern UK) that sought to identify the strategies that clinicians employ to actively involve patients with chronic conditions in the planning and delivery of their care1,2,8. This study was informed by the global shift to partnership approaches in health policy and the growing imperative to deliver patient or client-centred care3,4,9,10. Support for self-management refers to the role that clinicians play in building client knowledge, skill and confidence to effectively manage their own healthcare concerns and treatments6. A qualitative methodology was used, with focus groups and interviews conducted to explore the strategies used by a range of primary healthcare providers, such as general practitioners, nurses, social workers, diabetes educators, dieticians and occupational therapists, to support clients to effectively manage their own chronic conditions. In particular this study aimed to understand the models and contexts of care that impacted on the participants’ practices and identify barriers and enablers to supporting client self-management from the participants’ perspective5,7. This paper presents the results of these studies and identifies the similarities and differences between the two contexts that have either facilitated or blocked clinicians’ efforts to support their clients to adopt self-care strategies7. We are not claiming national commentaries but are drawing on two studies that we consider provide insight into ‘typical’ practices in both countries. The finding of both studies identified that supporting patients/clients to engage in actively managing their health care needs requires changes to client and clinicians traditional perspectives on their role, practice and education, as well as developing more integrated health policies to better support clients with complex health care needs, who want to adopt self-management practices.