Search

Introduction: Effective primary healthcare services have been identified by the World Health Organization as the most equitable approach to enhancing universal healthcare. Robust models of mentoring for registered nurses (RNs) transitioning to primary healthcare roles have yet to be described in the Australian context. A robust mentoring model can support RNs to fulfill their potential, bridging the gap between theory and practice. In 2015, the peak body for nurses in primary health care (PHC) began developing a transition to practice program, including embedded mentoring to support newly graduated and more experienced registered and enrolled nurses. This quality improvement study reports the experiences and perspectives of nurses participating as mentors in two separate offerings of the program delivered between 2019 and 2021. Method: A two-phase concurrent mixed methods evaluation utilized data from pre- and post online surveys and post program meetings. Quantitative items underwent descriptive analyses. Thematic analysis of free-text responses and comments was conducted independently by two researchers. Mentors voluntarily provided self-report data and were informed that data is routinely collected to support continuous quality improvement processes for all programs. An Information Sheet informed mentors of data usage, confidentiality, and options to withdraw without penalty from the program at any time. Results: Seventy-nine mentors were recruited to support two groups of nurses (N = 111). Mentor self-rated overall satisfaction with program participation was 86.67% (very or extremely satisfied). Mentors described being "witness to mentee growth," "having facilitated access to learning" and receiving "unexpected benefits" including personal and professional growth and enhanced enthusiasm for their role in PHC. Conclusion: The embedded mentoring reported in this article combined a focus on skills acquisition and professional identity with the provision of a range of resources and support activities. Sustainable mentoring programs will be an important mechanism for supporting the expanding roles required of nurses working in primary health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been growing enthusiasm amongst those who undertake research with children, for the development of participatory and visual research methods. The greater availability and affordability of digital technology (such as digital cameras, tablets and smart phones) has meant that there has been greater scope for digital technology to support participatory research methods, or augment more traditional qualitative research methods. While digital technology provides new opportunities for qualitative researchers, they also come with a series of challenges – some of which have been grappled with by those using more traditional research methods but also some which are new. Our study was undertaken in Victoria, Australia, and used a combination of interviews, focus groups and digital storytelling to bring together two strands of work which have historically occurred separately: work with children experiencing domestic violence and programs for men who use domestic violence. While digital storytelling proved to be an effective method of engaging children and young people in the research, a range of challenging ethical issues emerged. Some of these issues were considered as part of the formal 'procedural ethics' process, but additional and more challenging issues relating to anonymity and the complex safety considerations of using of the children's digital stories within programs for men who use violence and dissemination emerged in practice. It is hoped that sharing our experiences and decision-making will contribute to the knowledge base for others considering engaging in sensitive research using digital technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of adolescent coping in metropolitan Melbourne. Australia. During the five-year period of the investigation, 168 students were tracked firstly to document the patterns of general coping behaviour of girls and boys at grade levels 7, 9, and 11, and secondly to determine what changes were apparent in their coping responses. Young people's coping was assessed using the Adolescent Coping Scale (146'S.), an 80-item checklist that identifies 17 distinct coping strategies as well as a young person is professed inability to cope. Some interesting changes over time in students' usage of a number of coping strategies were found. Both boys and girls remain relatively stable in their declared inability to cope between the ages of 12 and 14. However, while boys report much the same low level two years later, girls report significantly higher levels of an inability to cope by the time they are 16. Of the coping strategies, five (Seeking Social Support, Solving the Problem, Self-Blame, Keep to Self and Tension Reduction) remained stable for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 14 but increased significantly in the next two years. These represent a combination of what may be termed functional and dysfunctional strategies. For two of the five strategies (Self-Blame and Social Support) boys' usage diminished from age 12 to 14 years and then returned to approximately 12-year-old level by the time they were 16. In contrast, the girls' usage of these two strategies increased moderately between ages 12 to 14 years but increased dramatically between ages 14 and 16. Of the remaining strategies for which age showed a significant main effect, three (Social Action, Spiritual Support and Physical Recreation), bad a similar pattern of decrease in usage between the ages of 12 and 14, after which the usage remained relatively stable. The final strategy that varied with age was Professional Help. Reference to professionals was rated significantly lower at 14 than it was at 12 and 16, for both boys and girls. The findings highlight the fact that boys and girls develop differentially in their patterns of coping with age and there are implications for the timing and substance of coping skills development programs that may be taught in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There have been 26 epidemic thunderstorm asthma (ETSA) events worldwide, with Melbourne at the epicentre of ETSA with 7 recorded events, and in 2016 experienced the deadliest ETSA event ever recorded. Health services and emergency departments were overwhelmed with thousands requiring medical care for acute asthma and 10 people died. Objectives: This multidisciplinary study was conducted across various health and science departments with the aim of improving our collective understanding of the mechanism behind ETSA. Design: This study involved time-resolved analysis of atmospheric sampling of the air for pollen and fungal spores, and intact and ruptured pollen compared with different weather parameters, pollution levels and clinical asthma presentations. Methods: Time-resolved pollen and fungal spore data collected by Deakin Air WATCH Burwood, underwent 3-h analysis, to better reflect the 'before', 'during' and 'after' ETSA time points, on the days leading up to and following the Melbourne 2016 event. Linear correlations were conducted with atmospheric pollution data provided by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) of Victoria, weather data sourced from Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and clinical asthma presentation data from the Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI) of Department of Health. Results: Counts of ruptured grass pollen grains increased 250% when the thunderstorm outflow reached Burwood. Increased PM10, high relative humidity, decreased temperature and low ozone concentrations observed in the storm outflow were correlated with increased levels of ruptured grass pollen. In particular, high ozone levels observed 6 h prior to this ETSA event may be a critical early indicator of impending ETSA event, since high ozone levels have been linked to increasing pollen allergen content and reducing pollen integrity, which may in turn contribute to enhanced pollen rupture. Conclusion: The findings presented in this article highlight the importance of including ruptured pollen and time-resolved analysis to forecast ETSA events and thus save lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a rational choice theory of conversion to new religious movements in which conversion is seen as a function of recruits' evaluations of the social and cognitive outcomes of convening relative to not convening. Axioms based on established rational choice, balance, and network principles are used to derive propositions that explain key features of Lofland and Skonovd's (1981) conversion motifs (covariation in social and cognitive rewards and variation in participation-belief sequences across motifs) as well as aspects of conversion that have been slighted by existing models (e.g., recruits' conversion decisions hinge not only on their own but also on significant others' evaluations of movement beliefs). We illustrate our theoretical statements with evidence from published reports of conversion and also with data generated in a 1981-82 field study of the Divine Light Mission in Victoria, B.C., conducted by the second author. Points of convergence and divergence with extant theories of conversion and network formation also are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-sentence reports (PSRs) provide important information about an individual's background and circumstances to assist judicial officers in the sentencing process. The present study analyzed PSRs for 63 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people sentenced by either an Indigenous sentencing court or a mainstream court in the Australian State of Victoria. Using natural language processing techniques, our analyses revealed few differences between PSRs conducted for each court. However, PSRs were found to predominantly feature key words that are risk-based, with mainstream court PSRs more negatively worded than the Indigenous sentencing court's PSRs. This may have been due to the inclusion of results from a risk and need assessment tool. Pro-social factors did comprise more than one third of extracted keywords, although the number of strength-based culture-related keywords, in particular, was low across PSRs in both courts. It is possible that courts may not be receiving all the information needed to promote individualized justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There have been 26 epidemic thunderstorm asthma (ETSA) events worldwide, with Melbourne at the epicentre of ETSA with 7 recorded events, and in 2016 experienced the deadliest ETSA event ever recorded. Health services and emergency departments were overwhelmed with thousands requiring medical care for acute asthma and 10 people died. Objectives: This multidisciplinary study was conducted across various health and science departments with the aim of improving our collective understanding of the mechanism behind ETSA. Design: This study involved time-resolved analysis of atmospheric sampling of the air for pollen and fungal spores, and intact and ruptured pollen compared with different weather parameters, pollution levels and clinical asthma presentations. Methods: Time-resolved pollen and fungal spore data collected by Deakin AirWATCH Burwood, underwent 3-h analysis, to better reflect the 'before', 'during' and 'after' ETSA time points, on the days leading up to and following the Melbourne 2016 event. Linear correlations were conducted with atmospheric pollution data provided by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) of Victoria, weather data sourced from Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and clinical asthma presentation data from the Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI) of Department of Health. Results: Counts of ruptured grass pollen grains increased 250% when the thunderstorm outflow reached Burwood. Increased PM10, high relative humidity, decreased temperature and low ozone concentrations observed in the storm outflow were correlated with increased levels of ruptured grass pollen. In particular, high ozone levels observed 6 h prior to this ETSA event may be a critical early indicator of impending ETSA event, since high ozone levels have been linked to increasing pollen allergen content and reducing pollen integrity, which may in turn contribute to enhanced pollen rupture. Conclusion: The findings presented in this article highlight the importance of including ruptured pollen and time-resolved analysis to forecast ETSA events and thus save lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Family violence (FV) is one of the most urgent health issues of our generation. While nurses play a vital role in identifying and supporting victim/survivors of violence, little is known about nursing readiness to respond across clinical areas. Objective: This study aimed to compare and contrast the knowledge, confidence, clinical skills, and perceived barriers of nurses across three clinical areas of a tertiary trauma hospital in Melbourne, Australia, in responding to FV. Method: A prospective, mixed methods design was used. The nursing staff at a large trauma hospital were approached to participate. Participants completed a brief online survey to quantify clinician-reported knowledge, clinical skills, and barriers to managing FV. Results: Two hundred and forty-two nursing staff electronically completed a brief survey to capture self-reported confidence, knowledge, clinical skills, and barriers to working effectively in the area. The descriptive analysis reflected service-wide deficits in knowledge, confidence, and self-reported clinical skills, irrespective of the work area. Deficits were identified on a background of limited structured training for FV among this cohort. Significantly higher rates of FV confidence and knowledge were identified among emergency department nurses relative to acute and subacute clinical counterparts. Conclusion: Nurse respondents overall reported low rates of confidence, knowledge, and clinical skills in responding to disclosures of FV. Findings reinforce the need for imbedded training programs to support frontline responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family violence is a serious public health issue with significant health consequences for women and children. Enhanced Maternal and Child Health nurses (EMCH) in Victoria, Australia, work with women experiencing family violence; however, scholarly examination of the clinical work of nurses has not occurred. This qualitative study explored how EMCH nurses work with women experiencing abuse, describing the personal and professional challenges for nurses undertaking family violence work. Twenty-five nurses participated in semi-structured interviews. Using interpretive description methodology has enabled an insight into nurses' family violence work. Threads of practice identified included (1) Validating/Reframing; (2) Non-judgmental support/Safeguarding and (3) Following/Leading. The nurses highlighted the diversity of experience for women experiencing abuse and nurses' roles in family violence nurse practice. The research contributes to understanding how EMCH nurses traverse threads of practice to support women experiencing family violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Effective approaches to practice improvement require development of tailored interventions in collaboration with knowledge users. Objectives: To explore critical care nurses' knowledge and adherence to best practice guidelines for management of patients with an artificial airway to minimise development of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken across four intensive care units that involved three phases: (1) survey of critical care nurses regarding their current practice; (2) observation of respiratory care delivery; and (3) chart audit. Key care processes evaluated were: (1) technique and adherence to standard precautions when performing endotracheal suction, cuff pressure checks and extubation; and (2) frequency of endotracheal suctioning and mouth care. Results: Observational and chart audit data on the provision and documentation of respiratory care were collected for 36 nurse/patient dyads. Forty-six nurses were surveyed and the majority responded that endotracheal suctioning and mouth care should be performed 'as required' or every 2 hours (h). During observations of practice, no patient received mouth care every 2 h, nor had documentation of such. Inconsistent adherence to standard precautions and hand hygiene during respiratory care provision was observed. Chart audit indicated that nurses varied in the frequency of suctioning consistent with documented clinical assessment findings. Conclusion: Although nurses had good knowledge for the management of artificial airways, this was not consistently translated into practice. Gaps were identified in relation to respiratory related infection prevention, the prevention of micro-aspiration of oropharyngeal secretions and in the provision of mouth care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess the digital literacy levels and attitudes towards information systems of staff in a health service that will be implementing an electronic health record so that barriers towards implementation could be addressed. A survey measuring staff confidence levels and their attitudes towards information systems was developed. Data were collected over a five-week period, with data analysed using frequency analysis and a chi-square analysis. There were 407 respondents to the survey. The majority (70-80%) of which reported high digital literacy levels, expressing confidence in using technology. Respondents also reported positive attitudes towards information systems. However, one-fifth reported anxiety using information systems. Given poor staff engagement with information systems adversely affects the safety and quality of patient care, health services should provide targeted education and training to address staff with low digital literacy levels and/or confidence with using information systems prior to implementation of an electronic health record system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the effect of a mass media campaign designed to increase bowel cancer screening participation. Methods: We assessed weekly participation, from January 2015 to December 2017, in the Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in Victoria, where a seven-week campaign aired in mid-2017, and in the adjacent comparison state of South Australia. Participation, defined as the number of immunochemical faecal occult blood tests returned out of those invited by the Screening Program in the past 16 weeks, was analysed using negative binomial regression. Results: Compared with non-campaign weeks, there was an increase in the return rate in the campaign state during campaign weeks (adjusted return rates non-campaign weeks = 34.4% vs. campaign weeks = 45.3%, p < 0.01), not observed in the comparison state (38.3% vs. 40.3%, p > 0.05). The increase in the return rate was significantly greater in the campaign state (Rate Ratio of Campaign/Non-Campaign weeks = 1.31, p < 0.01) than the comparison state (1.05, p > 0.05, interaction p < 0.001), and did not differ significantly by age, sex or socio-economic area. The relative increase was greater among never-participants (Rate Ratio of Campaign/Non-Campaign weeks = 1.24) than previous-participants (1.16), interaction p < 0.001). Conclusions: This mass media campaign increased bowel cancer screening participation, including from never and low participation subgroups. To maximize participation and ensure equitable population benefit, repeated campaigns that reach eligible people about bowel cancer risks and potential life-saving benefits of screening should be standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Primary care waiting rooms can be sites of health promotion and health literacy development through the provision of readily accessible health information. To date, few studies have considered patient engagement with televised health messages in the waiting room, nor have studies investigated whether patients ask their clinicians about this information. The aim of this study was therefore to examine patient (or accompanying person) and clinician engagement with waiting room health information, including televised health messages. Design and methods. The mixed methods case study was undertaken in a regional general practice in Victoria, Australia, utilising patient questionnaires, waiting room observations, and clinician logbooks and interviews. The qualitative data were analysed by content analysis; the questionnaire data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results. Patients engaged with a range of health information in the waiting room and reportedly received health messages from this information. 44% of the questionnaire respondents (33 of 74) reported watching the television health program, and half of these reported receiving a take home health message from this source. Only one of the clinicians (N=9) recalled a patient asking about the televised health program. Conclusions. The general practice waiting room remains a site where people engage with the available health information, with a televised health 'infotainment' program receiving most attention from patients. Our study showed that consumption of health information was primarily passive and tended not to activate patient discussions with clinicians. Future studies could investigate any link between the health infotainment program and behaviour change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Occupational therapy graduates are expected to assume leadership roles in a variety of contexts and capacities. Objective: To investigate the leadership styles of undergraduate occupational therapy students. Methods: First, second, third, and fourth year undergraduate occupational therapy students from one Australian university were asked to complete the What’s My Leadership Style (WMLS) questionnaire. Results: The total sample response rate was 86.3% (n = 182/211). Overall there was a statistically significant difference in students’ preference for the leadership styles (p < .001). The two most preferred leadership styles were the Considerate and Spirited styles while the two least preferred were the Direct and Systematic leadership styles. There were no statistically significant differences in preference for any of the four leadership styles based on students’ sex, age, or year level of study. Conclusion: The Considerate leadership style is characterised by creating comfortable working environments, following established procedures, and creating an easy work pace, while the Spirited leadership style is about inspiring people, generating excitement, turning work into play, and rallying people. It is recommended that leadership be integrated into occupational therapy curricula so as to adequately equip students for future professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a number of factors have been examined in relation to their effect on the prevalence and characteristics of police use of force, studies examining whether the person appeared to be mentally ill during the incident are lacking. Police recorded that 306 (7.2%) of the 4,267 people on whom they used force in Victoria, Australia, between 1995 and 2008 appeared to have a mental disorder. This group was more likely to threaten or use weapons on police and to have weapons used or threatened against them by police, as compared to those not deemed by police to be mentally disordered. Increased emphasis on communication and verbal deescalation tactics during police training and practice as well as proactive broader system-level changes should be implemented between police and mental health services to enable more effective management of these incidents to reduce the need to resort to increased use of force to resolve them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that investigates the specificity and sensitivity of canine pancreatic-specific lipase (cPL) of dogs with different diseases in Victoria. Researchers did postmortem examination on 32 dogs and collected their cPL serum six hours after their death. Moreover, they found that the dogs that have no pancreatitis have good cPL specificity.

This article analyzes data from a major household survey in Melbourne, Australia, to assess the relative importance of each of the five sets of predictors—individual (structural and attitudinal) and contextual (household, dwelling, and locational)—to an explanation of urban resource consumption that encompasses water, energy, housing, carbon-intensive travel, and domestic appliances. Using general linear modeling and multiple regression, we find that the determinants of consumption vary for the different domains of consumption and also that an individual’s attributes are less influential than contextual factors in accounting for a particular level of per capita resource consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information about the special events related to the celebration of the golden year of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Melbourne, Victoria is presented. The 50th General Scientific Meeting which was held on May 14 to 20, 1977 was considered as the highlight of the year. Meanwhile, the inaugural ceremony was held in the Dallas Brooks Hall celebrated the 16 Honorary Fellowships of the College and three Honorary Fellowships of the Faculty of Anaesthetists.