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Objective This study aims to ascertain if differences exist in the perception of the professional practice environment and personal well-being of nurses across different geographical areas in Queensland. Design This paper was performed on a prospective, self-report cross-sectional on-line survey. Setting The study was conducted among the nurses employed in public and private health care settings: acute hospitals, community health and aged care in Queensland, Australia. Participants Participants of this study were 1608 registered and enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing, current members of the Queensland Nurses Union in 2013 and who provided a workplace postcode. One thousand eight of these participants worked in major cities, while 382 in rural locations and 238 in remote areas. Interventions None. Main outcome measures Scores of well-being as determined by the following scales: the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, the Professional Quality of Life Scale version 5, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and of the Professional Practice Environment using the Practice Environment Scale - Nursing Work Index Revised. Results Nurses employed in major cities perceived 'nursing foundations for quality care' more favourably than those from other settings. Remote area nurses had lower levels of secondary traumatic stress than nurses in major cities and rural areas. There was no difference between nurses across their geographical locations for stress, anxiety, depression, compassion satisfaction, burnout, resilience and the four other measures of the Practice Environment Scale. Conclusions The study findings provide new data suggesting that, with the exception of secondary traumatic stress, the personal well-being of nurses does not differ across geographical settings. Similarly, with the exception of the subscale of 'nursing foundations for quality care' there was no difference in perceptions of the professional practice environment. As secondary traumatic stress is associated with burnout, this finding needs to be investigated further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public policy across the world is increasingly focusing on the role of mental health promotion in whole of health strategies. There is a growing evidence-base that mental health promotion, delivered by trained facilitators, is effective in promoting self-awareness and self-care to prevent the damaging effects of ongoing stress in one's life and to promote early detection of any possible emerging mental health problems. Within Australia, however, few clinicians or school staff are confident or trained in mental health promotion. Aims: This paper reports the results of a two-day training designed for facilitators of a mental health program for secondary-school students. The goal was to develop facilitators' knowledge and understanding of best practice in youth mental health promotion and to increase their confidence in delivering the program. Design: A mixed methods evaluation assessed the impact that a solution-focused training program had on participating facilitators. Methods: A questionnaire was created and included eight quantitative items and one open ended, qualitative question. Twenty-seven nurses and guidance officers from central Queensland were recruited via convenience sampling and data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results: The evaluation revealed that participants' perception of their ability to facilitate a youth mental health program significantly improved after completing the training. Qualitative data indicated that participants found the professional development experience to be valuable, provide useful and transferable skills, and believed it to be necessary for mental health promotion work. Conclusion: By providing detailed description of the program's content and processes, other mental health professionals may be inspired to further develop effective learning experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: To investigate whether awareness of manual respiratory rate monitoring affects respiratory rate in adults, and whether count duration influences respiratory rate estimates. Background: Nursing textbooks typically suggest that the patient should ideally be unaware of respiratory rate observations; however, there is little published evidence of the effect of awareness on respiratory rate, and none specific to manual measurement. In addition, recommendations about the length of the respiratory rate count vary from text to text, and the relevant empirical evidence is scant, inconsistent and subject to substantial methodological limitations. Design: Experimental study with awareness of respiration monitoring (aware, unaware; randomised between-subjects) and count duration (60 s, 30 s, 15 s; within-subjects) as the independent variables. Respiratory rate (breaths/minute) was the dependent variable. Methods: Eighty-two adult volunteers were randomly assigned to aware and unaware conditions. In the baseline block, no live monitoring occurred. In the subsequent experimental block, the researcher informed aware participants that their respiratory rate would be counted, and did so. Respirations were captured throughout via video recording, and counted by blind raters viewing 60-, 30- and 15-s extracts. The data were collected in 2015. Results: There was no baseline difference between the groups. During the experimental block, the respiratory rates of participants in the aware condition were an average of 2.13 breaths/minute lower compared to unaware participants. Reducing the count duration from 1 min to 15 s caused respiratory rate to be underestimated by an average of 2.19 breaths/minute (and 0.95 breaths/minute for 30-s counts). The awareness effect did not depend on count duration. Conclusions: Awareness of monitoring appears to reduce respiratory rate, and shorter monitoring durations yield systematically lower respiratory rate estimates. Relevance to clinical practice: When interpreting and acting upon respiratory rate data, clinicians should consider the potential influence of these factors, including cumulative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To evaluate the effect of early-warning scoring system design on the speed and accuracy of scoring. Background Despite the widespread implementation of early-warning scoring systems in hospitals, the speed and accuracy with which chart-users determine patients' early-warning scores has received minimal research attention. Design Within-subjects, with scoring-system design as the independent variable. Methods Forty-seven novice chart-users were presented with realistic vital sign observations recorded on charts with three different scoring-system designs. The rows for recording individual vital sign scores were either: (1) grouped together beneath all of the vital sign rows; (2) separated, with each row presented immediately below the corresponding vital sign row; or (3) excluded altogether. Participants' response times and error rates for determining the overall scores were measured for 54 time-points per design. Data were collected in December 2012-January 2013. Results Contrary to predictions, participants responded fastest and made the fewest errors when using the chart design without individual vital sign scoring-rows. For the other two designs, participants were faster when the rows for scoring individual vital signs were separated (vs. grouped), but accuracy did not differ. For both of these designs, significantly more time-points were affected by scoring errors compared with adding errors. Finally, data for patients with more serious derangements yielded greater response times and error rates on all three charts. Conclusion Early-warning scoring systems may be more effective without individual vital sign scoring-rows. Even when charts are designed by multi-disciplinary teams of human factors specialists and clinicians, empirical evaluations are essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY Background Patients with end-stage kidney disease often have difficulty in adhering to aspects of their haemodialysis regimens. Objectives This study aimed to quantify the number of patients who attended 100% of their scheduled haemodialysis sessions, and the number of patients who gained no more than one kilogram per day between dialysis sessions, over a three-month period. Design Retrospective chart audit Participants Patients undergoing haemodialysis at an in-hospital centre in tropical Australia. Methods A renal nurse audited the 72 charts pertaining to a 12-week period in 2013. Results Patients attended 90.1% of all scheduled dialysis sessions. Forty-one patients attended all sessions, with the remaining 31 missing at least one scheduled session. One patient missed 16 scheduled sessions. The following were statistically less likely to attend all their scheduled sessions: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients; patients on a three times per week dialysis schedule; patients who had relocated from rural or regional towns and younger patients. The average daily weight gain ranged from 0.414 kg to 1.017 kg (mean = 0.885 kg). Younger patients were statistically less likely to adhere to fluid restrictions; patients without diabetes were more likely to adhere to the fluid allowances. Conclusions and applications to practice Renal services need to assist patients to adhere to their regimens. Initially, this service will examine strategies to maximise the likelihood of patients attending all of their dialysis sessions. Such an outcome will help to delay deterioration in the patients' health status, while minimising additional strain on the health service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

chaboyer w., ringdal m., aitken l. & kendall e. (2012) Self-care after traumatic injury and the use of the therapeutic self-care scale in trauma populations. Journal of Advanced Nursing 69(2), 286-294 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2012.06005.x. Abstract Aims. To report a correlational study of the relationship between gender, age, severity of injury, length of hospital stay and self-care behaviour in patients with traumatic injuries. Background. This study may provide a foundation for targeted nursing intervention and education programmes to help patients better recover from their injury, which is a fundamental aspect of nursing. Design. A longitudinal cohort study. Method. This study of patients hospitalized for traumatic injury was conducted from May 2006-November 2007. The Therapeutic Self Care Scale along with demographic and clinical data, were completed at 3 and 6 months after hospital discharge. Using data from the 3-month survey, the validity and reliability of the scale was calculated. Multiple regression was used to identify predictors of self-care at 3 and 6 months. Finding. Participants ( n = 125) completed the questionnaire at 3 months and 103 participants completed it at 6 months. Self-care was high on both occasions and high self-care at 3 months was related to high self-care at 6 months. Older participants reported higher self-care at 3 months compared with younger patients. Factor analysis of the scale revealed three clear components; taking medication, recognition and managing symptoms and managing changes in health conditions, which explained a total of 59·8% of the variance. The 10-item revised scale was reliable. Conclusion. The findings indicate that self-care remains fairly high and stable in the first 6 months after trauma. The revised Therapeutic Self Care Scale was valid and reliable in the trauma population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]