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Introduction: This debate essay proposes possible remedies to the shortage of nurses in acute inpatient mental health settings and draws inspiration from a Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing editorial, Glascott and McKeown (2022, 29, 767). Aim: The aim is to stimulate debate within the profession. The art and science of nursing continues to develop but staffing shortages in key areas undermine practice, leadership, academic and policy efforts to improve the quality of care for people attending services. Method: This is a debate essay which draws on the authors' experience and presents ideas based on extant literature. Results: Organisational, professional and wider societal challenges are explored. Practice‐based solutions as well as recommendations for improving the terms and conditions of employment of nurses are made. Opportunities which may empower the nursing profession are promulgated. Discussion: It is intended that this paper will provoke further discourse and may reflect the 'call to action' advocated by Glascott and McKeown (Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 2022, 29, 767). Implications for Practice: While the focus is on acute inpatient mental health nursing, the ideas presented may have an application to wider nursing groups or a wider cadre of public sector workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this scoping review is to synthesise current evidence around the clinical skill development of preregistration registered nurses (RNs) in Australia, United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, United States (US), Canada and New Zealand, to inform nurse education, policy and clinical practice. Background: Nursing is a practical profession, and registered nurses require specific skills, knowledge and attributes in order to care for patients safely. The context for health care delivery is shifting, and the education of nurses must adapt to effectively equip the registered nurse of the future. Design: A scoping review was conducted of clinical skill development in preregistration nurses. CINAHL Plus, MEDLINE, Health Source (Nursing/Academic edition) and Scopus were searched. Included studies were primary Australian studies and international literature reviews, which focussed on preregistration nursing education. Papers were written in the English language and focussed on clinical skill development. Results were synthesised narratively. The review is reported here in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐analyses Scoping Review extension (PRISMA‐ScR) guidelines. Results: One hundred fifty‐five Australia studies and 89 international reviews were included in the review. Six key themes were identified, namely clinical skills, approaches to teaching and learning, interprofessional education, assessment of learning, clinical placement and simulation. Conclusion: There is substantial variation in strategies and programmes to facilitate clinical skill development both within Australia and internationally, indicating a genuine shift away from traditional didactic pedagogy. New graduate registered nurses were expected to be "work‐ready," albeit at a novice level, when they enter the workplace. Future research should consider measures of impact on actual clinical practice and focus on developing work‐ready graduates for the range of clinical settings in which they may practice. Educators, policymakers and educational institutions can use these findings to inform curriculum developments to ensure that clinical skill development is evidence‐based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the views and experiences of final year BSc intellectual disability nursing students' journey, future work plans and examine factors influencing their migration intentions following graduation. Methods: A qualitative component of a mixed methods study where a focus group interview was conducted with final year BSc intellectual disability nursing students (n = 10) from one University in Ireland in June 2019. A topic guide was utilised, and participant's were interviewed about their programme, future work plans and migration intentions. An inductive approach was utilised, and data were analysed using a pre-existing framework for initial coding and thematic development. Duffy's conceptual model of identity transformation provided a structure to analyse the data and map themes onto the conceptual framework. Results: The findings were mapped onto the five stages of Duffy's (2013) conceptual model of identity transformation: Pre-Entry; Reaffirming; Surmounting; Stabilising and Actualising. Findings indicate that further work is required to promote intellectual disability nursing and address professional esteem issues, support for education and professional development, such as providing career guidance opportunities prior to course completion, development of clinical skills within their education programme and support for the professional development of new graduates. Participant's identified uncertainty about career opportunities and saw scope for future professional development opportunities particularly in community-based work. Conclusion: This study has identified that final year intellectual disability nursing students are uncertain about career options and opportunities for intellectual disability nurses in other country's. There is an urgent need for the intellectual disability nursing profession to articulate their practice and advocate for their role and contribution to the care of people with intellectual disability. This study identified a clear need for direction and information regarding intellectual disability nursing roles and career opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore the mobilization of nurses/midwives in a designated hospital group in Ireland during a global pandemic. Background: The recent global pandemic has resulted in the large‐scale worldwide mobilization of registered nurses and midwives working in the acute care sector. There is a dearth of literature reporting the mobilization of this professional workforce. Method: Mixed‐methods design using an electronic survey and facilitated discussion across one Irish hospital group. Results: Eight of 11 hospitals responded to the survey. There was a 2% vacancy rate prior to the pandemic. Mobilization included reconfiguration of clinical areas and redeployment of 9% of the nursing/midwifery workforce within 2 weeks of the pandemic. A total of 11% (n = 343) of nurses/midwives were redeployed in 3 months. Nurses/midwives required re‐skilling in infection prevention control, enhancement of critical care skills and documentation. Conclusions: Three key areas were identified to enable the nursing workforce readiness. These are referred to as the three 'R's': Reconfiguration of specific resources, Redeployment of nurses to dedicated specialist areas and Re‐skilling of nurses to safely care for the patients during the pandemic. Implications for Nursing Management: A centralized approach to reconfiguration of clinical areas.Redeployment is enabled by closing non‐essential departments.Hands‐on re‐skilling and reorientating staff are essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The 2008 financial crisis exacerbated an already mounting workforce challenge faced by most health services in the western world, namely the recruitment and retention of qualified nurses. Aim: This paper examines two additional challenges of relevance to workforce planning in health care, an ageing nursing workforce and reliance upon migrant nurses to solve short‐term workforce issues. Methods: Using Ireland as a case exemplar of these issues, this paper argues that policy makers and service providers should seek not only to address the challenge of retaining trained newly qualified and younger nurses but also focus on supporting older nurses and migrant nurses to remain within the workforce. Findings: The findings of this paper highlight the need for workforce planners, policy makers and service providers to take account of an ageing nursing workforce and reliance on foreign‐trained nurses as a solution to short‐term planning difficulties. Conclusion: Failure to address this need is likely to lead to significant workforce difficulties for health services into the future and undermine current efforts to increase the number and long‐term retention of qualified nursing staff. Implications for Nursing Policy: Policy makers and service providers should focus on the retention of trained older nurses as an important element of workforce planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health professionals, particularly doctors, nurses and midwives, are in high demand worldwide. Therefore, it is important to assess the future plans and likelihood of return of emigrating health professionals. Nevertheless, health professionals are, by definition, a difficult population to track/survey. This exploratory study reports on the migration intentions of a sample of doctors, nurses and midwives who had emigrated from Ireland, a high-income country which has experienced particularly high outward and inward migration of health professionals since the year 2000.Methods: Health professionals who had emigrated from Ireland were identified via snowball sampling through Facebook and invited to complete a short online survey composed of closed and open response questions.Results: A total of 388 health professionals (307 doctors, 73 nurses and 8 midwives) who had previously worked in Ireland completed the survey. While over half had originally intended to spend less than 5 years in their destination country at the time of emigration, these intentions changed over time, with the desire to remain abroad on a permanent basis increasing from 10 to 34 % of doctor respondents. Only a quarter of doctors and a half of nurses and midwives intended to return to practice in Ireland in the future.Conclusions: The longer health professionals remain abroad, the less likely they are to return to their home countries. Countries should focus on the implementation of retention strategies if the 'carousel' of brain drain is to be interrupted. This would allow source countries to benefit from their investments in training health professionals, rather than relying on international recruitment to meet health system staffing needs. Improved data collection systems are also needed to track the migratory patterns and changing intentions of health professionals. Meanwhile, social networking platforms offer alternative methods of filling this information gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical specialist (CS) and advanced practitioner (AP) roles have increased in nursing and midwifery internationally. This study explored clinical practice in sites with and without clinical nurse or midwife specialists or advanced nurse practitioners in Ireland.Methods: Using a case study design, interview, observational and documentary data from postholding sites (CSs or APs employed) were compared with data from non-postholding sites (no CSs or APs employed). Interviews and observations were conducted with postholders (n = 23), and compared with data from healthcare professionals (nurses or midwives, doctors) (n = 23) in matched services. Interviews were held with Directors of Nursing and Midwifery (n = 23), healthcare professionals (n = 41), service users (n = 41) with experience of receiving care or working with postholders, and non-postholders in matched services. The data were analysed using Nvivo (Version 8).Results: The findings suggest that postholders' practice appeared to differ from non-postholders' in relation to case management and service provision. Postholders were seen as having an impact on readmission rates, waiting lists/times, collaborative decision-making, continuity of care and workload management. Postholders' autonomy to manage caseloads was perceived to lead to smoother transition of patients/clients through the healthcare system. Service-users' self-reports appeared to appreciate the individualised holistic care provided by postholders. Postholders' role in facilitating person-centred care and promoting interprofessional team working, are essential elements in quality care provision and in global healthcare workforce planning.Conclusions: To meet changing healthcare demands, promote person-centred care, and improve service delivery, more specialist and advanced practice posts in nursing and midwifery should be developed and supported within healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

attree m., flinkman m., howley b., lakanmaa r-l., lima-basto m. & Uhrenfeldt L. (2011) Journal of Nursing Management 19, 786-802 A review of nursing workforce policies in five European countries: Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Portugal and United Kingdom/England Aim Review nursing workforce policies in five European countries: Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Background Imbalances in registered nurse (RN) supply and demand is a global, significant and recurring issue that impacts on healthcare systems, organizations, staff and patients. Method Policy Review using resources located by a systematic search of relevant healthcare databases and policies in Danish, English, Finnish and Portuguese over the time period 2003-2007. Content analysis was used to identify themes and compare policies. Results Common nursing workforce policy themes were identified across the five countries: (1) improving retention through effective human resource management, improving the practice environment and nurses' working lives and (2) improving recruitment through attracting more new recruits and RNs back to practice, and international recruitment. The present study also identified methodological issues relating to data quality and quantity. Lack of an agreed definition and standardized measures of nursing need and shortage makes comparison and evaluation of policy effectiveness and impact difficult. Implications for Nursing Management Healthcare systems and organizations need to identify and implement effective policies that promote the retention of RNs in the workforce, or risk threats to healthcare system sustainability, as well as patient care quality and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the policy context of the rise in the international mobility and migration of nurses. It describes the profile of the migration of nurses and the policy context governing the international recruitment of nurses to five countries: Australia, Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We also examine the policy challenges for workforce planning and the design of health systems infrastructure. Data are derived from registries of professional nurses, censuses, interviews with key informants, case studies in source and destination countries, focus groups, and empirical modelling to examine the patterns and implications of the movement of nurses across borders. The flow of nurses to these destination countries has risen, in some cases quite substantially. Recruitment from lower-middle income countries and low-income countries, as defined by The World Bank, dominate trends in nurse migration to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States, while Norway and Australia, primarily register nurses from other high-income countries. Inadequate data systems in many countries prevent effective monitoring of these workforce flows. Policy options to manage nurse migration include: improving working conditions in both source and destination countries, instituting multilateral agreements to manage the flow more effectively, and developing compensation arrangements between source and destination countries. Recommendations for enhancements to workforce data systems are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]