Search

Purpose – The Copac Collections Management (CCM) project has been underway since 2011 with the goal of exploring how Copac can make a real difference for collection managers. By making Copac data work harder and building prototype collection analysis features on its extensive database, the collections management tools can provide valuable information from the catalogues of the UK’s major research libraries. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Developed to support staff in collection management activities the CCM tools offer a web-based collection management support service. It is a “grass roots” project designed to meet the needs of library practitioners and its development has been a community-based collaboration with extensive design input, consultation, feedback and support from the wider library community. Findings – This paper presents a case study showing how the tools are now embedded into “business as usual” at the University of York library. The case study reflects on how York is using the tools to assist: identify collection strengths and contribute to the identification of “unique and distinctive collections”; identify collection gaps and produce lists of potential titles for purchase; inform stock editing policies; review and prioritize work on “hidden collections”. The paper outlines the benefits of using the tools and considers lessons learnt. Originality/value – The paper offers an overall view of the tools and the potential uses by the UK higher education community. The case study will be of interest to libraries in exploring new ways to approach collection management issues, with a view to making efficient use of available resources.

In the world of cataloging, Resource Description and Access (RDA) is all the buzz. In the past couple of years, it has been difficult to have a discussion on cataloging practices without bringing u...

With relatively new staff in all the Troy University campus libraries technical services departments, it was critical to collaborate on policies and procedures for consistency. Developing an online manual housed on a wiki that could be used and contributed to by staff on all three campuses was essential to this goal. Multi-campus meetings and online discussions are additional methods we use to promote collaboration. This article will include a literature review of collaboration and wikis along with methods the Troy University Libraries Technical Services departments are using to establish communication across the campuses.

This paper reports the challenges experienced by nurse educators in changing a teacher-centred, content-driven approach to teaching and learning to a learner-centred, process-driven approach within a School of Nursing in Taiwan. While a general movement towards a learner-centred approach was achieved, the curriculum transformation process was complex and inevitably slow with many challenges. First the study is outlined, with the key challenges experienced by the participating nurse educators explicated and illuminated with excerpts drawn from the research data. This is followed by a discussion of possible reasons for the challenges and how they were overcome and the transition process from teacher-centred to learner-centred education facilitated.

The aim of the current study was to examine mature-aged student perceptions of university support services and barriers to study. Using a mixed methods approach, interviews and focus groups were conducted with mature-aged students to identify barriers to study, knowledge and use of current student support services, and suggestions to improve upon these services. From these data and an audit of university support services, an online survey was created to examine study barriers and patterns of support service use, as well as, perceptions of proposed support services not currently offered by the university within a larger sample of mature-aged students. Analysis of survey data indicated distinct patterns of barriers and support service use according to socioeconomic status as well as other demographic factors such as, age and enrolment status. Study findings are discussed in terms of generating support services for the retention of mature-aged students of low socioeconomic status and for the retention of mature-aged students in general.

Review Question: This systematic review seeks to establish what is best practice in prevention and management of aggressive behaviours in patients admitted to an acute hospital setting. More specifically, the objectives are to identify; 1) What are the most effective interventions in the prevention of aggressive behaviours in patients admitted to an acute hospital setting? 2) What are the most effective interventions in the management of aggressive behaviours in patients admitted to an acute hospital setting? Inclusion Criteria: Types of participants: This review will consider studies that include adult patients admitted to an acute hospital setting who exhibit aggressive behaviours. Aggressive behaviours will include verbal abuse, non-verbal abuse, violent behaviours and assault. Types of interventions: All studies evaluating the following interventions will be considered for inclusion in the review: Administration of PRN prescribed medications Restraining Clinician behaviours including: - Verbal communication techniques - Use of body language - Prevention and recognition strategies (eg. use of risk assessment tools) - Staff attitudes and skills Environmental controls (eg. minimising light, noise and conversations) Setting of limits for patients to follow Increase in staff numbers Type of outcome (if any): This component of the review will consider studies that include the following outcomes: Aggressive behaviour Staff injuries Patients absconding Stress/anxiety levels among staff Patient injuries Length of hospital stay Early detection of aggressive behaviours

Chronic nursing shortages have placed increasing pressure on many nursing schools to recruit greater numbers of students with the consequence of larger class sizes. Larger class sizes have the potential to lead to student disengagement. This paper describes a case study that examined the strategies used by a group of nursing lecturers to engage students and to overcome passivity in a Bachelor of Nursing programme. A non-participant observer attended 20 tutorials to observe five academics deliver four tutorials each. Academics were interviewed both individually and as a group following the completion of all tutorial observations. All observations, field notes, interviews and focus groups were coded separately and major themes identified. From this analysis two broad categories emerged: getting students involved; and engagement as a struggle. Academics used a wide variety of techniques to interest and involve students. Additionally, academics desired an equal relationship with students. They believed that both they and the students had some power to influence the dynamics of tutorials and that neither party had ultimate power. The findings of this study serve to re-emphasise past literature which suggests that to engage students, the academics must also engage.

This article describes challenges to effective collaboration encountered by nurse educators as they transformed a unit within a school of nursing in Taiwan. This study introduced collaborative action research as a vehicle for curriculum change. Although the team achieved positive outcomes in transforming a unit, the collaborative process was complex with four major challenges: meaning, time, work culture, and conflicting views. This article provides an overview of the study, and the major challenges posed by working together are expounded and illustrated with excerpts drawn from the study data. Possible reasons for the challenges, how these challenges were overcome, and facilitation of the collaborative process are discussed.

Undergraduate nursing students have often found clinical placements in aged care unsatisfactory and/or unsettling, dissuading them from considering aged care as an employment option on graduation. This study asked which elements of the clinical placement experience produced that outcome; and what changes could yield more positive outcomes.A descriptive qualitative pilot study was carried out in late 2003. A combination of nominal groups and semi-structured interviews was used with students and experienced nurses to identify commonalities and variations in issues nominated as important and in the views expressed on those issues. Transcripts were independently analysed by two experienced investigators. Themes identified were discussed among the researchers.Fourteen volunteer undergraduate nursing students, all of whom had completed clinical placements in residential care and some of whom had prior experience in such facilities, participated in the nominal groups. Twelve registered nurses who had acted as clinical teachers in aged care facilities were interviewed.Perceived issues included: unexamined assumptions about nursing's core skills; lack of pre-placement orientation to the residential care environment; the appeal of and apprehension aroused by autonomous practice; and status, income and career progression considerations.Analysis of the sometimes ambivalent and conflicting views expressed pointed to possible changes, all within the domain of training and employing institutions, capable of bringing submerged issues to the surface for examination and resolution as part of raising student understanding of gerontology as a demanding specialty and residential care as a rewarding career.

In this study we explored the hassles and uplifts (i.e. negative and positive emotional events) experienced by registered nurses, nursing assistants and personal carers working with people with cognitive impairment in community and residential healthcare settings in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The primary aim of the research was to explore what aspects of caring for cognitively impaired clients hassles nurses, what helps to relieve these hassles, what aspects of this work nurses find rewarding and what detracts from those rewards, as well as the intensity with which each of these aspects were felt. A questionnaire developed to explore hassles and uplifts at work was administered and 57 responses obtained. Results indicated that caring for the cognitively impaired client provides many uplifts for nurses and few hassles. However, the hassles that occurred were of high importance. This paper will be of interest to managers, nurses and carers in settings where there are people with cognitive impairment as well as scholars, who may find that assessing emotional hassles and uplifts provides additional insights into other areas of nursing.

This study aimed to assess baseline knowledge about mammograms and pap smears among Australian Deaf women, to investigate their participation in breast and cervical cancer screening services, and to explore, where relevant, their perceptions about their access to breast and cervical screening services. An interview schedule was developed, and a convenience sample of 13 Deaf women was interviewed face-to-face by the first researcher with an accredited Auslan interpreter. The Deaf women's knowledge about mammograms and Pap smears often was incomplete. However, most of the eligible women had undergone a mammogram and had been rescreened within the recommended time frame. Although most had received a Pap smear, some were not attending as recommended by the Cancer Council of Australia. This exploration into the experiences of Deaf women can prompt all nurses to consider the needs of particular minorities and the barriers they may face to participate fully in health services.

In this study we compared the ethical attitudes of a group of experienced, predominantly female, registered nurses (n = 67) with those of a group of final year, mixed sex, medical students (n = 125). The purpose was to determine the basis of differences in attitudes that could lead to ethical disagreements between these two groups when they came to work together. A questionnaire developed to explore ethical attitudes was administered and the responses of the two groups were compared using t-tests. Because of the preponderance of females among the nurses an analysis of variance of the gender-adjusted scores for each group was also carried out. On comparing the responses, the nurses differed significantly from the medical students in a number of ethical domains. A potential source of conflict between these two groups is that the nurses were inclined to adopt the perspective of patients but the medical students identified with their profession. When corrected for the effects of gender, the differences persisted, indicating that it was discipline that determined the differences. We recommend that students of nursing and medicine receive ethics education together, and that more open dialogue between doctors and nurses with respect to their different ethical viewpoints is needed in the work setting. This article will be of interest to educators of students of medicine and nursing, as well as to doctors and nurses who are eager to improve their professional relations and thereby improve patient care.

Resume Chaque societe a ses facons etablies de traiter la mort … aide aux endeuilles, sort fait au cadavre, dispersion de la propriete, remplacement dans les fonctions naguere assumees par le defunt … Notre societe n'y fait pas exception. Un souci nouveau s'est toutefois fait jour ces dernieres annees et c'est le comportement devant le deces proprement dit. Meme si nous resolvons un des principaux problemes du passe, la mort prematuree, nous sommes confrontes avec des aspects nouveaux. Ceux-ci sont la prolongation de la vie par notre technologie nouvelle, le droit de l'homme a accelerer le processus de sa propre mort, le droit a s'affranchir de la douleur au prix d'un abregement de la vie, l'isolement et la solitude de ceux qui meurent dans nos etablissements hospitaliers et le traitement impersonnel des proches qui s'appliquent a alleger les derniers jours de ceux qu'ils aiment.

A characteristic of social systems that has long fascinated scholars is the division of society into classes or strata based on variations in wealth, power and prestige. The United States is noted for its egalitarian ideology, its belief in the existence of a greater opportunity for social mobility than in other countries, and for its lack of class consciousness. Nevertheless, economic position varies widely within American society and location in the economic spectrum affects many aspects of social behavior and life opportunities. Variations in life styles, mating and sexual behavior, child-rearing customs, values and so forth have all been linked to socioeconomic or social class position.1-3 The evidence indicates that response to illness and receipt of medical care are also influenced by position in this stratification system4-6 although the data available are not consistent. Knowledge of the impact of social class position on health is especially important because, as Parsons7 has pointed out, education and health are fundamental to achievement because they condition the individual's capacity to exploit whatever opportunities society has to offer. Therefore, access to health and educational services becomes a central problem of justice in a society such as this, with its emphasis on achievement, and equality of opportunity to achieve. Knowledge of the factors