International journal of nursing studies
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The phenomenon of moral distress among nurses has been described in a variety of high-income countries and practice settings. Defined as the biopsychosocial, cognitive, and behavioural effects experienced by clinicians when their values are compromised by internal or external constraints, it results from the inability to provide the desired care to patients. No research has been reported that addresses moral distress in severely resource-challenged regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. ⋯ The experience of moral distress among nurses in Uganda differed somewhat from the experience of nurses in high-income countries. Constraints imposed by the inability to implement skills and knowledge to their fullest extent, as well as a lack of resources and infrastructure may result in the omission of care for patients. Moral distress appears to manifest within a relational and contextual environment and participants focussed on the impact for patients, communities, and the nursing profession as a whole, rather than on their own personal suffering. The opportunity for continuing education led to strategies to transform personal attitudes and practice as well as to enhance the presentation of the profession to the public.
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The aims of the paper are to examine the role of burnout in the relationship between stress factors related to nurses' work and social environment and intention to leave the profession and to investigate the nature of the relationship between burnout and intention to leave the nursing profession. ⋯ The results suggest that a dual strategy is needed in order to retain nurses within the profession: a decrease in job demands, coupled with an increase in available job resources. In particular, nurses' tasks and role should be restructured to reduce work overload and increase the meaning of their work.
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Effective teamwork and communication is a crucial determinant of patient safety in the operating room. Communication failures are often underpinned by the inherent differences in professional practices across disciplines, and the ways in which they collaborate. Despite the overwhelming international support to improve team communication, progress has been slow. ⋯ The development of shared mental models has the potential to improve teamwork in surgery, and thus enhance patient safety. This insight presents a critical first step towards the development teambuilding interventions in the operating room that would specifically address communication practices in surgery.
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Consumers with a mental illness have a significantly higher risk of physical health problems than the general population. The role of health behaviour beliefs and their part in the health of consumers with a mental illness has been poorly explored in the literature. ⋯ Consumers with a mental illness have a significantly higher risk for serious physical health problems, yet possess high positive attitudes toward their physical health care. Models of care need to explore this contradiction within mental health services to improve patient outcomes.
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The H1N1 Influenza A pandemic arrived in Australia in early May 2009. In Queensland, the highest number of H1N1 cases were admitted to the intensive care unit when compared with the other Australian states. While many recent studies examining the H1N1 pandemic have focussed on service delivery and disease epidemiology, few have explored the lived experiences of frontline health care workers caring for the patients in the intensive care unit. ⋯ Planning for a pandemic situation is invariably difficult due to the unpredictable nature of the event itself. Recommendations for future pandemic planning which can be drawn from this study include the appointment of a dedicated infection control representative to provide information and support regarding infection control matters; the maintenance of effective communication channels is crucial; and the increased staffing requirements across nursing, medical, allied health and ancillary staff to cope with the higher patient numbers and acuity must be anticipated and planned for.