Abstract: This article outlines some key aspects of the practice of a number of nurse educators and researchers, and their commitment to the needs of their specific region. The group has been based at the Waikato Institute of Technology (WINTEC) over the last decade and have worked collaboratively across primary health, cultural safety, and child and family health domains of the nursing curriculum. They share a common philosophy underpinned by notions of diversity and health equity. The philosophy informs their theoretical inquiry, practice and research interests, and pedagogical concerns. In this article, the nurse researchers begin by situating themselves within the region, its people, and influences before moving into a consideration of the wider political and policy environment. They then consider the destabilising effects of cultural safety education and the tension between biculturalism and multiculturalism in their context. Finally, they reflect on how these ideas inform their work with postgraduate child and family nurses.

Abstract: Psychiatric consultation liaison (PCL) nursing is an evolving specialist area of mental health nursing in the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand. The aim of this dissertation is to explore models of PCL nursing practice in order to develop and discuss a PCL nursing model applicable to the New Zealand context. The role of the PCL nurse was of particular interest to the author as a new practitioner in this specialist area. While there have been PCL nurses in practice for over 50 years, the literature does not offer much clarity about models of PCL nursing. From a review of the literature, four themes were recurrent in the work of PCL nurses. These themes represent four functions which are vital to the role of the PCL nurse: partnership, expertise of the PCL nurse, therapeutic relationship and organisational consultation. The needs of the patient are the core of this model and the primary objective is to improve the quality of care of patients in the general hospital with co-existing physical and psychological problems. It is imperative that PCL nurses evaluate their practice and embark on research to investigate clinical outcomes, cost effectiveness and the impact of PCL nurse practice on patients and staff. This PCL nursing model provides a beginning for this process. It also clarifies and articulates the role of the PCL nurse which enables the service to be promoted to colleagues. This PCL nursing model represents a critique of the author's understanding of the role of the PCL nurse. As expertise develops, the model will continue to be tested and refined.

Abstract: Undertakes an evidence-based practice pilot project to examine the effectiveness of simulation-based learning in teaching nursing students to become aware of the role of stress, anxiety and distraction in medication errors. Stresses the importance of medication-error prevention at the pre-licensure level, by increasing awareness of patient safety culture. Notes the need to teach nursing students self-awareness of the distractions and stresses within the clinical environment and therefore the need for self-care to avoid medication error.

Abstract: Participants for this study consisted of six Plunket Nurses from three Plunket operations areas within the North Island, varying in experiences from two to twenty three years, working with both urban and rural communities.

Abstract: The original aim of the study was to find out through a questionnaire what child health/paediatric nurses in New Zealand/Aotearoa saw as their needs for post-registration education. Nurses were completing courses in the United Kingdom and returning to New Zealand/Aotearoa and realising that their nursing capabilities had improved. They became senior nurses with education responsibilities and exhibited political leadership among their colleagues in the field of child health/paediatric nursing. They were becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of any clinical courses in the specialty of child health/paediatric nursing to promote an appropriate standard of practice. It was intended that a research project about post-registration child health/paediatric education would assist concerned nurses to develop a programme. The time needed for such a project did not fit with a limited research paper. It was decided to reduce the project to a review of the literature on competence in nursing, with some comment on the specialty of child health/paediatric nursing. In order for nurses to find what they need to learn and know, an understanding of competence in nursing practice is required. Competence is defined as the ability of the nurse to carry out specific work in a designated area at a predetermined standard. Issues around competence, defining a scope of practice, development and assessment of competence, and regulation of nursing, are part of the context in which accountability for the practice of nurses sits.

Abstract: This thesis explores the process of an annual appraisal strategy, 'clinical conversation', from the perspective of seven nurses who were assessed using this technique. The findings demonstrate that clinical conversation is a strategy which facilitates reflection, both as a solitary exercise and with others, to ensure that learning from experience is optimised. The research used a qualitative interpretive approach informed by the model of Grounded Theory espoused by Strauss and Corbin. All eight nurses who were assessed using the clinical conversation strategy were advanced practitioners working within the scope of sexual and reproductive health. Two of the actual appraisals were observed and seven of the nurses were interviewed within eight weeks of being assessed. The outcome of the clinical conversation was primarily one of learning; the acquisition of new insights into self as practitioner. The learning was facilitated through the process of narration; telling the story of clinical practice. Three distinct narrative cycles were identified, each an experiential learning episode. The experience of undertaking a variety of assessment activities created a narrative with self and triggered an internal reflective thinking process; the experience of working with a peer created an additional narrative, a mutual dialogue reflecting back on practice; the experience of sharing practice with an assessor created a further and final narrative, a learning conversation. Each narrative can be seen as a catalyst for change. Primarily, the nurses felt differently about themselves in practice, the way they saw themselves had shifted. Such a change can be described as an alteration in perspective. These alterations in perspective led all nurses to identify ways in which they would change their actual clinical practice. In this way the nurses attempted to align their espoused beliefs about practice with their actual practice. The author notes that the study shows that each nurse responded differently to each narrative learning cycle: for some the conversation with the assessor was more of a catalyst for change than for others. In this way clinical conversation may be flexible enough to respond to a variety of differing learning styles. Learning was person specific which is an imperative for the continued professional development of already highly skilled clinicians. The implication of the research is that whilst clinical conversation was designed as a tool for appraising clinical competence, its intrinsic value lies in supporting the professional development of nurses.