Hendry, C., & East, S. (2013). Impact of the Christchurch earthquakes on clients receiving health care in their homes. Available through NZNO library, 4(1), 4–10.
Abstract: Eighteen months after the first of many large earthquakes, Christchurch-based home health care provider Nurse Maude surveyed staff to identify the impact on the well-being of their mainly elderly clients. Responses from 168 staff identified five key issues. These were: mental health, anxiety, and depression, symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); unsafe environments; loneliness and isolation; difficulty coping with change; and poor access to services. To meet the needs of clients in this challenging environment, staff felt they needed more time to care, including listening to stories, calming clients and dealing with clients who had become slower and more cautious. Damaged and blocked roads, and the fact that many clients moved house without warning, added to the time it took to deliver care in the home. This survey has helped Nurse Maude build on its initial post-earthquake responses to better meet the needs of clients and support health-care workers in this stressful environment.
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Seaton, L., Seaton, P., & Yarwood, J. (2013). Preparedness: Lessons for educators from the Christchurch disaster. Available through NZNO library, 4(1), 11–16.
Abstract: This study describes the impact of a sudden, traumatic natural disaster on a bachelor of nursing programme, and the capacity and processes required to minimise disruption to programme delivery and student learning. This descriptive case study, undertaken across 2011-2012, collected data through interviews, a survey and artefact collection. Six key themes emerged from the inductive and descriptive statistical analyses: context; communication; leadership and followership; decision making; the need to balance shifting priorities around professional responsibilities and personal imperatives; and taking action and action plans. The conclusions reached emphasise safety as the first priority, encourage personal risk mitigation, and emphasise the importance of ongoing support and flexibility for all staff and students as well as the need for clear communication and decision-making. What is perhaps most important to take from this experience is that a plan does not, by itself, equal preparedness; every institution must look to its own context, consider its own priorities, and formulate its own approach to preparedness.
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Salt, L. (2013). Evaluating critical care outreach and the early warning score tool ? The ward nurse?s viewpoint. Available through NZNO library, 4(1), 17–24.
Abstract: The aim of this research was to ascertain the opinions of ward nurses (registered and enrolled nurses) on a critical care outreach (CCO) service and the early warning score (EWS) tool and how CCO helps them care for ward patients whose condition is deteriorating. An 18-item Likert scale questionnaire was adapted to gain opinions on three aspects of the service: The usability of the EWS tool and the escalation protocol; the role and usefulness of the critical care outreach nurse (CCON); and education and sharing of critical care skills. The research was conducted in a 270-bed New Zealand hospital with a nurse-led outreach team. The survey was distributed to adult general wards. It found 45 percent of ward nurses found EWS useful in identifying patients whose condition was deteriorating, 58 percent found EWS easy to use and 82 percent found EWS helped them prioritise workloads. On the role and usefulness of the CCON, 41 percent of surveyed nurses found the post-ICU review helpful, 65 said CCONs were approachable, 71 percent found the CCON shift time of 3pm-11pm was useful, 69 percent said the CCON demonstrated sound clinical knowledge, and 54 percent rated CCONs teaching as sufficient for their needs. When CCO was present, nurses were able to formulate an effective management plan for potentially deteriorating patients and acquired critical care skills needed to manage such patients. The results are comparable with other research which sought nurse opinion of CCO. It indicates nurses believe CCO to be instrumental in increasing critical care skills to prevent deterioration in the clinical area.
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Ha, I., Huggard, P., & Huggard, J. (2013). Staff support and quality of care provided by palliative care nurses: A systematic literature review. Available through NZNO library, 4(1), 25–32.
Abstract: There is a considerable body of literature discussing the stressors experienced by nurses and other health professionals when caring for those who are terminally ill and dying. Also, a number of articles offer suggestions, including the views of staff, as to what type of professional and organisational support is required when working in this often demanding specialty. There are, however, very few reports of assessment of the effectiveness of such supportive interventions and in particular, the impact of such support on the quality of patient care. This literature review examines any reported relationships between the quality of nursing provided by palliative care nurses and the staff support received by those nurses.
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Gifford, H., Walker, L., Clendon, J., Wilson, D., & Boulton, A. (2013). Maori nurses and smoking; Conflicted identities and motivations for smoking cessation. Available through NZNO library, 4(1), 33–38.
Abstract: This research aims to design and test the feasibility of an intervention promoting smoking cessation, and reducing smoking relapse, among Māori nurses who smoke. It is being conducted in two phases. Phase one, a national web-based survey, conducted in December 2012, explored the views of Māori nurses (smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers) regarding smoking. This paper reports on the analysis of qualitative responses from 410 nurses and nursing students identifying as Māori who completed an online survey. Five themes were identified: beliefs about smoking; ?for our tamariki?; personal stories of quitting; dissatisfaction with current approaches; and plans for future strategies. The findings confirm that nurses who smoke may experience feelings of conflict, and regard their behaviour as inconsistent with their role as nurses and health promoters. Nurses who smoke must be supported to become, and to stay, smokefree. Tailored Māori-specific cessation initiatives are needed.
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Litchfield, M. (1992). Computers and the form of nursing to come. (Vol. Proceedings of the Inaugural National Nursing Info, pp. 81–90).
Abstract: A paper presented at the annual conference of Nursing Informatics New Zealand (subsequently incorporated into the collective organisation, Health Informatics NZ).
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Litchfield, M. (1997). The language of nursing practice in hospitals. (Vol. Proceedings of the National Nursing Informatics Co).
Abstract: A paper presenting the findings of a small research project involving a group of self-selected senior nurses of Wellington Hospital to explore the nature of nursing practice in the care and management of hospitalised patients and to formalise the language that would acknowledge its significance in the current effort of hospitals to define patient care pathways. The nature of hospital nursing practice was described in themes of a generic process of nurse-patient care that articulates a distinct specialism of hospital nursing, whatever the hospital department in which nurses hold positions.
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Litchfield, M. (2004). Achieving health in a rural community: A case study of nurse – community partnership. Wellington: Litchfield Healthcare Associates.
Abstract: This study describes rural, nurse-led health services provided by the Takapau Health Centre (Central Hawkes Bay) and its outreach, Norsewood & District Health Centre. The study looks at its model of service delivery through to 2002. It examines the establishment, development, funding and management of the service, along with the nursing practice and the healthcare people received. The book is a snapshot of nursing initiative and survival through a decade of change in health policy and service funding and delivery. The information was subsequently used to move the health centre service into the new paradigm of primary health care launched in the New Zealand Health Strategy.
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