Biomedical subjects

Cecil Deans

Publications and source records attributed to Cecil Deans.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Nursing education in Iran: past, present, and future.

Nursing education in Iran has undergone significant change since its genesis with foreign missionaries over one hundred years ago. More recently, following the 1979 Islamic revolution, nurse education has followed the direction taken by most other countries in moving from an apprenticeship model of training to an academic model. A series of transformative changes to nursing education specifically-and across the higher education system generally-has resulted in nurses now being able to undertake study across all university-based programs up to and including doctoral level. Contemporary nursing students have access to full-text professional journals through the internet, and they may pursue their doctoral studies in other countries. Although these improvements in nursing education in Iran are to be applauded, much more needs to be accomplished to ensure that highly competent nurse practitioners continue to be produced in this country. This article presents an historical overview of the development of nursing education in Iran, within its economic and sociopolitical contexts. Recommendations based upon lessons learned from historical and contemporary realities are presented in order to advance nursing education in this part of world.

Curriculum↗

PubMed2005

Medication errors and professional practice of registered nurses.

This Australian study identified and described the incidence of medication errors among registered nurses, the type and causes of these errors and the impact that administration of medications has on the professional practice of registered nurses. Mostly, medication errors were attributed to documentation issues, including: illegible handwriting, misunderstanding abbreviations, misplaced decimal point, misreading and misinterpreting written orders. Several human factors were attributed to potential causes of medication errors, including: stress, fatigue, knowledge and skill deficits. Environmental factors, namely, interruptions and distractions during the administration of medications, were also attributed to potential errors. The study found professional nursing practice involving administration of medications had a strong education, patient and ethical focus. Over a quarter of the respondents indicated that further training in medication administration would positively impact on their nursing practice. The registered nurses also highlighted they would appreciate more time to spend with patients when administering medications. Medication errors are not the sole responsibility of any single professional group, therefore, collaboration with other health professionals is central to establishing processes, policies, strategies and systems that will reduce their occurrence. The organisation and those nurses employed within it share an accountability to ensure safe administration of medications to patients. Based on study results, several recommendations are directed towards preventing or reducing medication errors and supporting nurses in providing best practice.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2004

University and service sector collaboration for undergraduate psychiatric nursing education.

Collaboration between the education and service providers assists with the development of enhanced clinical and educational experiences for students. This paper describes an innovative collaborative program developed by the School of Nursing, University of Ballarat and Grampians Psychiatric Services, Ballarat Health Services. Mental health clinical nursing staff are the student off-campus clinical supervisors and on-campus lecturers, supported by two jointly appointed co-ordinators. Program evaluation reveals that this collaborative approach assists in the provision of a supportive learning environment, increases enthusiasm about psychiatric nursing and draws on relevant mental health nursing skills in the university and service sectors.

Australia↗

PubMed2004

Raising awareness of fall risk among Chinese older adults. Use of the Home Fall Hazards Assessment tool.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Home Fall Hazards Assessment (HFHA) tool adjusted for Chinese homes to raise awareness of the dangers of falling among Chinese older adults. This descriptive study of 415 Chinese adults age 60 and older was completed in the older adults' homes in the community. The study was an assessment by nurses of hazards in the home setting using the HFHA. The hazards identified by nurses were compared with those reported by the elderly individuals. The study identified the most frequently found hazards in the homes and showed that a large discrepancy existed between the actual hazards assessed by trained nurses using the HFHA and the perceived hazards reported by the participants (p < .001). The study suggests that the HFHA can be an effective health education method and that the involvement of older adults in the assessment process will effectively raise their awareness of existing risk factors for falls in their everyday life.

Accidental Falls↗

PubMed2003

Nurse education in English universities in a period of change: expectations of nurse academics for the year 2008.

In England, the education of nurses in the academic arena has a relatively short history arguably representing recent advancement of the nursing discipline. Until we undertook this study, however, expectations for the next decade were unknown. The current investigation replicates a similar study of Australian nurse academics (Sellers & Deans, 1996) which found discrepancies between how nurse academics perceived the future development of the profession, compared to how they actually expected it to develop. In order to provide information concerning the future of nursing education in England and related professional and social factors, a random sample of nurse academics was surveyed. Findings indicate that although advances have been made, there are a number of concerns regarding the development of nursing as a discipline. These include parity of status with other academic areas, resource issues, the workload of nurse academics and the perception that there is lack of cohesiveness amongst nurses as a professional group. Findings in this study closely mirror results in the Australian study indicating similarities in how the nursing profession copes with the transition from a predominantly hospital based education program to a program grounded in academic institutions.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Effectiveness of a training program for ECT nurses.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly technical procedure requiring a team that consists of an anesthetist, a psychiatrist, a clinical nurse specialist, and recovery nurses. Traditionally, nursing education and training in the context of providing a safe and high standard of care has not been addressed. Ninety-two nurses from 42 different health agencies participated in a training program focusing on defibrillation, electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring, intubation, stimulus dosing, setting up the ECT equipment, and caring for the patient. A non-experimental, one-group, pretest-posttest research design was used in this study to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program for nurses working with ECT. Effective training for nurses was hypothesized to make a difference in the standards of practice and clinical effectiveness for patients undergoing ECT. Findings from this study indicated a major knowledge deficit in key components of ECT among nurses who have responsibilities in this area of nursing care. With effective training, nurses' confidence levels increased related to setting up the equipment, administering a double dose, helping with intubation, and using a defibrillator. If nurses are to effectively function as team members in the ECT procedure, they must receive the training necessary to prepare them for this important role. The results of this study support the recommendation of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists that ECT nurses should be appropriately trained in anaesthetic and resuscitation techniques and modern ECT practice.

Education↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Attitudes of registered psychiatric nurses towards patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

Caring for patients with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been identified as a problem area for mental health professionals with some studies suggesting that a diagnosis of BPD will influence the level and quality of interaction staff have with patients. It is inherent to psychiatric nursing that practitioners are able to establish rapport, develop trust and demonstrate empathy with consumers of mental health services. Despite the importance of this issue for psychiatric nurses and for consumers, the perceptions and attitudes of psychiatric nurses towards patients diagnosed with BPD have received almost no research attention. This paper describes findings from a study of attitudes held by 65 registered nurses employed in a psychiatric inpatient unit and psychiatric community service where individuals with a DSM-IV diagnosis of BPD received treatment. In particular, findings relating to Clinical Description, Emotional Reactions, Concerns and Management of patients with BPD are reported. Results show that a proportion of psychiatric nurses experience negative emotional reactions and attitudes toward people with BPD with the majority of nurses perceiving people with BPD as manipulative, almost one third reporting that patients with BPD made them angry and over one third either 'strongly disagreed' or 'disagreed' that they know how to care for people with BPD. Although psychiatric nurses face many challenges in providing care for patients with BPD, it is also of concern to the profession that one of the problems confronting people with BPD is the negative attitudes of those staff that care for them. Further research is necessary to identify appropriate service frameworks and clinical interventions that assist in more effective clinical management of clients of BPD.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Nurses and occupational violence: the role of organisational support in moderating professional competence.

OBJECTIVE: Occupational violence as experienced by professional nurses has been extensively researched. However, the majority of studies have focused primarily on psychological and emotional outcomes and have not identified any interventions that may reduce the impact of aggressive behaviour on professional competence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between organisational support, occupational violence and perceived professional competence of professional nurses in Australia. DESIGN: A model testing research design was used to test the hypothesis that organisational support, as experienced by nurses, would moderate the relationship between occupational violence and perceived professional competence. SETTING: Nurses registered in Division 1 of the Nurses Board (Victoria, Australia). PARTICIPANTS: A systematic random sample of 380 registered nurses from the target population of nurses in Victoria was identified. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The relationship between organisational support, occupational violence and perceived professional competence of professional nurses in Australia. RESULTS: The result showed that there was a significant effect of occupational violence on perceived competence. Analysis of the moderating effect of organisational support on the relationship between occupational violence and professional competence showed there was significant organisational support and occupational violence interaction. Overall, the data analysis demonstrated the hypothesis was upheld that the negative effects of occupational violence on perceived professional competence will be moderated by perceived organisational support. CONCLUSIONS: The failure to receive appropriate organisational support may result in lowering professional nurses' competence levels, causing a significant problem for the profession in that a reduction in professional competence has significant implications for patient care. The findings heighten the responsibility of the nursing profession to become more aware of the needs of professional nurses.

Adult↗