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Biomedical subjects

Gail J Mitchell

Publications and source records attributed to Gail J Mitchell.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Nursing shortage or nursing famine: looking beyond numbers?

There are numerous references in the nursing literature and in the popular press that offer description and commentary on the history, evolution, and future of the global nursing shortage. Authors express concerns about declining nursing numbers, nursing layoffs, diminishing student enrollments, faculty retirements, the aging workforce, and global recruitments. But what is missing in these articles and news alerts is a questioning about the substantive knowledge of nursing and what role this knowledge, or lack of, has in light of shrinking nursing resources. Of interest in this column are the meanings and messages that the nursing shortage has for nurses and for decision makers who will shape the direction of the nursing discipline. Issues connected with the global nursing shortage, or is it better thought of as a famine, are examined here in order to elucidate some points that may prove helpful for decisions of tomorrow.

Forecasting↗
PubMed2003

Mis-takes across paradigms.

In this column, the authors reflect on mis-takes across paradigms, misconceived or misunderstood meanings given and taken among scholars with differing worldviews. Mis-takes of paradigmatic perspectives, human science, distinctiveness, ways of knowing, and rationality are explored. It is proposed that mis-taken views of opposing perspectives are often deliberately advanced by scholars as ways to discredit the opposition, not to further dialogue. The authors call for an appreciation of difference in the context of the intellectual sparring and debating with regard to fundamental issues that characterize evolving disciplines.

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice↗
PubMed2003

Engaging the abyss: a mis-take of opportunity?

There are occasions when persons find themselves faced with a difficult choice to be with one or more persons as they live intense experiences that often involve pain and suffering. It is proposed in this column that the experience of choosing to be with others during these times calls forth a risking of self. That fleeting moment when people choose to engage with others or to turn away from that opportunity is explored through personal experience and as portrayed in poetry and film. The authors use the metaphor of an abyss to explore the lived experience of risking being with the truth of human connectedness. It is suggested that nurses know the abyss and that they have opportunities to be with persons as they live truth in human becoming.

Humans↗
PubMed2002

Waiting: the experience of persons in a critical care waiting room.

The purposes of this study were to discover the essences of the experience of waiting, to provide new knowledge about what it is like to wait, and to contribute to nursing knowledge. Participants were 12 persons who were family members or friends of persons in an adult critical care unit. The Parse research method was used to answer the research question: What is the structure of the lived experience of waiting? The central finding of this study was this structure: The lived experience of waiting is a vigilant attentiveness surfacing amid an ambiguous turbulent lull as contentment emerges with uplifting engagements. The structure is discussed in relation to nursing knowledge and in relation to how it can inform future research and practice.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Learning to practice the discipline of nursing.

This column addresses the issues of teaching and growing the discipline of nursing. Experiences of two undergraduate nursing students highlight the benefits and opportunities that accompany the teaching of nursing theories in undergraduate programs. The 3rd-year baccalaureate students, Kendra Fitzsimmons and Elspeth Ferguson, submitted papers from their York University nursing program to help demonstrate key points in this column. Their papers show thoughtful critique and passionate belief in nursing as a discipline and a basic science. Kudos to them and the faculty who inspired them.

Decision Making↗
PubMed2002

Ambiguous opportunity: toiling for truth of nursing art and science.

This article questions traditional boundaries between nursing art and nursing science and explores how nurses build knowledge and truth. A brief overview of familiar notions about nursing art is followed by questions that are meant to deepen understanding about nursing and the knowledge required for a discipline. Authors describe understanding as an event that heralds human creation of meaning and potential action. Art is then shown to be a way to enhance understanding and meaningful knowledge when woven with nursing theory to guide practice. Findings from Parse's research method are described as artistic expressions, and borders that have served to separate notions about nursing art and science are challenged. The hermeneutics of human becoming are presented as beacons for truth and understanding. Authors call for tolerance of ambiguity and openness to support dialogue and discovery.

Art↗
PubMed2002

Nursing knowledge and human science revisited: practical and political considerations.

The human science tradition is rooted in human freedom and meaning and oriented toward narrative and dialogical methods. In the past 10 years, human science nursing has grown but the opposition has also increased. Whereas other health disciplines are turning to the study of lived experience, nursing on the whole may be turning away. This article updates progress in human science, including works related to major nursing theories. The authors address practical and political considerations related to language, community, theory-laden knowledge, and tolerance for diversity. The authors conclude that the suppression of human science imperils nursing as a practice of being-with, witnessing, and cocreating quality of life, lived by nurses. But theories live in the actions of those who support them; thus, any place where people seek human care has the potential to support a human science-based nursing practice.

Humans↗
PubMed2002

Self-serving and other-serving: matters of trust and intent.

This column explores the notions of self-serving and other-serving in light of research activity and other innovations that have an impact on quality of patient care and focus of nursing practice, especially in healthcare organizations. Of particular interest are consequences of research activity and its impact on nurse and patient experiences. Academic health sciences centres, by virtue of their commitment to research, provide unique opportunities to examine the intentions and actions of staff in upholding interests of patients, or not. Matters of trust and the meaning for individuals and organizations are considered and nursing theory is described as the best framework for interpreting and evidence or best practice guidelines.

Altruism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

"Towering genius disdains a beaten path" Abraham Lincoln.

We see nursing leadership existing at all levels in nursing...all nurses leading. Nurse executives within academic health environments across Canada will be influencing health policy directions and dialogue within the profession nationally. They will be contributing to the development of a national agenda for nursing practice, education, research and leadership. These nurse executives will lead in a way that makes an invigorating impact on human service in health care environments and they will be dedicated to preparing the nursing leaders of tomorrow. The Academy of Canadian Executive Nurses will connect with the Office of Nursing Policy, Canadian Nurses Association, Canadian Association of University Schools of Nursing, Association of Canadian Academic Health Care Organizations and others to develop position papers regarding key issues such as patient safety, health human resource planning and leadership in the Canadian health care system. Our definition of professional nursing practice, fully integrated with education and research, will be advanced through these endeavours. The end result of a strong individual and collective voice will be improved patient outcomes supported by professional nursing practice in positive practice environments. This paper is intended to stimulate dialogue among nursing leaders in Canada, dislodge us from a long and traditional path, and place us firmly in a new millennium of leadership for the profession and practice of nursing, a style of leadership that is needed, wanted and supported by nurses and the clients we serve. It is the responsibility of those of us who lead in academic health science centres to be courageous for the students we support, the puactitioners we lead and the renewal of the profession. We are the testing ground for nursing research, and need to be the source of innovation for nursing practice. It is incumbent on us to leap forward to engage a new vision of the professional practice of nursing with a reconfigured work design and work environment compatible with the new economy, workplace and workforce.

Canada↗