Toward an in-depth understanding of cardiovascular interventional nursing : a qualitative study into nursing within the cardiac catheterisation laboratory setting

Introduction: Nursing in the cardiac catheterisation laboratory (CCL) varies globally in terms of scope and deployment. In the US, all allied staff are cross-trained into all CCL roles. The Australian and New Zealand experience has legislative frameworks that reserves specific functions to nurses. Yet, the nursing role within the CCL is poorly researched and defined. Aim: This study sought to gain deeper understanding of the perceived role of CCL nurses in Australia and New Zealand. Method: A descriptive qualitative study using semi-structured in-depth interviews was used. A cross-sectional sample of 23 senior clinical nurses or nursing managers representing 16 CCLs across Australia and New Zealand was obtained. Data were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim prior to analysis by three researchers. Results: Five major themes emerged from the data. These themes were: 1. The CCL is a unique environment; 2. CCL nursing is a unique and advanced cardiac nursing discipline; 3. The recruitment attributes for CCL nurses are advanced; 4. Education needs to be standardised; and 5. The evidence to support practice is poor. Discussion: The CCL environment is a dynamic, deeply interdisciplinary setting with CCL nursing seen to be a unique advanced practice role. Yet the time has come for a scope of practice, educational standards, guidelines and competencies was expressed by the participants. Conclusion: Nursing in the CCL is an advanced practice role working within a complex interdisciplinary environment. Further work is required to define the role of CCL nurses together with the evidence-base for their practice.

A socially just rationale for an Australian curriculum? : a critical thematic policy analysis of political speeches in education (2007-2010)

In late 2007, newly elected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd placed education reform on centre stage as a key policy in the Labor Party's agenda for social reform in Australia. A major policy strategy within this 'Education Revolution' was the development of a national curriculum, the Australian Curriculum Within this political context, this study is an investigation into how social justice and equity have been used in political speeches to justify the need for, and the nature of, Australia's first official national curriculum. The aim is to provide understandings into what is said or not said; who is included or excluded, represented or misrepresented; for what purpose; and for whose benefit. The study investigates political speeches made by Education Ministers between 2008 and 201 0; that is, from the inception of the Australian Curriculum to the release of the Phase 1 F - 10 draft curriculum documents in English, mathematics, science and history. Curriculum development is defined here as an ongoing process of complex conversations. To contextualise the process of curriculum development within Australia, the thesis commences with an initial review of curriculum development in this nation over the past three decades. It then frames this review within contemporary curriculum theory; in particular it calls upon the work of William Pinar and the key notions of currere and reconceptualised curriculum. This contextualisation work is then used as a foundation to examine how social justice and equity have been represented in political speeches delivered by the respective Education Ministers Julia Gillard and Peter Garrett at key junctures of Australian Curriculum document releases. A critical thematic policy analysis is the approach used to examine selected official speech transcripts released by the ministerial media centre through the DEEWR website. This approach provides a way to enable insights and understandings of representations of social justice and equity issues in the policy agenda. Broader social implications are also discussed. The project develops an analytic framework that enables an investigation into the framing of social justice and equity issues such as inclusion, equality, quality education, sharing of resources and access to learning opportunities in political speeches aligned with the development of the Australian Curriculum Through this analysis, the study adopts a focus on constructions of educationally disadvantaged students and how the solutions of 'fixing' teachers and providing the 'right' curriculum are presented as resolutions to the perceived problem. In this way, it aims to work towards offering insights into political justifications for a national curriculum in Australia from a social justice perspective.

(Digital library) education or (digital) library education? An Australian perspective

Education for Library and Information professionals in the digital environment has been an important discussion point the world over. However, before designing and implementing a programme for digital library education, it is prudent that the skills and knowledge required to work in this environment are identified to enable informed decisions to be made. Hitherto, there has been very little research which has sought the opinion of both educators and practitioners on this topic, and none with a wide geographical coverage of Australia. This paper presents the key findings of research undertaken at Tallinn University in the first half of 2009.

Why are haemodialysis nurses satisfied also experiencing burnout?

Background Haemodialysis nurses work in a technological environment caring for patients over a prolonged period of time leading to the development of unique nurse-patient relationships. In order to improve retention of nurses in this specialised area of nursing it is important to know the factors that affect job satisfaction, stress and burnout and understand how these experiences are conceptualised by haemodialysis nurses. Aim To explore the factors contributing to satisfaction with the work environment, job satisfaction, job stress and burnout in haemodialysis nurses in Australia and New Zealand. Method A quantitative dominant sequential explanatory mixed method design was used. Quantitative data was collected using an on-line questionnaire containing demographic questions and pre-existing instruments examining job satisfaction, stress, burnout and satisfaction with the work environment. The qualitative phase involved semi-structured interviews. Results 417 nurses completed the questionnaire. Overall, nurses were satisfied with their work environment and the job that they performed but there were stressors in the haemodialysis setting that led to high levels of burnout. Key themes emerged from the qualitative data related to the physical environment, intensity of nurse-patient relationships, workloads, and coping with death and dying. The qualitative findings also provide possible explanations for the high level of burnout identified in the quantitative findings. Conclusion Explanation of areas where specific nurse and patient outcomes were affected will support the development of appropriate interventions to sustain a work environment conducive to job satisfaction that also alleviates stress and burnout in these nurses.

Job satisfaction, stress and burnout in haemodialysis nurses

Haemodialysis nurses provide health care for people with end stage kidney disease leading to a unique, intense and complex interaction between nurses and patients. This study involved the development of a model which explains the relationships between the work environment, job satisfaction, stress and burnout of haemodialysis nurses in Australia and New Zealand. Results from this study identified that haemodialysis nurses, while being satisfied by their jobs, were also experiencing high levels of burnout. This study's novel contribution could lead to improving the retention of the nursing workforce which is crucial due to the growing global burden of chronic disease.

Educating cultural heritage information professionals for Australia's galleries, libraries, archives and museums: A grounded Delphi study

This research explored the knowledge, skills, qualities, and professional education needs, of information professionals in galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) in Australia. The findings revealed that although full convergence of these sectors is unlikely, many of the skills, knowledge and qualities would be required across all four sectors. The research used the Grounded Delphi Method, a relatively new methodological extension of the Delphi method that incorporates aspects of Grounded Theory. The findings provide the first empirically based guidelines around what needs to be included in an educational framework for information professionals who will work in the emerging GLAM environment. As the first study of GLAM education requirements in Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region to take a holistic approach by engaging information professionals across all four sectors, this thesis makes a contribution to the GLAM research field and to information education generally.

Student performance in field education placements: The findings of a 6-year Australian study of admissions data

This article reports on a 6-year study that examined the association between pre-admission variables and field placement performance in an Australian bachelor of social work program (N=463). Very few of the pre-admission variables were found to be significantly associated with performance. These findings and the role of the admissions process are discussed. In addition to the usual academic criteria, the authors urge schools to include a focus on nonacademic criteria during the admissions process and the ongoing educational program.

Technical support and professional development : using remote desktops to address bottlenecks in music technology

This paper presents research findings about the use of remote desktop applications to teach music sequencing software. It highlights the successes, shortcomings and interactive issues encountered during a pilot project with a theoretical focus on a specific interactive bottleneck. The paper proposes a new delivery and partnership model to widen this bottleneck, which currently hinders interactions between the technical support, education and professional development communities in music technology.

Youth Festival Music Performance : Deception Bay

Research Background - Young people with negative experiences of mainstream education often display low levels of traditional academic achievement. These young people tend to display considerable cultural and social resources developed through their repeated experiences of adversity. Education research has a duty to provide these young people with opportunities to showcase, assess and translate their social and cultural resources into symbolic forms of capital. This creative work addresses the following research question. How can educators develop disengaged teenager's social and cultural capital through live music performances? Research Contribution - These live music performances afford the young participants opportunities to display their artistic, technical, social and cultural resources through a popular cultural format. In doing so they require education institutions to provide venues that demonstrate the skills these young people acquire through flexible learning environments. The new knowledge derived from this research focuses on the academic and self confidence benefits for disengaged young people using festival performances as authentic learning activities. Research Significance - This research is significant because it aims to maximise the number of tangible outcomes related to a school-based arts project. The young participants gained technical, artistic, social and commercial skills during this project. This performance led to more recording and opportunities to perform at other youth festivals in SE QLD. Individual performances were distributed and downloaded via creative commons licences at the Australian Creative Resource Archive. It also contributed to their certified qualifications and acted as pilot research data for two competitively funded ARC grants (DP0209421 & LP0883643)

At-risk students and classroom engagement : listening to “voices of possibility and hope"

In my work with secondary school students who have disengaged from mainstream classrooms, I have often been surprised at the ways they enthusiastically engage with the projects on offer. They have demonstrated that, in apparent contradiction of their classroom behaviour, they still maintain hope in achieving a positive outcome from education. In a long-running schools-university project employing a “students-as-researchers” approach to investigating educational disadvantage, “at-risk” students have produced high quality results. Naturally, I wanted to know what it was about this sort of pedagogy that seemed to work for them. In this chapter, then, I outline the project and discuss some reasons for disengagement. I then address the features of the project that the participants themselves have identified as being instrumental in their re-engagement with formal education. Finally, I consider how these features may be transposed to maintaining the educational engagement of at-risk students in mainstream classrooms.

Youth Festival Music Performance : Kingston

Research Background - Young people with negative experiences of mainstream education often display low levels of traditional academic achievement. These young people tend to display considerable cultural and social resources developed through their repeated experiences of adversity. Education research has a duty to provide these young people with opportunities to showcase, assess and translate their social and cultural resources into symbolic forms of capital. This creative work addresses the research question, how can educators maximise the social and cultural capital they help young people acquire through live music performances and studio recordings? Research Contribution - This live music performance, built on existing artistic reputations of the artists, saw the lads support one of their local heroes from Brisbane Hip Hop music scene. In doing so they showcased what their three years of concerted musical engagement can achieve within supportive flexible learning environments. The new knowledge derived from this research focuses on the academic and self confidence benefits for disengaged young people using festival performances as authentic learning activities. Research Significance - This research is significant because it aims to maximise the number of tangible outcomes related to a school-based arts project. The young participants gained technical, artistic, social and commercial status during this project. Individual performances were distributed and downloaded via creative commons licences at the Australian Creative Resource Archive. This performance also contributed to their certified qualifications and acted as pilot research data for two competitively funded ARC grants (DP0209421 & LP0883643)

Understanding rural and remote schools, and facilitating school-community relationships

Rural and remote schools make up a significant portion of Australian schools. Although there are rural schools that exceed 500 students, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2008) reports that 2,188 Australian primary schools have enrolment numbers less than 100. Rural schools need a supply of good teachers; however many universities involved in teacher education are located in city areas. For example, Queensland University of Technology is city-based, generating the highest number of early career teachers for Queensland including teachers for rural schools. Given the number of graduates and the number of rural schools, it seems likely that early career teachers will have opportunities for teaching in these settings, which also means living within a rural community. This chapter will discuss the nature of teaching in rural and remote schools, the challenges, the rewards and the importance of working closely with the local community. It is hoped that by understanding rural and remote schools, early career teachers can make informed decisions that will influence their future career prospects.