How do critical care nurses define the discharge planning process?

Background: Professional, political and organisational factors have focused attention on the discharge planning process in the Victorian health care sector. Discharge planning for patients, as part of continuity of care, is seen as a key concept in the delivery of nursing care. However, there is no question that discharge planning has emerged as a complex area of practice, and is, perhaps, most complex in the critical care area.

Aim: The study reported here is part of a larger thesis exploring critical care nurses’ perceptions and understanding of the discharge planning process in the health care system in the state of Victoria, Australia. As part of the survey participants were asked to define discharge planning as it related to the critical care environment in which they worked.

Methods: Utilising an exploratory descriptive approach, 502 Victorian critical care nurses were approached to take part in the study. The resultant net total of 218 participants completed the survey, which represented a net response rate of 43.4%. The data were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Findings: Three common themes emerged. A significant number of participants did not believe that discharge planning occurred in critical care, and therefore, thought that they could not provide a definition. There was uncertainty as to what the discharge planning process actually referred to in terms of discharge from critical care to the general ward or discharge from the hospital. There was an emphasis on movement of the patient to the general ward, which was considered in three main ways by first, getting the patient ready for transfer; second, ensuring a smooth transition to the ward and third, transfer of the patient to the ward often occurred because the critical care bed was needed for another patient.

Conclusion: The findings presented here suggest at a nursing level, the discharge planning process is not well understood and some degree of mutual exclusivity still remains. There is a need for further education of critical care nurses with regard to the underlying principles of the discharge planning process.

Public health planning for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games in metropolitan area health services

In addition to an increase in visitors to Sydney and movement to and from Olympic venues, many activities and attractions are planned throughout the Sydney metropolitan area for the period of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Public health planning and strategy development has been conducted at the NSW Department of Health, area health service, public health unit, and local government levels to ensure that all possible steps have been taken to mitigate public health risk.

Movement scaling in children with ADHD-combined type

Objective
The aim of the study was to investigate motor performance in children with ADHD using a size-scaling handwriting task.

Method
In all, 14 male children with ADHD and 14 typically developing (TD) children (age 7-15) wrote 10-mm and 40-mm cursive letter “l.”

Results
Children with ADHD were unable to maintain their writing accurately at 40 mm, falling short by several millimeters; this was not evident in the TD children. Children with ADHD also had slightly faster and more fluent writing than TD children.

Conclusion
It was concluded that children with ADHD have difficulties scaling handwriting movement in the larger 40-mm condition that may reflect poor planning and modulation of movement, despite having faster and more fluent movements.

Mapping potential risk for housing damage from ground movement due to climate change

The performance of footings in residential construction is influenced by the degree of ground movement, particularly in reactive soils, which is driven by the magnitude of change in soil moisture. New patterns of climate are affecting residential foundations and causing serious and expensive damage. This paper produces a map of potential risk for housing damage from ground movement due to climate change. Using a geographic information system, it combines information on (1) soil moisture change related to climate, using TMI as the indicator, and (2) population growth. Preliminary results, having Victoria, Australia, in the last decade as the case study, suggest that effects of climate change on soil, and resulting impacts on house foundations, are not being taken into consideration in current planning strategies for urban development. Most of the urban growth priority zones in the study area are susceptible to medium and high risk for damage. Producing new and renovated buildings that are durable in the long term is essential for the economy, environment and social welfare. The map presented here can assist policies and strategies towards urban resilience in the context of climate change.

Guidelines for using movement science to inform biodiversity policy

Substantial advances have been made in our understanding of the movement of species, including processes such as dispersal and migration. This knowledge has the potential to improve decisions about biodiversity policy and management, but it can be difficult for decision makers to readily access and integrate the growing body of movement science. This is, in part, due to a lack of synthesis of information that is sufficiently contextualized for a policy audience. Here, we identify key species movement concepts, including mechanisms, types, and moderators of movement, and review their relevance to (1) national biodiversity policies and strategies, (2) reserve planning and management, (3) threatened species protection and recovery, (4) impact and risk assessments, and (5) the prioritization of restoration actions. Based on the review, and considering recent developments in movement ecology, we provide a new framework that draws links between aspects of movement knowledge that are likely the most relevant to each biodiversity policy category. Our framework also shows that there is substantial opportunity for collaboration between researchers and government decision makers in the use of movement science to promote positive biodiversity outcomes.

Movement patterns of Sanderling (Calidris alba) in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and a comparison of methods for identification of crucial areas for conservation

Worldwide, most populations of migratory shorebirds are in jeopardy, none more so than those of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). In order to preserve these highly mobile species a detailed understanding of their use of feeding and resting sites along the flyway is required. In this study we used light-level geolocators and new analytical tools to reveal individual breeding locations and migration routes of 13 Sanderlings (Calidris alba) that spend their non-breeding season in South Australia. We then used these individual migration routes to identify the timing and location of important stopping areas and compared this with assessments based on resightings of leg-flagged birds and count data. During both northward and southward migration, Sanderlings were found to make extensive use of five main areas of the Chinese coastline, the Yellow Sea and the northern end of the Sakhalin Peninsula. Insights gained from the individual migration routes highlight inherent biases in using only count and resighting data to identify important feeding and resting sites along the Flyway. These findings suggest that data on individual movements may be crucial to effective conservation planning of shorebirds in the EAAF and elsewhere in the world.