Report of the Community Integrated Living Arrangement Nursing Services Reimbursement Work Group to the Secretary of the Department of Human Services, the Illinois General Assembly, and the Honorable Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor : in response to Senate Resolution 514 /

This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Work Group; it evaluates the Division of Developmental Disabilities' CILA rate model in terms of the sufficiency of nursing services included in the model, as well as the competitiveness of the wage levels assumed by the model for nurses working in the CILAs. In accordance with Resolution 514, the report is the product of the Working Group's discussions and requests for information and has been facilitated by the Department of Human Services, Division of Developmental Disabilities. As such, the report does not represent the recommendations of the Department of Human Services, nor can the Department of Human Services make any commitment to implement any of the report recommendations or commit funding without executive and legislative direction and a funding appropriation. However, the recommendations of the Work Group are consistent with the nursing services structures of the CILA rate-model and would enhance nursing services reimbursement in CILA, if adopted.

The economic impact of section 21 (H) of the Environmental Protection Act of the State of Illinois, proposed regulation R80-19 /

Project no.: 80.244.

The pursuit of nursing home excellence : an examination of the efforts of the State of Illinois to improve the quality of nursing home care /

Cover title: Long term care facilities issues : past, present, future.

Controller structure and design of firing angle controllers for (unit connected) HVDC systems

This paper investigates the control of a HVDC link, fed from an AC source through a controlled rectifier and feeding an AC line through a controlled inverter. The overall objective is to maintain maximum possible link voltage at the inverter while regulating the link current. In this paper the practical feedback design issues are investigated with a view of obtaining simple, robust designs that are easy to evaluate for safety and operability. The investigations are applicable to back-to-back links used for frequency decoupling and to long DC lines. The design issues discussed include: (i) a review of overall system dynamics to establish the time scale of different feedback loops and to highlight feedback design issues; (ii) the concept of using the inverter firing angle control to regulate link current when the rectifier firing angle controller saturates; and (iii) the design issues for the individual controllers including robust design for varying line conditions and the trade-off between controller complexity and the reduction of nonlinearity and disturbance effects

Where do drama teacher’s come from? Initial investigations into the formation of professional identity

The article reports on research into what may have influenced trainees on four post-graduate teacher training courses in England to become specialist drama teachers rather than pursue careers in the world of professional entertainment. It goes on to explore how the trainees regarded an understanding of performance, and an ability to both use and demonstrate performance techniques, as integral to their professional role. The subsequent discussion examines how a drama teacher’s professional identity may be seen as being made up of the three inter-connected elements, self, role and character. While all teaching may be regarded as a performing art, this paper suggests that, for the drama specialist, an understanding of what constitutes ‘performance’ has a particular importance. A conclusion drawn from the research is that recognising the place of performance in their practice may result in experienced teachers of drama regarding themselves as artists whose art is teaching drama.

The diversity of critical care nursing education in Australian universities

A range of critical care nursing educational courses exist throughout Australia. These courses vary in level of award, integration of clinical and academic competence and desired educational outcomes; this variability potentially leads to confuson by stakeholders regarding educational and clinical outcomes. The study objective was to describe the range of critical care nursing courses in Australia. Following institutional ethics approval, all relevant higher education providers (n=18) were invited to complete a questionnaire about course structure, content and nomenclature. Information about desired professional and general graduate characteristics and clinical competency was also sought.

A total of 89% of providers (n=16) responded to the questionnaire. There was little consistency in course structure in regard to the proportion of each programme devoted to core, speciality or generic subjects. In general, graduate certificate courses concentrated on core aspects of critical care, graduate diploma courses provided similar amounts of critical care core and speciality content, while master's level courses concentrated on generic nursing issues. The majority of courses had employment requirements, although only a small proportion specified the minimum level of critical care unit required for clinical experience. The competency standards developed by the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) were used by 83% of providers, albeit in an adapted form, to assess competency. However, only 60% of programmes used personnel with a combined clinical and educational role to assess such competence.

In conclusion, stakeholders should not assume consistency in educational and clinical outcomes from critical care nursing education programmes, despite similar nomenclature or level of programme. However, consistency in the framework for speciality nurse education has the potential to prove beneficial for all stakeholders.

Phenomenon of ordinariness in nursing

This phenomenological research aimed to illuminate the nature and effects of ordinariness in nursing and to discover whether the phenomenon enhanced the nursing encounter. The researcher worked as a participant observer with six registered nurses in a Professorial Nursing Unit. Following each interaction, the researcher wrote her impressions in a personal-professional journal and audiotaped conversations with the respective nurses and patients to gain their impressions. Using a theoretical framework of the phenomenological concepts of lived experience, Dasein, Being-in-the-world and fusion of horizons as an underpinning methodology, an initial hermeneutical analysis and interpretation of the impressions generated qualities and activities indicative of the aspects of the phenomenon of ordinariness in nursing. The second phase of the analysis and interpretation sought to illuminate the nature of the phenomenon itself. Eight actualities of the nature of the phenomenon emerged: 'allowingness,' 'straightforwardness,' 'self-likeness,' 'homeliness,' 'favourableness,' 'intuneness,' 'lightheartedness' and 'connectedness.' These actualities were described in relation to the phenomenon of interest. The effects of the phenomenon were the creative potential to enhance the nursing encounter and included many and various effects of facilitation, fair play, familiarity, family, favouring, feelings, fun and friendship. The research found that nurses and patients shared a common sense of humanity, which enhanced the nursing encounter. Within the context of caring, the nurses were ordinary people, perceived as being extraordinarily effective, by the very ways in which their humanness shone through their knowledge and skills, to make their whole being with patients something more than just professional helping. The shared sense of ordinariness between nurses and patients made them as one in then- humanness and created a special place, in which the relative strangeness of the experience of being in a health care setting, could be made familiar and manageable.

The impact of the expanded nursing practice on professional identify in Denmark

Purpose: This article explores the concept of professional identity of Danish nurses working in an expanded practice. The case study explores the experiences of a small group of Danish nurses with a new professional category that reaches into a domain that customarily belonged to physicians. The aim of this case study was to explore the impact of “nurse consultations,” representing an expanded nursing role, of 5 nurses focusing on their perception of autonomy, self-esteem, and confidence.


Methods: The case study used semistructured interviews with 5 participants triangulated and validated with participant observations, a focus group interview, and theoretically derived insights.


Findings: This study indicates that nurses working within a new expanded professional practice see themselves as still engaged in nursing and not as substitute physicians. The study also suggests that the involved nurses gained a higher sense of autonomy, self-esteem, and confidence in their practice. These elements have a positive impact on their professional identity.


Conclusion: The research demonstrates that for the nurses involved in expanded professional practice, the boundaries of professional practice have shifted significantly. The research indicates that an expanded practice generates a new domain within the professional identity of nurses.