Victoria Parker

This paper reports on research undertaken for the Building Resilience for Bushfire-Affected Communities in Noosa Shire project, funded by the Australian Government. Being evacuated from a home in the path of a bushfire can be traumatic. Therefore, it is important for evacuees to have safe places to stay, both physically and psychologically. Using a qualitative approach, we aimed to (a) understand the experiences of people who were displaced from their homes and sheltered at evacuation centres during the Noosa Shire bushfires and (b) understand what support is needed during disasters, such as bushfires, to help create positive experiences for future evacuees. Twelve participants displaced by bushfires in Noosa, Australia, in 2019 recalled their experiences in semi-structured interviews (conducted in 2022–2023). Inductive thematic analysis using NVivo 13 identified three themes that can inform government and public disaster preparation and response: planning, support, and communication. Findings from this study centred around building community resilience and offer valuable insights for organising disaster evacuation processes and evacuation centres on a broader scale. For individuals, it involves planning optimal evacuation routes, gathering necessary personal items, feeling safe and calm in evacuation centres, and receiving regular and accurate communication from authorities during disaster events.

Regular assessment of the mood construct as an indicator of psychological wellbeing is used in Brazil to screen athletes for risk of mental health issues. The present study tested the psychometric characteristics of the Brazil Mood Scale (BRAMS) using both “right now” and “past week” response time frames and investigated between-group differences in mood based on athletes’ sex, age, and social vulnerability. Participants were 898 athletes (511 male, 387 female, age range: 12–44 years) from eight sports. The factorial validity of the BRAMS was supported using both response time frames independently and in a multi-sample analysis. Subscale reliability was supported for both time frames. Fatigue, depression, and tension scores were higher using the “past week” time frame than the “right now” time frame. Males reported higher vigor scores than females, and younger participants ( 0.05) were found between participants identified as socially vulnerable and those who were not socially vulnerable. Findings supported the psychometric integrity of the BRAMS and its use as a screening measure for psychological wellbeing among youth and elite athletes in Brazil.

Clinical practice is a key element of nursing studies programmes. Amongst its aims are familiarisation with medical equipment, appropriate use of clinical reasoning in a ward setting and calculation and delivery of patient medication fluids requirements. The setting for this is typically a simulated ward environment and is structured around group training. While this is cost effective, it does not cater well for minority groups and those wishing to train at their own pace. A number of group dynamic related social issues can also lead to students dominating others within the session. This can result in less than satisfactory learning outcomes for the remainder of the group. Other factors that come into play are the wide age range, social and ethnic backgrounds of the nursing student cohort. Recent Remote Access Nursing Laboratory work has shown a marked improvement in residential school assessment results in areas such as readiness to practice and clinical reasoning levels demonstrated for those students in the trial nursing RAL project. With the aim of further enhancing the effectiveness and at the same time reducing implementation costs an interactive IV pump emulator was developed. Enhancements included guided introductions, provision of additional scaffolding and inbuilt annotated assessments. This paper discusses the techniques used and general implementation of this system and reports on positive results of the conducted trials.

Historically, nursing students have shown great difficulty in mastering equipment during clinical practice sessions. A typical example is the Intravenous (IV) pump infusion driver. Traditional training methods have relied upon on-campus practical group training sessions. Recent work in this area has demonstrated that Remote Access Laboratories (RAL) can be employed to enhance nursing education by providing access to an IV pump driver learning activity. The prototype closely mimicked the interface and audible feedback of a commonly used IV pump driver; and controlled a peristaltic pump to deliver the prescribed rates and volumes. This project takes this approach a step further and investigates a completely emulated interface in the same RAL environment. The aim is to target five problem areas that were previously identified. These include the screen navigation and data entry of the IV pump driver; and the correct calculation and entry of medication volumes and rates from a standard fluid chart. To address these issues the learning environment was modified to include a guided learning mode, integrated scaffolding resources and facility of self-assessment. This paper discusses implementation and results of a pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach. Initial results are promising and show a distinct improvement in the practical capability of those students who participated in the trial.

â??Given the vast coverage area and dispersed population centres in which nursing professionals practice in Australia, Remote Access Laboratory (RAL) based learning activities would seem to be an ideal match. However while they are commonplace in engineering faculties; in other disciplines such activities are not widely used. This may well be due to the intricacies of these practicals not being as straightforward and readily reproducible as typical physics or science experiments. In our chosen case, the safe practice of intravenous pump driver operations and related clinical reasoning skills are important components for the training of both registered nurses and nursing students. The aim of this research project is to develop and trial remote access technologies that enable nursing students to test their knowledge, skills, and clinical reasoning with intravenous infusion pump drivers. This has been possible by extending the concept of RAL from a physical and tangible experiment, to more conceptual experimentation in any form conducted remotely. In such a context clinical reasoning becomes possible. This paper discusses a prototype system that has been built with collaborative input from the Faculty of Engineering and Surveying and the Department of Nursing and Midwifery. An initial evaluation with a group of nursing students has been completed to assess if such activities can assist with the training of student nurses. Previous work has identified the need to scaffold learning activities that rely on RAL technology; the key conclusion in this paper is that in the context of nursing this has to be taken a step further. RAL activities here require contextualisation to become an effective learning tool.

Remote Access Laboratory (RAL) based learning activities are commonplace in engineering faculties; in other disciplines such activities are not widely used. Practicing safe-installations of intravenous pump driver setups and related clinical reasoning skills are important components for the training of nurses. The aim of this research project is to develop and trial remote access technologies that enable nursing students to test their knowledge, skills, and clinical reasoning with intravenous infusion pump drivers. This has been possible by extending the concept of RAL from a physical and tangible experiment, to more conceptual experimentation in any form conducted remotely. In such a context clinical reasoning becomes possible. This paper discusses a prototype that has been build through collaboration betweens the Faculty of Engineering and Surveying and the Department of Nursing and Midwifery. An initial evaluation with a group of nursing students has been completed to assess if such activities can assist with the training of student nurses. Previous work has identified the need to scaffold learning activities that rely on RAL technology; the key conclusion in this paper is that in the context of nursing this have to be taken a step further. RAL activities here require contextualisation to become an effective learning tool.

Aims and objectives: Through comparison of two studies undertaken three years apart the opinions of nurses working in aged care facilities in Queensland were determined. Results will support policy planning for the Queensland Nurses Union.\ud Background: An ageing population in Australia is placing increased demands on residential aged care facilities. In Queensland the national situation is exacerbated by an influx of retirees from other states and territories. The ongoing problem of shortages of nurses in the workforce may be addressed by gaining further insight into the nurses’ own views of their conditions and experiences. \ud Methods: 1000 nurses working in public and privately owned residential aged care facilities were surveyed by postal questionnaire in 2004. Results were compared with data collected in an identical study in 2001.\ud Results: Respondents offered their opinions on working hours and conditions, professional development and experiences in nursing. The predominately female aged care nursing workforce is aging. Reported work place violence has increased substantially since 2001. Some improvements are reported in staff numbers, skill mix and workplace policies. Nurses expressed very serious concerns about pay, workload, stress, physical and emotional demands and staff morale.\ud Conclusion: Working conditions for nurses in the residential aged care sector in Queensland must be addressed in order to retain the current nurses and to encourage new nurses to replace those that retire. \ud Relevance to clinical practice: The findings of this study provide information not only for the Queensland Nurses Union but also policy makers and nurse managers both nationally and internationally on areas that need to be addressed to maintain the required workforce within the aged care sector

Data were collected on tenure, mobility and retention of the nursing workforce in Queensland to aid strategic planning by the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU). Shortages of nurses negatively affect the health outcomes of patients. Population rise is increasing the demand for nurses in Queensland. The supply of nurses is affected by recruitment of new and returning nurses, retention of the existing workforce and mobility within institutions. A self-reporting, postal survey was undertaken by the QNU members from the major employment sectors of aged care, public acute and community health and private acute and community health. Only 60% of nurses had been with their current employer more than 5 years. In contrast 90% had been in nursing for 5 years or more and most (80%) expected to remain in nursing for at least another 5 years. Breaks from nursing were common and part-time positions in the private and aged care sectors offered flexibility. The study demonstrated a mobile nursing workforce in Queensland although data on tenure and future time in nursing suggested that retention in the industry was high. Concern is expressed for replacement of an ageing nursing population.