bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Recruitment, retention and representation of nurses: an historical perspective
Authors: Kirby Stephanie 
Published: September 2009

Aims and objectives. To demonstrate how an appreciation of the history of nursing can help towards an understanding of present problems and provide signposts for the future and to consider the recruitment of nurses in the context of their social and economic status past and present.Background. In the twenty‐first century, nursing has been subject to the gaze of the press and commentators evoking a lost golden age. A golden age when wonderful care was given by ideal young women and standards were upheld by matrons. History demonstrates that recruitment to nursing and their education has been the subject of comment by press and public through the twentieth century.Design. Sources consulted: Newspaper articles commentating on contemporary nursing, secondary works on history of nursing, archival sources, government reports and historical journals and oral histories.Methods. Analysis of archival sources and oral sources. Interrogating them against the historiography and building up the interconnectedness of what they reveal.Results. Flawed but nevertheless influential reports led to a misrepresentation of nursing based on misconceptions rather than on evidence. The blame was laid, unfairly, on the system of nurse education and senior nurses. What lay at the heart of the recruitment crises was that demand for registered nurses exceeded supply.Conclusion. Commentators then as now tried to find simplistic answers rather than consider a range of factors contributing to the shortage of nursing.Implications for contemporary practice/relevance to clinical practice. Nursing continues to compete in an overcrowded labour market. New approaches to recruitment have, contrary to popular perception, been successful in attracting outside its traditional labour pool. Having an awareness of the influences that have shaped the present can help nurses respond to polemic and misinformed opinion.
‘The geriatric hospital felt like a backwater’: aspects of older people’s nursing in Britain, 1955–1980
Authors: Brooks Jane 
Published: September 2009

Aims and objectives.  The aim of this article is to examine the experiences of ward‐level nurses who cared for older people in general hospitals between 1955–1980.Background.  There is very little published on the history of older adult nursing and no recent material from the United Kingdom. There are, however, the works of Cecily Hunter in Australia and Erica Roberts in Canada. It is the intention of this study to contribute to this important area of research.Design.  This is an oral history project in which 20 nurses who had worked on older adults ward between 1955–1980 were interviewed.Methods.  All the interviews were taped, transcribed and data‐themed. Ethical clearance for the project was obtained from the University Ethics Committee and all participants were anonymised.Results.  Many of the nurses found the experience very difficult, though there were exceptions. Several participants had worked on older adults ward during their training and then had never wanted to return. Most described a paucity of resources and longevity of staff on the wards.Conclusions.  Using the sociological theory of Erving Goffman, this article introduces a novel method of understanding nursing history, although his ideas have been used in medical history. The value of his theories for this study is in the identification of nurses as being part of the same system as the patients themselves.Implications for contemporary policy, research and/or practice.  For nurses to care effectively for their patients, nurses themselves must be valued. Subordination and regimentation tend to dehumanise the carers which, in turn, dehumanises the cared for.
A challenge to nursing: an historical review of intellectual disability nursing in the UK and Ireland
Authors: Sweeney John , Mitchell Duncan 
Published: September 2009

Aims.  The aim of this paper is to provide an account of the early development of what was originally known as ‘mental deficiency’ nursing in the UK and Ireland.Background.  After a brief review of research literature, it analyses key issues behind the development of a workforce positioned on the margins of nursing in the two jurisdictions through a comparative discussion of similarities and differences.Design.  The paper draws on two doctoral studies that examined the development of intellectual disability nursing using an historiographical design.Methods.  Primary sources consulted included records of nursing regulatory bodies, national archives, Royal College of Psychiatrists, archives, nursing journals, individual institutional records in both jurisdictions.Results.  In both countries, psychiatrists established early training programmes for nurses, although a nursing model was adopted to meet service needs in the 1950s.Conclusions.  However, the way in which this branch of nursing developed laid the foundation for tensions as to whether it is appropriately located within the discipline of nursing. Ireland’s colonial past and postcolonial position, the role of the church, welfare systems and diverse socio‐political drivers for change represent key differences between the two jurisdictions.Implications.  What eventually became known as learning or intellectual disability nursing poses a continued challenge for the profession as a whole in regard to its breadth, role and focus in working with marginalised groups in society. The paper considers the risks for UK and Irish intellectual disability nurses for marginalisation in nursing should they forge closer links to other disciplines concerned with common threads of disability, education or social care.
‘I am willing to take the risk’: politics, policy and the translation of the hospice ideal
Authors: Buck Joy 
Published: September 2009

Aims.  To analyse the processes by which the hospice concept was translated into a reimbursable model of care in the USA and what was gained and what was lost in translation.Background.  Existing scholarship of the modern hospice movement typically focuses on the contributions of physicians to its inception and development. However, very little is known about the multifaceted role of nurses in the development of hospice care and the impact of Medicare policy on contemporary hospice care in the USA.Design.  Primary data were collected and interpreted using a blended social/policy history framework.Methods.  Archival data were drawn from the papers of individuals and organisations integral to the American hospice movement; Congressional testimony; and, primary and secondary research data and reports. Interviews with key individuals were taped and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed for emergent patterns, themes and subthemes. These were then contextualised within historiographical framework of twentieth century healthcare reforms.Results.  Nurses were central to the inception and development of hospice care in the United States. While they were intricately involved with most aspects of the hospice movement and helped to frame the policy debate, they were ultimately unable to wholly determine national policy or extend their influence beyond their own circles.Conclusions.  The standardisation of hospice care in the USA served to improve the quality of care for many dying patients and their families. Yet, it also served to reinforce a false dichotomy between care for the living and care for the dying. As a result, the integration of palliative care concepts into standard clinical nursing practice remains problematic.Relevance to clinical practice.  This study illuminates the socio‐political complexities that shape health policy and the subsequent impact on nursing practice. Its findings have broad implications for contemporary palliative care initiatives regardless of locale.
‘When the city is a great field hospital’: the influenza pandemic of 1918 and the New York city nursing response
Authors: Keeling Arlene W 
Published: September 2009

Aims and objectives.  To describe and analyse the nurses’ role in responding to the influenza epidemic in New York City in 1918.Background.  Today the world is facing the threat of pandemic avian influenza and there is renewed interest in lessons learned from the influenza pandemic of 1918, one of the deadliest disease outbreaks recorded in history. Much of the published history has been written from a medical or military perspective. No comprehensive account of nursing’s role has been written.Design.  A social history framework was used.Methods.  Traditional historical methods were used for data collection, data immersion, the development of a chronology and themes. Critical analysis of social, political and economic context was also done. Primary sources included the Lillian D. Wald papers at the New York Public Library, newspapers, journal articles and other archival data.Results.  In 1918, New York City nurses provided care to thousands of patients. They did so with minimal federal support, relying on local community agencies to establish makeshift hospitals and provide soup kitchens. The Henry Street Visiting Nurses, assisted by numerous social agencies and Red Cross volunteers, visited patients in their homes and provided them with the only treatment there was: nursing care.Conclusions.  In 1918, immediate cooperation among a previously established network of nursing and other social organisations and prompt cooperation with the American Red Cross and the United States Public Health Service was essential to New York City’s response to the crisis.Relevance to clinical practice.  Should an influenza pandemic occur today, as many as a billion people could fall ill. Shortages of antiviral drugs, the speed with which the pandemic could occur and its widespread effects are such that nursing, public health and medical professionals will need to rely on local personnel and supplies. Immediate cooperation and collaboration among federal, state and local organizations will be essential to the response.
Conflict and costs when reforming nursing: the introduction of Nightingale nursing in Australia and Canada
Authors: Godden Judith , Helmstadter Carol 
Published: September 2009

Aims and objectives. To examine the financial impact of Nightingale nursing in the mid‐19th century; to identify any long‐term implications of this financial impact on nursing.Background. Previous research into the transformation of mid‐19th century hospitals has suggested the importance of economic issues. We explore this issue from the perspective of the introduction of trained, Nightingale‐style nursing.Design. Historical methodology.Methods. We use two examples, in Sydney (Australia) and Montreal (Canada), where there was a distinct break between older‐style nursing and implementing of Nightingale nursing. We searched all relevant primary sources for data relating to on‐going salary costs and staffing numbers.Findings. We found runs of data to demonstrate the huge increase in staff numbers and salary expenses around the time of the introduction of Nightingale nursing at Sydney and Montreal General Hospitals. The one instance of declining costs was at Sydney Hospital during 1873–84. There, the salary expenditure on the bedside nurses fell as nursing probationers (students) undertook the bulk of the nursing.Discussion and conclusions. The data available for Sydney and Montreal Hospitals supports the argument that Nightingale nursing and the demands of more effective medicine entailed a major jump in hospital costs. Given its expense, it is not surprising that conflict inevitably accompanied the introduction of Nightingale nursing. On the evidence of Sydney, a solution was found in hospital‐based training schools with relatively poorly paid probationers. An on‐going problem was that these schools functioned to contain nursing costs as much as to provide nursing instruction.Implications for contemporary policy. While further study is needed, the two examples presented here suggest that nursing instruction in the past was a significant solution to the problem of increased hospital costs. An awareness of past solutions to on‐going problems may prevent similar sacrifice of nurses in our contemporary hospital crisis.
Supporting or sabotaging the surgeon’s efforts: portrayals of the surgical nurse’s role in preventing wound sepsis, 1895–1935
Authors: Wood Pamela J 
Published: September 2009

Aims and objectives.  To examine the surgical nurse’s role in preventing wound sepsis (infection) and how this was portrayed in nursing literature in the pre‐antibiotic period, 1895–1935.Background.  While the history of infection control in general has been researched for the mid‐20th century, more detailed research is needed of the pre‐antibiotic period, specifically of the surgical nurse’s role in preventing wound sepsis. Closer examination is also warranted of the way the nurse’s role was perceived in specific practice areas, such as surgeons’ views of the surgical nurse’s role.Design.  Historical research.Methods.  Analysis of historical British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand nursing journals and British and Australian surgical nursing textbooks.Results.  Between 1895–1935 skilled surgical nurses were valued as ‘supporters’ of the surgeon’s heroic efforts, acting as diligent ‘scrubbers’ and vigilant ‘sentries’ to guard patients from microbial attack, yet tended to be blamed as ‘saboteurs’ and ‘slovens’ when wound sepsis occurred. The most noticeable changes in knowledge and practice related to greater use of sterilised dressing materials, less reliance on unnecessarily strong antiseptics, and less intensive methods in preparing surgical materials.Conclusions.  Although the literature related the nurse’s role to the surgeon rather than the patient, interpreting it merely as a subservient relationship would ignore the more complex portrayals evident in the literature. Surgeons looked for support rather than subservience, and a conscientious approach rather than obedience.Relevance to clinical practice.  This historical research shows nurses both the enduring nature of aspects of clinical knowledge and practice as well as the slow process of change in others. It reminds nurses of the danger of infection, the constant vigilance required and the measures needed when practising without antibiotics.
Bottom lines: the influence of government funding on 20th century district nursing practice in Australia
Authors: Madsen Wendy 
Published: September 2009

Aims and objectives.  To investigate the impact of past government policy and legislation on the practice of district nursing in Australia.Background.  Nurses have historically been politically passive and have not engaged in the political processes of policy development. However, legislation can have profound impacts on the daily work of nurses as demonstrated in this paper.Design.  Historical analysis.Methods.  The archival records of six district nursing services in Australia were analysed within the political, social and economic context of the 20th century, with particular focus on the 1950s and 1970s.Results.  Two pieces of Federal legislation passed in 1956 and 1973, respectively, had critical effects on the work of district nurses. Both resulted in significant expansion of district nursing in Australia; neither was formulated with input from district nursing services. However, together these acts shifted district nursing from being a voluntary, charity based activity to one that was greatly controlled by government.Conclusions.  Greater government funding allowed district nursing to expand beyond the capacity possible when funding was locally based, but with government funding came other restrictions related to accountability processes and expectations regarding services provided, and these had profound effects on nursing practice, including excess workloads to the point of unsafe practice.Relevance to clinical practice.  Nurses need to engage with the political processes associated with government policy formulation and implementation if they are to avoid placing themselves and their clients in vulnerable situations as a result of government decisions.
Nursing in a therapeutic community: the Fulbourn experience, 1955–1985
Authors: Adams John 
Published: September 2009

Aim. To explore the role of the mental health nurse in wards run on therapeutic community principles in one English provincial hospital.Background. Under a pioneering Medical Superintendent, the restrictive regime for patients with mental health problems in Fulbourn Hospital was replaced by a new commitment to ‘social therapy’. Ward doors were unlocked, patients were encouraged to undertake work‐based activities and finally the wards were reorganised on ‘therapeutic community’ principles.Design. This study used oral history methods to supplement evidence from published sources. A total of 27 oral history interviews were conducted between 2003–2008 and these data were analysed in the context of documentary material from local archives.Results. The establishment of wards at Fulbourn run on therapeutic community lines posed considerable challenges to the customary working practices of their mental health nurses. The two themes highlighted in this paper were the symbolic meaning of the abandonment of nursing uniforms in favour of casual clothing and the hospital authorities’ preparedness to accept the risks associated with implementing the philosophy of the therapeutic community.Conclusions. Oral history has a unique role to play in recording the detailed aspects of nursing practice which are often difficult to reconstruct from documentary sources alone.Relevance to clinical practice. Nurses played a key role in the transformation of the therapeutic milieu of Fulbourn Hospital and their experiences have relevance to current debates in mental health care.
Biogeography of the livebearing fishPoecilia gilliiin Costa Rica: are phylogeographical breaks congruent with fish community boundaries?
Authors: LEE JARED B. , JOHNSON JERALD B. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractOne of the original goals of phylogeography was to use genetic data to identify historical events that might contribute to breaks among communities. In this study, we examine the phylogeography of a common livebearing fish (Poecilia gillii) from Costa Rica. Our goal was to determine if phylogeographical breaks in this species were congruent with previously defined boundaries among four fish community provinces. We hypothesized that if abiotic factors influence both community boundaries and genetic structuring inP. gilliithen we might find four clades within our focal species that were geographically separated along community boundary lines. Similarly, we expected to find most of the genetic variation inP. gilliipartitioned among these four geographical regions. We generated DNA sequence data (mitochondrial cytochromeband nuclear S7 small ribosomal subunit) for 260 individuals from 42 populations distributed across Costa Rica. We analysed these data using phylogenetic (parsimony and likelihood) and coalescent approaches to estimate phylogenetic relationships among haplotypes, patterns of gene flow and effective population size.Contrary to our expectations, we did not find four monophyletic groups that mapped cleanly to our geographical community provinces. However, one of our clades was restricted to a single province, suggesting that common earth history events could be responsible for both genetic structuring inP. gilliiand fish community composition in this area. However, our results show a complex pattern of gene flow throughout other regions in Costa Rica where genetic structuring is not predicted by community province boundaries.
How does farmer connectivity influence livestock genetic structure? A case‐study in a Vietnamese goat population
Authors: BERTHOULY C. , DO NGOC D. , THÉVENON S. , BOUCHEL D. , NHU VAN T. , DANES C. , GROSBOIS V. , HOANG THANH H. , VU CHI C. , MAILLARD J.‐C. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractAssessing how genes flow across populations is a key component of conservation genetics. Gene flow in a natural population depends on ecological traits and the local environment, whereas for a livestock population, gene flow is driven by human activities. Spatial organization, relationships between farmers and their husbandry practices will define the farmer’s network and so determine farmer connectivity. It is thus assumed that farmer connectivity will affect the genetic structure of their livestock. To test this hypothesis, goats reared by four different ethnic groups in a Vietnamese province were genotyped using 16 microsatellites. A Bayesian approach and spatial multivariate analysis (spatial principal component analysis, sPCA) were used to identify subpopulations and spatial organization. Ethnic group frequencies, husbandry practices and altitude were used to create cost maps that were implemented in a least‐cost path approach. Genetic diversity in the Vietnamese goat population was low (0.508) compared to other local Asian breeds. Using a Bayesian approach, three clusters were identified. sPCA confirmed these three clusters and also that the genetic structure showed a significant spatial pattern. The least‐cost path analysis showed that genetic differentiation was significantly correlated (0.131–0.207) to ethnic frequencies and husbandry practices. In brief, the spatial pattern observed in the goat population was the result of complex gene flow governed by the spatial distribution of ethnic groups, ethnicity and husbandry practices. In this study, we clearly linked the livestock genetic pattern to farmer connectivity and showed the importance of taking into account spatial information in genetic studies.
Sibship reconstruction demonstrates the extremely low effective population size of striped bass Morone saxatilis in the Santee–Cooper system, South Carolina, USA
Authors: LIU JIN‐XIAN , ELY BERT 
Published: September 2009

AbstractFor organisms with great fecundity and high mortality in early life stages, such as shellfish or fishes, the need to match reproductive activity with environmental conditions conducive to spawning, fertilization, larval development and recruitment may result in extreme variance in reproductive success among individuals. The main objective of this study was to investigate evidence of large variance in the reproductive success of the striped bass Morone saxatilis in the Santee–Cooper system, South Carolina, USA. Seven microsatellite loci were analysed in 603 recruits representing three yearly cohorts from 1992 to 1994, and a group analysis was performed to identify full‐sib families. Large variance in reproductive success was detected, with a few large, full‐sib families contributing disproportionately to each of the cohorts. The severity of sweepstakes reproductive success varied among cohorts depending on environmentally imposed mortality. Estimations of the effective number of breeders in these long‐lived fish ranged from 24 in 1992 to 44 in 1994. Furthermore, the estimated genetic effective population size (Ne = 93) is approximately four orders of magnitude lower than estimates of adult census size (N = 362 000). Furthermore, the presence of large full‐sib families indicates that striped bass engage in pair mating in the wild. Heterogeneity in genetic composition was also observed among cohorts, suggesting that genetically different adults contribute to different cohorts and that chance rather than fitness variation determines reproductive success.