Occupational stress among Emergency Department Nurses in Saudi Arabia

Researchers: Waleed Alshehri, Virginia Plummer, Kelli Innes

In Saudi Arabia, Emergency Department nurses anecdotally report high levels of stress which affects them and has a negative impact on their performances, attitude and perception. There is no literature on the Saudi Arabian experience, therefore this is the first study that seeks to identify and describe the sources of occupational stress among the Emergency Department nurses in Saudi Arabia. The purpose is to inform nurse educators, employers and emergency services about what nurses are experiencing which may enable strategies to be developed to minimise those stressors and improve the workplace and subsequently the care for patients in the future.

Simulation education and Papua New Guinea nurses’ decision‐making in chest pain management

Researchers: Thompson Telepo, Virginia Plummer, Jenny Newton

This study focuses on simulation education used as a teaching strategy in educating nurses’ in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The nurses are from PNG, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands and undertaking Bachelor of Clinical Nursing at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG).

The aim of the study was to evaluate any changes in the postgraduate nurses’ decision making, before the intervention, immediately after, and post 5 weeks intervention. The ‘effect of simulation education’ on nurses’ knowledge and skills may improve after the intervention.

A one‐group pre‐tested‐post‐tested experimental design was used.  A convenience sample of 22 nurses was recruited from the Division of Nursing, UPNG.  This study adapts Jeffries (2005) conceptual framework on simulation education use in developing, designing, delivering, and diffusing in educating nurses.

Nurses attitude toward family presence during resuscitation in Saudi hospitals

Researchers: Abbas Al Mutair, Virginia Plummer, Beverley Copnell

In Saudi Arabia, when patients are resuscitated their families do not commonly attend, including when children are involved.  The presence of family in the patient care area during resuscitation events is a new concept to Saudi Arabia, however it is highly recommended by many health organizations worldwide for several reasons including patient and family rights. There are few policies or guidelines in Saudi Arabia to guide health professionals in their practice around the option of family presence during resuscitations. The lack of policy may be because nurses do not embrace the concept. The purpose of the study is to identify the nurses' attitudes toward family presence during resuscitation. This study is highly significant because the results expected potentially inform future policy development in this concept area of nursing practice.

A quantitative descriptive design was used to explore the attitudes of nurses of King Fahad Hospital‐Hofuf and Prince Saud Ben Jalwy Hospital at Al Hassa city in Saudi Arabia towards family presence during resuscitation. Through a self administered structured questionnaire 137 nurses were surveyed. The nurses were required to complete it within two weeks and the response rate was 48.9%. The sample was average of categories of nurses working in the two hospitals and has no less than one year working experience.

Implications for nursing workforce of catastrophic fire rating days in rural South Australia

Researchers: Paul Arbon

This project explores whether or not there is an increase in the absentee rate of nurses from health services in rural South Australia, when a catastrophic fire rating day is declared and what the factors are that influence nursing staff absences on a catastrophic fire rating day.

In Australia, following the recent devastating Victorian bushfire disaster, a New Fire Weather Warnings were introduced in South Australia towards the end of 2009 and now refer to Fire Danger Ratings of Severe, Extreme and Catastrophic (Code Red). In November 2009 the Country Fire Service (CFS) and the Department of Education and Children’s Services in South Australia developed a policy for schools and pre‐school to be temporarily closed and school buses to be cancelled on days of declared 'catastrophic' bushfire weather conditions.

On these days the public are informed to implement their bushfire plan which may include evacuation of their home, and schools may be closed. Members of the community who are local Country Fire Service volunteers may be required to leave their jobs to standby at rural fire stations. The community is recommended not to travel on the roads in the regions where there is a catastrophic warning. This may affect the ability of services and businesses to remain open on these days.

The proposed research will inform, workforce planning in rural areas, and the contingencies that may be required for catastrophic fire rating days to enable health services to be adequately staffed. This research will assist by identifying what the pattern of work attendance is for health settings located in rural areas on catastrophic fire rating days compared to non‐catastrophic fire rating days and the issues which may influence workforce availability. This research will help to determine what issues and circumstances affect the availability of the nursing workforce and what strategies may mitigate against the impact of the new fire risk ratings on workforce availability.

Disaster response in aged‐care facilities

Researcher: Lynette Cusack

A literature review on disaster management in the aged care sector and an analysis of the emerging key issues was undertaken. This led to a report summarizing the key issues for managers of aged care services to consider in their planning for hazards and potential disastrous events. From this report a number of collaborative strategies were identified. One of these was the provision of basic training for aged care service administrators and staff about the process of undertaking disaster management contingency planning. A workshop on this topic was developed and supported by Aged & Community Services SA & NT, Resthaven Inc. and the SA Health Director of Emergency Management.

Exploring the disaster content of postgraduate emergency nursing programs in Australia

Researcher: Jamie Ranse, Paul Arbon, Ramon Shaban, Julie Considine, Belinda Mitchell, Shane Lenson

This research will describe and explore the disaster content of postgraduate emergency nursing courses as a means to better understand the disaster preparedness of emergency nurses.

Celebration without hospitalization

Researcher: Alison Hutton

Schoolies Festivals are events that give young people the opportunity to celebrate the end of their school life. In Adelaide, young people celebrate Schoolies in a dry zone, however prior to entering this dry zone a substantial amount of alcohol is ingested in caravan parks, surrounding hotels and residences. Data from the 2009 St John Ambulance Australia presentations identified that 14% of young people presented to on–site care last year with an alcohol related condition and/or injury. Of that fourteen percent (14%), fifty percent (50%) of these young people were subsequently transferred and admitted to hospital. The aim of this research is to identify and explore, through the retrospective accounts of 60‐80 young people, the ways that young people prepare to minimize and/or be free from alcohol‐related harm at Schoolies. The knowledge generated will be used to make recommendations about the development of health information strategies that aim to reduce the number of young people requiring hospitalisation due to alcohol related injury at Schoolies.

Chain of survival at mass gatherings: A case series of resuscitation events

Researchers: Jamie Ranse, Kathryn Zeitz

At a large public event, or mass gathering, various factors influence patient presentations, which bring challenges to patient care. The chain of survival has been investigated in the prehospital setting; however this has not explicitly included the mass-gathering environment. This study sought to determine the facilitators and barriers to the chain of survival at mass gatherings.

This case series research was exploratory and descriptive, using the analysis of personal experiences of resuscitation. Participants were members of St John Ambulance Australia who had participated actively in a resuscitation event in 2007. Telephone interviews were used as a means of data collection. Participant narrative was recorded electronically, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically using a well established human science approach.

The thematic analysis revealed five main themes and a number of sub-themes. Four of the main themes were aligned easily with the four chain of survival links. The remaining main theme outlined a new link in the chain of survival of specific importance to mass gatherings, ‘early planning’. Additionally, a number of sub-themes were identified, which exemplified various facilitators and barriers to the chain of survival in this environment.

This research highlights various barriers and facilitators to the chain of survival in the mass-gathering environment. Additionally, the unique “early planning” link in the chain of survival as described in this research highlights the importance of a preparatory phase for responders at mass gatherings.

Outputs:

	Publication (Prehospital Disaster Medicine)
	Summary (Jamie Ranse Website)