Who are you going to be Jo(e)?

Are all nurses, psychologists, health and social care professionals in general frustrated would-be Joe 90s?

If you recall: courtesy of an incredible device called BIG RAT - Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer - Joe could benefit from the transferred knowledge and experience of experts in disparate fields. The literature is full to this day with commentaries on the transition from novice-to-expert practitioner. Enter Joe: our fictional character who could take a short-cut.

Fact may be catching up, not that nurse training departments will notice next year, but major strides are being made in understanding the relation of stimuli and neural activities across the cortex.

What I'm interested in though is Joe's briefcase. Bizarrely equipped for a nine-year old: packing gun and silencer. We readily take Joe and the entertaining premise of the show in our stride, but we trip-up when it comes to real child-soldiers. Of course, it is just fiction vs fact; a question of worlds-apart - North-South and East-West?

Joe's briefcase held the tools that he needed by virtue of the transferred knowledge and skills (for UK NHS readers you can imagine the Knowledge and Skills appraisal interview). Just think when the BIGRAT's job is done and Joe is spin-dizzy, the repertoire of tools will change. Some are generic, but others need to be specific to the new mission. Health professionals are dizzy with constant change and the world's citizenry struggle to keep up locally and globally.

So as your foot taps in time to Barry Gray's excellent theme music - what's in your briefcase today? What will you need tomorrow? What choice do our children have? What do they need in their briefcase to cope with the 21st Century?

Student Query: Paediatric Burns Unit - Change from Hodges to Casey's Model

Rachael Baron contacted me from Salford University about her assignment on:

Change management relating to a problem identified in practise.

Mine is about changing from Hodges' model to Casey's in a paediatric burns setting (one of the reasons being that there is little evidence supporting Hodges) to achieve family centred care and better partnership with parents. Before my placement on the burns unit I had never come across Hodges' model so it has been interesting reading about it.

In response I acknowledged Rachael's observation about the evidence base and provided the reference bundle.

I also explained how Hodges can co-exist with another model (although the proof is in the testing). Brian Hodges has never been prescriptive in terms of a particular approach to how care is delivered, the model is higher level - an aide memoire. Noting Rachael's objective I wonder if Hodges' model could provide a test of the extent and quality of parent-guardian/care professional partnerships?

In addition Rachael informed me that they use the Health Career Model on the Burns Unit at Booth Hall Children's Hospital. I must follow this up and think Rachael was happy with the reply...

Once again, many thanks for your rapid response and suggestions for reading - it was a huge help!!

Cheers Rachael and best of luck with 6 months of your course remaining!

Ideas Factory: Research Theory and Practice - Bridging the Divide

As mentioned last week, I was in Bath from 16-20 October and when in Bath like the Romans I managed to visit the (new) spa complex. The hot pool and steam room were a really welcome free-time treat and at £9.50 - because the rooftop pool was closed - lead the way or should that be "beam us up Scotty!"

After three days getting to know 26 new colleagues and wrestling with health care issues and the creation of worthy and novel research projects it was definitely time for a break.

The Ideas Factory Taking care to the patient: new thinking in mobile healthcare delivery was very hard work, intensive, challenging and exciting all at the same time. It was marvellous to take part, to share and work together.

At the end there were clearly some sound and winning research proposals: - seedlings - if you like. Those that did not get through were still winners, but as mere 'seeds' they had not yet germinated. All they need is more work and an appropriate funding stream.

I really do hope to stay in touch with people, the range of backgrounds, expertise and experience was startling. Thanks to the organisers, after the first day we all more or less knew each other recognising faces and names. A great way to cross the divide.

And there was I ... thinking it's just a website and blog that has you working into the early hours ...

Home page with a difference?

It's hardly rocket science, but I wonder of the people who do visit the h2cm site, how many think about the home page layout?

If you haven't noticed - I've tried to use Hodges' model to locate the menus and drop-down options...

Are there any items that you would place elsewhere?

Hodges Model References Bundle

I've finally put the primary references in a bundle [Oct 2006] and used ccPublisher to publish the document on the Internet Archive. I missed a few details off the JAN reference (Volume, Issue) which are included below. It would be great to see this list grow through your contributions....

As the first podcast script is also complete I've no excuse to delay much longer. I am leaving for Bath this evening a workshop, so will tackle this next weekend... Bye for now. PJ

Primary references as of October 2006 (if you know of others please get in touch):

Adams, T. (1987) Dementia is a family affair. Community Outlook, Feb, 7-8.

Hinchcliffe, S.M. (et al.) (1989) Nursing Practice and Health Care, 1st Edition only, London, Edward Arnold.

Jones, P. (2004) Viewpoint: Can informatics and holistic multidisciplinary care be harmonised? British Journal of Healthcare Computing & Information Management, 21, 6, 17-18.

Jones, P. (2004) The Four Care Domains: Situations Worthy of Research, Conference: Building & Bridging Community Networks: Knowledge, Innovation & Diversity through Communication, Brighton, UK. March 2004.
[http://www.comminit.com/healthecomm/planning.php?showdetails=318] Accessed: Oct 07 2006.
(If you visit the above link you can download this position paper - look at the bottom of the page.)

All the above are about the model – Hinchliffe is one chapter by Brian Hodges.

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Hughes, E. (1958) Men and their work. New York: Free Press.

Hughes is used by Brian Hodges to define health career the idea of life chances.
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You can also of course reference webpages:
[ no longer available:
web archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20121230101851/http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/ ]

Jones, P. (1998-2006). Hodges' Health Career Care Domains Model, [http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk] Accessed: Oct 07 2006.
Jones, P. (2000) Hodges' Health Career Care Domains Model, Structural Assumptions;
[http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/theory.html] Accessed: Oct 07 2006.
Jones, P. (2000) Hodges' Health Career Care Domains Model, Theoretical Assumptions;
[http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/struct.html] Accessed: Oct 07 2006.

The Journal of Advanced Nursing paper below is prior to the website, but hints at the way I have since stressed the role of information within Hodges model as the unifying concept.

Jones, P. (1996) Humans, Information, and Science, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 24,3, September, 591-598.

Hodges' model - it's all pants really!

It's no use - I have a confession to make.

After all these years of trying to publicise Hodges’ model, in practice, on paper, through the website. I’ve realised it really is a load of pants. Absolutely, definitely, no counter argument it is:

Utter pants.

Let me explain….

On the site you will find Brian’s notes and various additions that state what h2cm is, including a conceptual framework, holistic model, cognitive space and so on…

Beyond this though what is Hodges' model trying to say? Cruising down the centre of a one-way street if it were a street sign what would it stand for? There is this word ‘essence’ and in philosophy like many words it metamorphoses and starts to play trick or treat. So what is the essence of h2cm?

Whether you loosen your belt or tighten it at this point is of course entirely up to you, but here is my two cents worth.

Firstly, h2cm signifies the debate about parts and wholes.

Secondly, it represents pants – well ok - pantology to be specific.

Here's a definition:

Pan`tol´o`gy
n. 1.
A systematic view of all branches of human knowledge; a work of universal information.

Is there another beyond - beyond the beyond? Because the corpus of knowledge is so extensive and growing by the second if measured by published media could it be that h2cm provides a space where several pantologies can exist and co-exist? This must be the case because if pantologists exist then they must produce pantologies? What do you think? Is that what the internet is, or will become - a conglomeration of integrated pantologies?

So you see Hodges' model really is pants. Would you like to be a pantologist? Living in the 21st century and being a life-long learner by default it looks like there is no choice….

Meanwhile if you happen to live in a galaxy far, far away....

Kandinsky, Bento Boxes and the Art of Hodges' Model

Last month I had an opportunity to visit Tate Modern in London, the meeting that took me South finished at 4pm and TM was 10 minutes away a colleague told me - "you must go!" (Thanks Dee - you were spot on!)

It proved quite an experience walking around TM both from an artistic and mental health perspective. Both challenging 'relaxation' and work: a study day. When you are faced with Dali's Metamorphosis of Narcissus, Bacon, Magritte, Tanguy and others what can you expect? Like you I've seen images of these pictures for years, but seeing the real thing was disorientating, a thing to fall into.


I didn't have time to explore Kandinsky a paid exhibition, wish I had planned a little more - but I really was there for work and this was a bonus. The TM shop(s) were packed with Kandinsky books, postcards and posters.

I've tried to find some guidelines on the question of copyright and posting the Dali and Kandinsky images above. If any one can direct me to anything. I hope as presented this is classed as 'fair use'?

So what effect did this cultural exposure have on me? Well - on the train between London Euston and Wigan (the St Ives of the North) another podcast started to take shape, also fueled in part by the Serres-Hodges paper. How it will be received is another matter.

A few days later I came across Bento Boxes: - weird. Are these associations - connections a sign that I'm just walking through a Forest with a leaf in my hand? Or should that be a Forest of giant leaves and I have a tree in my hand. I'm really lost now, "Frodo!" - anyone ...

Study on Student's Interest in Nursing (Grades 6th-12th)

The effects of demographic change over the next few decades are a regular topic of debate in the developed nations. The comparison of the workforce with those retired means that the health and social care sector face an increasingly competitive arena to find the staff with the 'right stuff'. Before that point though students need to be interested in health related disciplines. How well do we understand this...?

Asst. Prof. Shannon Frodge [Maysville Community & Technical College, KY] contacted me about using an image of Hodges' Career Model (HCM) in her project:

My study will be to survey 60 children in each grade from grades 6th-12th and students that are currently enrolled in our ADN nursing program. It touches on the four major quadrants of the HCM. I’d like to know what kids think about nursing, and how I can recruit them to our program, and if not our program, a nursing program somewhere else.

No problem Shannon and happy to assist. [Thanks for your OK to post this.] I look forward to hearing more and the possibility that you yourself may share details here as your study progresses. I wonder if anything affects whether students will enroll in traditional nursing programs or online nursing programs. One other thought don't forget the 'fifth' domain - the spiritual - Hodges' four in combination.

Shannon's query is also a useful prompt for me to check and update the quality of some of the images on the site and bundle the existing references.

Podcast hosting options - promising

Over the past few days I've checked out podcast hosting possibilities. I knew there were hosting services out there - otherwise I wouldn't have picked up the mic. Two options stand out:

CcPublisher

and -

liberated syndication

- which costs from $5 per month, with 100mb of storage per month with unmetered bandwidth usage. This level of service is recommended for once-a-week podcasters.

It looks promising! Liberated syndication is very slick, with room to grow, CcPublisher is free and combines Creative Commons and Archive.org.

Creative Commons and CcPublisher allow you to address the licensing of your podcast, attach tags (metadata) and upload your files to Archive.org, which plays host.

I think the spirit of Hodges' model and my personal finances will win out. Looking at the time taken with this first podcast, I don't think I'll get to one a month, let alone once-a-week.

I've joined Yahoo! podcasters group to check what's buzzin and make a final decision...