Northern Skies: Comet Holmes in outburst

If you've dark skies (and even if you are under urban skies) look out for Comet Holmes, which has brightened suddenly:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071026.html

See also an animated Astronomy Picture of the Day

More to follow in 2008!

TEMSS - Therapeutically Enhanced Medium Secure Service for Women [I]

Dear Peter Jones

My name is Rachel Magee. I am a registered mental health nurse working for Bolton Salford and Trafford Trust at the Prestwich site. I work in a medium secure unit called The Edenfield Centre. We have recently opened a new department called -

TEMSS (Therapeutically Enhanced Medium Secure Service) for Women.

As I am a newly qualified nurse I am looking to learn more about this model and see if it would be a useful tool to incorporate into the women's service as part of my preceptorship project.

I am writing to you, to ask if you have any information or views on this particular area, which I could possibly use to help me in my research.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks

Rachel Magee (RMN)
----------------------
Thanks for your interest Rachel this sounds an exciting time for you -
response to follow....

[used with permission of Rachel Magee]

Drupal: steep curve - still climbing ....

Just trying to get an idea of what Drupal can do. It really is powerful (in the right hands!). There's no text as yet - or what is there - is not formatted. Still not sure about the content beyond the Archive comprising Brian's course notes, my intro and (updated) reflections; the Book and the h2cm Chronology.

Weird that A, B, C ... just wish it was easier.

The book may need to wait, but is I believe a great global project - wish I were a midwife....

From a Distance: 4Ps, Nursing Process & Socio-Tech I

In the 4Ps post last year each 'P' (purpose, process, policy and practise) sat in its own domain. I made no effort to differentiate them; each 'P' was left to stand for itself - so here's a question for you...

Assuming you agree with this 4P formulation, which 'P', if any, do you think is primary?

For me the mainstay is PROCESS because chronological and pathological TIME ticks in the SCIENCES domain. Plans and actions are situated (see Hodges' model) in time and besides pathologically speaking I only have one pair of hands tied to a finite metabolism and hence limited information processing capacity.

Now, casting my vote to PROCESS within the SCIENCES domain, may seem something of a sell out to advocates of the humanities and me a mental health professional to boot... Where is the warm-touchy-feely essence of care? So, as we look to the HUMANISTIC hemisphere for quality assurance the next query is yours:

Without a sense of PURPOSE tasks x, y, and z will not be done properly, if even initiated?

Very true. PROCESS like PURPOSE has its micro-macro dimensions. PROCESS in particular is notorious in the extent to which it can be reduced to ever finer detail.

Looking at h2cm, the antipodes must not be ignored. Sometimes people believe they are on solid ground, secure (smug even) literally in the knowledge where PROCESSES abound; but the need to take in other perspectives can prove a wake-up call in the form of a sudden dousing.

Balancing POLITICAL need, encapsulated coherently in POLICY, must constantly be weighed against actual PRACTICE in the SOCIOLOGICAL domain and the constraints that operate there.

Just because you have TI:ME and individuals allotted on the Gant and PERT charts, subjective ti:me can literally slap us in the face if the mood is judged wrongly. PROCESS may be primary, but its ramifications are and must be constantly transformed-translated and enacted in personal and social form.

Long Man of Wilmington

Although Brian Hodges created the model in the 1980s the key elements have been around a long time!


Thanks to the Culture Show BBC2 27 Oct 2007

21st Century Care and the need to touch the sides

In the developed world the constant to brand and consume generally and medicalise, diagnose and prescribe specifically means that vast quantities of food and drugs go straight down the hatch: rapid swallowed-whole without ever touching the sides. Now the effects of the wind produced is being noticed because the consequences mean a shake of the grim reaper's hand sooner than might be expected.

When health care budgets are compromised it is often the public (mental) health practitioners that find their piggy-bank in pieces. Although evidence-based medicine has its roots in the POLITICAL and SCIENCES domains, its impact seems solely hemispheric - 'local' - largely restricted to the right in terms of Hodges' model. It fails to reach the INTRA - INTERPERSONAL and SOCIAL domains, the places where change really counts.

Using Hodges' model can help the food and drugs to touch the sides, although actually by then of course we are too late!

It's one of many ironies that we need safety nets to catch people at risk. What about a sticky net that can stop all that food and reduce the volume of drugs from commencing this metabolic flight?

If we are to tackle and fully exercise the care problems and issues presented by the 21st century our research, interventions, attitudes and aptitudes must be 4-fold* to ensure that the caring touch is not senseless, but is accompanied by thought. Touching the sides means engaging thought at several levels from common sense through to critical appraisal. Whether we are dealing with individuals, groups, populations or the global family - 'X' truly marks the spot!

*5-fold taking into account beliefs.

Vectors Journal & links

This link and journal came via the Humanist Discussion Group:

VECTORS Journal (2005-2007)

There is always a tension between content and interface - what do you think? IMHO great delivery that has me hooked with THINKMESH and many other projects..... There are some code views in there too.

Here's a different more direct approach to giving - KIVA - supporting entrepreneurs in developing countries.

I'm waiting for a cloudy night to explore Stellarium - a free open source planetarium.

SHIFT Happens video if your perspectives seem limited. Over the years quite a few people have highlighted the need for a simple intro to Hodges' model. I wonder if this style of presentation could do the trick? Mmmmm...

Free (legal) music downloads at We7.

And last but not least Me.dium.com - a further development of social networking, music and virtual groups. I'm struggling with these as it is...

Thanks to David & Sue McKendrick, Danny J. and Chris Allen.
Bye for now.

"Perceptions of Nursing and of a Midwestern Associate Degree Nursing Program" study by Shannon Frodge

In August I posted the news and success of Shannon Frodge's Master's study in which Hodges' model was used as a theoretical framework.

I've copied the abstract, Shannon's reference to Hodges' model and her research questions below. There are some 55 pages, 9,700 words in total, if you want to the read the discussion and conclusion well according to Shannon the text is available on ProQuest.

Every so often I'll bring up the matter of nurse, health and social care recruitment on W2TQ: it really is going to be critical. I do not work in HR - recruitment, but being interested in public (mental) health I am very conscious of demographic trends and be(d)sides standards of care matter too...

Thanks Shannon for the copy, your specific focus on this issue and for recognising and using Hodges' model. I know evidence is important in terms of the tools we use, but you've demonstrated that tools can have a legitimate entry point in their adoption and application. You've posed many questions and presented new angles with recommendations too.

Abstract

The current nursing shortage is complicated by the fact not enough students choose nursing to offset the number of nurses who are nearing retirement. This is distressing to the profession, and is of particular interest to nursing schools. This quantitative, descriptive correlational study examined the perceptions of 99 students in grades sixth through twelfth in a public Midwestern school system regarding nursing as a career choice, 41 current students in the local community college’s nursing program, and recruiting methods that would or did most influence them. The framework for the study is Brian Hodge's Health Career Model. Students were surveyed using a Likert-scale tool with demographics and comments. Descriptive statistics included frequency tables, cross tabulations, chi squared, and confidence intervals. Comments were grouped for qualitative phenomenologic purposes. Findings indicated statistically significant differences in perceptions of students based on sex and grade which could be used to enhance recruitment efforts.

Research Questions

Specific research questions pertaining to this study are:

1. Are middle and high school students in a Midwestern community considering nursing as a career choice?
a. If so, what are the reasons?
b. If not, what are the reasons?
c. What recruitment strategies would most influence these students to decide on nursing as a career choice?
d. What recruitment strategies would most influence these students to seek their education at the Midwestern community college ADN program?

2. Of currently enrolled students in a Midwestern community college ADN program:
a. What recruitment strategies most influenced these students to decide on nursing as a career choice?
b. What recruitment strategies most influenced these students to seek their education at the Midwestern community college ADN program?

Theoretical Framework

The framework for this study is Brian Hodges’ Health Career Model (Hodges, 1997). This model looks at the nurse as an individual whose practice depends on his/her education and past experiences (Hodges, 1997). The model is composed of two intersecting lines that look at the nurse’s attributes both individually and in group settings, and his/her ability to perform job duties both interpersonal and mechanical (Hodges, 1997). Within the four quadrants then, Hodges identifies four major areas of knowledge necessary to practice nursing (Hodges, 1997).

This particular framework lends itself to this study as it looks at traits of individuals who are nurses and helps to explain how their background and knowledge influence the care they give. Hodges writes “the health career is influenced by personal factors of the individual of physical or psychological origin and factors relating to the social world and the policies that govern daily life” (Hodges, pp 1, 1997). Because some of these attributes or interest in these knowledge areas must be present in order for an individual to choose nursing, the model is appropriate to the study.