Abstract: The aim of this article is to outline best practice management strategies for nurses during the clinical application of civil commitment of mentally ill persons. A literature search on 'coercion' and 'civil commitment' was undertaken. Published and unpublished research undertaken by the authors in New Zealand on this topic was drawn upon. This research considered the use of civil commitment during admission to acute mental health services, acute forensic mental health services and community mental health services. The experience of coercion by service users coincides with the degree of restriction associated with the service they are involved in. Socio-demographic factors, clinical factors and the experience of coercive events have little bearing on the amount of coercion experienced. Rather, it is the pattern of communication and the use of 'procedural justice' that has the potential to ameliorate the amount of perceived coercion. The authors conclude that 'Procedural justice' aligns with the emphasis placed on the therapeutic relationship in mental health nursing and is an important consideration for nurses during the clinical application of civil commitment

Abstract: The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate the usefulness of formal reflection in the context of undergraduate nursing education during the teaching of a disability module. Reflection is defined as examination and exploration of an issue of concern to help create or clarify meaning.Twelve reflection assignments written by second-year nursing students were analysed. The analysis indicated that students' reflection focused less on their experience of working with people with disabilities and more on their overall learning experience and coping with clinical practice. A central theme, Coping with Clinical Practice, and four sub-themes were identified. Students acknowledged reflection as beneficial to their learning and linked to their clinical practice.

Abstract: The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between worries and psychological well-being, and self-rated health in older men. A cross-sectional survey method was used to investigate the research aim. A group of men aged 65 years and over (n = 217), who lived in a small New Zealand city, participated in this study. Results from this research revealed that worries about physical abilities and health were significantly related to a decrease in psychological well-being and self-rated health. Gerontological nurses are challenged to be cognisant of older men's concerns about their health and physical ability.

Abstract: The aims of this study were to illuminate the joint constructions of exemplary nurses and their lived experiences of being and becoming one. Inherent in being 'exemplary' was the notion of 'becoming', which involved the integration of knowledge and experiences through reflecting on the day-to-day of 'being a nurse'. Being exemplary was not about perfection but learning from every experience and integrating these into becoming. The author developed a creative qualitative and participatory method. Ten exemplary nurses were recruited and interviewed three times. They also provided supplementary data such as photos, poetry and writings. Analysis occurred through first and second level categorising and the use of writing as method. Writing became a way of knowing – assisting discovery and allowing reflection on the data in order to connect the categories and themes together in a coherent and workable whole. The author reports that the above method led to the following emergent findings. The pivotal construct was Authentic Being, through living a reflective life, surrounded by the major constructs of Love of Nursing, Making a Difference, Critical Friends, Walking the Talk and Backpack patients. These constructs directed a specific and comprehensive review of both the philosophical and nursing literature. This review was not used to expand or enlarge the findings but to enlighten, illuminate and clarify. Significant philosophical ideas were extended, developed and synthesised with the findings. The author suggests that the new knowledge that emerged from this research has profound implications for everyday nursing practice, undergraduate and post graduate nursing education, and for Charge Nurses and Senior Nurses, who are of vital importance as role models, mentors and critical friends. The results are significant and are important for nurses and the nursing profession and contribute to, and advance, nursing knowledge.

Abstract: The author describes and discusses the main barriers to practice nurses achieving their potential as a profession. She identifies key obstacles as the funding model, GP attitudes and the current employment model. Shared governance, the development of a patient-centred services, and new employment models are proposed as the basis of a new model of primary care delivery.

Abstract: The author looks at the accelerated change in the role of practice nurses, due to factors such as the effects of the Primary Health Care Strategy. She reviews the current role of practice nurses, which is influenced by a population approach and new funding streams that encourage preventative, maintenance and chronic illness management activities. She highlights the positive effects of increased visibility of nursing leaders in the sector, increasing interdisciplinary education, and new career pathways which include advanced roles. She addresses some of the professional and systemic structural barriers which impact on practice nurses' ability to work effectively and equally within a general practice team.

Abstract: The author points to a “waiting list crisis” occurring in ambulatory oncology services at Southland District Health Board (SDHB), and notes that the literature suggests this is occurring both nationally and globally. This is due to factors such as an increase in the number of people aged 65 years and over, many of whom will develop cancer. Furthermore new drug therapies and indications for treatment have led to increased numbers of patients referred for oncological assessment in the out-patient clinics. The author notes that, at SDHB, this delay for patients to be seen at a first specialist assessment appointment is causing concern for patients, managers and the medical and nursing staff involved. This dissertation analyses relevant literature in order to explore the nature and outcomes of nurse-led clinics. A range of studies indicate that effective care can be provided by nurses working in a variety of nurse-led clinics settings. These studies reveal ways in which a nurse-led clinic might be established and delivered in oncology services and, the author suggests, this will go some way to provide a solution for SDHB. These clinics would assess and monitor the follow-up of selected patients with stable disease and established care plans such as patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for bowel and breast cancer. This would allow medical oncologists to see more new patients at first assessment and the follow-up of complex cases, and could go some way in relieving the current waiting lists. The educational preparation and competency of nurses leading such a clinic are considered.

Abstract: The author suggests that the thesis as a production of disciplined work presented in a creative style is congruent with performance and presentation best practice in community arts. As a practising nurse artist the author describes creating spaces of alternate ordering within the mental health field environment. “I also inhabit the marginal space of the artist working in hospital environments. This Other Place neither condones nor denies the existence of the mental health field environment as it is revealed. Yet, it seeks to find an alternative to the power and subjectivity of the [social] control of people with an experience of mental illness that inhabit this place both voluntarily and involuntarily. I have used a variety of texts to explore the experience and concept of Otherness. The poems are intended to take you, as a reader where you could not perhaps emotionally and physically go, or might have never envisaged going. They also allow me as the author to more fully describe the Otherness of place that is neither the consumer story nor the nurse's notation, but somewhere alternately ordered to these two spaces. Drawing on the heuristic research approaches of Moustakas and literary psychogeography , particularly the work of Guy Debord, this thesis creates the space to explore the possibilities of resistance and change and the emergence of the identity of the nurse artist within the mental health field environment”.