Abstract: This social-cultural history explores the changing context, culture, and identity of psychiatric nurses working in New Zealand public mental hospitals between 1939 and 1972. Primary documentary sources and oral history interviews provided the data for analysis. The thesis is divided into two periods: 1939 to 1959 when asylum-type conditions shaped the culture of the institutional workforce, and 1960 to 1972 when mental health reform and nursing professionalisation challenged the isolation and distinct identity of mental hospital nurses. Between 1939 and 1959 the introduction of somatic treatments did not substantially change nursing practice in mental hospitals. Overcrowding, understaffing and poor resources necessitated the continuance of custodial care. The asylum-type institutions were dependent on a male attendant workforce to ensure the safety of disturbed male patients, and the maintenance of hospital farms, gardens, and buildings. Although female nurses provided all the care and domestic work on the female side, the belief that psychiatric nursing was physically demanding, potentially dangerous, and morally questionable, characterised the work as generally unsuitable for women. Introduction of psychiatric nursing registration which was a move toward professionalisation did little to change the dominance of a male, working-class culture. From 1960 to 1972 psychiatric nurses' identity was contested. New therapeutic roles created the possibility of the nurses becoming health professionals. Their economic security and occupational power, however, was tied to an identity as unionised, male workers. As psychiatric nurses were drawn closer to the female-dominated nursing profession through health service changes and nursing education reform, both men and women acted to protect both their working conditions and their patients' welfare. To achieve these ends, they employed working-class means of industrial action. By accepting the notion that psychiatric nurses' identity was socially constructed, this thesis provides an interpretation that goes beyond the assumption that nursing is a woman's profession. Instead, it presents psychiatric nursing as a changing phenomenon shaped by contested discourses of gender, class and professionalisation. Nursing in public mental hospitals attracted ordinary men and uncommon women whose collective identity was forged from the experience of working in a stigmatised role.

Abstract: In 1995 we conducted a retrospective audit on a prospectively collated database to find out which intensive care patients missed out on psychiatric care after self poisoning. Our results showed that 57 patients in 1995 may not have received psychiatric follow-up assessment. Department of Critical Care Medicine (DCCM) follow-up was also less successful for this particular group. It was recommended that on admission to intensive care, all self poisoning patients would be referred to the Liaison Psychiatry Service (LPS).In 1996 we reviewed the databases of DCCM and LPS to determine if the quality of psychiatric follow-up had improved after the initial 1995 audit. In 1996 124 patients had 149 admissions (85F, age range 14.6-85.3, median 35, median GCS 9, 99 ventilated, 3 deaths). Thirteen patients had 25 admissions within 6 months of their index admission , 7/13 had a major psychiatric disorder. Mixed poisoning remained common. Forty-five admissions took cyclic antidepressants, 21 sedatives, 52 other medications, 25 ethanol (median 43 mmol/l ), 30 carbon monoxide and 5 took various non-prescription poisons.Thirteen went home, 32 to other hospitals, 4 to psychiatric hospitals and 97 were transferred to wards within Auckland Hospital. Psychiatric follow-up assessment was successful in 96/97 patients prior to discharge from Auckland Hospital. Those discharged to other hospitals or home were referred and followed up by LPS teams or other Mental Health Services.DCCM follow-up 4-6 weeks post discharge was more successful for 1996 with 120/146 contacted of which 33/120 were receiving ongoing psychiatric care.

Abstract: When professionals are employed in bureaucratic organisations they can expect to experience incongruence between their professional role conception and the bureaucratic demands of the organisation which lead to their experiencing role deprivation. Students of comprehensive Nursing programs during their preparation are socialised into a role consistent with their professional group when employed in Hospitals, are subjected to its bureaucratic administrative structure This study examines problems experienced by graduates of these programs, the way they cope with these problems and the extent of their role deprivation, 6 months after commencing employment in General hospitals. The result obtained by questionnaire and interview indicate the main problems are related to the provision of nursing Care, the organisation of Hospital and Communication. These problems prevent graduates from functioning as professional Nurses. Almost half considered they have been successful in resolving them. All graduates experienced a considerable magnitude of role deprivation. there are implications both for agencies and for those preparing Comprehensive Nurses

Abstract: The introduction of nurse practitioner registration into New Zealand in 2001 was heralded as a move that would open up a wealth of opportunities for registered nurses to extend their practice into more independent roles and to provide a client-centred health service. It was also seen as a way to retain experienced registered nurses in the clinical practice area by providing a credible clinical career pathway. If nurse practitioner's are to meet these expectations, then, the author suggests, it is important to understand the processes that encourage or discourage nurses from advancing their practice. One of the early scopes of practice to be introduced was nurse practitioner with an endorsement in aged care scope of practice. Grounded theory was the method used to generate an explanation of how registered nurses working in aged care were preparing for the introduction of nurse practitioner roles. An analysis of early data highlighted codes around registered nurses in aged care extending and advancing their practice rather than preparing specifically for the nurse practitioner role. The research question for this study was: 'How are registered nurses in aged care advancing their nursing practice?' Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from ten experienced registered nurses working in aged care clinical practice settings ranging from secondary hospital facilities, to community settings and residential care villages. Dimensional analysis of the data eventually generated three major conceptual categories: 'ownership of nursing', 'extending practice', and 'moving out of a comfort zone'. Of these, 'ownership of nursing' was identified as the core construct that linked the other categories together. The substantive theory that explains how registered nurses in aged care advance their clinical practice is 'developing autonomous ownership'. Nurses who develop autonomous ownership of nursing are more likely than other nurses to move out of a current comfort zone and advance their practice into more independent roles that suit their autonomous ownership of nursing. This study identified important contextual factors and conditions that support the development of an autonomous ownership of nursing and that subsequently facilitate advancing nursing practice. These include creating supportive environments, organisational commitment to advanced nursing practice roles, visible nursing leadership, congruence between organisational and nursing philosophies, interdisciplinary collaboration and participating in postgraduate education. The author suggests that the significance of this study is that it generated a theory about the processes that encourage or discourage nurses from preparing for, and progressing into, advanced nursing practice roles such as nurse practitioner.