Abstract: The purpose of the study was to research the reasons for the dissatisfaction experienced by ten professional nurse-practitioners who chose to leave nursing to join the professions of law or medicine. The mnotivation for professional nurses to chose entry to these particular professions may in some way throw light upon the difficulties being experienced in attempts to bring about changes of an emancipatory nature in the nursing profession (Habermas, 1974). The approach for the study is hermeneutic phenomenology (Gadamer, 1975 – ; Heidegger, 1962)

Abstract: The original purpose of this work was to put some notes together about nurse training at Sunnyside for the hospitals 150th anniversary celebrations. When the celebrations were cancelled, the author continued with the project out of personal interest.A variety of historical research methods were used to collect data for the project. These included a literature search of historical publications related to the subject and the period; gathering documents and statistical records from a variety of sources; writing letters to previous students and tutors, requesting photographs anecdotes and opinions; and a number of prearranged interviews.The resultant brief history, published finally in 1992 is a collection of records, anecdotes, reproduced documents and photographs, interspersed with referenced information from the literature and the writers comments.Past and present staff of this once large psychiatric institution have been able to look at their training in a historical and social context, and in many cases, to see their names in print in the class lists. Others who are undertaking a historical study of Mental Health Nursing in New Zealand may find it useful as a reference work

Abstract: A telephone survey was conducted with 61 randomly selected patients who had been admitted to the cardiology service with an Myocardial infarction but did not attend the cardiac rehabilitation programme. Findings show that many patients who would benefit from cardiac rehabilitation are denied access because it is only open to patients who have Myocardial Infarctions. Only a small percentage of MI admissions attend rehabilitation the main reason being patients are not informed the service is available. Women are under represented among rehabilitation participants and lack of transport is a major factor inhibiting women from attending. Improvements in referral systems and follow up are recommended

Abstract: The experiences of nurses employed on casual contracts were explored using grounded theory methodology. Data analysis showed that the experience of casual nursing is constituted by interwoven processes of discontinuity and marginality with an overall theme and processes of compromise to obtain a sense of balance by the casual nurse. Implications for permanent staff, casual nurses and organizations are developed

Abstract: Up until the 1980s most of the historical writing about nursing and nurses in this country has been told from the points of view of past nursing leaders. The realities of day-to-day nursing in New Zealand general hospitals were relatively unknown.This thesis examines the experience of general hospital nursing between 1945 and 1960. The recollections of thirty-four nurses who nursed during this period have provided the key sources from which the major themes of this study have emerged. These themes, of dirty work, authoritarian control and discipline, and learning nursing are discussed within the context of an expanding hospital system and a shortage of nurses.The study demonstrates the vast differences between the recollections of nurses of the experience of nursing and the rather high-flown rhetoric of the nursing leadership.Changes to the amount of cleaning, the ;level of discipline and control, and ways in which learning nursing was organised were small and gradual and occurred in the late 1950s.Overall, though, nursing in general hospitals by 1960 ws almost unchanged from the 1930s.An ethos of selfless service, opposition to unionism, and Christian altruism was till dominant amongst the nursing leadership. Nurses in training still worked a six day week, were expected to stay on duty until the work was done, and were supervised closely in, on and off duty time

Abstract: The caring experiences of patients and nurses, within the context of that relationship, within a mental health setting, were examined. A phenomenological approach was used to discover the meanings beyond the respondents descriptions and expressions of what it meant to be to be cared for, or to provide care

Abstract: An emergent theoretical perspective in the nursing literature relates to nursing as a human science and the application of critical social science and feminist frameworks to nursing research. This research adds to the discipline's knowledge base in that it is at the leading edge of exploring how critical case study illuminates critical issues in the practice of nursing.My interest in the research question came from hearing colleagues espouse the view that other than a legal one, there were no differences in practice between enrolled and registered nurses. How accurate was this perception? Without answers to this question, members of the nursing profession in New Zealand were likely to make some major decisions about the future of enrolled nursing which history will show were ill founded. Since I “walk the talk” of both the world of practice and the corridors of nursing power relationships, I sought answers by incorporating the viewpoints of both groups into the research design.Five registered nurses who had previously been enrolled nurses were asked to consider what was different about their present practice compared to their experiences as an enrolled nurse.Through critically reflexive discourse and journalling, Liz, Emma, Kathy, Helen and myself came to reflect on our nursing worlds in order to transform them.Writing about these transformations in a way that kept our voices alive was more difficult. The cases were written as stories, using storytelling as a legitimate academic activity to link the methodology with the theoretical perspectives. This ensured our individual voices were heard rather than silenced by the research process. It also left a clear decision trail for the reader to follow related to issues of rigor. Paradoxically, the identification of patterns across the case studies was facilitated.Two main patterns emerged in answer to the question “what's different in your practice now from when you were an enrolled nurse?” The differences were explicated in the pattern “Becoming a registered nurse” while “She was one of us” exposed the underlying power and control issues. This study found that the enrolled nurse controls practice at the bedside.The nursing profession's stance on the future of enrolled nurses was also explored through case study. Key nursing stakeholders were interviewed using a proposed legislative change to the Nurses' Act, 1977, that would lead to the demise of the enrolled nurses as a category of nurse, as a focus point. These different perspectives expose for critique the socio-political forces that silence the voice of enrolled nurses in determining their own future. At a legislative level, the stakeholders' voices are dominant. The future of enrolled nurses looks increasingly bleak in New Zealand as the nursing profession positions itself legislatively for the 21st century