A study of the educational and research priorities of registered nurses in rural Australia

This study set out to identify the educational and research priorities of registered nurses practising in rural and remote areas of Australia. It included two groups of participants, one which identified as rural and another which identified as remote. The findings for the rural cohort in the study are presented in this article. Research participants represented a national sample. The Delphi method was used to obtain the most reliable consensus of the nurse participants. In the final phase of the study, 13 high priorities were identified. Study findings highlight perceived needs for clinical nursing research and continuing education for nurses practising in rural Australia.     

An estimate of biofilm properties using an acoustic microscope

Noninvasive measurements over a biofilm, a three-dimensional (3-D) community of microorganisms immobilized at a substratum, were made using an acoustic microscope operating at frequencies up to 70 MHz. The microscope scanned a 2.5-mm by 2.5-mm region of a living biofilm having a nominal thickness of 100 microm. Spatial variation of surface heterogeneity, thickness, interior structure, and biomass were estimated. Thickness was estimated as the product of the speed of sound of the medium and the interim between the highest signal peak and that of the substratum plane without biofilm. The thickest portions of biofilm were 145 microm; however, slender structures attributed as streamers extended above, with one obtaining a 274-microm height above the substratum. Three-dimensional iso-contours of amplitude were used to estimate the internal structure of the biofilm. Backscatter amplitude was examined at five zones of increasing height from the substratum to examine biomass distribution. Ultrasound-based estimates of thickness were corroborated with optical microscopy. The experimental acoustic and optical systems, methods used to estimate biofilm properties, and potential applications for the resulting data are discussed.     

Assisted suicide: implications for nurses and nursing

Assisted suicide is an issue of great importance to nurses. This issue reflects our values and beliefs as a society, calls for a clear and precise response as a profession, and challenges individual nurses to think about their own moral views. The history of the debate and the compelling moral arguments on both sides attest to the complexity of the issue and also suggest that it will not soon be resolved. The current position of the profession, as expressed in the ANA Code for Nurses and a specific position statement, were reviewed. The dilemma faced by the individual nurse who perceives an obligation to adhere to the guidelines specified by his or her profession's code and yet whose conscience dictates an act in violation of this code has been discussed as an instance of conscientious objection. While this analysis has been necessarily brief, it was intended to illustrate the importance of being clear about one's personal moral views and equally clear about one's duty to fulfil the obligations stemming from the profession's public statements. It is essential that the profession continue to explore the moral issues involved in requests for assistance in dying and provide additional guidelines for practicing nurses, with sound rationale for the profession's position.     

Meeting performance-based training demands: Accountability in an intervention-based practicum.

Describes the ways in which accountability methods were built into practicum experiences for specialist- and doctoral-level school psychology trainees at the University of Cincinnati. 13 doctoral students served as consultants to 66 3–14 yr old children who were referred by teachers and parents for academic and behavioral concerns. Four parents and 57 teachers participated in problem-solving consultation in the intervention. The results of intervention-based services were summed across individual cases developed by trainees as a means of examining the overall effectiveness of the practicum experience. Outcomes are reported as procedural adherence to the model of service delivery (operationalized as a procedural checklist), graphic analysis of the data, effect sizes, goal attainment scaling, and treatment acceptability. The methods are discussed as examples of how to meet accountability demands for training in school psychology while providing comprehensive training in the delivery of intervention-based services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychophysiological treatment of migraine and tension headaches: A 12-month follow-up.

Conducted a 12-mo follow-up of the present authors' (1983) study population of chronic headache sufferers by telephone interviewing 31 chronic migraine and 25 chronic tension headache patients (aged 18–61 yrs) who had been treated with EMG, muscle relaxation, and fingertip temperature training to test a hypothesis of biofeedback placebo effects. A previous 3-mo follow-up had revealed that all treatments had produced significant improvement, and relaxation was not as good as the biofeedback devices for obtaining a reduction in monthly headache hours. At 12-mo follow-up, the 3-mo improvement was sustained overall, but migraineurs as a group appeared to regress slightly, while tension patients improved significantly in the interim. On the basis of a 50% reduction in symptomatology, biofeedback treatment was significantly superior to relaxation for tension headaches, although this had not been true at the 3-mo assessment. Temperature training was at least as effective as EMG for both headache groups. In view of these results, biofeedback treatment is viewed less as placebo administration and more as a secondary reinforcer of a specific but unknown physiological response. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frazil Ice Blockage of Water Intakes in the Great Lakes

Each winter, municipal water supply and thermal power plants drawing water from the Great Lakes face the problem of their water intakes becoming blocked by frazil ice formed in the lakes. Little is known about the manner in which frazil forms, how it is drawn down to the depths at which the intakes are located, and how to prevent frazil from fully blocking intakes. This paper presents an overview of frazil formation and intake blockage in the Great Lakes. The paper first reviews the current understanding of the processes of frazil formation and intake blockage, and it adds new insight regarding the processes. It then describes the problem by way of case-study examples of frazil blockage of two intakes in Lake Michigan. Based on the case studies, and experiences with other intakes in the Great Lakes, the paper outlines methods for monitoring and mitigating frazil blockage. Two options are recommended: monitoring rate of water level drop in the pump forebay onshore from the intake, and rate of headloss increase between the intake and the forebay. Laboratory modeling of intake blockage is then presented.