Biomedical subjects

F McInerney

Publications and source records attributed to F McInerney.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Honours in nursing: the struggle of students as clinicians/researchers in practice.

This paper address issues around the conduct of Bachelor of Nursing Honours programmes in practice. A review of the Tasmanian School of Nursing Honours programme is provided as a background to exploring the experiences of students as both clinicians and researchers. A content analysis of student essays, reflecting their engagement with practice during their coursework, was undertaken. This analysis reveals their struggle to establish a legitimate space as Honours students within the culture of the acute hospital ward. The students' experience highlights ward nurses' unfamiliarity with research and the difficulties of establishing new and innovative programmes such as Honours in practice contexts. Implications for the conduct of similar programmes and other research-related endeavours are discussed.

Education, Nursing, Graduate↗

PubMed2000

"Requested death": a new social movement.

This paper addresses current developments in the right-to-die arena. While discussion of this area has traditionally been the province of disciplines other than sociology, including philosophy and bioethics, this paper offers an alternative framework from which to consider the progressive interest in control and choice at life's end which has developed this century, principally in the Western world. Taking a largely socio-historical approach, this paper argues that issues such as euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide can be seen as forming part of an international social movement, which is dubbed 'the requested death movement'. The paper traces the chronology of the movement, placing its framing activities, the emergence of individual activists and events and its progressive mobilization, within a consideration of so-called 'new' social movements, which have emerged since the 1960s. These are principally concerned with resisting state control of cultural matters, while reclaiming matters of identity, privacy and individual corporeality, which it is argued are at the core of the requested death movement. It is posited that this consideration can contribute to understandings of both the contemporary social organization of death and dying, and social movement theory more generally.

Attitude to Death↗

PubMed1995

Nurses' definitions of and attitudes towards euthanasia.

A major impetus for this study was recent literature that assumed that nurses' definitions of euthanasia and consequent opinions on decision making are unproblematic. The purpose of this study was to identify nurses' definitions of and attitudes towards euthanasia. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses working in a variety of clinical practice settings. The majority of nurses could distinguish between active and passive euthanasia, but it was only in terms of active euthanasia that the debate was seen as significant. It was considered that the term passive euthanasia, particularly in relation to withdrawal of treatment, has served to confuse the real debate centring around active euthanasia. Only two participants were in favour of active euthanasia, but emphasized the need for 'a community of shared responsibility' in decision making. The major finding of the study was the commitment of all participants to caring for and ensuring the comfort of the dying patient. The concepts of ordinary and extraordinary forms of treatment and heroic measures were seen as worthy of debate in the context of dying with dignity rather than of euthanasia. There was an associated aversion to inappropriate heroic measures, which were perceived as prolonging death and interfering with 'dying with dignity'. The development of a personal and moral/ethical stance (in relation to euthanasia) was shown to be an evolving process embedded in a caring philosophy and emphasizing the contextual nature of providing appropriate care.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Provision of food and fluids in terminal care: a sociological analysis.

The artificial provision of nutrition and hydration to those with end-stage malignant disease is addressed. The physiology of cancer is investigated and is found to render such treatment futile in many instances. An analysis of the sociology of food, and the role of gender in its provision is discussed, and placed in the social milieu of the acute hospital, where there is to be found a cultural replication of the family. It is hypothesized that it is the synthesis of the powerful symbols of food and family that is at the root of behaviour in this area. Implications for patients and caregivers are explored.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Developing a collaborative preceptor program involving registered nurses, student nurses and faculty.

This paper addresses a collaborative preceptorship program involving a group of undergraduate nursing students, their registered nurse preceptors employed on the paediatric ward of an acute care hospital, and academic staff from a university school of nursing. The project utilised a fourth generation evaluation model, adapted from action research methods, which comprised a series of parallel focussed group discussions with a registered nurse preceptor group and a student nurse group. During the project, members of the two groups explored the issues around the supervision of students in practice in an acute paediatric context. This resulted in the development of innovative approaches to the supervisory practices utilised by preceptors. It also highlighted the benefits of collaboration between universities and hospital staff in developing preceptorship programs which respond appropriately to the needs of both preceptors and students.

Clinical Competence↗