Carer Perspectives About the Acceptability and Usability of the TRANSITION Tool to Support Preparation for Older Adult Care Transitions: A Qualitative Study.

INTRODUCTION: Transitional care of older adults can be highly stressful for informal carers (carers) particularly when they are not involved in preparation and planning with health practitioners. This study aimed to ascertain carer perspectives about the potential acceptability and usability of a tool entitled the TRANSITION tool to support preparation and planning for the transition of an older adult from hospital to home. DESIGN: Exploratory qualitative. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken between March 2020 and October 2021. A focus group was conducted in July 2022 to seek additional information and support data saturation. A total of 23 participants took part. Data were thematically analysed. FINDINGS: Participants explained their perspectives about the tool in four themes: (1) the TRANSITION tool has value, but health practitioners ask the questions; (2) the TRANSITION tool would be useful and acceptable, but not for all carers; (3) interacting with health practitioners is a barrier to using the tool and to communication; and (4) recognising us as part of the care team. CONCLUSIONS: While the tool was found to have potential value and utility, it would only be expected to support carers when they are valued and respected by health practitioners. Leadership is required in healthcare organisations to support genuine care for older adults and their carers, and to enable health practitioners to have time for transitional care communication. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The findings from the study suggest that the TRANSITION tool could support carers by prompting them about important areas of care to include in communication with health practitioners during discharge preparation.

Does maternity care in Australia align with the national maternity Strategy? Findings from a national survey of women's experiences.

BACKGROUND: Women Centred Care: Strategic directions for Australian maternity services (the Strategy), released in November 2019, provides national guidance on effective maternity care provision. The Strategy is structured around four core values (safety, respect, choice, and access) underpinning twelve woman-centred care principles. AIM: To explore whether the experiences of women who accessed Australian maternity services were aligned with the Strategy's values and principles. METHODS: Women who had completed an entire maternity care episode in Australia between January 2020 and June 2023 were invited to participate in an online survey. Women's experiences according to the Strategy's values and principles and their association with model of care, age, place of residence, educational attainment, and household income are reported. FINDINGS: The survey was completed by 1750 women. A proportion of women perceived the Strategy's values were not reflected in the care they experienced. At its lowest, only 50.3 % of women received an aspect of care that mostly or always aligned with the values, and 85.9 % at its highest. Women in private models of care were more likely to experience care according to the Strategy. Women in standard and high-risk public hospital care, rural/remote dwelling women, and younger women were less likely to experience care accordingly. Care was universally perceived to be worse in the postnatal period. CONCLUSION: Despite articulating how Australian maternity care should be provided, the intent of the Strategy has not been fully realised. Inequities exist in women's access to and experiences of care across the entire maternity episode.

A realist evaluation protocol: assessing the effectiveness of a rapid response team model for mental state deterioration in acute hospitals.

Background: Mental state deterioration poses significant challenges in healthcare, impacting patients and providers. Symptoms like confusion and agitation can lead to prolonged hospital stays, increased costs, and the use of restrictive interventions. Despite its prevalence, there's a lack of consensus on effective practices for managing mental state deterioration in acute hospital settings. To address this gap, a rapid response team model has been proposed as a potential intervention, aiming to provide early identification and targeted interventions. Methods: Based on realist evaluation steps, first, initial program theories are formulated to understand the logic behind the intervention. Second, literature synthesis identifies empirical evidence on contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes elements, refining initial theories. During the third step, data will be collected using qualitative methods such as field observations and interviews, as well as quantitative methods such as surveys of the staff, audits of electronic medical records, and analysis of incident records of mental state deterioration. Analysing this data informs configurations of contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes. In the fifth step, the configurations are synthesised, presenting refined, evidence-informed program theories. Conclusion: This study addresses the knowledge gap by evaluating the rapid response model's effectiveness in managing mental state deterioration in acute hospital settings. Realist principles guide the exploration of causal mechanisms and their interaction with specific implementation contexts. The objective is to identify what works, for whom, and under what circumstances, aiming to manage deterioration, reduce restrictive interventions, and enhance the experience for patients and staff by implementing a proactive model of care. The findings contribute to evidence-based approaches for managing mental state deterioration in hospital settings, informing policy and practice in this crucial area of healthcare.

Nurses' perceptions of patient pain, delirium, and sedation assessments in the intensive care unit: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Pain, delirium, and sedation should be assessed routinely using validated assessment scales. Inappropriately managed pain, delirium, and sedation in critically ill patients can have serious consequences regarding mortality, morbidity, and increased healthcare costs. Despite the benefits of a bundled approach to pain, delirium, and sedation assessments, few studies have explored nurses' perceptions of using validated scales for such assessments. Furthermore, no studies have examined nurses' perceptions of undertaking these assessments as a bundled approach. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to explore nurses' knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, and experiences regarding the use of validated pain, delirium, and sedation assessment tools as a bundled approach in the intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: A qualitative exploratory descriptive design was adopted. We conducted four focus groups and 10 individual interviews with 23 nurses from a 26-bed adult ICU at an Australian metropolitan tertiary teaching hospital. Data were analysed using thematic analysis techniques. FINDINGS: Four themes were identified: (i) factors impacting nurses' ability to undertake pain, delirium, and sedation assessments in the ICU; (ii) use, misuse, and nonuse of tools and use of alternative strategies to assess pain, delirium, and sedation; (iii) implementing assessment tools; and (iv) consequences of suboptimal pain, delirium, and sedation assessments. A gap was found in nurses' use of validated scales to assess pain, delirium, and sedation as a bundled approach, and they were not familiar with using a bundled approach to assessment. CONCLUSION: The practice gap could be addressed using a carefully planned implementation strategy. Strategies could include a policy and protocol for assessing pain, delirium, and sedation in the ICU, engagement of change champions to facilitate uptake of the strategy, reminder and feedback systems, further in-service education, and ongoing workplace training for nurses.

A beautiful bush space on Country: Indigenous women's perspectives on the cultural significance of a placenta garden.

BACKGROUND: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, hereafter respectfully referred to as First Nations women, often experience maternity care incongruent with their cultural needs. To date, there is limited research on First Nations women's perceptions of the role that placental burial and a placenta garden may play in promoting connection to culture for women and their babies. AIM: This study aimed to understand First Nations women's perceptions of placenta burial and a dedicated placenta garden in supporting connection to their culture. METHODS: In this qualitative descriptive study, decolonising methods were used to recruit eight First Nations women using message stick sampling via First Nations mentors. Stories were told through yarns using a semi-structured yarning guide. Reflexive thematic analysis led to theme generation. Member-checking of preliminary themes by participants and endorsement by First Nations mentors occurred before finalisation of themes. FINDINGS: Four themes captured the women's perspectives on the significance of placental burial and gardens. Recognising the Barriers explores factors impacting on culture and maternity care experiences. Enabling Continuity of Care describes a desire to work with a midwife towards a continuum throughout the perinatal period. Promoting Connection for Mum and Baby explores how the placenta garden can act as a conduit for connection. Finally, Creating Opportunity for Healing describes the essential healing that can be initiated through engaging in cultural placental burial. CONCLUSION: First Nations women described placental burial as essential to strengthening their connection to culture and perceived that continuity of care with a culturally knowledgeable midwife facilitated connection.

Listen to me, I really am sick! Patient and family narratives of clinical deterioration before and during rapid response system intervention.

AIM: To explore patient and family narratives about their recognition and response to clinical deterioration and their interactions with clinicians prior to and during Medical Emergency Team (MET) activations in hospital. BACKGROUND: Research on clinical deterioration has mostly focused on clinicians' roles. Although patients and families can identify subtle cues of early deterioration, little research has focused on their experience of recognising, speaking up and communicating with clinicians during this period of instability. DESIGN: A narrative inquiry. METHODS: Using narrative interviewing techniques, 33 adult patients and 14 family members of patients, who had received a MET call, in one private and one public academic teaching hospital in Melbourne, Australia were interviewed. Narrative analysis was conducted on the data. RESULTS: The core story of help seeking for recognition and response by clinicians to patient deterioration yielded four subplots: (1) identifying deterioration, recognition that something was not right and different from earlier; (2) voicing concerns to their nurse or by family members on their behalf; (3) being heard, desiring a response acknowledging the legitimacy of their concerns; and (4) once concerns were expressed, there was an expectation of and trust in clinicians to act on the concerns and manage the situation. CONCLUSION: Clinical deterioration results in an additional burden for hospitalised patients and families to speak up, seek help and resolve their concerns. Educating patients and families on what to be concerned about and when to notify staff requires a close partnership with clinicians. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: Clinicians must create an environment that enables patients and families to speak up. They must be alert to both subjective and objective information, to acknowledge and to act on the information accordingly. REPORTING METHOD: The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) guidelines were used for reporting. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The consumer researcher was involved in design, data analysis and publication preparation.

What is the economic and social return on investment for telephone cancer information and support services in Australia? An evaluative social return on investment study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Over 50% of people affected by cancer report unmet support needs. To address unmet information and psychological needs, non-government organisations such as Cancer Councils (Australia) have developed state-based telephone cancer information and support services. Due to competing demands, evidence of the value of these services is needed to ensure that future investment makes the best use of scarce resources. This research aims to determine the costs and broader economic and social value of a telephone support service, to inform future funding and service provision. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A codesigned, evaluative social return on investment analysis (SROI) will be conducted to estimate and compare the costs and monetised benefits of Cancer Council Victoria's (CCV) telephone support line, 13 11 20, over 1-year and 3-year benefit periods. Nine studies will empirically estimate the parameters to inform the SROI and calculate the ratio (economic and social value to value invested): step 1 mapping outcomes (in-depth analysis of CCV's 13 11 20 recorded call data; focus groups and interviews); step 2 providing evidence of outcomes (comparative survey of people affected by cancer who do and do not call CCV's 13 11 20; general public survey); step 3 valuing the outcomes (financial proxies, value games); step 4 establishing the impact (Delphi); step 5 calculating the net benefit and step 6 service improvement (discrete choice experiment (DCE), 'what if' analysis). Qualitative (focus groups, interviews) and quantitative studies (natural language processing, cross-sectional studies, Delphi) and economic techniques (willingness-to-pay, financial proxies, value games, DCE) will be applied. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval for each of the studies will be sought independently as the project progresses. So far, ethics approval has been granted for the first two studies. As each study analysis is completed, results will be disseminated through presentation, conferences, publications and reports to the partner organisations.

An economic evaluation of the Prioritising Responses Of Nurses To deteriorating patient Observations (PRONTO) clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Early recognition and response to clinical deterioration reduce the frequency of in-hospital cardiac arrests, mortality, and unplanned intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the Prioritising Responses Of Nurses To deteriorating patient Observations (PRONTO) intervention on hospital costs and patient length of stay (LOS). METHOD: The PRONTO cluster randomised control trial was conducted to improve nurses' responses to patients with abnormal vital signs. Hospital data were collected pre-intervention (T0) at 6 months (T1) and 12 months (T2) post-intervention. The economic evaluation involved a cost-consequence analysis from the hospital's perspective. Generalised estimating equations were used to estimate the parameters for regression models of the difference in costs and LOS between study groups and time points. RESULTS: Hospital admission data for 6065 patients (intervention group, 3102; control group, 2963) were collected from four hospitals for T0, T1 and T2. The intervention cost was 69.61 A$ per admitted patient, including the additional intervention training for nurses and associated labour costs. The results showed cost savings and a shorter LOS in the intervention group between T0 - T1 and T0 - T2 (cost differences T0 - T1: -364 (95% CI -3,782; 3049) A$ and T0 - T2: -1,710 (95% CI -5,162; 1,742) A$; and LOS differences T0 - T1: -1.10 (95% CI -2.44; 0.24) days and T0 & T2: -2.18 (95% CI -3.53; -0.82) days). CONCLUSION: The results of the economic analysis demonstrated that the PRONTO intervention improved nurses' responses to patients with abnormal vital signs and significantly reduced hospital LOS by two days at 12 months in the intervention group compared to baseline. From the hospital's perspective, savings from reduced hospitalisations offset the costs of implementing PRONTO.

Realist synthesis of a rapid response system in managing mental state deterioration in acute hospital settings.

Mental state deterioration in patients poses significant challenges in healthcare, potentially resulting in adverse outcomes for patients and continued reliance on restrictive interventions. Implementing evidence-based approaches such as a rapid response system that prioritises early identification and intervention can effectively manage adverse outcomes. However, little is known regarding the effectiveness of these interventions. The objective of this synthesis was to test and refine initial programme theories by synthesising evidence to understand what works, for whom and under what circumstances. Based on the realist synthesis methodology, we searched EMBASE, CINAHL, MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library and grey literature for evidence to inform contexts, mechanisms and outcomes on the functioning of a rapid response model. We identified 28 relevant sources encompassing peer-reviewed journal articles and grey literature. This synthesis identified three important elements that contribute to the effectiveness of a rapid response system for managing mental state deterioration: care processes, therapeutic practices and organisational support. Essential elements include improving confidence and clinical skills through training, timely assessment and intervention, teamwork, communication and the creation of governance structures for monitoring and evaluation. To ensure the effectiveness, an organisation must adopt a comprehensive approach that incorporates organisational support, resource allocation, training, clear communication channels and commitment to continuous quality improvement. However, implementing interventions within a complex healthcare system requires thoughtful consideration of the organisational culture and governance structures. By taking a comprehensive and holistic approach to improvement initiatives, organisations can strive to achieve optimal outcomes in managing mental state deterioration and improving patient care.

General practice nurse perceptions of barriers and facilitators to implementation of best-practice dementia care recommendations-a qualitative interview study.

INTRODUCTION: With an aging population and a growing prevalence of people living with dementia, the demand for best-practice dementia care in general practice increases. There is an opportunity to better utilise the nurse role within the primary care team to meet this increasing demand in the provision of care for people living with dementia. However, general practice nurses have limited knowledge in the provision of best-practice care for people living with dementia and their carer(s). A number of best-practice dementia care recommendations contained in the Australian Clinical Practice Guidelines and Principles of Care for People with Dementia have been identified as highly relevant to the role of the general practice nurse. AIMS: To explore general practice nurses' perspectives on published best-practice dementia care recommendations relevant to their role and identify barriers and facilitators to their implementation into clinical practice. METHODS: Thirteen Australian general practice nurses took part in this qualitative interview study. The research questions for this study were addressed within a paradigmatic framework of social constructionism. Data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. RESULTS: There was a high level of agreement between general practice nurses that the recommendations were important, reflected best-practice dementia care and were relevant to their role. However the recommendations were perceived as limited in their usefulness to nurses' clinical practice due to being too vague and lacking direction. Four main themes were identified describing barriers and facilitators to operationalising best-practice dementia care.: creating a comfortable environment; changing approach to care; optimising the general practice nurse role and working collaboratively. Nine sub-themes were described: physical environment; social environment; complexity of care; care planning for the family; professional role and identity, funding better dementia care, education, networking and resources; different roles, one team; and interagency communication. CONCLUSION: This study identified several factors that need addressing to support general practice nurses to integrate best-practice dementia care recommendations into daily clinical practice. The development of interventions needs to include strategies to mitigate potential barriers and enhance facilitators that they perceive impact on their delivery of best-practice care for people living with dementia and their carer(s). The knowledge gained in this study could be used to develop multi-faceted interventions informed by theoretical implementation change models to enable the general practice nurse to operationalise best-practice dementia care recommendations.

A qualitative exploration of challenges recruiting older adults for Being Your Best, a co-designed holistic intervention to manage and reduce frailty: lessons learnt amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Melbourne, Australia.

OBJECTIVES: Researchers face numerous challenges when recruiting participants for health and social care research. This study reports on the challenges faced recruiting older adults for Being Your Best, a co-designed holistic intervention to manage and reduce frailty, and highlights lessons learnt amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: A qualitative study design was used. Referrer interviews were conducted to explore the recruitment challenges faced by the frontline workers. An audit of the research participant (aged ≥65) database was also undertaken to evaluate the reasons for refusal to participate and withdrawal from the study. SETTING: Hospital emergency departments (EDs) and a home care provider in Melbourne, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Frontline workers and older adults. RESULTS: From May 2022 to June 2023, 71 referrals were received. Of those referrals, only 13 (18.3%) agreed to participate. Three participants withdrew immediately after baseline data collection, and the remaining 10 continued to participate in the programme. Reasons for older adult non-participation were (1) health issues (25.3%), (2) ineligibility (18.3%), (3) lack of interest (15.5%), (4) perceptions of being 'too old' (11.2%) and (5) perceptions of being too busy (5.6%). Of those participating, five were female and five were male. Eleven referrer interviews were conducted to explore challenges with recruitment, and three themes were generated after thematic analysis: (1) challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) characteristics of the programme and (3) health of older adults. CONCLUSION: Despite using multiple strategies, recruitment was much lower than anticipated. The ED staff were at capacity associated with pandemic-related activities. While EDs are important sources of participants for research, they were not suitable recruitment sites at the time of this study, due to COVID-19-related challenges. Programme screening characteristics and researchers' inability to develop rapport with potential participants also contributed to low recruitment numbers. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12620000533998; Pre-results.

Rural healthcare workforce preparation, response, and work during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: Lessons learned from in-depth interviews with rural health service leaders.

BACKGROUND: Low population density, geographic spread, limited infrastructure and higher costs are unique challenges in the delivery of healthcare in rural areas. During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency powers adopted globally to slow the spread of transmission of the virus included population-wide lockdowns and restrictions upon movement, testing, contact tracing and vaccination programs. The aim of this research was to document the experiences of rural health service leaders as they prepared for the emergency pandemic response, and to derive from this the lessons learned for workforce preparedness to inform recommendations for future policy and emergency planning. METHODOLOGY AND METHODS: Interviews were conducted with leaders from two rural public health services in Australia, one small (500 staff) and one large (3000 staff). Data were inductively coded and analysed thematically. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-three participants included health service leaders in executive, clinical, and administrative roles. FINDINGS: Six major themes were identified: Working towards a common goal, Delivery of care, Education and training, Organizational governance and leadership, Personal and psychological impacts, and Working with the Local Community. Findings informed the development of a applied framework. CONCLUSION: The study findings emphasise the critical importance of leadership, teamwork and community engagement in preparing the emergency pandemic response in rural areas. Informed by this research, recommendations were made to guide future rural pandemic emergency responses or health crises around the world.

Health literacy interventions for informal caregivers: systematic review.

AIM: The aim of the systematic review was to identify conceptual models and interventions designed to improve health literacy in caregivers of adults with a chronic disease/disability. METHODS: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Embase were searched for relevant literature. Articles were included if they focused on adults who provided informal care to someone aged 18+ with a chronic disease/disability. Quantitative studies were included if they reported an intervention designed to improve caregiver health literacy (CHL) and assessed outcomes using a validated measure of health literacy. Qualitative and mixed method studies were included if they described a conceptual model or framework of CHL or developed/assessed the feasibility of an intervention. Study quality was appraised using the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool. RESULTS: Eleven studies were included. Five studies used pre-post design to assess outcomes of an intervention; four described intervention development and/or pilot testing; two described conceptual models. Two of five studies reported pre-post intervention improvements in CHL; one reported an improvement in one of nine health literacy domains; two reported no improvements following intervention. Interventions predominantly aimed to improve: caregiver understanding of the disease, treatment and potential outcomes, day-to-day care, self-care and health provider engagement. Few interventions targeted broader interpersonal and health service factors identified as influencing CHL. DISCUSSION: Evidence on the development and assessment of comprehensive CHL interventions is scarce. Recommendations include the development of interventions that are guided by a CHL framework to ensure they address individual, interpersonal and health service/provider factors that influence CHL.

iCare - a self-directed, interactive online program to improve health and wellbeing for people living with upper gastrointestinal or hepato-pancreato-biliary cancers, and their informal carers: the study protocol for a Phase II randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Up to 70% of people diagnosed with upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract or hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) cancers experience substantial reductions in quality of life (QoL), including high distress levels, pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, weight loss and difficulty swallowing. With few advocacy groups and support systems for adults with upper GI or HPB cancers (i.e. pancreas, liver, stomach, bile duct and oesophageal) and their carers, online supportive care programs may represent an alternate cost-effective mechanism to support this patient group and carers. iCare is a self-directed, interactive, online program that provides information, resources, and psychological packages to patients and their carers from the treatment phase of their condition. The inception and development of iCare has been driven by consumers, advocacy groups, government and health professionals. The aims of this study are to determine the feasibility and acceptability of iCare, examine preliminary efficacy on health-related QoL and carer burden at 3- and 6-months post enrolment, and the potential cost-effectiveness of iCare, from health and societal perspectives, for both patients and carers. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A Phase II randomised controlled trial. Overall, 162 people with newly diagnosed upper GI or HPB cancers and 162 carers will be recruited via the Upper GI Cancer Registry, online advertisements, or hospital clinics. Patients and carers will be randomly allocated (1:1) to the iCare program or usual care. Participant assessments will be at enrolment, 3- and 6-months later. The primary outcomes are i) feasibility, measured by eligibility, recruitment, response and attrition rates, and ii) acceptability, measured by engagement with iCare (frequency of logins, time spent using iCare, and use of features over the intervention period). Secondary outcomes are patient changes in QoL and unmet needs, and carer burden, unmet needs and QoL. Linear mixed models will be fitted to obtain preliminary estimates of efficacy and variability for secondary outcomes. The economic analysis will include a cost-consequences analysis where all outcomes will be compared with costs. DISCUSSION: iCare provides a potential model of supportive care to improve QoL, unmet needs and burden of disease among people living with upper GI or HPB cancers and their carers. AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRY: ACTRN12623001185651. This protocol reflects Version #1 26 April 2023.

Realist synthesis protocol on the effectiveness of a rapid response system in managing mental state deterioration in acute hospital settings.

INTRODUCTION: Patient mental state deterioration impacts patient outcomes, staff and increases costs for healthcare organisations. Mental state is broadly defined to include not only mental health but a broad range of cognitive, emotional and psychological well-being factors. Mental state deterioration is inconsistently identified and managed within acute and tertiary medical settings. This protocol aims to synthesise the evidence to test and refine initial programme theories that outline the functioning of a rapid response system. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This synthesis will be guided by Pawson's key steps in realist reviews. We will clarify the scope of synthesis through an initial literature search, focusing on understanding the functioning of rapid response system in managing patients presenting with mental state deterioration in acute hospital settings. Initial programme theories will be refined by developing a search strategy to comprehensively search electronic databases for relevant English language peer-reviewed studies. Additionally, we will search the grey literature for sources to supplement theory testing. An abstraction form will be developed to record the characteristics of literature sources. We will use spreadsheets to code and report contextual factors, underlying mechanisms, and outcome configurations. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: As this study is a realist synthesis protocol, ethics approval is not required. Synthesis findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at scientific conferences.

Exploring the relationship between compassion, the practice environment, and quality of care as perceived by paediatric nurses.

PURPOSE: To (1) explore associations between paediatric nurses' perceptions of their own compassion, the practice environment, and quality of care, and (2) identify factors that influence perceived quality of care. DESIGN AND METHODS: Cross-sectional survey of paediatric nurses (n = 113) from a hospital network in Melbourne, Australia. The survey included the Compassion Scale, Practice Environment Scale of the Nurse Work Index (PES-NWI), a single quality of care item, and demographic items. Hierarchical regression was used to explore factors that predicted perceived care quality. RESULTS: There were moderate positive correlations between perceived care quality and both compassion (rho = 0.36, p < .001) and practice environment (i.e., total PES-NWI: rho = 0.45, p < .001). There were significant differences in perceived care quality based on nurses' work area (i.e., critical care vs medical/surgical wards). The final hierarchical regression analysis included compassion (Step 2) and four of five PES-NWI subscales (Step 3), controlling for work area (Step 1). The model was statistically significant and explained 44% of variance in perceived quality; compassion and PES-NWI subscale 2 (Nursing foundations for quality of care) were statistically significant predictors. CONCLUSIONS: Paediatric nurses' perceptions of quality were influenced by their own compassion for others and elements of the practice environment, particularly nursing foundations for care quality, which is characterised by a clear nursing philosophy and model of care, with programs and processes to support practice. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The findings offer insights into potentially modifiable individual and workplace factors that contribute to paediatric nurses' perceptions of care quality.

Change agent's role in facilitating use of technology in residential aged care: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To synthesise the evidence on the roles and outcomes of change agents in facilitating the use of powered technology systems and devices for staff end-users in residential aged care workplaces. DESIGN: Systematic review and narrative synthesis. DATA SOURCES: CINAHL, MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched for articles published in English between January 2010 and July 2022. REVIEW METHODS: Two of three reviewers independently screened each title and abstract, and subsequently the full texts of selected records. The Mixed Method Appraisal Tool was used to assess the quality of the included articles. RESULTS: Of 3,680 records identified, ten articles reporting nine studies were included. In all the studies, the change agent role was a minor component embedded within implementation processes. Three key change agent roles were identified: 1) providing guidance, expertise, and support with implementing a new technology; 2) delivering training to others, and 3) troubleshooting and responding to issues. The key outcome of change agent roles related to achieving project implementation milestones and higher levels of implementation of technology. Change agent processes, however, were compromised when the designated change agent role was included late in the implementation process, or was not supported, recognised, embraced, or when roles or responsibilities were unclear. The direct contribution of change agents was difficult to elucidate because the roles and outcomes of change agents were embedded in multi-faceted implementation strategies. CONCLUSIONS: The change agent can play an important role in facilitating technology implementation by providing support, training, and troubleshooting. Challenges with the change agent role included unclear role expectations and appointment late in the implementation process. Overall, there was limited evidence specific to the role and outcome of the change agent role to inform ideal approaches for their role in technology facilitation for end-users in residential aged care workplaces.

Nurses' perceptions of point-of-care ultrasound for haemodialysis access assessment and guided cannulation: A qualitative study.

AIM: To explore nurses' perceptions of using point-of-care ultrasound for assessment and guided cannulation in the haemodialysis setting. BACKGROUND: Cannulation of arteriovenous fistulae is necessary to perform haemodialysis. Damage to the arteriovenous fistula is a frequent complication, resulting in poor patient outcomes and increased healthcare costs. Point-of-care ultrasound-guided cannulation can reduce the risk of such damage and mitigate further vessel deterioration. Understanding nurses' perceptions of using this adjunct tool will inform its future implementation into haemodialysis practice. DESIGN: Descriptive qualitative study. METHODS: Registered nurses were recruited from one 16-chair regional Australian haemodialysis clinic. Eligible nurses were drawn from a larger study investigating the feasibility of implementing point-of-care ultrasound in haemodialysis. Participants attended a semistructured one-on-one interview where they were asked about their experiences with, and perceptions of, point-of-care ultrasound use in haemodialysis cannulation. Audio-recorded data were transcribed and inductively analysed. FINDINGS: Seven of nine nurses who completed the larger study participated in a semistructured interview. All participants were female with a median age of 54 years (and had postgraduate renal qualifications. Themes identified were as follows: (1) barriers to use of ultrasound; (2) deficit and benefit recognition; (3) cognitive and psychomotor development; and (4) practice makes perfect. Information identified within these themes were that nurses perceived that their experience with point-of-care ultrasound was beneficial but recommended against its use for every cannulation. The more practice nurses had with point-of-care ultrasound, the more their confidence, dexterity and time management improved. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses perceived that using point-of-care ultrasound was a positive adjunct to their cannulation practice and provided beneficial outcomes for patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: Haemodialysis clinics seeking to implement point-of-care ultrasound to help improve cannulation outcomes may draw on these findings when embarking on this practice change. REPORTING METHOD: This study is reported according to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ). PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Patients were not directly involved in this part of the study; however, they were involved in the implementation study. TRIAL AND PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The larger study was registered with Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12617001569392 (21/11/2017) https://anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=373963&isReview=true.