Jan Maree Sayers

Leading a Recovery-oriented Social Enterprise

Recovery-oriented mental health services promote the principles of recovery, such as hope and optimism, and are characterized by a personalized approach to developing consumer self-determination. Nurse leaders are increasingly developing such services as social enterprises, but there is limited research on the leadership of these programs. Leading a recovery-oriented mental health nurse social enterprise requires visionary leadership, collaboration with consumers and local health providers, financial viability, and commitment to recovery-focused practice. This article describes the framework of an Australian mental health nursing social enterprise, including the service attributes and leadership lessons that have been learned from developing program sustainability.

Validation of the professional practice environment scale in nurse educators in hospitals

AIMnTo report an assessment of the psychometric properties of the Professional Practice Environment (PPE) scale in a sample of Australian nurse educators in acute care hospitals.nnnBACKGROUNDnAlthough nurse educators are important in an enabling work environment, there has been no reported exploration of their satisfaction with work in acute care hospitals.nnnDISCUSSIONnThe factor structure and internal consistency of the PPE scale were consistent with Ericksons eight-factor model of the items, indicating the appropriateness of the scale as an assessment tool to measure the PPE of nurse educators.nnnCONCLUSIONnThe PPE scale is useful for monitoring the work environment of nurse educators in clinical practice and the environmental effects influencing their recruitment, retention and job satisfaction.nnnIMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICEnThis work may inform the development of integrated professional practice environments where the professional practice and workplace satisfaction of nurse educators are optimised, influencing safe, quality patient care.

Arrogance in the Workplace: Implications for Mental Health Nurses

Cultures of performativity may contribute to organizational and individual arrogance. Workplace organizations have individuals who at various times will display arrogance, which may manifest in behaviours, such as an exaggerated sense of self-importance, dismissiveness of others, condescending behaviors and an impatient manner. Arrogance is not a flattering label and irrespective of the reason or the position of power, in the context of organizational behaviors, may not be useful and may even be detrimental to the work environment. Thus, it is timely to reflect on the implications of arrogance in the workplace. Advocacy and empowerment can be undermined and relationships adversely impacted, including the achievement of positive consumer outcomes. This paper provides an introduction to arrogance, and then discusses arrogance to promote awareness of the potential consequences of arrogance and its constituent behaviors.

Older persons' perceptions and experiences of community palliative care: a systematic review of qualitative evidence protocol.

REVIEW QUESTION/OBJECTIVEnThe objective of this systematic review is to identify and synthesize the best available qualitative evidence on how older persons perceive and experience community palliative care.The specific question is: What are older persons perceptions and experiences of community palliative care?

The leadership role of nurse educators in mental health nursing.

Leadership behaviors and actions influence others to act, and leadership in clinical practice is an important mediator influencing patient outcomes and staff satisfaction. Indeed, positive clinical leadership has been positioned as a crucial element for transformation of health care services and has led to the development of the Practice Doctorate Movement in the United States. Nurse educators in health care have a vital leadership role as clinical experts, role models, mentors, change agents, and supporters of quality projects. By enacting these leadership attributes, nurse educators ensure a skilled and confident workforce that is focused on optimizing opportunities for students and graduates to integrate theory and practice in the workplace as well as developing more holistic models of care for the consumer. Nurse educators need to be active in supporting staff and students in health care environments and be visible leaders who can drive policy and practice changes and engage in professional forums, research, and scholarship. Although nurse educators have always been a feature of the nursing workplace, there is a paucity of literature on the role of nurse educators as clinical leaders. This discursive article describes the role and attributes of nurse educators with a focus on their role as leaders in mental health nursing. We argue that embracing the leadership role is fundamental to nurse educators and to influencing consumer-focused care in mental health. We also make recommendations for developing the leadership role of nurse educators and provide considerations for further research such as examining the impact of clinical leaders on client, staff, and organizational outcomes.

Older persons’ experiences of their own decision making about their care: a systematic review of qualitative evidence protocol

REVIEW QUESTION/OBJECTIVE: The overall objective of this systematic review is to identify and synthesize the best available qualitative evidence of how older persons go about making decisions regarding their own health care. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Types of participants: This review will consider studies that include people 65 years or over who are living in the community. Studies that include participants under 65 years of age will be excluded. Studies focusing on decision making with participants with dementia, who are cognitively impaired; who are undergoing palliative care or who are terminally ill will be excluded. Phenomena of interest: This review will consider studies where the phenomena of interest are the experiences of older people in regards to decision making about their health care. Context: The review will consider studies that investigate the experiences of older persons’ living in community based settings. These settings may include: the older persons’ home, a community living environment and a retirement village setting, but exclude residential aged care facilities.