Jennifer Jackson

Developing a social media platform for nurses

Social media tools provide opportunities for nurses to connect with colleagues and patients and to advance personally and professionally. This article describes the process of developing an innovative social media platform at a large, multi-centre teaching hospital, The Ottawa Hospital, Canada, and its benefits for nurses. The platform, TOH Nurses, was developed using a nursing process approach, involving assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. The aim of this initiative was to address the barriers to communication inherent in the large number of nurses employed by the organisation, the physical size of the multi-centre hospital and the shift-work nature of nursing. The platform was used to provide educational materials for clinical nurses, and to share information about professional practice. The implications of using a social media platform in a healthcare setting were considered carefully during its development and implementation, including concerns regarding privacy and confidentiality.

Is the art of nursing dying? A call for political action

Nightingale conceived of the art of nursing as the ability of the nurse to positively influence a patient’s environment to foster healing. By this definition, the art of nursing is at risk. Rather than impacting their circumstances, nurses are being overwhelmed by them. The challenges faced by nurses currently have many parallels with historical examples of Nightingale’s work. In this article, examples of modern nursing workforce challenges are contrasted with situations faced by Nightingale. Like Nightingale, modern nurses are being required to justify their worth in order to receive funding and renumeration for their work. Nursing work is being devalued, which is reflected in nursing education policy and changes to professional structures. In the midst of these difficulties, nurses can take inspiration from Nightingale as a political advocate and activist. Modern nurses face a call to action, to defend the professional nature of nursing and regain their political influence. Specific strategies for political action are discussed and nurses are urged to engage politically in order to regain control of their environment and the art of nursing.

Burnout and resilience in critical care nurses: A grounded theory of Managing Exposure

BACKGROUND Many critical care nurses experience burnout; however, resilience shows promise as a potential solution to burnout. This study was conducted to better understand nurse burnout and resilience in response to workplace adversity in critical care. DESIGN A grounded theory investigation, using the Corbin and Strauss methodology. Participants engaged in qualitative, open-ended interviews about burnout and resilience. SETTING A multi-site, urban, teaching hospital in Canada. PARTICIPANTS 11 female critical care nurses, with 1-30+ years of critical care experience. FINDINGS Burnout and resilience can be understood as indicators in a process of responding to workplace adversity. Workplace adversity can take many forms and has a negative impact on nurses. Nurses must be aware of this impact to take action. The process of Managing Exposure is how nurses address workplace adversity, using variety of techniques: protecting, processing, decontaminating, and distancing. The indicators of this process for nurses are thriving, resilience, survival and burnout. Organisational policies can impact on this process. CONCLUSIONS Resilience and burnout are connected, as indicators of the same process for critical care nurses. Nurse leaders can intervene throughout this process to reduce workplace adversity and support resilience among nurses.

Using Social Media to Support Clinical Education

Social media has been used increasingly as part of nursing education. Nurse educators at a large, multisite teaching hospital used social media to support clinical teaching. A series of educational images was created by nurse educators and shared across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This campaign coincided with in-unit clinical education. Nurse educators can consider using social media as an adjunct to clinical teaching, especially in large hospital settings. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2017;48(12):541-542.

Exploring the experience of nursing home residents' participation in a hope-focused group

A qualitative intervention was used to explore how older adults living in a long-term care environment (nursing home) understand hope and experience being participants in a group in which a hope intervention was carried out. A group project in which each session focused intentionally on a hope strategy was carried out with a convenience sample of 10 women (ages 75–99) who were members of an existing group. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis of the interviews (conducted before the group intervention was carried out and again at the end), field notes, and collaborative conversations regarding emerging themes. Findings from this study suggest that hope is not static and that it can change over time in response to ones situations and circumstances. Also evident in this study is the potential for using a group process in long-term care to foster hope in an intentional way to make it more visible in the lives of the residents and their environment suggesting that one is “never too old for hope.”