Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
survey conducted with general and mental health nurses. This work
has informed the development of an Irish Nursing Minimum Data
Set and was funded by the Health Research Board. Permission to
use the questionnaire to explore the core elements of public health
nursing care for this study was sought and obtained from the
research programme steering group.
A convenience sample was used. The researcher attended meetings
countrywide to invite public health nurses to participate. The
confidential and anonymous questionnaire obtained information on
respondent demographics, patient problems (physical, psychological
and social), nursing interventions (physical, psychological and
social), co-ordination and organisation of care and outcomes of
care. PHNs were invited to provide additional qualitative data on
aspects of public health nursing care that they identified as missing
from the questionnaire used.
Analysis
Quantitative data gathered is currently being analysed using
descriptive statistics with the aid of SPSS software. Percentile
scores will be used to determine the importance of each item to
public health nursing care.
Content analysis is being carried out with the aid of Nvivo software
on the additional qualitative data provided by PHNs. This will be
coded according to patient problems, nursing interventions, coordination
and organisation of care and outcomes of care.
Findings
This paper will present the findings and document core elements of
public health nursing care which have not previously been identified
by other Irish nurses. Previous findings from other groups of Irish
nurses will be compared with the findings from the public health
nurses.
References
Clarke, J. (2004) Public health nursing in Ireland: A critical
overview. Public Health Nursing, 21 (2), 191-198
Keleher, H. (2003) Public health nursing in Australia-historically
invisible. International History of Nursing Journal, 7 (3), 50-55
Scott P.A., Treacy, M.P., Mac Neela, P., Hyde, A., Morris, R.,
Drennan, J., Byrne, A., Henry, P., Butler, M., Clinton, G., Corbally,
M., Irving, K. (2006) Report on The Delphi Study of Irish Nurses to
Articulate the Core Elements of Nursing Care in Ireland. Dublin:
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