International conference features research on nurses in the Northern Rivers

A research study involving palliative care nurses from the Northern Rivers will be the focus of a paper to be given in Canada early next month by Southern Cross University (SCU) Professor of Nursing Bev Taylor.

Dr Taylor will present the paper ‘Exploring idealism in palliative nursing care through reflective practice and action research’ at the 26th annual conference of the International Association for Human Caring in Montreal.

Dr Taylor said the research project stemmed from a group of nurses working in palliative care in the Northern Rivers Area Health Service.

She said that, through the research process, the nurses realised they had an idealistic view of what services and care they could provide.

“They were trying to be perfect. They wanted the deaths to be good for the patients and the families. They wanted to make everybody completely happy, but the reality is that it’s not practical,” Dr Taylor said.

“That idealism caused them a lot of stress in their work. Idealism is basically a good thing, but it needs to be balanced.

“What they learned was how to balance their work and responsibilities so they could give the best possible care but without risking their own health.”

She said the research also led the nurses to develop their own action plans to make their work more manageable.

“Nurses are very reflective, but they don’t always get the chance to be involved in research. What we are trying to do is show clinicians that they are central to the research and that their issues are important.”

Dr Taylor said the research being done by SCU fitted the international stage and was an ideal topic for this conference, which was titled Caring, For a renewed Care.

Media contact: Brigid Veale, SCU Media Liaison, 66593006 or m. 0439 680 748.