Title page, table of contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / This study aimed to identify tools, systems and processes that inform nurse skill-assessment and nurse-to-patient allocation decisions in Adult Level III Australian Intensive Care Units (ICU), and to develop a Nurse Skill Matching Decision-Support Framework that could be incorporated within an ICU risk management system. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1274724 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2007

Thesis (M.S.N.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 3, 2008). Directed by Susan Letvak; submitted to the School of Nursing. Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-58).

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Jeanne Flannery, Florida State University, School of Nursing, Dept. of Graduate Studies. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 22, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 30-33). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Nurs.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Research project (M.S.N.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 43-47)

M.Cur. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Cur. (Nursing Science) / The purpose of the research study was to explore and describe the experiences of critical care nurses working in adult critical care units of a private hospital in Gauteng, following their involvement in a sentinel event. This information could enable the researcher to formulate guidelines for support of these nurses. Health care professionals aim to deliver safe, high quality care, but unfortunately, all humans can, and do make mistakes (Wakefield, 2007: 12). Since the report To err is human was released by The Institution of Medicine at Havard University (Kohn, Corrigen & Donaldson,1999), more authors have concluded that it is human to make mistakes (Erasmus, 2008:5). Mistakes in the nursing environment can be seen as sentinel events which could result in unintended harm to the patient (Muller, Bezuidenhout & Jooste, 2006:456). Sentinel events in health care, could lead to the devastating concepts of negligence, malpractice, or unprofessional practice, as nurses are held accountable for their acts and omissions according to Erasmus (2008: 5-6). The following research questions emerged:  What are the experiences of critical care nurses, following their involvement in a sentinel event, which harmed, or could have resulted in unintended harm to the patient?  What guidelines for support of these nurses could be formulated? This study was planned in two phases and the objectives of the study were: Phase 1: To explore and describe the lived experiences of nurses, working in the adult critical care units in a private hospital in Gauteng, following their involvement in a sentinel event, which harmed, or could have resulted in unintended harm to the patient. Phase 2: To formulate guidelines for support of these nurses, following their involvement in a sentinel event. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual phenomenological research design was used to gain more information regarding critical care nurses` lived experiences, following their involvement in a sentinel event. The study was done in two adult critical care units, in a private hospital in Gauteng. Data was collected by means of six individual in - depth interviews and three naive sketches. Data analysis was done according to Tesch`s open-coding qualitative data analysis method (Creswell, 2007:156). Two main categories emerged from the data, namely the nurses` experiences following their involvement in a sentinel event and the recommendations towards guidelines for support of these nurses. The first main category was sub categorized as being personal, emotional, social and professional experiences and were found as being positive, as well as negative experiences. In the second main category, recommendations towards guidelines for support of nurses, following their involvement in a sentinel event, were proposed and these recommendations were sub- categorised as being at a personal, professional and organizational level of the nurse. In view of the findings of this study, the recommended guidelines for support of nurses, following their involvement in a sentinel event included communication, debriefing, in-service training, root cause analysis and organizational support. Consequently, the intent should be to implement these proposed guidelines for support in the hospital under study. If nurses were supported to follow these guidelines, it may help the nurses who had been involved in a sentinel event, to restore their strive for wholeness in body mind and spirit (University of Johannesburg, 2009:1) and these nurses could be able to render holistic nursing care.

D.Cur. / Intensive nursing science in the Republic of South Africa has become so comprehensive and has gained momentum to such an extent the curriculum for the diploma in intensive nursing science no longer suffices. This study has attempted to identify the scope of intensive care for the professional nurse within the context of the community need for intensive care and to develop the curriculum in accordance. To achieve this purpose a theoretical framework was compiled out of the literature according to which the curriculum was evaluated. The task of the professional nurse in intensive care was identified by means of a literature study, observations and interviews. In addition, a statistical survey was done of the diseases with which the patients are admitted into intensive care units. It is obvious that the prescribed curriculum has, to a large extent achieved its aim but an explicit need was indicated for more training schools and trained professional nurses in intensive care. The evaluation practices for the diploma in intensive nursing science must be placed upon a scientific basis.