Title. To care on equal terms – Registered nurses experiences of duty in an international military operation. Aim. To describe registered nurses experience of providing patient care on equal terms in a Swedish international military operation. Background. Reg. nurses provide care to a variety of patients during an international military operation. Those patients may be civilians as well as military. Among them may be friends, allies or enemies. According to Swedish and international law all patients has the right to recieve medical care. The number of reg. nurses who will participate in international military operations will increase, yet there are few studies about experiences of providing care on equal terms to patients in this setting. Method. A qualitative study based on interviews was used. Nine Swedish reg. nurses were interviewed. The data was analysed using a qualitative content analysis. Findings. Three themes emerged. Feelings in nursing, conditions in nursing and ambitions in nursing. Reg. nurses describe different feelings such as frustration and anger. The conditions reg. nurses have to work in are often dangerous and with limited resources. Reg. nurses have an ambition to provide care on equal terms but find it difficult to do so. Conclusion. Reg. nurses describe that it is difficult to provide care on equal terms. Patients are not always provided equal care. The ambition is to give patients care on equal terms, but in a situation when a choice has to be made, reg. nurses tend to care for friends first.

The thesis deals with the profession of a military nurse. We can assert that the official study of military, non-medical health-care related qualifications and its use in practice not only for military purposes dates back to the fifties of the last century. However, women as health care professionals, consequently in uniforms, have always been an actual issue. The development of health care activities always existed, however, we must not neglect influence of scientific and medical findings. The historical timeline of development of medical care in the battle field was recorded and ranges from pre-historical healing. The way of Christian medicine was negatively influenced by the Catholic Church. The dark period of the Middle Ages had actually wrested medical performance from the hands of specialists and the suffering were left to the "tender" mercies of the priests. The following part of the thesis concerns modern medicine where enlightenment reforms were exercised. Some of the original six-month courses for military surgeons were organised in this period of time; they weretransformed into Military Surgical Academy, out of which the famous Josefinum originated. A expression of humanity which supported a form of health care of war veterans was demonstrated by constructing buildings for invalid people. The second half of the nineteenth century is characterized by the phenomenon of the presence of nuns in military hospitals. This study goes further in depth of professionally organized healthcare right in the battle field, which dates back from the era of wars in the Crimea.This stage describes the transformation of caring into nursing which requires the necessity of specialized preparation of persons providing nursing practice. In addition, Henry Dunant engraved himself into the history of the profession of a nurse, as the founder of the Red Cross, who first trained health care professionals for working within armed intentions of the state. The continuation of this action sketches out the process of providing first aid in principal armed conflicts of the twentieth century. It describes the functioning of commander operated military health service of that time. WWI drove Czech medical staff to both sides of the front where they provided medical help to the injured. Nurses of the WWII already performed their duties in uniforms as the rightful members of the army. The thesis also mentions post-war usage of military health care professionals in secret foreign missions and their specialized erudition.Last but not least, it marginally discusses contemporary possibilities of modern health care service of the Army of the Czech Republic. The goal of the endeavours of writing this thesis was to chart out clearly the development of the profession of a military nurse within the historical context, focusing mainly on women coming from Czech regions. In order to make the history background concerning specific female participants of the world war conflicts understandable to the reader, this paper reports, in broader extension, peculiar medical and nursing findings, already from the era of prehistoric civilisations. The history study method were applied for the purpose of the theoretical thesis. The methodology is based on searching, studying, sorting and the consecutive systematic objective describing of the events from the past times with the intention to propose comprehensive report on the subject given. It was necessary to study inexhaustible amount of sources to obtain awareness of historical connections. Factual information was derived by analysing of primary and mainly secondary documents. The thesis sketches out histories of military health care and the profession of a military health care professional stemmed from the exploration of appropriate written sources and conclusion of the basic findings. The intentions of the work are not only to clarify the past but also to contribute to solutions of every-day issues.

Problem: There is a shortage of military certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs). The exodus from military service to civilian careers could be a result of relative deprivation (the discrepancy that one perceives between what one has and what one could or should have). Relative deprivation is a perception of unfairness dependent on feelings (subjective data) as well as facts (objective data). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure relative deprivation in active duty military nurse anesthetists, to explore variables which correlate with relative deprivation, and to validate or refute the theory of relative deprivation in active duty military CRNAs. The study was based on research conducted by Crosby who theorized that wanting (a desire for some object or opportunity) and deserving (a feeling of entitlement to an object or opportunity) were the most relevant preconditions leading to relative deprivation. It was hypothesized that antecedent factors (years as a CRNA, pay, promotion opportunities, and scope of practice/autonomy) and psychological factors (wanting and deserving) correlate with relative deprivation. It was further hypothesized, based on the theory, that psychological factors would have more influence on relative deprivation than antecedent factors.Study design: The descriptive, correlational study was conducted using a self-administered survey sent to 435 active duty Army, Navy and Air Force CRNAs. Surveys were distributed to subjects by mail and could be answered by mail or by secured website designed specifically for the conduct of this study.Results: Response rate was 58% (n = 236). Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Analysis of the data revealed no significant correlation (pConclusions: Further research is indicated to identify tangible factors which can be modified to improve feelings of deprivation as they relate to retention and recruitment of military CRNAs.