Thesis (M.S.N.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 9, 2008). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Nursing)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2007. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Charlene Winters. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-44).

Background COVID-19 brought about unprecedented changes to health care systems, putting a strain on nurses, including those in rural hospitals. The accounts of nurses who worked during COVID-19 can help to increase understanding of this strain and how nurses can be supported during such crises. The aim of this study was to increase the understanding of rural acute care nurses’ experiences during COVID-19 and identify what challenged and supported them. Methods This study was completed using a qualitative description design, supported by the Society-to-Cells Resilience Theory. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants with a target sample size of 10-30 nurses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted between March and May of 2023 via Zoom software; lasting from 60 to 90 minutes each. Content analysis was conducted by the primary researcher, with checks by a secondary researcher on two interviews for coding accuracy. Results Six Ontario rural acute care nurses participated in the study. Three related categories of factors emerged from the analysis; individual, workplace, and community factors. At the individual level, nurses faced social isolation, but were supported by their family and their own optimism. A key workplace factor that contributed to their distress was poor working conditions, including ineffectual management. However, they were supported emotionally by their coworkers. Lastly, the community could have a positive or negative effect depending on how supportive they were of nurses during COVID-19. Conclusion Strong support systems, resource availability in the workplace, and active and supportive management increased nurses’ well-being and resilience in the rural workplace. These findings can be used to inform future policy and management decisions in rural workplaces, especially during times of crisis, to prevent turnover and worsened mental health in rural nurses. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / COVID-19 brought about unexpected changes to healthcare systems, putting a strain on nurses, including those in rural hospitals. This study aimed to learn more about the experiences that rural acute care nurses had during COVID-19, to see what was stressful for them and what helped them to deal with their stress. This study used a qualitative descriptive design to gather this information. Rural nurses were interviewed about their experiences during COVID-19, and this information was summarized. It was found that they experienced stressors, such as poor working conditions and loneliness, in the home, workplace, and in the community. However, people in these places could also offer support. Rural nurses appreciated when their workplace had adequate staff and equipment present for them to complete their work. This study showed how important it is for management to understand the needs of nurses particularly during times of crisis.

No description available.

Thesis (MEd(Human Resource Studies))--University of South Australia, 1997

Thesis (M Nursing)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Charlene Winters. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-62).

Background: Nursing shortage is a worldwide phenomenon; in rural areas, this shortage is exacerbated by geographical imbalances. Reducing the inequality of health outcomes between rural and urban areas requires improvement in the rural nursing workforce. Thus far, little research has been conducted on the recruitment of nursing students to rural nursing in China. Aim: This study aimed to explore nursing students’ perspectives of rural nursing practice and their intentions to work rurally after graduation, and to identify factors contributing to those intentions. Methods: Exploratory interviews were conducted with eleven nursing students to obtain their perspectives of rural nursing practice. This was followed by a hand distributed and collected self-completion questionnaire survey that involved 445 final year nursing students in six nursing schools in one province in China. The questionnaire measured students’ rural career intentions and their perceptions of rural nursing practice. The survey data were collected between December 2011 and March 2012. The response rate for the questionnaire survey was 89%. Results: The results indicated that the majority of final year nursing students did not intend to work rurally. The most frequently cited barriers deterring them from considering a rural job were the perceived fewer opportunities for skills development and learning, potentially lower financial rewards, and family members’ disapproval of rural working. Regression analysis showed that the length of time living rurally and educational level were the most important predictors of nursing students’ intentions to take a rural job immediately following graduation. The logistic regression illustrated that rural identification, degree, and rural placement experiences were significant predictors for nursing students’ intentions to work rurally in their future nursing career. Conclusion: Nursing students with high intentions to work rurally were rare in China. Rural background had a positive impact on students’ intentions to work rurally. Students with a degree were less likely to work rurally.

There is considerable concern regarding the adequacy of rural health services in New Zealand, with much attention having been paid to issues of recruitment and retention of rural general practitioners. Rhetoric of 'crisis' is often utilised to raise political awareness of the problematic, but in fact, rural general practitioner recruitment and retention has been documented for about a hundred years. For about the same length of time nurses have been providing primary health care services in rural and remote places, often working alone. Using the notion of nurses as a 'stop-gap' in the provision of rural primary health care until problems with recruitment and retention of rural general practitioners are addressed, is a rhetorical device that facilitates the under analysis of the role nurses play and the contribution that they make. The longstanding practice of rural primary care nursing in its various guises over the last century challenges the notion of nursing as a stop-gap.Any investigation of health care in the contemporary moment needs to take account of the influence of biomedical dominance, an increasingly litigious mentality in relation to health care, a shifting focus towards primary rather than secondary health care, and the positioning and re-positioning of health professionals within the neo-liberal state. The very existence of nurses working as the first point of contact in the health care system, with success over time in so far as they do not provoke undue litigation, and appear to deliver an appropriate service must raise questions about who can claim the right to be a primary health care provider. Based on qualitative research conducted in New Zealand and the Western Isles with rural primary care nurses and Family Health Nurses respectively, this thesis explores the ways that nurses construct flexible generalist professional identities that challenge traditional inter and intra-professional boundaries. In the New Zealand case, rural primary care nurses negotiate the boundaries between nursing and medicine, those within nursing itself, and also those between nursing a paramedic work. Nurses perform this boundary work by negotiating self-governing 'appropriate' and 'safe' professional identities. In the Western Isles case, the introduction of the newly developed role of Family Health Nurse serves to highlight the problematic nature of inserting an ostensibly generalist nursing role beyond the rural.

The sustainability of publicly funded Canadian health care services is an ongoing debate. Timely access to services and the availability of qualified health care professionals are vital to the survival of emergency health care services in rural and small towns. One of many factors threatening sustainability is the lack of qualified professionals. The current nursing shortage and the aging nursing workforce present rural hospitals with recruitment and retention challenges that threaten the sustainability of emergency services and thus have the potential to compromise the health of Canadians living in rural communities. Health care decisions are primarily based upon economics without consideration of the diversity of rural communities. Challenges in health care delivery including access to emergency services affect Canadians living in rural communities. These challenges need to be highlighted in the context of rural health as a unique entity in order to build awareness in policy makers to ensure appropriate health care service delivery to rural communities. It is important for researchers and policy makers to recognize that rural hospitals are not mini-urban centres and thus have differing needs. This two phase study focused on the sustainability of emergency health care services in rural and small town Ontario. Using a mixed methods approach, this study explored a descriptive analysis of emergency departments in rural Ontario and concluded with in-depth case studies of three rural emergency departments with varying travel distances to tertiary care facilities. These findings have validated pre-existing frameworks and can be used to assist policy makers at all levels to develop recommendations for sustaining emergency health care services in rural Ontario including ways to recruit, train, retain, and maintain resources that are vital to the survival of rural emergency services. / Thesis (Ph.D, Nursing) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-24 16:23:27.162

There is considerable concern regarding the adequacy of rural health services in New Zealand, with much attention having been paid to issues of recruitment and retention of rural general practitioners. Rhetoric of 'crisis' is often utilised to raise political awareness of the problematic, but in fact, rural general practitioner recruitment and retention has been documented for about a hundred years. For about the same length of time nurses have been providing primary health care services in rural and remote places, often working alone. Using the notion of nurses as a 'stop-gap' in the provision of rural primary health care until problems with recruitment and retention of rural general practitioners are addressed, is a rhetorical device that facilitates the under analysis of the role nurses play and the contribution that they make. The longstanding practice of rural primary care nursing in its various guises over the last century challenges the notion of nursing as a stop-gap.Any investigation of health care in the contemporary moment needs to take account of the influence of biomedical dominance, an increasingly litigious mentality in relation to health care, a shifting focus towards primary rather than secondary health care, and the positioning and re-positioning of health professionals within the neo-liberal state. The very existence of nurses working as the first point of contact in the health care system, with success over time in so far as they do not provoke undue litigation, and appear to deliver an appropriate service must raise questions about who can claim the right to be a primary health care provider. Based on qualitative research conducted in New Zealand and the Western Isles with rural primary care nurses and Family Health Nurses respectively, this thesis explores the ways that nurses construct flexible generalist professional identities that challenge traditional inter and intra-professional boundaries. In the New Zealand case, rural primary care nurses negotiate the boundaries between nursing and medicine, those within nursing itself, and also those between nursing a paramedic work. Nurses perform this boundary work by negotiating self-governing 'appropriate' and 'safe' professional identities. In the Western Isles case, the introduction of the newly developed role of Family Health Nurse serves to highlight the problematic nature of inserting an ostensibly generalist nursing role beyond the rural.