JUNE 2013 • FEATURE

A high level of employee engagement transforms a traditional hierarchical nursing structure into an environment where RNs and LPNs collaboratively care for sets of patients and make team-based decisions

JUNE 2013 • PEER-REVIEWED FEATURE

Negative attitudes toward patients with a history of illicit drug use can adversely affect the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship, resulting in suboptimal patient care. We examined registered nurses’ attitudes toward patients with illicit drug use (e.g., non-prescription use of opioids and narcotics, use of illicit drugs) admitted to the general internal medicine unit of an urban hospital and attempted to identify nurse-specific and environmental factors influencing these attitudes. The results indicated that nurses had a neutral attitude toward working with patients with a history of illicit drug use, but respondents also had low motivation and role support (i.e., perception of receiving support to fulfil one’s professional role) related to caring for this high-risk population. The authors suggest greater use of organizational tools, such as protocols, consult services and in-services, to address nurses’ clinical concerns and support therapeutic nurse-patient relationships and thereby enhance care delivery.

MAY 2013 • FEATURE

Canadian Nurse asked Sean Clarke, one of Canada’s foremost nurse researchers, to explain what nursing research is and where he sees it heading in the future. During the wide-ranging discussion, he called for better sharing of the research done every day on the front lines to improve patient care and nursing practice. He also let us in on his current research endeavours.