Postcard from Cardiff: Diana Mason Takes the Pulse of Nursing in the UK
March 26, 2009
Cardiff Castle, Wales. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsc-07388
I’m in the UK, preparing to present at a debate tomorrow sponsored by the Royal College of Nursing for its annual International Nursing Research Conference in Cardiff, Wales. The debate will focus on the statement, ”This house believes that research should be published in the highest impact journals available.” (Here’s Wikipedia on the meaning of “impact factor,” if you want a rough idea of what’s involved.) I’m joining Elizabeth Anionwu, Emeritus Professor of Nursing at Thames Valley University, in arguing the opposing position. We intend to win this debate! Attendees do vote. I’ll report the outcome tomorrow.
But this morning, I was stunned by a story in London’s Daily Telegraph reporting thatthe National Health Service has increased staffing to a total of 1.36 million employees. The caveat is that the growth rate of managers is four times that of nurses. Midwives increased by 2.3% and “hospital doctors in training” by 5.1%, but “the number of practice nurses in GP surgeries dropped by 3.6%” and the number of nursing assistants fell 6%. I’ll report tomorrow on what the nurses at the conference have to say about this.–Diana Mason, PhD, RN, editor-in-chief of AJN.
