Live-in "strangers": An experiential account of gerontology educational immersion in senior housing

Gerontology education programs that combine elements of experiential service-learning, community participation, and residential immersion have been emerging in the United States and internationally. Combining fieldwork, interviews, and immersion methods, this study draws on qualitative ethnographic and phenomenologic design, whereby a student lived in senior housing for 3.5 years. The study is among the longest and most intensive gerontological field experiences ever reported. It is based on more than 2,000 hours of observations and conversational interviews with 14 residents. Major patterns based on observational data show the importance of shared history, support for one another, negotiating environmental tensions, and demand for attention on the part of residents. Major themes derived from interviews elaborate on family conflict, conflict between residents, and life decisions. Results show that a unique combination of physical and social proximity in an intergenerational alliance enables life enhancement for older adults and learning opportunities for students. A recommendation is made to implement a live-in role more formally.

The emotional challenges of conducting in-depth research into significant health issues in health geography: reflections on emotional labour, fieldwork and life course

Emotions are increasingly being recognised and integrated into human geography and it has been highlighted that focusing on the 'interrelatedness' of the research process is crucial. By contextualising fieldwork within the life course of the researcher, greater acknowledgement of the 'emotional labour' involved in fieldwork can be highlighted. The author reflects on the 'emotional geographies' of conducting PhD research into significant health issues with participants who had recently suffered a heart attack in Fife, Scotland. This paper reveals emotions involved in this kind of research, drawing on perspectives from participants as well as the researcher. The author also draws attention to, and reflects on, the lack of engagement with researcher's emotional labour within formal academic structures, such as research training and ethics application processes. Reflecting on fieldwork experiences from a distance, the author discusses the influence and impact of her emotional experiences of fieldwork. This paper contributes to work concerned with emotions and fieldwork in geography and asserts that greater importance and value needs to be given to this type of emotion work as embedded and situated within researchers' life courses.

The pros and cons of researching events ethnographically

Events (remarkable, disruptive happenings) are important subjects of study for understanding processes of change. In this essay, I reflect upon the issue of what the ethnographic method has to offer for the analysis of this social phenomenon. To do so, I review three recently published ethnographic studies of events. My conclusion is that it is indeed a very useful method for understanding the feelings and ideas of people who are experiencing eventful situations, for instance around protests or natural disasters. However, using this method also brings about practical difficulties, such as the 'luck' that an event occurs at the ethnographic fieldwork site. Next, as transformative responses to events are not bound by the place or time of the happening, other methods (interviews, discourse analysis, surveys) that make it easier to follow them in varying locations and periods might be more suitable for getting a comprehensive picture of their meaning-making dynamics.

Higher and colder: The success and failure of boundaries in high altitude and Antarctic research stations

This article offers a series of case studies of field stations and field laboratories based at high altitudes in the Alps, Himalayas and Antarctica, which have been used by Western scientists (largely physiologists and physicists) from circa 1820 to present. It rejects the common frame for work on such spaces that polarizes a set of generalizations about practices undertaken in 'the field' versus 'the laboratory'. Field sites are revealed as places that can be used to highlight common and crucial features of modern experimental science that are exposed by, but not uniquely the properties of, fieldwork. This includes heterogeneity of population and practice, diverse afterlives, the manner in which spaces of science construct individual and group expertise, and the extensive support and funding structures needed for modern scientific work.

A home for science: The life and times of Tropical and Polar field stations

A 'halfway house' between the generic, purified space of the laboratory and the varied and particular spaces of the field, the field station is a controlled yet uncontained setting from which nature can be accessed and anchored. As living quarters for visiting scientists, field stations are also enmeshed in the routine and rhythms of everyday domestic life, and in longer cycles of habitation, wear, and repair. This introduction considers the empirical and conceptual significance of Polar and Tropical field stations as homes for scientific work and scientific lives. The field station's extra-territorial yet intimate character affects the credibility and circulation of knowledge along science's frontiers. The challenge of making a home in the (non-temperate) field and the mundane experiences of expatriation and appropriation establish particular political dynamics of knowledge-making in these locations. They bring into focus the imaginaries of nature and science that drive transnational research and put into relief the aesthetic and affective dimensions of work and life in these distant homes for science. All these themes are pursued and amplified in a different medium by the artists who contributed to our research and are also featured in this special issue.

Practice education: A snapshot from Australian university programmes

BACKGROUND/AIM

Practice education is an integral component of the learning process for occupational therapy students. The dramatic increase in Australian occupational therapy programmes and students enrolled over the last decade is placing exponential demands on universities and practice education providers to meet accreditation and registration requirements. This study aimed to explore practice education from the perspectives of Australian occupational therapy university programmes.

METHODS

A purpose-designed survey was emailed to the heads of all Australian occupational therapy programmes. The survey gathered qualitative and quantitative data on courses offered, number of students, practice education hours and models, practice education administration and funding, and challenges for stakeholders. All data were summarised and are presented descriptively.

RESULTS

Responses were received from 21 (95.5%) Australian university occupational therapy programmes, with a total enrolment of 5569 undergraduate and 659 graduate-entry masters students. Practice education hours were predominantly in the later years of study and used an apprenticeship model for supervision. There was a trend for observation, simulation and service-learning experiences to be placed in the early years of programmes. Participants reported that the increasing student numbers presented difficulties within the changing clinical contexts. There was a call to re-examine the 1000-hour requirement for practice education.

CONCLUSION

Practice education is a critical issue for Australian occupational therapy. Increasing student numbers place mounting financial and resource demands on education programmes and practice education providers. There is a need for a national, collaborative approach to develop guidelines and processes to ensure sustainability relating to practice education.

Emotional Intelligence and Personality Traits as Predictors of Occupational Therapy students' Practice Education Performance: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study investigated whether occupational therapy students' emotional intelligence and personality traits are predictive of specific aspects of their fieldwork performance. A total of 114 second and third year undergraduate occupational therapy students (86.6% response rate) completed the Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Genos EI) and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). Fieldwork performance scores were obtained from the Student Practice Evaluation Form Revised (SPEF-R). Linear regressions were completed with the SPEF-R domains being the dependent variables and the Genos EI and TIPI factors being the independent variables. Regression analysis results revealed that the Genos EI subscales of Emotional Management of Others (EMO), Emotional Awareness of Others (EAO), Emotional Expression (EEX) and Emotional Reasoning (ERE) were significant predictors of various domains of students' fieldwork performance. EAO and ERE were significant predictors of students' Communication Skills accounting for 4.6% of its variance. EMO, EAO, EEX and ERE were significant predictors of students' Documentation Skills explaining 6.8% of its variance. EMO was a significant predictor of students' Professional Behaviour accounting for 3.2% of its variance. No TIPI factors were found to be significant predictors of the SPEF-R domains. Occupational therapy students' emotional intelligence was a significant predictor of components of their fieldwork performance while students' personality traits were not. The convenience sampling approach used, small sample size recruited and potential issue of social desirability of the self-reported Genos EI and TIPI data are acknowledged as study limitations. It is recommended that other studies be completed to investigate if any other relevant constructs or factors are predictive of occupational therapy students' fieldwork performance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ColectoR, a digital field notebook for voucher specimen collection for smartphones

PREMISE OF THE STUDY

ColectoR was developed to aid botanists in the collection of data for voucher specimens using smartphones, accelerating the process of data capture in situ and its subsequent organization.

METHODS AND RESULTS

ColectoR features a minimalist design that uses an intuitive iconic interface. The integration of external application programming interfaces (APIs) and an automated spreadsheet extends its functionality and increases the information and tools available to the user. This app is currently supported by any Android device.

CONCLUSIONS

ColectoR provides an efficient method for capturing data in the field while also serving to organize the information into a coherent database, thereby greatly reducing the time required for postcapture data organization and label printing.

TIME - MAKING THE BEST OF IT! A Fieldwork Study Outlining Time in Endoscopy Facilities for Short-Term Stay

Aim:

This paper focus on nursing and time in endoscopy facilities for short-term stay aiming to explore aspects of time in this setting and how expectations from the healthcare organisation, patients and nurses are expressed and met when managing nursing time.

Background:

Former research primarily focuses on the subject of time in the understanding of duration where having more time is closely associated with the ability to deliver better quality nursing care. The main concern is the nurses’ increased number of tasks and the decreased length of time at their disposal. However, few studies describe nursing when time is sparse, and the possibility of providing individualised nursing within a very short span of time.

Design:

Inspired by practical ethnographic principles, a fieldwork study was performed in high technology endoscopy clinics during 2008-2010.

Methods:

Data triangulation included participant observation, participant reports and patients and nurses semi-structured interviews.

Results/Findings:

The issue of time was an interwoven part of life in the productive endoscopy units. The understanding of time related to the main category: ‘Time - making the best of it’, and the sub categories “Responsibility of time”, “Information and preparation”, and “Time wasters”.

Conclusion:

The study underlines the possibility of combining the health care systems, patients and the nurses’ perspectives on and expectations of how to spend nursing time in endoscopy settings. In successful patient pathways nursing maximize patient outcome, support the goals of the healthcare organisations, is reliable, assure, tangible, empathic and responsive, and is individually tailored to the patient’s needs. The study contributes by underlining the importance of discussing not how to get more time in clinical practice but instead how to spend the time in the best way possible.

An exploratory international study into occupational therapy students' perceptions of professional identity

BACKGROUND/AIM

The successful development and maintenance of professional identity is associated with professional development and retention in the health workforce. This paper explores students' perspectives on the ways pre-entry experiences and curricula content shape professional identity.

METHODS

An online cross-sectional survey was sent to students enrolled in the final year of entry-level programmes in five countries. Descriptive statistical analyses of data were completed.

RESULTS

The results reflect the perceptions of 319 respondents from five countries. Respondents identified professional education (98%) and professional socialisation during placement (92%) as curricula components with the greatest influence on professional identity formation. Discipline-specific knowledge such as, occupation-focussed models and occupational science were ranked lower than these aspects of practice. The students' length of programme and level of entry-level programme did not impact on these results.

CONCLUSION

When designing curricula educators need to be mindful that students perceive practice education and professional socialisation have the greatest affect on professional identity formation. The findings reinforce the need for curricula to provide students with a range of practice experiences, which allow the observation and application of occupation-based practices. It highlights a need for educators to provide university-based curricula activities, which better prepare students for a potential dissonance between explicit occupation-based curricula and observed practice education experiences. The study indicates the need for further research into the role curricula content, and in particular practice education, plays in the multidimensional formation of professional development within entry-level programmes.

The rediscovery of the Great Winterberg endemic Lotononis harveyi B.-E.van Wyk after 147 years, and notes on the poorly known Amathole endemic Macowania revoluta Oliv. (southern Great Escarpment, South Africa)

South Africa's 800 km-long southern Great Escarpment hosts numerous endemic plant species only known from their type specimens or from very few records. This is a legacy of a 100-150 year lag between the pioneer work of 19(th) century botanists and repeat fieldwork in the 21(st) century. As a result, population and ecological data are lacking for many local endemic species. Here we report on the rediscovery of Lotononis harveyi B.-E.van Wyk 147 years after its original description, and provide the first detailed ecological notes on the poorly known shrub Macowania revoluta Oliv. Both species are locally endemic to the Great Winterberg-Amatholes (Eastern Cape Province). With only six known individuals, Lotononis harveyi is recommended the conservation status of Critically Endangered, with fire (and potentially grazing) being the main population constraints. Macowania revoluta is locally abundant, and it is surprising that it has been so poorly collected in recent decades. It occupies an important local niche as a keystone montane wetland species, and its narrow distribution range - combined with pressure from woody alien invasive species - suggests that its conservation status should be Rare. The research further highlights the need for continued biodiversity field research along South Africa's poorly explored Great Escarpment.

Be my guest! Challenges and practical solutions of undertaking interviews with children in the home setting

This article aims to share critical debate on undertaking interviews with children in the home setting and draws on the authors' extensive research fieldwork. The article focuses on three key processes: planning entry to the child's home, conducting the interviews and exiting the field. In planning entry, we include children's engagement and issues of researcher gender. In conducting the interviews, we consider issues such as the balance of power, the importance of building a rapport, the voluntary nature of consent and the need for a flexible interview structure. Finally, we address exiting from the child's home with sensitivity at the end of the interview and/or research study. Undertaking research in the child's home provides a known and familiar territory for the child, but it means that the researcher faces a number of challenges that require solutions whilst they are a guest in a child's home.

International students in speech-language pathology clinical education placements: Perceptions of experience and competency development

PURPOSE

This study aimed to describe perceptions of clinical placement experiences and competency development for international speech-language pathology students and to determine if these perceptions were different for domestic students.

METHOD

Domestic and international students at two Australian universities participated in nine focus group interviews. Thematic analysis led to the identification of two themes shared by international and domestic students and several separate themes.

RESULT

Shared themes identified the important influence of students' relationships with clinical educators, unique opportunities and learning that occurs on placement. International student themes included concerns about their communication skills and the impact of these skills on client progress. They also explored their adjustment to unfamiliar placement settings and relationships, preferring structured placements to assist this adjustment. Domestic student themes explored the critical nature of competency attainment and assessment on placement, valuing placements that enabled them to achieve their goals.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study suggest that international students experience additional communication, cultural and contextual demands on clinical placement, which may increase their learning requirements. Clinical education practices must be responsive to the learning needs of diverse student populations. Strategies are suggested to assist all students to adjust to the professional and learning expectations of clinical education placements.

Exploring gender, age, time and space in research with older Pakistani Muslims in the United Kingdom: formalised research 'ethics' and performances of the public/private divide in 'the field'

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in researching ageing ethnic minority populations in the West. However, older people from such minority communities have received comparatively little attention in wide-ranging discussions on appropriate research methodologies. By a process of critically reflecting on our experiences of undertaking fieldwork for our Economic and Social Research Council New Dynamics of Ageing study of ‘Families and Caring in South Asian Communities', this paper maps out the key methodological and ethical challenges we faced and, in the process, highlights the importance of developing socially appropriate research methodologies and ethical frameworks for research with such populations. With a reflexive approach, we specifically explore the significance of gender, age, time and space to the fieldwork processes and the ‘field’ relationships formed at various stages of the research process. In particular, we explore three key emergent issues which conflicted with our formal research protocols and presented particular challenges for us and our older Pakistani Muslim participants: (a) structuring of time in daily life; (b) gendered use of public and private spaces; and (c) orality of informal social contexts and relationships. Using illustrations from our fieldwork which reveal the particular significance of these issues to our fieldwork experiences and performativities of public/private identities, we highlight important tensions between formalised ethical and methodological dimensions of conducting funded research and the realities of being in ‘the field’. We conclude the paper by emphasising the need to explore further not only the ways in which researchers can adopt more socially and culturally sensitive data collection processes and methodologies at the micro level of their interactions with research participants, but also contextualising the particular challenges experienced by researchers and their participants in terms of the wider research frameworks and agendas as well as the broader social contexts within which they live and work.

Fear, danger and aggression in a Norwegian locked psychiatric ward: Dialogue and ethics of care as contributions to combating difficult situations

BACKGROUND

Fear and aggression are often reported among professionals working in locked psychiatric wards and also among the patients in the same wards. Such situations often lead to coercive intervention. In order to prevent coercion, we need to understand what happens in dangerous situations and how patients and professionals interpret them.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What happens when dangerous situations occur in a ward? How do professionals and patients interpret these situations and what is ethically at stake?

RESEARCH DESIGN

Participant observation and interviews.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 12 patients and 22 professionals participated.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

This study has been accepted by the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics in Norway.

FINDINGS

(a) Both atmosphere and material surroundings were interweaved within dangerous situations, (b) the professionals applied stereotypes when interpreting dangerous situations and (c) the professionals and the patients had different interpretations of what triggered dangerous situations.

DISCUSSION

The discussion centres on how care ethics and a dialogical practice might contribute towards combating difficult situations and the ways in which change is an ongoing ethical process of becoming.

CONCLUSION

The ethics of care and a dialogical approach are suggested as ethical frameworks for preventing fear, danger and aggression in psychiatric wards. Both frameworks can be understood as patient-driven, including the relational and contextual perspectives. It means a shift from professionally driven processes to patient-driven dialogue.

Mobile Raman spectroscopy in astrobiology research

Raman spectroscopy has proved to be a very useful technique in astrobiology research. Especially, working with mobile instrumentation during fieldwork can provide useful experiences in this field. In this work, we provide an overview of some important aspects of this research and, apart from defining different types of mobile Raman spectrometers, we highlight different reasons for this research. These include gathering experience and testing of mobile instruments, the selection of target molecules and to develop optimal data processing techniques for the identification of the spectra. We also identify the analytical techniques that it would be most appropriate to combine with Raman spectroscopy to maximize the obtained information and the synergy that exists with Raman spectroscopy research in other research areas, such as archaeometry and forensics.

Assessment of student competency in a simulated speech-language pathology clinical placement

Clinical education programs in speech-language pathology enable the transition of students' knowledge and skills from the classroom to the workplace. Simulated clinical learning experiences provide an opportunity to address the competency development of novice students. This study reports on the validation of an assessment tool designed to evaluate speech-language pathology students' performance in a simulated clinical placement. The Assessment of Foundation Clinical Skills (AFCS) was designed to link to concepts and content of COMPASS(®): Competency Assessment in Speech Pathology, a validated assessment of performance in the workplace. It incorporates units and elements of competency relevant to the placement. The validity of the AFCS was statistically investigated using Rasch analysis. Participants were 18 clinical educators and 130 speech-language pathology students undertaking the placement. Preliminary results support the validity of the AFCS as an assessment of foundation clinical skills of students in this simulated clinical placement. All units of competency and the majority of elements were relevant and representative of these skills. The use of a visual analogue scale which included a pre-Novice level to rate students' performance on units of competency was supported. This research provides guidance for development of quality assessments of performance in simulated placements.

Emotion work, ethnography, and survival strategies on the streets of Yogyakarta

Anthropological research with street-related children, adolescents, and young adults raises epistemological, methodical, and ethical predicaments. In this article, I illustrate the advantages of an anthropology that acknowledges the ethnographer's emotions as valuable data when conducting research with marginalized communities. By drawing on my own experiences when conducting long-term fieldwork, I argue that systematic self-reflexivity and an emotionally aware epistemology enhance both the anthropologist's emotional literacy and his or her understanding of informants and interlocutors. The integration of the ethnographer's emotions in the analysis and interpretation of ethnographic data can assist in formulating anthropological theory, challenging the limits of traditional empiricism, and raising emotions to a category of epistemic value.

Encounters with fierce dogs and itchy bedbugs: why my first field work failed

This essay, which is the fifth in the series "Recollections, Reflections, and Revelations: Personal Experiences in Ethnobiology", is a personal reminiscence by the researcher on his first field experience in Turkey in the late 1970s, which was a failure from an ethnobiological point of view but a success for a social scientist pursuing Turkic studies. The author later returned to ethnobiology during subsequent fieldwork on the Faroes.

Impact of placement type on the development of clinical competency in speech-language pathology students

BACKGROUND

Speech-language pathology students gain experience and clinical competency through clinical education placements. However, currently little empirical information exists regarding how competency develops. Existing research about the effectiveness of placement types and models in developing competency is generally descriptive and based on opinions and perceptions. The changing nature of education of speech-language pathology students, diverse student cohorts, and the crisis in finding sufficient clinical education placements mean that establishing the most effective and efficient methods for developing clinical competency in students is needed.

AIMS

To gather empirical information regarding the development of competence in speech-language pathology students; and to determine if growth of competency differs in groups of students completing placements that differ in terms of caseload, intensity and setting.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Participants were students in the third year of a four-year undergraduate speech-language pathology degree who completed three clinical placements across the year and were assessed with the COMPASS® competency assessment tool. Competency development for the whole group across the three placements is described. Growth of competency in groups of students completing different placement types is compared. Interval-level data generated from the students' COMPASS® results were subjected to parametric statistical analyses.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

The whole group of students increased significantly in competency from placement to placement across different placement settings, intensities and client age groups. Groups completing child placements achieved significantly higher growth in competency when compared with the competency growth of students completing adult placements. Growth of competency was not significantly different for students experiencing different intensity of placements, or different placement settings.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

These results confirm that the competency of speech-language pathology students develops across three clinical placements over a one-year period regardless of placement type or context, indicating that there may be a transfer of learning between placements types. Further research investigating patterns of competency development in speech-language pathology students is warranted to ensure that assumptions used to design clinical learning opportunities are based on valid evidence.

Working with populations from a refugee background: an opportunity to enhance the occupational therapy educational experience

BACKGROUND/AIM

The purpose of this study was to determine the educational value of an occupational therapy fieldwork placement where students work with people from a refugee background. Research was designed to contribute to the limited evidence regarding the benefits and challenges of traditional vs. non-traditional fieldwork settings and to explore the application of occupational therapy related to working with refugee populations.

METHOD

Fourteen participants were interviewed using semi-structured, open-ended questions to explore perspectives on how their experience influenced their education and professional development. Face-to-face interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcriptions and hard-copy data were analysed to identify emergent themes and subthemes. Triangulation and member-checking increased trustworthiness.

RESULTS

Three major themes emerged in this study: Operational therapy at its Core; Cultural Awareness and Competence; and Basic Skills for Any Setting. Subthemes emerged but for the purposes of this article only the major themes are discussed.

CONCLUSION

A fieldwork experience working with people of a refugee background can facilitate the development of cultural awareness and competence, as well as foundational professional skills. In this setting, the importance of occupation-based, client-centred practice can be fully realised. Results indicate that this fieldwork setting is a suitable environment for experiencing occupational therapy principles and that labelling fieldwork experiences working with people from a refugee background as 'non-traditional' may be inappropriate. Learning experiences reported by students also reveal the benefits of working independently at times without direct supervision of an occupational therapist.

A little bit of Africa in Brazil: ethnobiology experiences in the field of Afro-Brazilian religions

This essay, which is the fourth in the series "Recollections, Reflections, and Revelations: Ethnobiologists and Their First Time in the Field", is a personal reflection by the researcher on his first field experience with ethnobiology of so called Afro-Brazilian cults. The author recounts his feelings and concerns associated with initial fieldwork.

The "Fungia patella group" (Scleractinia, Fungiidae) revisited with a description of the mini mushroom coral Cycloseris boschmai sp. n

The recent taxonomic history of extant free-living Cycloseris species is briefly reviewed, resulting in the description of Cycloseris boschmaisp. n. (Scleractinia, Fungiidae) and a discussion on the validity of two other recently described species. Some Cycloseris species were previously considered to belong to the Fungia patella group, which also concerned misidentified museum specimens that actually belong to the new species. Other specimens of C. boschmaisp. n. were photographed and collected in the course of 30 years of fieldwork. The new mushroom coral is compared with other free-living Cycloseris species by means of an identification key. With a maximum diameter of 50 mm, it is the smallest free-living mushroom coral discovered so far. It can also be distinguished by its large primary order costae and variable colouration. Its distribution range is limited to the Coral Triangle, where it can be observed as an uncommon species on lower reef slopes.

Behavioral Health Competence: An Exploration of Army Reserve Occupational Therapists

The behavioral health competence of Army Reserve Occupational Therapists (OT) was examined by electronic survey to determine current levels of competence and highlight pre-deployment training needs. Results indicated that while Army Reserve OTs report high levels of behavioral health competence, many questions regarding diagnosis, assessment, evaluation, treatment planning, intervention, and progress arose throughout deployment. OT's often relied on skills from Level II fieldwork education and entry-level didactic education for competency. Perceived competencies may be compromised by curriculum changes in entry-level education, available fieldwork settings, and a lack of adequate training currently available prior to deployment.

Triage: an investigation of the process and potential vulnerabilities

AIM

To explore and describe the triage process in the Emergency Department to identify problems and potential vulnerabilities that may affect the triage process.

BACKGROUND

Triage is the first step in the patient journey in the Emergency Department and is often the front line in reducing the potential for errors and mistakes.

DESIGN

A fieldwork study to provide an in-depth appreciation and understanding of the triage process.

METHODS

Fieldwork included unstructured observer-only observation, field notes, informal and formal interviews that were conducted over the months of June, July and August 2012. Over 170 hours of observation were performed covering day, evening and night shifts, 7 days of the week. Sixty episodes of triage were observed; 31 informal interviews and 14 formal interviews were completed. Thematic analysis was used.

FINDINGS

Three themes were identified from the analysis of the data and included: 'negotiating patient flow and care delivery through the Emergency Department'; 'interdisciplinary team communicating and collaborating to provide appropriate and safe care to patients'; and 'varying levels of competence of the triage nurse'. In these themes, vulnerabilities and problems described included over and under triage, extended time to triage assessment, triage errors, multiple patients arriving simultaneously, emergency department and hospital overcrowding.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that vulnerabilities in the triage process may cause disruptions to patient flow and compromise care, thus potentially impacting nurses' ability to provide safe and effective care.

Attributes of excellence in practice educators: the perspectives of Australian occupational therapy students

AIM

Occupational therapists frequently undertake the role of practice educator contributing to the development of the future workforce, however, little is known about how they effectively perform this role. This study aimed to elucidate students' perspectives on what makes an excellent practice educator.

METHOD

Documentation for 124 Practice Excellence Commendations nominations by Queensland occupational therapy students for Queensland Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Collaborative awards between 2008 and 2011 were analysed. These were based on students' experiences on long block placements (five weeks or more) in their later years of undergraduate or masters' entry study. Written nominations addressing five selection criteria were de-identified and responses to each of these compiled. One independent coder and the two lead authors read the transcripts, identified coding categories and reached consensus regarding emerging themes using standard content and thematic analysis techniques.

RESULTS

Providing the 'just right' challenge was the overarching theme that symbolised excellence in practice education from students' perspectives. Three themes emerged that enabled practice educators to provide student support needed to balance the challenges of learning on placement; (i) valuing a reciprocal relationship; (ii) facilitating learning opportunities and experiences; and (iii) encouraging autonomy and independence.

CONCLUSION

Findings provided insights into student perceptions about how excellent practice educators facilitated their learning while on placement. These insights can be used to inform practice educators who wish to enhance their supervision skills. Future research should focus on how the attributes of practice educators positively influence student learning outcomes.

'Real time' genetic manipulation: a new tool for ecological field studies

Field experiments with transgenic plants often reveal the functional significance of genetic traits that are important for the performance of the plants in their natural environments. Until now, only constitutive overexpression, ectopic expression and gene silencing methods have been used to analyze gene-related phenotypes in natural habitats. These methods do not allow sufficient control over gene expression for the study of ecological interactions in real time, of genetic traits that play essential roles in development, or of dose-dependent effects. We applied the sensitive dexamethasone (DEX)-inducible pOp6/LhGR expression system to the ecological model plant Nicotiana attenuata and established a lanolin-based DEX application method to facilitate ectopic gene expression and RNA interference-mediated gene silencing in the field and under challenging conditions (e.g. high temperature, wind and UV radiation). Fully established field-grown plants were used to silence phytoene desaturase and thereby cause photobleaching only in specific plant sectors, and to activate expression of the cytokinin (CK) biosynthesis gene isopentenyl transferase (ipt). We used ipt expression to analyze the role of CKs in both the glasshouse and the field to understand resistance to the native herbivore Tupiocoris notatus, which attacks plants at small spatial scales. By spatially restricting ipt expression and elevating CK levels in single leaves, damage by T. notatus increased, demonstrating the role of CKs in this plant-herbivore interaction at a small scale. As the arena of most ecological interactions is highly constrained in time and space, these tools will advance the genetic analysis of dynamic traits that matter for plant performance in nature.

Diversity of Alticinae in Oaxaca, Mexico: A preliminary study (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae)

This is a preliminary study of the diversity of the Flea Beetles (Alticinae) of the Mexican state of Oaxaca based on fieldwork by the author in 1991, 1997, and 2010, the literature, and specimens in several institutional collections. The number of genera and species for Mexico as well as for Oaxaca increased significantly from previous studies. There are now 625 species in 90 genera recorded from Mexico with 275 species in 68 genera recorded from Oaxaca. There are 113 species known only from the state of Oaxaca and another 38 species known only from Oaxaca and the surrounding states. Oaxaca has a relatively high diversity as well as a high percentage of endemism. This study also demonstrates the effects of how even a small amount of fieldwork together with extracting specimen data from institutional collections can significantly increase the total faunistic and diversity knowledge of an area. A complete list of the genera and species known from Oaxaca is included.

Learning experiences on role-emerging placements: an exploration from the students' perspective

BACKGROUND/AIM

Occupational therapy educators are challenged to provide students with practical experiences which prepare them for ever changing health-care contexts on graduation. Role-emerging placements have been widely used internationally to help meet this challenge, but research into the learning experiences of students during these innovative placements is limited. This research investigated the enablers and barriers to learning from the perspectives of students on such placements from two European universities.

METHODS

Two separate qualitative studies tracked 10 final year students. Interviews explored their learning experiences prior to, during and after an eight- or 10-week role-emerging placement in a range of settings.

RESULTS

Four themes emerged, which were (1) adapting to less doing, more thinking and planning; (2) understanding the complexity of collaboration and making it work; (3) emotional extremes; and (4) realising and using the occupational therapy perspective.

CONCLUSIONS

These placements presented a 'roller coaster' of authentic learning experiences which created the opportunity for students to use occupation in practice and develop skills for collaborative working in an interprofessional environment. Whereas students viewed their role-emerging placement experiences positively, challenges included the emotional responses of students and placement pace. Findings suggest the need for supportive student placement experiences in both established and role-emerging areas to prepare students for a range of opportunities in an uncertain future.

Treading & threading memories: a personal encounter with forest and people in Southern Venezuela

This brief essay, which represents the third editorial of the series "Recollections, Reflections, and Revelations: Ethnobiologists and their First Time in the Field", captures a few memories of the author's first fieldwork in the Venezuelan rainforest. It is a collage of objects, subjects, feelings, spaces, and events that pendulate in spheres of meaning straddling between the author's identities as both a student and a woman. The author's evocations of fifteen years ago are diluted in lasting reflections about what could be ethnoecology embraced by spaces of interactions and associations between organisms and their surroundings.

Use of dried blood spots: an ideal tool for medical anthropology "in the field"

The use of dried whole blood spot samples provides medical anthropological researchers-especially those working in remote, isolated communities-with several advantages over traditional methods. Anthropological research utilizing venous-drawn blood samples can create challenges in terms of phlebotomy training, personnel needs, storage and transportation requirements, and participant discomfort. Alternatively, research utilizing dried blood spot samples, via finger stick collection techniques, eliminates or reduces these problems greatly. While the use of dried blood spots is often the best sampling option for anthropologists or other population-level researchers, the method does have some limitations. Nevertheless, as the number of dried blood spot analyte protocols continues to increase, the logistical and participant advantages of dried blood spot methods assure their increased utility in biomedical anthropological research in the future.