This paper presents the results on workplace violence from a larger study undertaken in 2004. Comparison is made with the results of a similar study undertaken in 2001. The study involved the random sampling of 3000 nurses from the Queensland Nurses' Union's membership in the public (acute hospital and community nursing), private (acute hospital and domiciliary nursing) and aged care sectors (both public and private aged care facilities). The self-reported results suggest an increase in workplace violence in all three sectors. Whilst there are differences in the sources of workplace violence across the sectors, the major causes of workplace violence are: clients/patients, visitors/relatives, other nurses, nursing management and medical practitioners. Associations were also found between workplace violence and gender, the designation of the nurse, hours of employment, the age of the nurse, morale and perceptions of workplace safety. Whilst the majority of nurses reported that policies were in place for the management of workplace violence, these policies were not always adequate.

Research Topic: The aim of this study was to determine the relative contribution of trait negative affect and individual psychological resilience in explaining the professional quality of life of nurses.Materials and Methods: One thousand, seven hundred and forty-three Australian nurses from the public, private, and aged care sectors completed an online Qualtrics survey. The survey collected demographic data as well as measures of depression, anxiety and stress, trait negative affect, resilience, and professional quality of life.Results: Significant positive relationships were observed between anxiety, depression and stress, trait negative affectivity, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (compassion fatigue). Significant negative relationships were observed between each of the aforementioned variables and resilience and compassion satisfaction (CS). Results of mediated regression analysis indicated that resilience partially mediates the relationship between trait negative affect and CS.Conclusion: Results confirm the importance of both trait negative affect and resilience in explaining positive aspects of professional quality of life. Importantly, resilience was confirmed as a key variable impacting levels of CS and thus a potentially important variable to target in interventions aimed at improving nurse’s professional quality of life.

Acknowledgement:This and previous studies were funded by the Queensland Nurses" Union. We wish to thank all the members who responded to this survey for their participation. ABSTRACTNurses are at high risk of incurring workplace violence during their working life. This paper reports the findings on a cross sectional, descriptive, self-report, postal survey in 2007. A stratified random sample of 3,000 of the 29,789 members of the Queensland Nurses Union employed in the public, private and aged care sectors resulted in 1192 responses (39.7%). This paper reports the differences: between those nurses who experienced workplace violence and those who did not; across employment sectors. The incidence of workplace violence is highest in public sector nursing. Patients/clients/residents were the major perpetrators of workplace violence and the existence of a workplace policy did not decrease levels of workplace violence. Nurses providing clinical care in the private and aged care sectors experienced more workplace violence than more senior nurses. While workplace violence was associated with high work stress, teamwork and a supportive workplace mitigated workplace violence. The perception of workplace safety was inversely related to workplace violence. With the exception of public sector nursing, nurses reported an inverse relationship with workplace violence and morale.

Three troops of olive baboons (Papio anubis) comprising 134 animals were captured during a translocation program. All three troops (PHG, CRIP, WBY) lived in high-altitude savannah, but two (CRIP and WBY) also frequented human settlements, where they had access to the garbage pits and vegetable gardens. The translocation offered the opportunity to compare body condition, activity patterns, and parasitism among the troops of animals. A variety of body measurements were taken, a physical examination performed, activity patterns for the previous 2 years enumerated, and blood and feces collected for virological and parasitological analyses. Body condition, as judged qualitatively by appearance and quantitatively by subcutaneous fat thickness and body weight, was lowest in PHG, the naturally foraging troop. All animals were negative for all viruses. No blood-borne parasites were found, but the feces of the majority of animals were positive for eggs of strongyles, ascarids, Trichuris spp., and Strongyloides spp. Quantification of strongyles indicated the heaviest burdens were in the non provisioned troop PHG. These results when combined with the behavioral observations that PHG spent more time foraging and less time resting or socializing than WBY suggest lowered availability andlor a poorer quality of PHG's diet. The data support the hypothesis of a causal relationship between host nutrition and helminth parasite infection but do not permit general conclusions to be drawn on mechanisms of interaction.

Aims and objectives: The aim of the study was to identify the factors impacting upon nursing work and to use the results to inform strategic planning of the Queensland Nurses Union.

Aims: This article reports on construct validity and reliability of 30 items of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI). Background: Australia, like other countries is experiencing a shortage of nurses and a multifactor approach to retention of nurses is required. One significant factor that has received increasing attention in the last decade, particularly in the United States is the nursing practice environment. Design: The reliability of the 30 items of the PES-NWI was assessed by Cronbach's alpha and factor analysis was performed using principal component analysis. Setting: The PES-NWI was completed by nurses working in the aged care, private and public sectors in Queensland, Australia. Participants: A total of 3,000 were distributed to a random sample of members of the Queensland Nurses Union. Of these 1192 surveys were returned, a response rate of 40%. Results: The PES-NWI was shown to be reliable demonstrating internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of the total scale of 0.948. The 30 items loaded onto 5 factors explaining 57.7% of the variance. The items across the factors differed slightly from those reported by the original author of the PES-NWI. Conclusion: This study indicates that the PES-NWI has construct validity and reliability in the Australian setting for nurses.

This paper reports on the findings of a prospective exploratory study related to nurses" self-reports of continuing professional education access and support gathered from

Objectives: The objective of this study was to describe demographic and clinical characteristics including features that were consistent with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), use of diagnostic tests, emergency department (ED) discharge diagnoses, and disposition of adult patients presenting with an acute headache to EDs statewide across Queensland, Australia. In addition, potential variations in the presentation and diagnostic workup between principal-referral and city-regional hospitals were examined.Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted over 4 weeks in September 2014. All patients ≥ 18 years presenting to one of 29 public and five private hospital EDs across the state with an acute headache were included. The headache had to be the principal presenting complaint and nontraumatic. The 34 study sites attend to about 90% of all ED presentations statewide. The treating doctor collected clinical information at the time of the ED visit including the characteristics of the headache and investigations performed. A study coordinator retrieved results of investigations, ED discharge diagnoses, and disposition from state databases. Variations in presentation, investigations, and diagnosis between city-regional and principal-referral hospitals were examined.Results: There were 847 headache presentations. Median (range) age was 39 (18-92) years, 62% were female, and 31% arrived by ambulance. Headache peaked instantly in 18% and ≤ 1 hour in 44%. It was "worst ever" in 37%, 10/10 in severity in 23%, and associated with physical activity in 7.4%. Glasgow Coma Scale score was < 15 in 4.1%. Neck stiffness was noted on examination in 4.8%. Neurologic deficit persisting in the ED was found in 6.5%. A computed tomography (CT) head scan was performed in 38% (318/841, 95% CI = 35% to 41%) and an lumbar puncture in 4.7% (39/832, 95% CI = 3.4% to 6.3%). There were 18 SAH, six intraparenchymal hemorrhages, one subdural hematoma, one newly diagnosed brain metastasis, and two bacterial meningitis. Migraine was diagnosed in 23% and "primary headache not further specified" in 45%. CT head scans were more likely to be performed in principal-referral hospitals (41%) compared to city-regional