Culture, leadership and workload issues impact nurses' ability to attend continuing professional development. The consequences affect competence to practice, the provision of safe, quality patient care, maintenance of professional registration, job satisfaction, recruitment and retention. Organizational leadership plays an important role in supporting attendance at continuing professional development as an investment for the future.

Background Healthcare is delivered by multidisciplinary healthcare teams who rely on communication and effective teamwork to ensure safe patient care. Teamwork builds on employee cohesion and reduces medical and nursing errors, resulting in greater patient satisfaction and improved healthcare. Effective teamwork not only improves efficiency and patient safety but leads to a healthier and happier workplace, reducing burnout among healthcare professionals. The purpose of this paper is to describe the findings of a pilot project on an acute medical ward in Western Australia. The aim was to understand the participants perceived level of teamwork to support future work practices and ultimately patient care. Methods This study used a descriptive survey research method to measure nursing teamwork in a clinical environment. The Nursing Teamwork Survey (NTS) measures the levels of nursing teamwork in acute healthcare facilities. Items for the NTS were generated on theoretical grounds, based on teamwork behaviours, offering a practical explanation of teamwork dynamics. Results The survey incorporated five subscales. The response rate to the survey was 90 % (n = 45) with an overall average result on the survey being (m = 2.97) on a 0–4 Likert scale. The validated NTS has provided participants the opportunity to consider nursing teamwork with regards to their position and perceived responsibilities towards patients and team members. Conclusion The findings highlight areas for consolidation and improvement in teamwork. Introducing teambuilding strategies and acting on results of this survey may support enhanced communication and teamwork influencing nursing care and patient outcomes. Findings recommend that activities to improve teamwork and ensuring teambuilding strategies are implemented to improve effective communication in an acute medical care setting would have significant impacts on staff satisfaction.

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I have been fortunate enough to have wonderful support throughout this journey. To my principal supervisor, Dr Tracey Coventry, without whom I may never have made it this far-your support, guidance and encouragement was what I needed and is greatly appreciated. To Professor Leanne Monterosso-thank you for your positive feedback, your practical advice to improve my research quality and generosity of your time. To my nursing colleagues who have supported my learning journey and kindly volunteering to participate in my research. To my Husband who spent much time listening to me-thank you for your unwavering support and encouragement when I needed it most. To my Son, I hope you always strive to achieve your goals and dreams no matter how high or hard they may be.

Objective: To examine how nurse managers in metropolitan healthcare organisations in Western Australia perceive intergenerational mentoring and its place in the contemporary workforce.Background: Mentoring in nursing has benefits for professional career success, new role transition and as a strategy to mitigate negative workplace influences. study design and methods:A qualitative descriptive study with 20 nurse managers from public and private health services. Face to face semi-structured interviews were held at a neutral location. The interview schedule included 10 questions which were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was applied to data to generate themes and present the results. results: Four main themes were identified: conceptualising mentoring, adding value, influences and support mechanisms, and workforce investment. The nurse managers described the positive and negative aspects of their understanding of intergenerational mentoring practice in the contemporary clinical setting. Discussion:The nurse managers highlighted the importance of life experience in mentoring relationships and how mentoring was generationally bi-directional. As part of everyday nursing practice mentoring was evident despite clinical and organisational challenges. Clear benefits identified were the creation of a positive workforce, promotion of quality patient-centred care, and retention of staff. Mentoring has traditionally occurred face to face however, the recent coronavirus pandemic has provided a catalyst for increasing the use of online mentoring across all generations. conclusion:The nurse managers were willing to be involved in intergenerational mentoring in either a mentor or mentee role or both. This view of practice occurred throughout the professional work life of nurses with benefits for all generations and the continuity of organisational values. implications for practice: Mentoring is a practice necessary for promoting best practice in patient care and effective relationships in teams of staff. Consideration of accessibility through e-mentoring could increase involvement and take mentoring forward in the digital age.