This study was designed to identify the prevalence of burnout among nurses working in Accident and Emergency (A & E) and acute medicine, to establish factors that contribute to stress and burnout, to determine the experiences of nurses affected by it and highlight its effects on patient care and to determine if stress and burnout have any effects on individuals outside the clinical setting. A triangulated research design was used incorporating quantitative and qualitative methods. Maslach Burnout Inventory was used. Nurses working in acute medicine experienced higher levels of emotional exhaustion than their A & E counterparts. The overall level of depersonalization was low. High levels of personal accomplishment were experienced less by junior members of staff. Stress and burnout have far reaching effects both for nurses in their clinical practice and personal lives. If nurses continue to work in their current environment without issues being tackled, then burnout will result. The science of nursing does not have to be painful, but by recognition of the existence of stress and burnout we can take the first steps towards their prevention.

1. Transfer to the ward following a period in intensive care may cause stress for patients. 2. A review of the literature reveals that this phenomenon has been described in a number of different ways, such as transfer stress, transfer anxiety, translocation syndrome and, more recently, relocation stress. 3. This paper reviews the various concepts before arriving at a more operational definition of the phenomenon. 4. It attempts to reveal what causes this phenomenon and to what extent it exists. 5. Patients' responses to transfer are identified and the physical and psychological problems that have been associated with discharge from intensive care are discussed. 6. Lists of interventions that the literature suggests may reduce or prevent this phenomenon from occurring are reviewed. 7. Recommendations for practice development and further research are made.

There is a need for a multidisciplinary approach to the planning of advanced nurse practitioner services. To achieve multiprofessional acceptance, an accredited and standardized education programme is required, and this must address existing role boundaries.

The transfer of information between nurses from emergency departments (EDs) and critical care units is essential to achieve a continuity of effective, individualized and safe patient care. There has been much written in the nursing literature pertaining to the function and process of patient handover in general nursing practice; however, no studies were found pertaining to this handover process between nurses in the ED environment and those in the critical care environment. The aim was to explore the process of patient handover between ED and intensive care unit (ICU) nurses when transferring a patient from ED to the ICU. This study used a multi-method design that combined documentation review, semistructured individual interviews and focus group interviews. A multi-method approach combining individual interviews, focus group interviews and documentation review was used in this study. The respondents were selected from the ED and ICU of two acute hospitals within Northern Ireland. A total of 12 respondents were selected for individual interviews, three nurses from ED and ICU, respectively, from each acute hospital. Two focus groups interviews were carried out, each consisting of four ED and four ICU nurses, respectively. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed that there was no structured and consistent approach to how handovers actually occurred. Nurses from both ED and ICU lacked clarity as to when the actual handover process began. Nurses from both settings recognized the importance of the information given and received during handover and deemed it to have an important role in influencing quality and continuity of care. Nurses from both departments would benefit from a structured framework or aide memoir to guide the handover process. Collaborative work between the nursing teams in both departments would further enhance understanding of each others' roles and expectations.

This study attempted to investigate the attitudes and practices of intensive care nurses towards verbal communication with unconscious patients. A sample of five staff nurses working in an intensive care unit in Northern Ireland formed the basis for the study. The research design was non-experimental and descriptive-exploratory in nature, incorporating 4-hourly observational periods and structured interviews. Qualitative and quantitative analysis indicated that intensive care nurses spend on average 5% of their time verbally communicating with unconscious patients. Most of this communication involves informing the patient of immediate procedural matters or providing reassuring statements. Most intensive care nurses claim that verbal communication with unconscious patients is very important, and some ambiguity is apparent as to the unconscious patient's level of awareness. Major factors influencing communication are the patient's level of consciousness, the amount of physical care being given and the presence of relatives.