Shelley Winters | Whitireia Polytechnic, New Zealand (original) (raw)
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Papers by Shelley Winters
The incident described in this article, involving a child and the events that surrounded her care... more The incident described in this article, involving a child and the events that surrounded her care and her death, has always been difficult for me to reflect upon. I only knew this patient and her family for two days, but this encounter has had a profound effect on my development as a nurse. What I learnt has also shaped my thinking about the usefulness of reflection and informs my teaching as a nursing lecturer.
Past research on gallows humour in a healthcare context has generally focused on justifying its u... more Past research on gallows humour in a healthcare context has generally focused on justifying its use by healthcare professionals during stressful situations as a temporary relief from the tragedy that is occurring. Some previous research takes the alternate view that the use of gallows humour, regardless of the reason, is unacceptable in any situation. Most research has focused on the response of nurses and doctors with a small amount looking at the perceptions of medical students. There is currently no research that reflects how undergraduate nurses view the use of gallows humour in the clinical environment or how they deal with their feelings relating to gallows humour. In fact there is little literature that examines how nursing students cope with the tragedy that can occur in the clinical area or how nursing educators can help student nurses cope with the stressors they experience in clinical placements. This research aims to investigate the perceptions of students enrolled in any of the three years of an undergraduate nursing degree programme. The research was also triangulated as it correspondingly included the nurse lecturers who are in charge of the teaching and learning for students. The purpose behind including lecturers was to compare their results with students and determine if there were differences in perception between those with a vast amount of clinical experience as compared to those who were just beginning. The research is informed by pragmatism, which considers views from two perspectives, in this case students and nurse lecturers. Given the differences in clinical experience between participants, pragmatism gives the research a more balanced overview of the perspectives of nurses in the clinical area. Data was collected using an online questionnaire. Although the questions for each group were broadly similar there were slight differences incorporated to accommodate the differences in clinical experience. Responses from 55 students and 10 lecturers were considered. A thematic analysis revealed some similarities between students and lecturers in that some students agreed with the nurse lecturers that gallows humour is not offensive if used appropriately for stress relief and coping.
The incident described in this article, involving a child and the events that surrounded her care... more The incident described in this article, involving a child and the events that surrounded her care and her death, has always been difficult for me to reflect upon. I only knew this patient and her family for two days, but this encounter has had a profound effect on my development as a nurse. What I learnt has also shaped my thinking about the usefulness of reflection and informs my teaching as a nursing lecturer.
Past research on gallows humour in a healthcare context has generally focused on justifying its u... more Past research on gallows humour in a healthcare context has generally focused on justifying its use by healthcare professionals during stressful situations as a temporary relief from the tragedy that is occurring. Some previous research takes the alternate view that the use of gallows humour, regardless of the reason, is unacceptable in any situation. Most research has focused on the response of nurses and doctors with a small amount looking at the perceptions of medical students. There is currently no research that reflects how undergraduate nurses view the use of gallows humour in the clinical environment or how they deal with their feelings relating to gallows humour. In fact there is little literature that examines how nursing students cope with the tragedy that can occur in the clinical area or how nursing educators can help student nurses cope with the stressors they experience in clinical placements. This research aims to investigate the perceptions of students enrolled in any of the three years of an undergraduate nursing degree programme. The research was also triangulated as it correspondingly included the nurse lecturers who are in charge of the teaching and learning for students. The purpose behind including lecturers was to compare their results with students and determine if there were differences in perception between those with a vast amount of clinical experience as compared to those who were just beginning. The research is informed by pragmatism, which considers views from two perspectives, in this case students and nurse lecturers. Given the differences in clinical experience between participants, pragmatism gives the research a more balanced overview of the perspectives of nurses in the clinical area. Data was collected using an online questionnaire. Although the questions for each group were broadly similar there were slight differences incorporated to accommodate the differences in clinical experience. Responses from 55 students and 10 lecturers were considered. A thematic analysis revealed some similarities between students and lecturers in that some students agreed with the nurse lecturers that gallows humour is not offensive if used appropriately for stress relief and coping.