Still in the UK

I returned to the United Kingdom from Italy, via London, on Friday, 26 September, and spent one night in the Waldorf Hilton in central London, courtesy of the Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau. On Saturday morning, the 27th, I gave a talk to several hundred Saudi Arabian students about challenges faced in building a research career and being an editor. This was the inaugural conference of the Scientific Society for Saudi Students in the UK—the next one will convene at the end of January—and the conference was addressed by Saudi Cultural Attaché Faisal Abalkhail. Later, I was interviewed for a film clip that will be used in future publicity.

It was interesting to share with the students that I had visited Saudi Arabia before, during the First Gulf War as a member of the British Forces Middle East, and that I had visited their country since and was planning to again visit in April 2015. Two days later, I was back in London for a meeting of the Lancet Commission on UK Nursing, and two days after that I was back for my first meeting of the Army Nursing Research Professoriate.

Some members of the Lancet Commission on UK Nursing hard at work.

The Lancet Commission is taking shape. We hope to have a substantial amount of writing done by the end of the year and to spend 2015 finalising our report and filling in any gaps in our background information. The proceedings will remain confidential until we publish the report. Once the Research Excellence Framework meetings are finished—and I will be in London next week for the final one—the Lancet Commission moves to the top of my agenda.

Members of the Army Nursing Research Professoriate, notably: Col. Alan Finnegan, front left; Hugh McKenna, chair, 2014 Research Excellence Framework, second row, right; and Col. Breckenridge-Sproat, front, second right.

The Army Nursing Research Professoriate exists to bring together military and civilian people who have an interest in military nursing research. The group was initiated and is led by Col. Alan Finnegan, PhD, QARANC, who is also an honorary professor at the University of Chester in the UK and a member of the Lancet Commission. We were very lucky to have a member of U.S. military personnel present, Col. Sara Breckenridge-Sproat, PhD, RN, regional nurse executive, Europe Regional Medical Command, the Army Surgeon General’s consultant for nursing research.

In the evening, we were invited to the annual cocktail party of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps (the QAs), which was held at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, home of the famous Chelsea pensioners. Col. Finnegan had the pleasure of meeting my daughter Lucy, an officer in the QAs, at the hospital in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, while on a visit there during her tour of duty. The professoriate has ambitious plans for research and publication, and, already, there are several very interesting projects underway with publications beginning to appear.

One more week in the United Kingdom, and my travels start again with a short visit to Canberra, Australia, from where I will post my next entry.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.

All publicity is just publicity

HULL, United Kingdom—The Lancet Commission on UK Nursing is going well, if you consider all publicity to be good publicity. Without meaning to ignore the many congratulations I have had on being asked to lead this and the offers of help, it is human nature that the stream of derision on Twitter and two letters in Nursing Standard verging on the abusive should have the greater impact.

So, what has upset people so much? Where do I start?

Why another commission on nursing? Why is a “medical” journal investigating nursing? The terms of reference are not yet published. Why is there no patient representation? Why all academics? Why no student voice? Why so many people from Hull? Why so few women? How have the commissioners been selected? (The undemocratic approach has been likened to South Africa before the yoke of apartheid was thrown off!) I think that is all, and I have no intention of retorting—as well I am able—as these detractors know I cannot.

Moving on. Since the initial announcement, we have added more commissioners, and we are working on the terms of reference, which will be agreed upon soon and duly published. Without attempting to answer my critics, I am honoured personally to have been asked by The Lancet to lead the commission and, given that reports from The Lancet are referred to almost daily on BBC (British Broadcasting Commission) Radio, the journal’s reach and influence is indisputable. The organization has a well-oiled publicity machine, and their podcasts are well worth listening to. If you have an iPad (access via other tablets is also available), you can subscribe (free) and download them automatically.

Nursing Open

The first teleconference of Nursing Open’s editorial team took place this week. We have four associate editors, based in Australia (Allison Williams, PhD, MN), Bahrain (Seamus Cowman, PhD, FAAN, FFNMRCSI), Canada (Alex Clark, PhD, RN), and Finland (Riitta Suhonen, PhD, RN). With such an international team, these teleconferences have to take place at a time antisocial for someone—usually me. I have another teleconference this evening with the equally geographically disparate team of Journal of Advanced Nursing editors. Life is sometimes stressful and inconvenient, but never dull.

My children have great difficulty explaining to their friends what I do, and most attempts end with a question to me: “Dad, what exactly is it that you do?” For the second time in this entry, where do I start?

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.