At last, back in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, Turkey—It has been four years since I last visited Istanbul, and this is my third visit. Istanbul is one of my favourite places and lives up to every expectation of noise, chaos, culture, and scenery. Islamic fundamentalism is rising here. Since my last visit, the calls to prayer seem louder, and the number of women wearing headscarves and veils has noticeably increased. The recent military coup failed, largely because the army seemed to misjudge what the people wanted.

The international terminal at Istanbul Atatürk Airport recently underwent some structural alterations thanks to a car bomb, yet Istanbul remains a paragon of religious tolerance with mosques, churches, and synagogues in close proximity to one another. The scenery across the Bosphorus, especially where Europe and Asia almost touch, is wonderful. Of course, this is where modern nursing began. Several years ago, I had the privilege of a hastily arranged private visit to The Florence Nightingale Museum, which includes her rooms at the Turkish First Army Base. It normally takes a year to make an appointment, but I had “contacts.”

Conference

Yours Truly with Neriman Akansel,
associate professor, Ululağ University,
Bursa, Turkey.

I am here to address the 2nd National Management in Nursing conference at Istanbul University. I eschewed a personal translator for the three-day conference—personal translation is very hard work for both the translator and the listener—and spent some time catching up with old friends also attending the conference. My keynote address, “Through the eyes of the editor,” was on the theme of nursing research (click here for podcast).

Yours Truly with, l-r, Xin Wang, Guangzhou Medical University,
Guangzhou, Guangdong Province; Li Qi, Qiqihar Medical
University, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province; Dean Julie Jomeen;
and Yu Chen, Southern Medical University, also in Guangzhou.

That time of year

In blogs passim, I have alluded to the fact that, as we approach the holidays this time of year, I always hope to wind down without being “wound up.” Once again, this did not happen. I was prepared to let pass UK government policies in relation to associate nurses. Others had said plenty But the recent declaration about apprentice-style training for nurses hit the right button, and a lucky meeting with one of the editors of The Conversation persuaded me to contact the health editor and suggest a piece. Within two days, it was published. I am heavily critical of the proposals of our Secretary of State for Health, the RHon. Jeremy Hunt, MP. Fortunately, this was not out when my colleague Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, met Hunt recently in China.

Social life in Istanbul

The lucky, but long-suffering Mrs. Watson accompanied me on this visit. I managed to bribe her to join me by employing a guide to show her the wonderful sights of Istanbul, and she has now seen more of the city than I have. It’s our wedding anniversary while we are here, and I have booked my favourite restaurant in Istanbul: The Armada Terrace Restaurant. The food and the wine are top class and the view over the Bosphorus one of the best in the city. The view takes in two magnificent mosques which, in the evening, are illuminated beautifully. Only after we arrived in Istanbul did I learn from our invitation that the conference dinner is also in the Armada. I hope Mrs. Watson likes it as much as I do.

Back in Hull, it has been time to say goodbye to one Chinese visitor and welcome some new ones, as captured in the picture that accompanies this entry. This is the last entry of 2016, and I do not travel again until February. I hope you have enjoyed reading “Hanging Smart” as much as I have enjoyed writing it this past year. I would like to thank Jim Mattson, editor of Reflections on Nursing Leadership, and the team at STTI who support and administer the blog. Happy holidays to all our readers. See you in 2017!

P.S. After I submitted the above entry, my wife and I woke up on Sunday morning to the news of the Saturday, 10 December bombing in Istanbul. We were well away from the event, but I want to express my sympathy to the people of Istanbul who lost family and friends and to anyone injured in this atrocity. We are safe, and Istanbul carries on as normal, which is the best reaction to terrorism.

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.

“Hanging Smart: The Movie” and Slovenia

VIENNA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Austria—Many wonder about the title of this blog. Maybe you're one of them. It’s a climbing term, and I have made a short video titled “Hanging Smart: The Movie” to help explain. Warning: This is not for the fainthearted. Yours Truly in mortal danger may be more than you can cope with.

Slovenia

I have just been in Slovenia—essentially—for the first time. I say that because Mrs. Watson and I crossed the Italian-Slovenian border at Trieste several years ago to have dinner with an Italian colleague, but we were there and back in the same evening. This time, I spent a week at the University of Maribor in the Faculty of Health Sciences providing workshops on writing for publication. I am prone to falling in love with the last new place I visit, and it has happened again. Slovenia is a wonderful place.

This was the first country to break away about 25 years ago from the former Yugoslavia, and it did so peacefully with only a few border skirmishes and a handful of unfortunate deaths. They continue to have border disputes with neighbouring Croatia, but, to date, these have been conducted without gunfire. 

View over the river in the small historical town of Ptuj,
pronouned pa-tuey.

Some here still hanker back to the days of communism when everyone had a job, but they need to look around them. With the exception of North Korea, the military-industrial complex that was the basis of the Soviet bloc economy has proved untenable. Even where the ideology remains—in Russia, China, and Cuba, for example—the economic benefits of personal choice, financial reward, and movement across borders have prevailed.

The scenery is superb, the food a delight, and the hospitality overwhelming. Nursing at Maribor, under the leadership of Dean Majda Panjkihar, PhD, RN, is impressive. They have just established the first PhD programme for nurses in Slovenia and have an intake of five students. While I was there, Brendan McCormack, PhD, RN, FRCN, head of nursing at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, gave his inaugural professorial lecture on his field of person-centred care. It was an inspiring event. Over the course of the week, he and I sampled a wide range of local alcoholic beverages—colleagues, someone has to make these sacrifices—and found we had almost identical likes and dislikes about modern nursing in the UK.

McCormack is appointed professor
at the University of Maribor

McCormack and I have often found ourselves on opposite sides of many arguments, and I am sure that will not change. We come from very different academic backgrounds and philosophical positions. Where he may refer to releasing creative energy, I am more likely to regard that as thermodynamically impossible. It’s a case of flamboyant creativity versus plodding objectivity, but we have decided to inflict our collective view on the public. Watch this space for a link to our collective and—potentially—career-ending editorial.

Homeward bound

I write this at Vienna International Airport, for me a first, as I have never been in Austria before. The drive from Maribor is two and a half hours at speeds unimaginable—legally—in the United Kingdom or United States. I am home for the weekend and then go to Rotterdam to attend a conference, about which I will report in these pages.

I have managed to buy two tickets for a home game over the weekend between Hull City Football Club and Chelsea Football Club—football as in soccer. My home team is again part of the English Premier League, so far with mixed results, some of which I have witnessed. We have never beaten Chelsea, and I don’t expect we will this time, but, as the saying goes, it gets me out of the house.

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.

If it's Wednesday, I must be in Spain!

RIYADH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—I’ve been mostly confined to Europe recently, but that’s not a complaint. In fact, it has been pleasant to take short flights for a change, and those flights—and two rail journeys—have taken me to Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester, Madrid, and Genoa. This has given me a respite from the medium to long hauls that started with Qatar and Saudi Arabia (reported here), followed in quick succession with trips to China, Hong Kong, and Australia, all with return flights to the UK.

Edinburgh

I take every chance I can to visit Edinburgh. My recent trip was to address a conference of doctoral students and staff members on using social media to promote research (click here for podcast). In doing so, I mentioned this blog. In fact, on my travels I meet a great many people who read “Hanging smart.”

The conference was held at Edinburgh Napier University, and I used the opportunity to meet my oldest school friend—of 55 years standing—for dinner. On the way to meet him, a colleague from Pamplona, Spain contacted me to ask what I knew of Nan Shepherd. My friend in Spain is interested in all things Celtic, and he knew I came from the same area of Scotland as Shepherd: Royal Deeside. That morning Shepherd, a writer of novels and poems, was featured in the news as only the second woman—the first being Florence Nightingale—to have her image on a UK bank note and the first woman featured on a Scottish bank note. (Scottish banks have always had their own bank notes.)

“Where’s this going?” I hear you ask. My host and old school friend is the “honorary” grandson of Nan Shepherd, his mother having been brought up by her, and his brother Erlend Clouston (former journalist and hotelier extraordinaire) is Nan Shepherd’s literary executor. Later, on this European journey, I had dinner with my Celtic colleague in Pamplona and was able to recount this extraordinary coincidence.

Belfast and Manchester

My visit to Belfast was to examine the thesis of a doctoral student at Queen’s University Belfast. I felt very sorry for the student as my flight was delayed two hours, and I doubted I would make it. I took the flight, conducted the examination with both eyes on my watch, and was back at Belfast City Airport approximately 90 minutes after arriving, only to suffer another delay of nearly one hour.

In the meantime, I was speaking on my phone at every opportunity to the Saudi Health Office in London about my visa for the next visit, and they were doubtful if they could get it to me within a week. The problem was, I needed my passport within the week for a visit to Spain. At the last minute, and at great inconvenience to my contact there, the visa was obtained. Sometimes, I wonder if the stress is worth it. The day after my return from Belfast, I was in Manchester to address the Saudi Association in the UK on “Writing your thesis: Chapter by chapter” and “The four rules of writing your thesis” (both available as podcasts).

Spain

About to address nursing alumni
at the University of Navarra.

I was pleased to complete, before leaving the UK again for a few days in Spain, one major piece of work for our associate dean for learning and teaching and also to make significant progress with a research grant proposal. I flew to Madrid to address alumni of the University of Navarra School of Nursing, Pamplona campus, on “'Keeping the science in nursing,” and then I was off by train to Pamplona in the north of Spain, made famous by Ernest Hemingway for its running of the bulls. Although I had been in Spain recently, many years had passed since visiting either Madrid or Pamplona.

With former doctoral students Christina Oroviocoicoechea,
Silvia Corchon, and Ana Carvajal at the University of Navarra.

Madrid and the University of Navarra, which was established by the Roman Catholic organisation Opus Dei, hold a special place in my academic career. It was there, in 1991 when I was at the University of Edinburgh, that we had an exchange programme for staff and my international career began. It was there that I first lectured through translators, occupied a desk in a university outside the UK, spent prolonged periods (other than military service) away from my family, and began to see the potential of international work.

I have had great success with four doctoral students from Pamplona who studied with me in the UK, three of whom are now good colleagues (one decreased, sadly), and I have established strong professional and family links. My oldest daughter Hannah came here with me when she was 8 years old. She made two other family-exchange visits and then returned in the final year of her nursing diploma to work in critical care for a month, which led to her securing a job in critical care in the UK. Hannah has remained in critical care and is on the verge of qualifying as an advanced nurse practitioner.

We also have additional family ties here in that another of my colleagues and his wife are godparents to my son Joseph. My visit to Pamplona was to address colleagues on writing and publishing in impact-factor English nursing journals (podcast), in addition to attending a doctoral student examination and holding other meetings with faculty members in the School of Nursing.

Italy

I returned to the University of Genova in Genoa on the Ligurian coast of Italy. One of the hazards here is that, whereas Spanish women greet you with two kisses, right cheek first, in Italy they greet you with two kisses, left cheek first. Get it wrong, and a nasty head butt or a clash of spectacles can easily take place. This visit was to make further progress on some research work, establish a new project, and continue working on publications with doctoral students. I also managed a 10-mile run on my final morning.

Middle East

Passing through the UK, I transferred from London Gatwick to London Heathrow at the weekend and proceeded to Doha in Qatar for lunch with Richard Gray, PhD, RN, of Hamad Medical Corporation before flying on to Riyadh to deliver on Monday two papers at the nursing stream of the Saudi Health 2016 Conference. Tomorrow, I meet with colleagues at King Saud University and then fly home via Doha.

Running

Between trips to Spain and Italy, I spent one day at home and took part in the Beverley 10k race. It was not my best effort and, for the UK, it was hot (20 Celcius, 68 Fahrenheit). I have had difficulty finding the time and the right places to do the sort of fast training you need for races. However, with my youngest son injured at the moment, at least I was the fastest Watson at 51:05. My ambition to beat 45 minutes will have to wait for another race.

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.

Back in the sultanate

MUSCAT, Sultanate of Oman—My Christmas holiday was cut short slightly by the need to be in Oman on 2 January. This is my second visit to the sultanate, and I remain impressed by the religious tolerance and relative freedom I observe here, compared with some other parts of the Middle East I have visited. Also, compared with last time, the January weather has been very pleasant, making it possible to walk and even run in the evenings. My last visit here was at the height of their summer when any outside activity is almost unbearable. Virtually all Omanis are Muslim, and minarets and mosques are much in evidence. The call to prayer goes out regularly.

Minaret at Mutrah souk
(market) near Muscat.

Examining at Sultan Qaboos University

I have been here as an external examiner at the Sultan Qaboos University College of Nursing, located at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital. The college is a cultural melting pot of nationalities with the staff composed of local Omanis, Jordanians, Filipinos, Ugandans, Indians, and at least one Pakistani. Normally, when I work as an external examiner, the job entails reviewing the processes used to examine students, looking at examination content, and assessing how well standards are being met.

All of that is part of my role here, but external examiners are also expected to participate in conducting final examinations of the students. Two days are spent in the hospital listening to students presenting clinical cases and observing them performing a clinical procedure. One day is spent taking part in the oral examinations. It’s very stressful for the students, exhausting for the examiners, and bears no resemblance to what I am used to back home. I am uncomfortable in the clinical areas, as I feel my presence is an intrusion into patient privacy. However, the role of external examiners is explained and, together with previous examiners, I have been able to persuade the college to minimize the time we spend at bedsides.

Aerial walkway at the university.

When I am overseas and invited to visit clinical areas, I invariably refuse, unless I have some specific function there that is related to teaching or research. Nevertheless, my time here in the hospital, as in my previous visit, was informative. Sickle cell disease is very common in Oman. The problem, as with many Arabic and Muslim populations, is consanguineous marriage. Health education advice and genetic counseling is provided in an effort to eradicate the disease, but preference for cousin marriage—a very strong cultural drive to keep things “in the family”—is hard to stop. Recessive carriers are so common that marrying outside of the family is no guarantee of not having children with sickle cell disease.

A resolution and an anniversary

My new year’s resolution, not the first time I have made this one, is to read more, and I made a good start over Christmas with The Alzheimer Conundrum by Margaret Lock. Lock is a social scientist who, equipped with a thorough knowledge of the literature, investigates theories about Alzheimer’s disease by interviewing some of the key researchers. Essentially, causes of Alzheimer’s disease—as opposed to correlates—remain controversial.

The Journal of Advanced Nursing celebrates 40 years this year—our “JANiversary”—and we will run a series of editorials throughout the year reflecting on the first issue and key papers from the first volume. These will be available to download free from our website for a few weeks. You may wish to read my January editorial which reflects on 40 years of JAN.

After leaving Oman, I return to the UK for 10 days, after which I travel to the Netherlands and then almost directly to Taiwan. My trip to the Far East will be a special one because, for the first time in many years, my wife will accompany me. Because it will be her first visit to Taiwan, it is causing great excitement among my colleagues there, as only a few have met her. On this occasion, I may not be the VIP.

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.

Sandstorms and traffic in Riyadh

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Arriving at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh in the early hours of last Sunday impressed on me just how different this place is from anywhere else I go. The streams of young ladies in various queues are stopped past immigration and have their passports confiscated. This violation of human rights means they are the indentured maids of Saudi families. Misbehaviour of any kind ends in corporal punishment, or worse.

Yours Truly with Assistant Professor of
Nursing Joel Gonzales Patalagsa, RN,
of King Saud University.

The other side of Saudi Arabia becomes visible when my Indian driver shakes my hand, this followed by a charming young man in full Arab dress who also welcomes me to Riyadh. The latter is Fayez, the unfortunate member of the teaching staff at King Saud University who has been tasked to meet me. It is 3 a.m. before I arrive at my hotel. Fayez is clearly getting the rest of the day off; I am not. Three and a half hours later, I am up and off to meet the dean of nursing. I had my revenge on poor Fayez, however. My driver had no idea where to take me—nobody gave us instructions. We took in a great deal of Riyadh before I phoned Fayez, waking him up to get directions.

The dean is Associate Professor Ahmad Aboshaiqah, PhD, RN, whom I met earlier this year on a previous visit to Riyadh. Aboshaiqah, who lived in the United States for 10 years and whose doctorate was supervised by a mutual colleague, Marilyn Oermann, PhD, RN, FAAN, commiserates on the loss of my good friend here, Professor James Ware, FRCS, who died a few weeks back. I knew Ware in Hong

Professor James Ware,
8 July 1941 – 9 October 2015

Kong, his death was sudden and, as everyone here confirms, a great loss. He led the team responsible for medical examinations at the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties and also established the Journal of Health Specialties. I wrote his obituary for the journal, and that will be published soon.

Where are the women?

I am on my first visit to King Saud University to advise staff members on writing for publication. Everything is done twice, as there is strict separation of male and female students and, therefore, male and female staff members between the main campus and the “girls’” campus. Apart from the Arab dress and Arab manners—ultimate politeness to visitors and brusque orders to junior staff—everything is quite normal with the men.

To enter the girls’ campus is to enter another world. There is not a glimpse of an undergraduate student and no view of the actual campus, which is behind high walls and large double doors at the end of long corridors. I am in an outer sanctum where men may wander freely and only staff members and masters’ students may venture. Most women—staff and students—are in the hijab, with only eyes visible, which makes it very hard to know who is speaking.

There are few non-verbal clues to indicate what they are thinking. I also keep introducing myself to people—without a handshake—who tell me that I had already introduced myself. There is continual and distracting adjustment of the abaya, the yashmak, and the headdress and, as Arab women do not project their voices, I am both confused and exhausted by the end of two days. However, in two-to-one consultations—no female meets you alone—I was able to advise on research projects and manuscripts and answer questions about master’s and doctoral study at my university.

There is virtually nothing to do in Riyadh. Where alcohol might take the edge off a long evening for me elsewhere, it is not available here. To pass the time, you work your way through a series of tooth-rotting and waist-expanding sickly sweet fruit drinks and mountainous plates of food. Walking is virtually impossible. Pavements—where they exist—are badly kept and where there is construction, piles of bricks, tiles and sand block your way. Magnificent buildings tower into the night sky, but getting to them on foot is impossible and an incipient sandstorm makes being outdoors unpleasant. Crossing the road to get to something that looks interesting is life threatening, as indicated in this podcast clip. There was a gym at the hotel, so I managed to burn a few calories in the evening.

I will be in Saudi at least three times this next year, with one of those visits to King Saud University. I visit Oman in January and Qatar in February, so it seems that the Far East is becoming less of a venue for me as the Middle East becomes more prominent. With the world the way it is now, I am frequently asked about my personal safety. People unfamiliar with the region cannot distinguish between Arab and terrorist, between Moslem and Islamic extremist. The religion may seem incomprehensible and aspects of the culture repellant, but every person who declines contact isolates the region further. As for personal safety, if I change my schedule or the places I visit, I hand a minor victory to the merchants of death.

Good news and bad news

As the joke goes, do you want the good news or the bad news first? The UK government has decided to do two things with nursing education that make perfect sense to me, one of which I have long advocated. Nursing students are paid bursaries by the National Health Service (NHS) to study nursing, and this will end. Despite progress made in moving nursing to universities and the move to all-graduate entry to the profession, we have never completely broken the link to the idea of the hospital apprenticeship model of training. Most other students have to fund themselves or take out loans, which are repaid when they enter employment. The UK is unique. In the United States and Australia, nursing students have to finance their studies at university like any other student. There is evidence—admittedly anecdotal—that some students come into nursing only to be paid the bursary, with a low commitment to the profession. These reports come from fellow students. It has always seemed wrong to me that, in a situation where we are heavily oversubscribed to nursing programmes, that we may be turning away people with a genuine commitment in favour of people doing it for the bursary.

The other thing that will change, mainly as a result of this change in funding, is that the cap on nursing places in universities will be lifted, as it has been lifted for other subjects. Universities can now take as many nursing students as they can manage. These moves are proposed as a response to nursing shortages and the high levels of non-UK nurses working in the NHS. These proposals were raised in a report titled "Supplying the demand for nurses" by Edmund Stubbs, whose credentials include four years working as a health care assistant. When I downloaded my copy, I opened it with relish. Thus ends the “good news.”

Expecting to find a good read, I was horrified to find language that was highly insensitive toward non-UK nurses, inappropriate nationalism, and complete misunderstanding of how nursing education is organised. The insensitive langauge came in the form of negative stereotyping of non-UK nurses who work in the NHS. Stubbs describes how many go home after working for a few years, as if they were to blame for being recruited, many leaving the poverty of their country to earn money elsewhere and support their families. This seems like a very acceptable form of foreign aid to me. 

The nationalism was apparent in the suggestion that, while those who choose to work in the NHS should have their loans repaid, those who work abroad should not. There is no logic to the NHS repaying the loans. I fail to see how this represents a cost-saving (which is at the heart of the report), and it continues to set nursing students aside from other students. Bribing nurses to remain in the NHS by creating a financial differential is just wrong. If we want to encourage nurses to work in the NHS, we must make it a better place to work, and if we want to stop nurses from working overseas, then what about our contribution to global nursing and how do we ensure that nurses gain international experience that they can bring back to the UK?

Finally, the report suggests that increasing the number of nursing students will be beneficial to the NHS as cheap labour. This is ludicrous and, in any case, nursing students have been “supernumerary” for nearly 20 years and are not included as part of the nursing workforce. The author makes no mention of this or about how nursing students will receive adequate supervision in clinical practice. I assume he is unaware of the issues. I wish I could end on a higher note, but, but except for this blog and podcast, where I describe fully what I think of this and some recent research on non-UK nurses working in the NHS, I find myself—finally—lost for words.

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.

Packing 'em out in Finland

KOUPIO, Finland—A family wedding (our son Thomas), two visits to Ireland, and one to Finland have taken place since my last entry. The wedding photographs are well aired on family Facebook pages, but I thought it would do no harm to share one here. My talented sister-in-law made the wedding dress.

From left to right: Charles, Joseph, William, Yours Truly, Thomas,
Sally, Deborah, Hannah, Lucia, Amelia, and Rebecca—all Watsons!

Ireland

The visits to Ireland, made in close succession, were for the purpose of participating on an interview panel for a senior academic position at University College Cork (UCC) and to attend an examinations board at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

I worked in Ireland for six months—from 1998 to 1999—but when the “Celtic Tiger,” the rapid economic expansion that took place in Ireland between 1995 and 2000, inflated house prices and kept my family stuck in Scotland, I had to retreat back to the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, I have maintained regular contact with the Republic and make several visits annually.

Cork is a beautiful place, and I was very grateful to the UCC for two nights—my second stay—in the five-star, family-run Hayfield Manor. In Dublin, I have said goodbye several times to the RCSI at examination boards, but I keep being asked back and have no complaints. It was a pleasure to introduce a good colleague, Parveen Ali, PhD, RN, lecturer in nursing at the University of Sheffield, to Dublin and to have dinner with Catherine McCabe, PhD RN, assistant professor in nursing at Trinity College Dublin, with whom I have worked in Bahrain.

Finland

After a weekend at home, I flew to Helsinki and on to Koupio to spend a few days at the University of Eastern Finland. My host here has been Mari Kangasniemi, PhD, RN, with whom I had breakfast in Rome a few years ago at a conference. I am always pleasantly surprised how these unplanned encounters lead to future collaboration.

I gave two classes here, one to assembled masses of doctoral and master’s students in health on how to attract a reader’s attention in a manuscript. (To listen to this lecture as a podcast, click here.) I am rarely able to say that I packed out a lecture theatre, but I did this time. People were sitting on the floor and out in the corridor, and I was asked some excellent and challenging questions at the end.

The point I made about attracting readers’ attention in manuscripts is to realise who the initial readership is—first, the editor-in-chief and then the other editors and reviewers. If you do not take these people into account, your ultimate intended readership will never see your work. My second class, which was more sedate, was a dialogue with the doctoral students in nursing.

Future plans

After I return to the UK, I have no further travel planned for this month. Next month, I go to Australia and possibly Hong Kong and, if plans work out, Saudi Arabia in November. I look forward to teaching my online module in quantitative methods at the end of this month and getting reviews back on the manuscripts I’ve submitted in recent months.

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.

Humidity and humility in New York

HULL, United Kingdom—Unusually, I’m at home in the UK. My holiday with Mrs. Watson (Debbie) in New York was one of the highlights of my life. Debbie, an experienced New York visitor, impressed me with her understanding of how the avenues describe latitude on Manhattan and the streets longitude, with Broadway doing its own thing at an obtuse angle. I loved everything we saw and did. I will spare you most of the details, but running in Central Park was a particular highlight that also provides the title for this entry.

On the way to New York, I said yes to everything that British Airways had to offer in first class, most of which came with champagne. Suffice to say I had no problem sleeping the first night. I woke at 6 a.m. and ran to Central Park, ran around it and then ran back to the hotel, a total of nine miles. I would not recommend this as a training regime, but it seemed to work.

Two days later, I tried to repeat this heroic feat—without the champagne—and had to stop after five miles. The humidity and temperature had spiked, and I discovered I was not Superman. It was a long walk back to the hotel followed by a long talk from Debbie, a much more experienced runner than me, about overdoing things. I’m glad to say I rallied for our last morning, got up at 5 a.m., walked to Central Park and completed the six-mile run without incident. I really felt like I was in a movie and expected to see Woody Allen or the cast from Home Alone at any point.

Our holiday started and finished in the Concorde Lounge at London Heathrow Airport, so it was fitting that we paid Concorde a visit in New York at the Intrepid Sea, Air &  Space Museum. Mrs. Watson in foreground.

Journal matters

I am glad to say that authors submitting to Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN) and Nursing Open were not all on holiday, nor were my editors and associate editors. More than 50 manuscripts, at the various stages I engaged with them, awaited my attention, so I did not have to wonder what to do first. One of the proofs awaiting correction for JAN was an article by Snowden et al. (2015) on which I am second author. When I am the author of a JAN manuscript, I have no editorial involvement with the manuscript until it is accepted and at the proofing stage. This article reports on a study of the latent structure of emotional intelligence and the discovery of a novel dimension, evident using two entirely different analytical methods.

There was more good news for JAN. I listen to “Today,” the BBC flagship news programme, every morning from 6 a.m. (in bed for at least the first 30 minutes) and was startled at 6:45 a.m. (still in bed) by a mention of “the Journal of Advanced Nursing.” What followed was a report on an excellent article by Weldon et al. (2015) reporting on the effect that music played in operating theatres has on communication between members of the surgical team. The piece was also featured in the subsequent news bulletin. The study shows that music can be detrimental to communication. If you want to hear the coverage, I made it available with a short commentary in a podcast.

Also, I had to resume arbitrating between some authors who dispute ownership of a dataset from which an article was recently published in JAN. I find these disputes often take months to resolve, and I feel sorry for the doctoral student in the middle of this who hasn’t done anything wrong. Clearly, the dispute is at a higher level, but its resolution may well have an impact on the doctoral project.

Life goes on

Along with my wife and two of my sons, we spent a weekend in Scotland clearing my mother’s house. My mother recently moved to a nursing home in Hull and her house is for sale. There were plenty of laughs as we found things long forgotten in the house and reminisced. Some harsh decisions had to be taken about what was being removed and what was going to a local charity shop. However, the hardest thing for me was locking my father’s workshop and studio for the last time ever. The click of the padlock simply choked me and moved me to tears as I recalled the boats built, wood turned, watercolours painted and framed for sale.

My sons took a selection of items but we had to leave many of his beloved tools behind, some of which I recall watching him working with when I was a child; we have no room for them. We managed to find around 50 of his watercolours, and we have stored them. He died five years ago, and we all miss him tremendously. But life, as the cliché goes, goes on, and next week my daughter, who lives in Germany and who I rarely see, returns for two weeks for my son’s wedding. I have no travelling planned until September and look forward to this precious time with them and the rest of my children and grandchildren.

Reference
Snowden, A., Watson, R., Stenhouse, R., & Hale, C. (2015). Emotional intelligence and nurse recruitment: Rasch and confirmatory factor analysis of the trait emotional intelligence questionnaire short form. Journal of Advanced Nursing. doi: 10.1111/jan.12746

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.

Between Sydney and Hong Kong

CATHAY PACIFIC FLIGHT 162—Another two-week visit to Australia is over, and I am bouncing back over Typhoon Linfa on the way to Hong Kong. Turbulence on my last few long-haul flights has been bad, and this one is no exception. Like all seasoned flyers, I try not to look worried.

I have been fulfilling my adjunct professor role at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) and visiting my family in Brisbane. The UWS occupies several campuses and, for the first time in many years of visiting, I was in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney, the first week. Situated on the site of a former asylum—a “lunatic” asylum, as it would have been called—the Parramatta campus takes in many of the elegant buildings associated with the place’s former purpose, and the older buildings are complemented by many fine, modern buildings.

Yours Truly with Associate Professor Michelle
Cleary, who organized my visit.

Numerous mental health hospitals in Australia are located on the banks of navigable rivers, as lunatics were not permitted to walk on the Queen’s highway—these institutions were built during the reign of Queen Victoria—and had to travel by boat. A steep set of steps leads from the river to the campus, and I imagine this is how many people were led up to their new and permanent home. I met one of the senior managers of UWS last year and only just managed to stop myself from cracking the old “the lunatics are now running the asylum” joke. He had probably heard it many times before.

With apologies to the occupants of Parramatta, this is not the most salubrious suburb of Sydney, and one of the missions of UWS is to serve these communities. My hotel website boasted “access to a state-of-the-art gym.” There was access, but the gym was a mile into town, a walk I made each evening past less than desirable housing and youth that appeared intimidating. Some of my colleagues were astonished that I had ventured out of my hotel. I reckoned that the sight of an elderly man in shorts and T-shirt in temperatures just above freezing was enough to keep me safe. It was very cold, the coldest winter in Sydney in 17 years.

Family time

The weekend I spent in Brisbane was warmer. I feel blessed to have such a great family, who make me welcome. Apart from Christmas, it is one of the few times of the year I leave work behind, literally in luggage left at the Sydney airport, and spend time with family. I always come away grateful, a few pounds heavier, and with an increased knowledge of Australian wines and beers. (Someone has to do it).

But my time in Australia was not all fun. Back at UWS, I gave a day and a half of writing-for-publication workshops and two video-conference sessions, one on social media and the other on marking theses and dissertations. Otherwise, I held staff consultations about publication plans and kept up to date with editing and supervising—from a distance—my PhD, master’s and final-year students. Two of my PhD students, one from Taiwan and one from mainland China, have completed their theses, and I am arranging for their examinations, which, in the UK, is done by viva voce, otherwise known as the “viva”). The viva is a terrifying prospect for most students, so I expect anxiety levels to be high when I get back to my desk at the University of Hull.

Two busy weeks

I have two weeks of intense activity coming up. It has to be two weeks because, although I have many July deadlines, it is only two weeks before I go on holiday and take the long-suffering and mostly tolerant Mrs. Watson—it’s OK, she never reads my blog—to New York. For the record, this is the first time in 31 years we have been away together on holiday without at least one of our children. We have gone on work-related trips to the Far East and Southeast Asia, but, as I am frequently reminded, those “don’t count.” 

So, before that happens, I have a PhD thesis and a pile of scripts from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland to examine, a handover of my acting associate dean role to the incumbent who is now back in the role, Journal of Advanced Nursing author guidelines to revise, and lots of research data to analyse. I see the seat belt sign is on again, and I am trying not to look worried.

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.

Hong Kong and Seoul

HONG KONG, SAR, China—I’m posting this from the Cathay Pacific First Class Pier Lounge at the Hong Kong International Airport. The Cathay Pacific flight from Manchester to Hong Kong (CX 358) was restored toward the end of last year, and this was the first time I had taken it with the intention of staying in Hong Kong. My previous use of the route was for an onward flight to China. The flight arrived at 6:30 a.m., and, to fight off jet-lag and avoid falling asleep, that made for a very long first day in Hong Kong. I tried going for a walk, which, in 75 percent humidity, lasted five minutes. Eventually, I surrendered at 6:30 p.m. and slept until 6 a.m. the next—my longest sleep in Hong Kong and my longest sleep for years.

I was back in Hong Kong for a second set of meetings with the University Grants Committee Research Grants Council. Most of the work of the committee is done in the four months before we arrive, and these are the meetings where final decisions are made. We also make an academic visit to one of Hong Kong’s higher-education institutes, and this year we visited, in a purely advisory capacity, the City University of Hong Kong. Otherwise, I caught up with old friends and colleagues.

Thomas Wong, PhD, RN, former vice president of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and an entrepreneur with his own consultancy business (GINGER Knowledge Transfer and Consultancy Ltd.) and health provider spin-off (Seamless Care), is the best value for money in Hong Kong and my oldest friend there. Little happens in nursing in Hong Kong and mainland China that Wong either does not know about or has not been instrumental in developing.

I also met Eric Lu Shek Chan, MSc, RN, GAPFON member and former deputy chief nurse at the Hong Kong Health Authority, now dean at Caritas Institute of Higher Education. Chan had planned to meet me in Seoul, South Korea, at the 2015 conference of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), but the Hong Kong government prohibited any health-related personnel from travelling to South Korea due to the MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) crisis. The risks of becoming infected with MERS must rate similarly to the chances of winning the United Kingdom National Lottery. Made of stern stuff and with the proverbial British stiff upper lip, I decided to take my chances and head to Seoul.

ICN International Conference

This was my second visit to Seoul, my first several years ago in prohibitively cold, subzero temperatures. This visit was warmer but at a much more civilised temperature than Hong Kong. Conditions for running were ideal, and I recorded Seoul, Gangnam District, on my Garmin webpage.

I have attended ICN conferences before—in Taiwan and Japan—and this one bore the same overriding feature: It was huge. There were thousands of people there, the venue was enormous, and it was by luck much more than management that I ran into colleagues from the United Kingdom, United States, Italy, China, and Australia. I could see from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn that many other people I knew were also there, but, despite trying, we never met. I was especially pleased to meet for coffee with GAPFON colleagues Hester C. Klopper, PhD, MBA, RN, RM, FANSA; Cathy Catrambone, PhD, RN, FAAN; Pat Thompson, EdD, RN, FAAN; and Cynthia Vlasich, MBA, BSN, RN. I also had lunch with Sally Wai-Chi Chan, PhD, RN, FAAN, featured in many entries passim from Singapore and China.

Pam Mitchell, PhD, RN, FAAN, University of
Washington; Sue Turale, DEd, RN, FACN, Ewha Women's University, South Korea; and Yours Truly struggling with that last course.

Sadly, my impression of Korean food, honed during my first subzero temperature visit, did not improve as a result of this visit. I simply cannot get the theme, appreciate the tastes, marvel at the presentation—and I’m British! However, it was not for want of trying, and I did enjoy one excellent dinner—mainly the beer and the company—hosted by my publisher, Wiley, through its Asia-Pacific office.

Leaving the best till last

Amidst all this fun and frivolity, something wonderful happened last week, and that was publication of the 

Thomson Reuters impact factors for 2014. My journal, Journal of Advanced Nursing, has increased its impact factor (1.741), its citations (12,024), and its ranking (10th place). Therefore, we can once again claim to be a top-10 journal. I would like to thank our authors, readers (especially those who cite us), our incredible team of editors, and the staff at Wiley.

The best news I've had in years!

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.

Another side of Saudi Arabia

JEDDAH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)—At 2 a.m. the morning after my arrival, Saudi Arabia’s health minister, Abdullah al-Rabeeah, was removed from office by King Abdullah for claiming he did not know why the number of people with MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) was increasing, thereby admitting he had been unable to address the problem. 

The unfortunate turn of events for al-Rabeeah meant I was one of the first people to meet his interim replacement, His Excellence Acting Minister for Health Adel Faqih, Saudi Arabia’s labor minister, who now serves in both roles. Faqih presented me, later that morning, with my “hadyyah” (gift) for presenting at The Second International Health Specialties Conference in Riyadh, KSA, sponsored by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties.

Apparently some folk
think I'm OK! 
(Click photo to read text.)

According to colleagues here, the sacked minister, an engineer by background, was popular and had made a good impression on my nursing colleagues, some of whom met him. However, politics is politics the world over, and, frankly, honesty does not pay if you wish to keep your job.

International conference

My paper at the conference was on the difference ethics can make to health care, but I also gave a preconference workshop to 150 nurses and physicians on getting papers published. Among the attendees was my former PhD student, Mansout Alyami, who works at the Ministry for Health. The workshop was the most popular of the two sessions, with an additional 150 people being turned away.

This was especially surprising as I was competing for participants with such luminaries as Geoff Norman, PhD, of McMaster University who, I now realise, is one of the world’s foremost experts on medical education. I was very pleased to get to know Norman over the course of the conference, and his presentation on myths in medical education reinforced many of the things I had long held doubts about, such as learning styles, self-assessment, high-fidelity simulation (essentially a waste of money), and the predictive value of multiple-choice tests (turns out they’re pretty good). Norman, who backs all this up with evidence, has already sent me his portfolio of research papers and reviews on these issues.

Jeddah

After three days in the oppressive heat, oppressive atmosphere (especially for women), and dry dust of Riyadh, I flew to Jeddah on the coast to participate in a scientific forum at Fakeeh College of Nursing & Medical Sciences, where I presented three papers over two days. Another former PhD student, Wafaa Aljohani, who is a faculty member at the school, facilitated my visit. I also met former PhD student Samira Alsenany, who works at King AbdulAziz University, the oldest university in KSA.

A preserved building in the old town of Jeddah,
included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. 

Compared with Riyadh, Jeddah is a coastal paradise. In addition to the weather being cooler, it is less dusty and less oppressive in many ways than Riyadh. The population is cosmopolitan, and, because the city is close to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, it is a tourist destination. This was my first sight of the Red Sea where, as the Old Testament describes, Moses parted the water and crossed from Egypt to the Promised Land. I can imagine that, all those thousands of years ago, this place did not look very promising.

International family

The Watson family is scattered across the globe. Another contingent is in Florida, where Mrs. Watson and our youngest daughter arrived this week. Our daughter is taking part in a street-dancing competition at Daytona Beach, and Mrs. Watson will continue training for the London Marathon.

My ambitions are modest by comparison. I am training for a 10-kilometre race, and managed to run 13 miles over four days along the seafront in Jeddah. My next visit to the Middle East is in May, when I go to Bahrain, but a visit to Genoa, Italy comes before that.

Podcasting continues, if you want to listen to my daily reflections on Jeddah. With my new Veho MUVI Mini Cam, claimed to be the smallest video camera in the world, I posted on YouTube a compilation of video segments, all in one 48-minute clip, that range from Hull to Riyadh. Persevere—or fast-forward—to take a cultural tour of Riyadh and hear the call to prayer going out.

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.