Thursday 24 March 2022

I should be so lucky



I should be so lucky

Roger Watson


 

Introduction

What follows is a series of records of my travels as an academic between 2012 and 2019. The travel takes places in Europe, America, Australia, the Far East, the Middle East and South East Asia.

These entries were made on behalf of Sigma and were edited and put online by Jim Mattson of Sigma to whom I am most grateful.

The entries were in the form of a blog between 2012 and 2017 which was called Hanging Smart (up to page 138) and, thereafter, as part of the Reflections on Nursing Leadership site and called Connecting Continents (starting on page 141). The formatting changes between 2017 t0 2019 and all the hyperlinks have been maintained. However, many links will be broken as individuals have changed positions and some blogs have been discontinued and webpages have migrated. Sigma discontinued the blog in 2020 but it was my privilege and pleasure to share my travels and experience with a wide audience.

It is of interest to note that the final entry was made in December 2019 from Wuhan, China. The Covid pandemic was already underway there, but most of the world was unaware. I returned home to news of a novel virus emanating from Wuhan which eventually transpired to be SARS-Cov-2. Thereafter, the world changed forever.

 

Published (2022) by Yould Publications Ltd, Hull

© Sigma

 


 

Hanging smart


 

14 September 2012

I could almost be a nurse!

 

UNIVERSITY OF HULL, UK—“I’ve had so much contact with nursing over the past few years I could almost be a nurse.” This statement, or a slight variant thereof, has been uttered in my presence in each of the four universities where I have worked and in others where I have undertaken quality assurance or other external work. The protagonist is, invariably, male; a member of a university senior management team; and coincidentally, I presume, an engineer. Perhaps engineers are more adept than most at “engineering” their way into the higher echelons of university management, but I’ll have to consider that possibility another day.

Before entering nursing, I studied biochemistry at the bachelor and doctoral levels. However, I long ago gave up all pretensions about being a biochemist, not due to modesty, but lest I get “caught out” by a hard question. In the same vein, I have never heard fellow nurses, even though many have been in senior university positions and with significant exposure to other disciplines, claim that the exposure led them to consider themselves “almost a physicist,” “almost a philosopher” or “almost a mathematician.” So, what is it about nursing that leads people to say these things, and what should our response be?

My guess about why people in these positions say these things is that it is due to a subconscious—I am being generous—attitude of superiority about their chosen discipline whereby what they do is considered difficult, and nursing is considered easy. I can only guess further that their image of nurses is immobilised in stereotypes: feminine; middle class; not highly educated; and “caring.”

I would not wish to dress nursing up to be something it is not. Nursing is a practice-based discipline that lies at the crossroads of several disciplines that include life sciences, social sciences and medicine. Nursing, as a subject, may not grapple with the origins of the universe, solving the world economic crisis or designing iconic buildings. Nevertheless, we do deal with the origins of someone’s distress, finding a solution to that stress and helping rebuild people who may become iconic in their own right. And we don’t just do this once, but many times a day and hundreds of times a year.

We don’t do it alone; we work in partnership with many professions and have to know more about them than they ever seem to know about us. It may look easy but, reflecting on my own clinical practice many years ago and the kinds of problems I currently address in my research, it certainly doesn’t feel easy.

My response to statements such as the one at the top of this post used to be a polite laugh; followed by a stony face and then a grimace, with an inwardly expressed gratitude that the person found their métier elsewhere. I have, more recently, decided to return to smiling and inwardly expressing gratitude that, however easy it seems and however hard it actually is, I found my own métier.


 

8 October 2012

'You have to have an assessment!'

 

HONG KONG—I am easily irritated by what I take to be stupid comments or questions, especially ones that convey a bureaucracy with which I don’t agree.

“You have to have an assessment” was the response in Hong Kong when I tried to use an indoor climbing wall.

“But I’ve been climbing for nearly 30 years,” I replied.

“You have to have an assessment!” was the firm response with that “the-issue-is-now-closed” look that the charming but invariably inflexible person behind a desk in Hong Kong conveys so well.

“Can I have an assessment?” I asked, conceding that safety is an important issue and that they had no proof I could climb safely.

“You have to make an appointment” was the reply, at which point I turned and walked out, deciding that my training regime would have to be suspended during this trip to the Far East.

The incident reminded me of a friend who graduated as a nurse in the United Kingdom and, after moving to Hong Kong, was required to pass a local exam prior to practicing. As she had graduated from my own alma mater (Edinburgh) and from the school where I first taught, this offended me ... until!

We do exactly the same in the United Kingdom to all incoming nurses; we even ask native English-speaking nurses (North Americans and Australians) to take an English language test (IELTS or TOEFL) to quite a high standard before they can register. They also have to have a period of induction prior to practice. The Australians have reciprocated by insisting that incoming nurses also take an English test, including native UK nurses.

I have mixed feelings about the need for all this assessment and for the resulting assessment industry that has grown up around it (a view I won’t be expounding on too much at the reception I’ve been invited to attend by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools during the upcoming meeting and annual conference of the American Academy of Nursing in Washington, D.C.). I can see that safety is paramount, and guaranteeing the competence and educational level of everyone arriving from a foreign country with a nursing registration is crucial and, probably, impossible without a formal approach. However, when I arrive in Washington, DC, as I could do here in Hong Kong, I can produce my driving licence and hire a car with the likelihood of killing a great many more people than if I turned up to work as nurse. This is only an analogy. Nursing is infinitely more complex than driving, but the principle applies, and I see no efforts in any country to streamline and accelerate the processes.

I have no solution to the problems encountered by nurses who wish to migrate or just gain experience outside their own country. In fact, I can acknowledge that there is a need for some “barriers” to free movement of registered nurses. I know very well how a rash of scandals involving non-native nurses in the United Kingdom leads to calls for tighter regulations. In addition to protecting patients, these regulations protect the nurses from beyond our borders who are practicing safely and making a major contribution to our National Health Service. All this is notwithstanding the fact that registered nurses from anywhere within the European Community can work in the United Kingdom without let or hindrance, including an English language test.

So, I did not manage to do any climbing in Hong Kong. But if you have read this entry to my blog, I hope you will think I have made reasonably good use of the time that was freed up.

 

1 November 2012

Impacting the impact factor

 

UNIVERSITY OF HULL, UK—The impact factor, a proxy measure of journal quality using citations, is often maligned and rarely praised. Nevertheless, it is studied avidly and regularly. And when there is evidence of journal editors blatantly trying to manipulate it by artificially increasing the number of citations to their own journals in their own journals, it creates controversy. However, all editors of journals cited in the impact factor league tables keep a close eye on impact factor and make—legitimate—efforts to ensure that they maximise their opportunities to maintain and improve their positions. It is well known, for example, that review papers, methodological papers and controversial papers (even ones that are wrong) are rapidly and highly cited and make a significant contribution to impact factor.

What is the impact factor?

The impact factor is a measure of citations (A) in a given year (e.g., 2011) to particular papers (B) published in the previous two years (e.g., 2009 and 2010). The impact factor is A divided by B. Excluded are contributions such as correspondence and editorials. However, it is worth noting that citations in these entities do contribute to A.

It is also worth noting that papers cited in a particular year from that year—2011 papers cited in 2011, for example—do not contribute to the impact factor. In fact, papers cited within their calendar year of publication have no effect on the impact factor. Therefore, if editors want to play the impact-factor game—legitimately—it is obvious that they must: 1) publish as many highly citeable papers as possible; 2) increase citation of them by generating comment in letters and editorials (within reason) and 3) time the publication of citing entities properly. For example, an editorial that cites a paper published in 2011 is better published in January 2012 than December 2011. It must be noted that Thompson Reuters, who “owns” the impact factor, does police the process and look for anomalous patterns of citation.

Can editors influence impact factor?

The answer is, clearly, yes. However, how long does it take an editor—say, one appointed in January 2011—to influence the impact factor of a journal, and is this a legitimate measure of editor performance? In the year of appointment, an editor has no influence on impact factor because the metrics, which are based on the previous year, are already fixed.

In the second year of appointment, the editor has minimal influence, because only one year’s worth of material published under his or her tenure may be considered for citation, and a high proportion of this is likely to have been accepted by the predecessor. However, measures taken in the second year to increase citations to the journal’s content can have an influence, but only to the extent that they reference the one year’s worth of content controlled by the new editor.

In the third year of appointment, all material published in the previous two years and some of the year preceding is the responsibility of the editor, and any measures taken to increase citations in that year are restricted to those two years.

Only in the fourth year of appointment can the editor take full responsibility for citing content and content being cited in the journal. Therefore, following appointment, it takes four years (until the end of 2015, using the present example) for an editor to significantly affect the impact factor.

If measures taken are successful, the editor is lauded and is safe in the job. If measures taken are not successful, the publisher has a dilemma: sack the editor in the knowledge that his or her successor will take four years, fully, to influence the impact factor, or continue with the same editor in the hope of improved performance.

Things usually continue with little change for a year after an editor’s contract expires and a new editor is hired. Therefore, my conclusion about impact factor is that, while it is a controversial measure of journal quality, it is a useless measure of editor performance.

 

26 November 2012

Meet Professor Sally Wai-Chi Chan!

 

SINGAPORE—I am spending a month in Singapore, the “melting pot” of Southeast Asia. Singapore is a melting pot for two reasons. First, the heat and humidity are excruciating. Even the mildest exercise outdoors induces profuse perspiration and laboured breathing. The only respite this time of year is the daily monsoon downpour, but even that is lukewarm.

Singapore is also a melting pot in another sense; it is one of the most multicultural places in the world. And it is entirely peaceful. Draconian sentencing and harsh punishments by the local judiciary tend to enforce good manners and tolerance. Nevertheless, appreciation of other cultures seems genuine. The place is fabulously rich with 17 percent of the population being millionaires (Singapore dollars).

This visit—my third to Singapore—is to the National University of Singapore, currently ranked No. 25 in the world in QS World University Rankings (No. 2 in Asia). Specifically, I am at the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, located in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, recently ranked the top medical school in Asia by QS. Founded in 2006, the centre is led by Professor Sally Chan.

Sally Wai-Chi Chan

I have known Sally for more than 20 years, ever since we both arrived in Edinburgh. I was a new lecturer and Sally, along with her husband Bing-Shu Cheng, was a new MSc in nursing student. A decade later, we met again when Sally was working in the Nethersole School of Nursing at Chinese University of Hong Kong, where I had been appointed external examiner for their master’s in nursing programme. Thus began my frequent travels to the Far East and Southeast Asia and a rekindled professional relationship with Sally.

Sally is energetic, ambitious and productive. She has always been visible and vocal, both as a student and as an academic. Her leadership in mental health nursing research and the mark she made on delivery of services in Hong Kong is remarkable, and her output of publications is impressive. Sally was clearly destined for leadership, and she is now in a key position to lead the development of this relatively new centre and to contribute to academic nursing in Singapore.

I am lucky to benefit from being one of a succession of international visiting scholars and professors to the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies. Sally has made it her trademark to work with the best and learn from the best. In turn, those of us lucky enough to come here frequently learn a great deal from the diligence, dedication and sheer hard work of the local academic and nursing population. Working days are long here, but the rewards are concomitant.

Sally is an outward-looking, horizon-scanning person, and this was recently exemplified by her visit to my own University of Hull. At present, Singapore does not allow nurse prescribing, but an ageing demography, together with nursing and medical-personnel shortages, will necessitate some new approaches to delivery of care and some shifting of professional boundaries. Sally wants to be at the forefront of this change, and the purpose of her visit to the United Kingdom was to learn about nurse prescribing programmes—Hull was a pioneer in this respect—and to see what links could be formed to help prepare her for advancing this initiative in Singapore.

Leadership

Leadership is hard to define but obvious when you see it. It is demonstrated in many ways and under different circumstances. The circumstances in Singapore could not be more ready for leadership such as that displayed by Sally Chan and, as a result of her far-sighted thinking in pursuing an academic career in Australia and the United Kingdom, (largely outside her native Hong Kong), she could not have been more ready for her current leadership role.

I often ponder my own leadership skills and wonder if the opportunity awaits me to demonstrate them; it has eluded me to date! Next week finds me in Bangkok and then Hong Kong before I head home to the UK for Christmas. In the meantime, at leisure, I think about the vagaries of professional and academic life, and where better to do so than the world-famous Long Bar of Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

"Barman!"

 


 

10 January 2013

The apprenticeship sorcerers

 

UNIVERSITY OF HULL, UK—As the festive season approached, I looked forward to a fortnight away from work when I could safely read the U.K. newspapers without finding cause for alarm. The end of the year is usually reserved for funny stories, advertisements by charities and reflections on the past year. However, I was wrong.

On 27 December 2012, The Daily Telegraph featured a piece titled “Become a lawyer with no degree, pupils told,” and I realised I was not going to make it to the end of the year without controversy. I made an entry on my Twitter feed the next day: “UK government wants lawyers trained by apprenticeships not degrees – parallels with nursing? where will this go?” which elicited some responses from nursing colleagues and a lawyer I know well.

I was surprised that the nurses seemed less bothered about this thinly veiled criticism of university education than the lawyer! While I trained as a nurse under the apprenticeship model and enjoyed and appreciated every day of it, I have long defended the value and necessity of nurses having degrees and the fact that there is no evidence that having a university education reduces their ability to care. There is room for both aspects of preparation in the nursing curriculum.

I was actually more interested in what the response of the legal profession would be and, specifically, if nurses with degrees would feature in it. And guess what? There were several letters in reply and extensive entries in the letters page weblog under the banner “Qualifying for a profession without taking a degree – or running up debts” and, of course, both sides of the argument were represented.

There were two references to nursing, as follows: 1) “The Government may mean well by its plan for an apprenticeship route for traditional professions, but it is ill-founded. Unless other industries, such as hospitality and nursing, abandon the requirement for a degree, a peculiar imbalance will be introduced into the higher education system.” 2) “SIR – And while we are at it, can we also please return to apprenticeships for nurses?” I find it strange and infuriating that nursing is juxtaposed with the hospitality industry and is used as an exemplar of where university degrees are inappropriate. For my non-United Kingdom readers, I must say that this is a uniquely U.K. phenomenon; the value of degrees for nurses has never been questioned—in my experience—in the United States, Australia, the Far East or Southeast Asia.

It did not end there. The year was nearly over when The Sunday Times, never a great supporter of academic nursing, managed to include nursing in a retrospective swipe by Minette Marrin—foremost amongst our critics—at everything that had annoyed her over the year in a piece titled “Pesky clerics, Europhiles, nurses’ leaders – it’s all change for you” on 30 December 2012. Referring to the frequent reports of poor nursing care in the U.K. media, Marrin questioned the purpose of nursing leaders in the United Kingdom; easy and obvious targets, of course, but not the people directly responsible for the delivery of poor care that appears to take part in isolated pockets such as the Mid Staffordshire Foundation National Health Service Trust, where a bullying culture has developed and there is a general cynicism about continuing professional development—the very thing usually criticised by people like Marrin.

 

Therefore, 2012 ended on a slightly negative note from my perspective, but a new year lies ahead and, while reports of poor care and unwarranted criticism of academic nursing in the United Kingdom will continue, I have a lot to look forward to elsewhere in the world. In 2013, I will visit Italy, Finland, Canada, Bahrain, Hong Kong, China, the United States and Australia. I look forward to blogging from some of these places.

 

12 February 2013

The Mid Staffordshire Report

UNIVERSITY OF HULL, UK—In January, I referred to the Mid Staffordshire Foundation National Health Service Trust. On 6 February 2013, a final report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry included the following statement: “Between 2005 and 2008 conditions of appalling care were able to flourish in the main hospital serving the people of Stafford and its surrounding area.”

If you want to see just how badly wrong things can go in a nationalised system of health—the so called “jewel in the crown” of U.K. public services—read this report. Beware; it is 1,781 pages long, excluding the executive summary. Few will need to read every word, and fewer still will do so. Nevertheless, for a rapid assessment of the systemic, professional and personal failures that conspired to create the biggest scandal in the history of the U.K. National Health Service, the executive summary will suffice.

As a U.K. citizen and nurse, I am well aware of the problems in Mid Staffordshire. The U.K. media have had little difficulty in deciding what to headline in the past week, and there have been the inevitable swipes at nurses with degrees, another subject of past entries in this blog. While the public are provided with further depths to the scandal and shock and informed that no ‘heads have rolled’… yet (disciplinary proceedings may now begin), the professions are more concerned about the recommendations made by Lord Francis QC, who chaired the enquiry.

The recommendations are copious, and those related to nursing cover several pages. The range of recommendations covers the “whole nine yards,” from sublime common sense to the ridiculous type of ignorant knee-jerking that is so common when non-nurses comment on nursing. At the ridiculous end is the recommendation that the U.K. regulatory body for nursing, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), together with universities, should work over the course of several months to produce a system for testing the aptitude of nursing candidates, paying special attention to caring attitude and compassion. This ought to tie the NMC and university schools of nursing up for months deciding what to measure and how to measure it.

Surely, the three-year programme of undergraduate nursing education is at least partly supposed to weed out those unsuitable for nursing and also to mould those with promise into good nurses. I can see where Lord Francis’s idea stems from: 1) the ubiquitous driving force of the well-meaning public servant that “something must be done (about it)” and 2) that “there is something that can be done (about it).” There were manifest failures of medical and surgical care, yet there is not a similar recommendation that aspiring doctors be pretested for aptitude.

Giving credit where it is due, Lord Francis did make two excellent recommendations that would be easy to implement. The first of these, which seems uncontroversial but has eluded nursing in the United Kingdom since the mid-1980s, is a national standard for testing the competence of nurses to practice. While not wishing to use the tragic circumstances surrounding Mid Staffordshire to illuminate my own good sense and that of some close colleagues, it is interesting to reflect on some recommendations made by a few of us in 2002: “A clear finding (from this study) is that no single method is appropriate for assessing clinical competence. A multimethod UK-wide strategy for clinical competence assessment for nursing and midwifery is needed if we are to be sure that assessment reveals whether or not students have achieved the complex repertoire of knowledge, skills and attitudes required for competent practice.” I doubt we can take the credit now, but at least we can demonstrate that some nursing academics were making common-sense recommendations over a decade before Lord Francis.

The other excellent recommendation is that: “The Nursing and Midwifery Council and other professional and academic bodies should work towards a common qualification assessment/examination.” The United Kingdom long ago abandoned a national state examination for nurses but, again, along with a colleague, I have published the view that we should return to a national curriculum and a state examination for nursing. Surely, this is a recommendation worth pursuing.

This entry has been very U.K.-, not to mention self-, centred. March finds me in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Canada, and also in front of my colleagues speaking about international strategy. I will also be delivering a paper on nursing leadership at a local event of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. I expect that next time I post, Mid Staffordshire will no longer be in the headlines and that I can report something that illuminates the best in U.K. and international nursing. Meantime, I contemplate approximately 25,000 miles of flying, jetlag and hotel rooms; actually, not the worst prospect.

 

7 March 2013

The importance of chance encounters

 

UNIVERSITY OF HULL, UK—As a young academic at the University of Edinburgh in the early 1990s, I attended the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom Research Society Conference in Birmingham, UK. An argument with a taxi driver over the fare meant that I walked to my accommodation under a very dark cloud.

Walking in the opposite direction to me was a man, clearly of Chinese origin, who looked as if he wanted to speak—the last thing I wanted to do. However, he introduced himself as the PhD student of a colleague and good friend of mine in Glasgow, which brightened my mood a little, and we spoke for a few minutes.

More than 10 years later, I found myself sitting opposite him, unaware of who he was, at lunch in Hong Kong, and he recalled that we had met. His name was Thomas Wong. One of the most influential figures in nursing in Hong Kong, he was professor and head of nursing at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has, variously, chaired the Nursing Council, been dean of his faculty of health care and a vice president of the university. Currently, he is president of Tung Wah College in Hong Kong.

I have just returned from one of many visits to Hong Kong, my previous visit being the subject of an earlier blog. I was undertaking visiting-professor duties at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where nursing is now led by another friend and colleague, Professor Alex Molasiotis. Clearly of Greek origin, Alex is a leading expert in cancer and palliative care nursing, with an outstanding CV and previous working experience in Hong Kong and mainland China. We met unexpectedly in Singapore and found a common interest in the Far East and Southeast Asia, and also my hometown of Hull, UK, where Alex studied for his master’s degree and still has family links.

Courtesy of the Cathay Pacific long-haul flight to the United Kingdom from Hong Kong, I was reflecting on the past decade, during which I have made more than 50 visits to Hong Kong. I thought about the important place that this unique and extraordinary Special Administrative Region of China (and former British colony) has had on my personal and professional life.

Personally, it is a place that is now familiar to my wife and several of my children; where I feel almost as “at home” as I do at home. Professionally, the influence Hong Kong has had on my career is obvious. It has been for me, literally, the gateway to the Far East, Southeast Asia and Australasia since, at the invitation of Professor David Thompson, then of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, I found myself in Hong Kong for the first time.

Since then, I have collaborated on research grant applications and publications with colleagues across the Far East and Southeast Asia. I am now a part-time professor in Australia and a visiting professor in Singapore. People like Thomas Wong—who I very nearly ignored the first time I met him—and Alex Molasiotis, together with countless others who took the time to get to know me—thankfully, I reciprocated—have kept me constantly engaged in activities that are amongst the most rewarding of my professional life.

If this blog entry has a moral, it is this: Never underestimate the next person you meet, never ignore people at conferences, and set no limits on where your next conversation may lead you, professionally and geographically.

 

8 April 2013

Return to Riyadh

 

RIYADH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—Listening to “Brothers in Arms—loud—on the Emirates Airline entertainment system as the Boeing 777 descended into King Khalid International Airport (KKIA), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I brushed away several tears. During the First Gulf War, I used to listen to this haunting and emotional song on headphones to drown out the overhead roar of American B-52 bombersaccompanied by massive refuelling planes, as they took off from the military airport in Riyadh to rain down fire and death on forward lines of Iraqi troops.

The bombers were so laden with weaponry that they took off underfuelled. After takeoff, and before proceeding to the Kuwaiti border to lighten their loads, the bombers’ fuel tanks were topped off nearby, in midair, enabling them to proceed to their target and create “fields of destruction,” a phrase from Dire Straits’ song, “Brothers in Arms.” These takeoffs were always followed by the release of a Scud missile in our direction, to which we replied with a Patriot missile from the front gate of our compound. The sickening shockwave, as it broke the sound barrier at ground level, used to make my chest reverberate.

My first visit to Saudi Arabia was courtesy of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces in which I played a small role as a nursing officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps. This time, upon exiting the plane at the airport terminal, I recognised the underground car park where, a couple decades earlier, we had established a 1,000-bed military hospital and set up our evacuation ward. And on my journey home, I walked through shops and lounges where, more than 20 years before, we set up operating theatres and general wards in what was then a newly built, but deserted, building.

This visit was entirely peaceful. I was in Riyadh at the invitation of the General Directorate of Nursing Affairs at the Saudi Ministry of Health to address the Saudi International Conference of Excellence in Patient Care  (SIEPC 2013) on the topic of writing for publication. The conference was attended by “local” nurses from the Gulf states and Jordan, as well as Europeans, Australians, and Americans. The theme of the conference, ostensibly, was about hospitals in the region achieving Magnet status, but it was an opportunity to learn about nursing and, especially, nursing education in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. If the words “Europe” or “United Kingdom” had replaced “Saudi Arabia” or “Jordan” on the program, the discussion would have been much the same.

We share many of the same problems, such as shortages of nurses and nursing faculty, and the employment of immigrant nurses, with the Philippines being a major provider. One difference in Jordan from the rest of the world is the higher proportion of men in nursing, a remarkable 60 percent. It’s actually an issue they would like to address, as it is a symptom of very high unemployment among Jordanian men. There is a deliberate strategy in Saudi Arabia toward “Saudi-ization”—the education, training, and employment of Saudi nationals in a range of professions—including nursing. The initiative is still, however, in its early days.

Meantime, many Saudi nurses visit the United Kingdom and North America to pursue master’s degrees and doctoral education. I have personally benefitted from this. I was met at the airport by Mansour Al-Yami, in full Arab dress, whose studies I supervised at the University of Sheffield. Worth following on Twitter, Al-Yami is involved in his role at the Ministry of Health in recruiting nurses to Saudi’s workforce. Soon, he defends his doctoral thesis in Sheffield.

 

Yours Truly with Mansour Al-Yami, former student of
mine who is now at the Saudi Ministry of Health

At the fabulous Four Seasons Hotel, I had dinner with Professor James Ware, director, Medical Education and Postgraduate Studies, the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, along with Wafaa Al-Johani, who works in nursing education in Jeddah. Al-Johani is one of my former doctoral students, and she made the journey especially to see me.

Wafaa Al-Johani, one of my former doctoral students

My time in Saudi has been informative, enjoyable and, as I alluded to above, moving. I have three children and a future son-in-law in the military. One daughter returns from Afghanistan soon; she was preceded by her fiancé. Her older sister, a nursing officer in Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corpsleaves for Afghanistan next week. My daughters complete four generations of Watsons who have gone to war.

I often end these entries on a light note, related to my current location or next flight (Rome in May, as it happens), but I must end this one with a rhetorical question: Will the madness of war ever end?

 

9 May 2013

A quick visit to Rome

 

ROME—Frequent visits to Italy make me appreciate my proximity to continental Europe. Running along the banks of the Tiber at 6:30 a.m., with Rome waking up around me and the sun already burning the top of my head—much less protected by hair than it used to be—is one of the most memorable things I have done this year. Rome is beautiful. It certainly represents no hardship to visit these visually stunning and deeply historic places, so easily accessible from the United Kingdom.

I am here at the invitation of Gennaro Rocco, president of Ipasvi (Nursing Board of Rome) to deliver a paper, “The ethics of publication,” at the Ministero della Salute (Italian Ministry of Health). Rocco is the epitome of Italian style, manners, and leadership. He has been elected to his presidency for more than a decade, and his vision and drive have helped Ipasvi establish a Centre of Excellence for Nursing Culture and Research.

My role at the Centre of Excellence, along with other international advisers, has been to provide advice on academic publishing with a view to helping Ipasvi develop the first Italian academic nursing journal. Once again, I have been reflecting on why I am here and why I should be so lucky to visit the capitals of the world, to work with the cream of international nursing, and to do so at no expense to me or my university. Another chance encounter, the subject of a recent post, played a part.

In 2004, I co-organised a symposium on quantitative methods in nursing research at the annual International Research Conference of the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom. The symposium was well attended and very well evaluated. However, the most important outcome for me was my first meeting with Alvisa Palese. Flamboyant, immaculate, and affectionate—in a word, Italian—she enthused about the session, and I have been in contact with her ever since. She is now my PhD student at Hull. This contact led to a regular series of workshops delivered to Italian postgraduate nursing students in Trieste and Genoa. These students are pioneers, especially the doctoral students, as doctoral-level education for nurses is a fairly recent development in Italy.

This has been a very short visit, but one worth reporting on, as I think that the Centre of Excellence for Nursing Culture and Research is going to become a major force for nursing change in Italy. There is such a centre in Spain, which is similar to, though slightly ahead of, Italy in development of nursing education, but I know of no other centres like this anywhere in the world.

What struck my U.K. colleagues and me most was the integration and common purpose amongst nurses engaged in professional regulation, clinical practice and education. I have also witnessed this in the United States and Australia. Sadly, in the United Kingdom, there is a void between clinical practice and academia, and our regulatory body is not especially proactive in developing the profession. We were there to advise, based on our experience, but we would give a great deal to have a Gennaro Rocco in our midst, and I envisage a day, not too far away, when senior Italian nurses are advising us in the United Kingdom. Moreover, I welcome that day.

 

17 May 2013

From the land of the midnight sun

 

TURKU, Finland—The flight from Helsinki to Turku barely gets in the air before it lands in Turku. This very short flight takes you from the capital of Finland to the mouth of the river Aura on the nation’s southwest coast. Turku boasts a fine university, the University of Turku, which houses the Department of Nursing Science and an array of nursing scholars of truly stellar reputation in Europe and beyond, including Helena Leino-Kilpi, PhD, RN, Sanna Salanterä, PhD, RN, and Riitta Suhonen, PhD, RN. It is remarkable to find such talent in so small a department.

I, together with Ian Norman, PhD, RN, FEANS, my rival in editing and friend in research and scholarship, have been teaching writing-for-publication classes to Finnish postgraduate students—not all from Turku and not all in nursing. Norman is professor and associate dean of the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at King’s College, London, and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Nursing Studies. Over the years, I have researched, written, and published with him and have learned a great deal about acquiring research funding and managing research projects. The classes were challenging. These are some of the best research students in Scandinavia, and they questioned nearly every point we made. As usual, I came away realising that my ideas and my PowerPoints need further revision.

Compared with England and Ireland—I visited Ireland on the way here—the weather in Turku is superb. The British Isles are mostly shrouded in mist and still experiencing very cold weather despite the time of year, but Turku was 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) with bright sunshine that only receded for about three hours after midnight. This is, almost, the “land of the midnight sun.” I managed two runs along the Aura River, still navigable well into the town of Turku, where some splendid tall ships and lots of boats moored along the banks are used as bars and restaurants. Wednesday night in Turku is Harley-Davidson night, and I think that nearly 1,000 of them were parked along the river last night, with their riders—average age easily more than 60—admiring each other’s bikes.

Work continues wherever I am. When classes ended this morning, I spent the rest of the day in my hotel room in close contact via Skype and email with Parveen Ali, PhD, PG Cert (HE) RN, RM, my good colleague at Hull. She and I, together with our expert in orthopaedic nursing, Julie Santy-Tomlinson, MSc, RGN, RNT, were awarded a small amount of money by the Royal College of Nursing (of the United Kingdom) Society of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing to conduct a systematic review of acute lower limb compartment syndrome (ALCS). The work will inform a consensus conference of the society convened to produce nursing guidelines for detection and management of ALCS. The report is due to be submitted by 5 p.m. today. I think we made it.

The rest of the year is shaping up. I will be in Bahrain before the end of the month. Then, after a relatively quiet two months, August will find me in Taiwan and Australia. In October, I head, in quick succession, to Hong Kong and mainland China, returning to the United Kingdom between those trips to teach at my university. The China visit leads directly—after the longest Cathay Pacific flight of 18 hours—to Washington, D.C. for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Nursing. Next month, we should hear who the new fellows are, and I am hoping the list contains at least two international fellows who are well known to me. You will be the first to know.

 

30 May 2013

Examining in the Kingdom of Bahrain

 

MANAMA, Kingdom of Bahrain—The last time I visited Bahrain, I arrived on a Sunday night and took a taxi to the nearest Catholic church to attend Mass. This proved to be a mistake. The “five minutes” from the hotel, as estimated by the hotel receptionist, turned into a considerable taxi ride, miles from the Diplomatic Area (DA) where I was staying. The class of housing dropped and the width of the streets steadily reduced and, eventually, I found myself downtown, where the walls had slogans in English and Arabic. This was immediately following the Arab Spring risings, which had reached the Kingdom and the television screens. My hosts, my employers and my wife would have had a collective fainting fit if they had seen me.

I attended Mass, the only westerner, and then tried to hail a taxi. Plenty went past, but none would stop. As a mild sense of anxiety set in about my predicament—lost, dark, miles from my hotel, and in an area of obvious unrest—I was rescued by a diminutive Indian gentleman, clearly amused at my attempts to hail a taxi in that area. He promised, and duly fulfilled his promise, to lead me to safety. My escape took me through a series of back alleys and past some dubious looking local characters to an area where taxis were available. I hailed one, and my saviour disappeared down one of the alleys from which we had emerged, hardly stopping for thanks.

This is my second visit to the Middle East this year (blog passim) and my second time here as an external examiner at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI-MUB). I have not ventured beyond the DA and, apart from a five-kilometre run that I worked out for the early mornings (30 degrees Celsius; 86 degrees Fahrenheit) before the temperature rises to a searing 40 degrees C (104 F), I have only been to the college and restaurants. The RCSI-MUB was established in 2005 and represents one aspect of the work of the RCSI in Dublin to expand and find business in this region. As such, the RCSI is both innovative and entrepreneurial and has established a very good name for itself in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

The RCSI-MUB runs a School of Nursing and Midwifery here that provides undergraduate programmes, including a bridging programme for local diploma-educated nurses and a master’s programme. I examine the bridging programme and the master’s programme and, as my reports to the college have indicated, have been impressed with the standard of work and, in particular, by some of the master’s students, who have to present their work to members of the school in my presence. I predict that the School of Nursing and Midwifery here will become a powerhouse for academic and clinical nursing in the region.

In my previous entry from Finland, I promised to let you know if any of my colleagues have been invited to become fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN). I am happy to report that Sally Chan, the subject of a previous post, has been selected; also Mark Hayter, my Hull colleague and fellow editor of Journal of Advanced Nursing. The contingent of FAAN international fellows is growing, and I am very happy to be part of that group. I always look forward to my visits to Washington, D.C., but I predict that this year is going to be more fun than usual. If you see me there in October, please say hello.

 

21 June 2013

A week in the life of an editor-in-chief

 

HULL, UK, Sunday, 16 June—I leave my family celebrating Father’s Day—my Father’s Day (third Sunday in June)—at lunchtime to travel to Oxford for a few days. You may have gathered I like to travel, but I don’t like travelling on a Sunday. In the United Kingdom, Sunday means slow and indirect trains with several changes, reduced service on the train (no free wine in first-class, for example), and when you have left your family sitting outside in a sunny garden, it feels so much worse.

The purpose of my visit is the annual two-day management-team meeting for the Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN). Therefore, my mood lifts as I reach Oxford—location of the Wiley-Blackwell offices—and check in to my hotel. The most interesting and enjoyable part of my work, amongst many interesting things I do, is my role as editor-in-chief of JAN. I get the opportunity to work with some superb people at Wiley-Blackwell. Some have been my colleagues here for years, and I have a top team of editors to work with. A pint of Guinness with fish and chips at the Head of the River pub on the Thames also helps lift my spirits.

Fish and chips lift my spirits

 

Monday

The first day of the meeting is concerned with reviewing the year: what has worked and what needs to change. We consider the journal impact factor (JIF). Despite its manifest imperfections, and a recent call for it to be ignored, many authors decide where to send manuscripts by JIF, and we simply do not have the luxury of ignoring it. Our consideration of the impact factor is given added poignancy by the fact that announcement of the 2012 rankings is imminent. Let me introduce the team:

The publishers

At Wiley-Blackwell, my immediate contact and journal manager is Rosie Hutchinson, who has been with Wiley-Blackwell since 2009. My longest-standing contact and contemporary is Associate Director Griselda Campbell, whom I have known for more than 20 years, since she visited me as an early-career academic at the University of Edinburgh, when she worked for another publishing company. Then, there is what I refer to as the “engine house” of the Journal of Advanced Nursing: Senior Editorial Assistant Gareth Watkins and Managing Editor Di Sinclair. Nothing seems to be too much trouble for Gareth and Di, and the extent of their knowledge of the online system we use to manage submissions and reviewing is immense.

The editors

I don’t hesitate to say that I work with the best possible team of editors. They are all experienced and capable, and a cursory glance at their profiles reveals the calibre of person who edits JAN. New to the team, but joining us from the Journal of Clinical Nursing (which I used to edit) is Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FRSA. He was featured in my previous blog, due to his forthcoming induction as a fellow of the American Academy of NursingJane Noyes, DPhil, MSc, RN, works in Wales. She, along with Lin Perry, PhD, MSc, RN, and Brenda Roe, PhD, RN, FRSH—another colleague of more than 20 years standing—preceded my appointment. They are an incredible repository of knowledge about the Journal of Advanced Nursing and also bring very specific expertise to their roles as editors. The newest member of the team is Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, FAAN, who joins us from the United States.

Dinner is in Oxford at Malmaison; excellent food, wine, and good company. I learn about the Travel John from Di, whose annual visit to the Glastonbury Festival is imminent. The Rolling Stones are headlining.

Tuesday

Sleepless night—no JIF announcement yet! In a previous blog, I explained that my success as editor-in-chief is partly judged on the basis of JIF.

Our second day at the management-team meeting always focuses on planning, and this is where the real discussion and debate take place. Many ideas—mostly mine—are “shot down in flames,” and we often end up back where we started with some change proposed to the way we do things. Our main concerns are maintaining a reputation for quality, good service to authors, and good management of copy flow. We realise that we often make adjustments to the systems at our peril and need to be absolutely sure that what is decided is both necessary and likely to work.

The team disperses at the end of the day; back to their own countries, day jobs, and professional duties. I remain in Oxford for a final night on my own, with time to catch up on Skype calls, FaceTime, emails, and editing.


 

Wednesday

After my third early-morning run of the week along the River Thames, I “hot-desk” at the Wiley offices to catch up with work: write a European Community-funded research proposal with a colleague from the United States; lunch with the publishing team to discuss the use of Journal of Advanced Nursing Linkedin pages, and prepare my first entry for our new blog.

I travel from Oxford to the south coast of England to address the inaugural conference of Phi Mu Chapter of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), launched in 2011 at the U.S. Embassy in London. Dinner is with Dame Betty Kershaw, DBE, OStJ, FRCN, Elizabeth Rosser, DPhil, MN, DipRM, Dip NEd, RN, RM, and Eileen Richardson, MA Ed, RGN, SCM, Cert Nursing Studies (Education). Kershaw was the driving force behind establishing this all-England chapter of STTI, which is hosted by Bournemouth University. Rosser has now taken over as president, and Richardson has supported this work throughout. I stay in Hotel Miramar, where a plaque on the wall indicates that J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, was a frequent visitor.

J.R.R. Tolkien stayed here!


No announcement of JIF yet, but an SMS message from 
Ian Norman, PhD, RN, CQSW, editor-in-chief of International Journal of Nursing Studies, informs me that we have both slipped down the rankings (unsmiley face).

Thursday

Excellent news! The JIF of Journal of Advanced Nursing has improved, despite slippage in rankings. Congratulations to Nursing Outlook, in the top five; commiserations to Nursing Science Quarterly, which, along with another 65 journals, has still not reappeared on the Thomson Reuters list. My email to the team is more upbeat than the one I had been planning overnight.

It is a great honour to present the opening keynote at the Honour Society. My theme is “Putting nursing back at the heart of people care,” and the session is attended by the vice-chancellor (equivalent to president) of Bournemouth University. Dinner is like a reunion of old friends and colleagues and is attended by a trio of nursing dames: Dame Kershaw, referred to above; Dame June Clark, DBE, PhD, RN, FRCN, FAAN, recently inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, an avid reader of this blog, and the person responsible for bringing the Honour Society to the United Kingdom for the first time in Wales; and Dame Yvonne Moores, DBE, FRSH, CIMgt, former chief nurse of England, following her roles as chief nurse in Wales and Scotland. For an explanation of the title “Dame,” you need to understand the U.K. Honours system, and few of us actually do!

Friday

Six hours and three trains later, I am back in Hull with my family. Tomorrow starts with a 5-kilometre Park Run. On Sunday, I fly to Dublin for one night. No more travelling until the end of July, and no more entries to the blog until then, either.

Gotta run! Photo from Park Run, different time of year

 

31 July 2013

Inane matters

 

CORK, Ireland—A short break from this blog has given me time to do the first full entry on the brand-new Journal of Advanced Nursing blog, which has had more than 400 views since June. I also publish our newsletter for the Faculty of Health and Social Care at Hull as a blog, and my own blogs have been updated. I was pleased to see that my “Four things about ... (a simple approach to anatomy and physiology)” has had more than 84,000 views. Forgive the blatant plug!

 

Since my last entry, I have been: 1) enjoying some extreme weather in the United Kingdom (30 degrees Celsius, or 86 degrees Fahrenheit, is considered extreme in the U.K.), 2) working hard on a research-grant proposal, 3) rock climbing, and 4) running—poorly—in a set of league races. My work as editor-in-chief continues, and it has brought me to Cork, Ireland for the annual meeting of the International Academy of Nursing Editors, a group that suffers from the acronym INANE.

This is my first time at INANE, and I was asked to chair an early morning “Town Hall” meeting on hot topics in editing. We covered several topics, including open-access publishing, succession planning for editorial positions, and the training that those new to editing might require. INANE is a truly international organisation, and this meeting, hosted by the Department of Nursing and Midwifery at University College Cork, attracted more than 100 people—mostly, but not exclusively, editors from 16 countries.

This is the first of three weeks of travel. After returning to the U.K. from Ireland, I will spend a week in Taiwan and the following week in Australia, which is where my first contribution to Reflections on Nursing Leadership magazine, the progenitor to my “Hanging smart” blog, was written. Naturally, I intend to send my reflections on these visits.

I rarely visit Taiwan without some hilarious incident, usually at my expense. For example, a few years ago I sent some clothes to the local laundry, which phoned my Taiwanese colleague, whose cell phone is always on speaker, to enquire if I wanted my underpants (“shorts” in the United States) pressed. The secretaries in the open-plan office were unable, despite considerable effort, to suppress their laughter. When the exchange was translated to me, I laughed, too—eventually. I will be surprised if there is nothing to report next week.

 

10 August 2013

From one heat wave to another

 

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Wherever I go, weather records are broken. This week, the weather in Taiwan has been the hottest on record for 100 years. Depending on what you read or to whom you speak, the temperature in Taipei yesterday was either 37.5 or 39 C (99.5 or 102.2 F). Either way, the air temperature exceeds body temperature and, according to this morning’s Taipei Times, the government is considering calling public holidays if these temperatures return. There are hotter places but, as one who visits here regularly, I’m finding the crushing humidity exhausting. When there’s no precipitation which, when it comes, is in the form of torrential rain, the relative humidity has varied between 70 and 90 percent.

A few years ago, colleagues and I were caught in Typhoon Morakot, a low-grade typhoon against which it was almost impossible to walk. (Our hotel shook.) I would not like to see a typhoon that registers at the top end of the scale. Last year, at dinner in Chaiyi City, the room suddenly moved a few inches in one direction and then, after a few wobbles, settled back to its original position. Earthquakes, some literally tearing large parts of Taiwan apart, are a regular feature here. I have been here for a week, at Tzu Chi Buddhist College of Technology (TCCN), which is in Hualien, on the Pacific coast of Taiwan. (I’m hoping my university insurance company agents are not reading this entry.)

With me are my colleagues from the Wiley stable, Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FRSA, and Graeme Smith, PhD, RN, editors, respectively, of Journal of Advanced Nursing and Journal of Clinical Nursing. We have been providing writing-for-publication seminars, workshops and consultancy sessions to colleagues in the nursing school at TCCN. Our link with the college spans eight years, over which time the school has significantly increased its publication output, and not only in our journals. All three of us have also held research grants with colleagues here and have co-authored articles with them.

At TCCN, Yours Truly seated at center, flanked on my
right by Mark Hayter and on my left my Graeme Smith

We prefer the long train journey between Taipei and Hualien to the short plane journey. It is demonstrably safer (Google “Hualien airport crash”) and takes in a large section of the beautiful and lush Pacific coast. A free day on these journeys is rare, but today is relatively free, and we will re-visit our “old friend” the 101, previously the tallest building in the world. This Gothic-art deco tower never ceases to inspire awe in terms of its symmetry and elegance. The view from the top, accessible via an ear-popping elevator, the fastest in the world, is truly leg wobbling, even for a rock climber.

From Taiwan, I head to Hong Kong for one night before flying on to Sydney. In my last entry, I stated that no visit to Taiwan is without incident and that I would be surprised if none occurred on this trip. My problem? Which one to tell you about. 

We have a favourite restaurant where we requested to eat. On the way from our hotel, we screamed directions to our driver, who willfully ignored our instructions and drove us to one of the best local hotels. It was a soulless place with a large deserted dining room and mediocre food. Our host, completely aware of our request to eat elsewhere, thought it better for us to eat here. The Taiwanese are a polite, caring, and attentive people, but cultural differences run deep, and what you receive is rarely what you ask for.

 


 

18 August 2013

Up in the air

 

SOMEWHERE over Australia—Cathay Pacific Flight CX100 left Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia at 2 p.m. After dinner, a film, and a sleep, we are still over Australia, nearly six hours later. This is a vast land with miles and miles of nothing below us most of the time. I have a great fondness for most of the countries I visit regularly. Australia, however, has a special place in my heart.

My family has been associated with this country for more 50 years following the emigration of some of my family, including my grandmother, after the Second World War. Three of my children have been here. It is hard not to like the place. As the early morning flight to Sydney from Brisbane circled the lagoon, clear blue water reflecting a perfect sky made me want to stay a while.

The Sydney skyline

Meanwhile, back in the real world, I am on the way to Hong Kong. After that, it’s on to the U.K. and home to family and work. I have visited four countries in three weeks and have reported on my visits to Ireland and Taiwan. My annual visits to Australia are due to my part-time professorship at the University of Western Sydney, an eponymous university that lies to the west of Sydney. It is spread over several campuses —some of it is a long way from Sydney—and I feel lucky to be based on the Campbelltown, NSW campus, which is relatively rural but within a short train journey of the centre of Sydney.

June to August is the winter season in Australia, and the early mornings were ideal for running. There was frost on the ground and, as the sun rose revealing a cloudless sky, I was able to explore some new parts of town. My academic activities included teaching senior honours undergraduate students about turning their assignments into published articles. I also presented to colleagues on other campuses about increasing their online profile—this blog was referred to—and about ethical issues in academic publishing.

I especially enjoyed giving a lecture to clinical nurse consultants and other clinical colleagues at the Nepean Hospital in Penrith, NSW, on presenting a conference paper. Online lectures are used a lot here, on several campuses, to teach nurses and midwives, and I make a contribution to this by providing links to my online lectures at my own University of Hull. I used my nights alone in the hotel to make one, especially for students here, on writing for quantitative research. You can listen to it and hear what I sound like; don’t be too harsh.

I mentioned my family earlier. My final weekend in Australia was spent in Brisbane, Queensland, where most of my cousins live. This is definitely the best time of year to visit Brisbane, as it is only hot at the moment, as opposed to unbearable. I paid a visit to a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base near Brisbane and had some fun in the cockpit of an RAAF Airbus refuelling plane. It was still on the ground, I emphasise. I then watched the All Blacks (New Zealand) destroy the Wallabies (Australia) at rugby union on television. For North American readers, rugby is American football without the helmets.

Second Officer Watson pretends he knows what he's doing

Soon, I will be home to spend the rest of October in the U.K. In September, I have several European trips planned. Otherwise, if the weather holds, I will be climbing rocks.

 

13 September 2013

Gender problems

 

MUNICH, Bavaria, Germany—“Don’t you have a gender problem?” I was asked as I sat down to dinner in a Munich restaurant last night. I thanked the questioner—a distinguished Austrian physician—for his concern, prodded myself in all the appropriate places, and assured him that all was well in the gender department. The Germans and Austrians do have a sense of humour!

What my colleague was referring to was nursing. In German, there is no word to denote a man in nursing. The German word for nurse—“krankenschwester”— is a feminine noun. Spain and Italy simply had to change “enfermería” and “infermiera,” respectively, to “-o” endings to indicate masculinity, but this is not an option in German. Gendered nouns mostly fell into disuse in English centuries ago so, while we tend to associate nursing with women, the word itself is neutral.

 

Bernd Reuschenbach

I was in Munich to address the 47th Kongress für Allgemeinmedizin (general practice) und Familienmedizin (family medicine) this morning. The theme of the conference was “Komplexität in der Allgemeinmedizin-Herausforderungen und Chancen,” essentially “complexity in care.” I am here at the invitation of Bernd Reuschenbach, a lecturer in psychology at Katholische Stiftungsfachhochschule München (the Catholic Foundation University of Munich) and Antonius Schneider, chair of general practice at Technische Universität München. Reuschenbach is engaged here in nursing education, and Schneider was one of the main conference organisers.

Antonius Schneider

The title of my presentation was “Nurses and doctors can and should work together.” Addressing the issues of complexity and interprofessionalism, I tried to illustrate the advanced and specialist roles that nurses play in some parts of Europe and the United States. Such developments are only starting in Germany, and the question-and-answer session was challenging, to say the least. I learned that I should stop referring to “the UK and Europe.” as if the UK is not part of Europe. I was asked, if nursing took over a range of advanced roles, what would be left for doctors to do, and could nurses replace general practitioners (family doctors).

“Of course not,” I replied. In answer to what was left for doctors to do, I answered, “Diagnosis, that’s what you’re trained for.”

I thought I had gotten away with it, but someone approached me afterward to say she was “astonished” (not in a good way) about the things happening around interprofessional learning in the UK that I had seemingly ignored. It was maybe a lesson to be more thorough in the future, but I also warned her that what many people say they are doing is not, necessarily, what they are actually doing.

On a lighter note, I was linked up to a mobile tie-clip microphone. When I visited the washroom, the microphone was still turned on, and you can guess the rest. Further demonstration that the Germans have a sense of humour.

 

23 September 2013

Sunshine and sea

 

GENOA, Italy—The vagaries of air travel mean I arrive here on Monday, 16 September, at 10 p.m. instead of 2 p.m. After an unexpected night in the Radisson at Manchester Airport and an unplanned visit to Rome, I miss my first meeting. I meet my good friend and translator, Guiseppe Aleo, professor at the University of Genoa (Università degli Studi di Genova), in the lobby of the hotel to catch up on what I have missed and to plan the week ahead. I am an honorary docenti (teacher) at the university.

Genova—for some reason we call it Genoa—is on the Ligurian coast of Italy, where the food and wine are superb. This was the home of Christopher Columbus—remind me again, what country did he discover?— and Marco Polo. I have been coming here for several years to work with colleagues in nursing at the university, in particular Loredana Sasso and Annamaria Bagnasco. I teach postgraduate nursing students and advise colleagues on research and publishing in English-language academic nursing journals.

Tuesday, 17 September

My first full day here is spent with colleagues at the university, reviewing several research projects underway. The range of what is being studied here is impressive and clinically oriented. Academic nursing is relatively young in Italy, but there are some active centres where research into nursing issues is making great progress. Today’s meetings progress slowly, however, as I have to work through my translator.

The weather is superb. One of the main local news items is the righting of the liner “Costa Concordia,” which sank nearby last year. Over dinner, a colleague with vast knowledge of the safety systems on these ships explains how difficult it is to sink one of these vessels.

Dinner is in a formaggio (cheese) restaurant outside Genova. The Ligurian coast has a backdrop of mountains, and most of the towns here seem, in a clichéd but literal way, to “hang” off the mountains. Most remarkable is the network of high bridges and tunnels that run parallel to the coast. Moving along the coast, you either are looking down—vertiginously—from one of these bridges on the regular series of roads with hairpin bends that run below to the coastal towns, or up from those same roads. Italian driving means that the transition between the bridges and the roads is seamless.

Wednesday, 18 September

I spend the day with University of Genoa postgraduate research students. I meet these students twice a year. In the past, they have listened to me lecture, from morning until night, on a range of topics. Apart from the fact that I am on the verge of repeating myself—some of these students have been in the group since I started visiting here—I feel it is time to catch up with their projects, to give me the opportunity to question them and for them to question each other.

I work without my translator, because the rules state that the projects are to be presented in English. They all do very well, helping each other—and me—with the language. The projects range from educational to clinical work. I have always been impressed by the students’ ability to think clearly, apply best research practice to their projects, and deal with hard questions. I am especially heartened that they interrogate each other. Using this format, the students are able to learn and understand what the others are doing. I would like to see this approach adopted with my own research students and others at the University of Hull. Several of the students are on Twitter. Gianluca Catania and Milko Zanini are two who are worth following.

At dinner this evening, we discuss the Francis Report (blog passim), and it becomes evident that criticism of nursing in the U.K. has a negative effect in countries such as Italy, where our system of nursing education is held up as a good example of what can happen if you educate nurses at university level. Politicians and policymakers in other countries, opposed to raising educational standards in nursing, are quick to cite problems in U.K. nursing.

This evening, I am taken on an unexpected tour of the historical heart of Genoa. Superlatives are hard to find, but this is one of the biggest surprises of my life. Rows of palaces with relatively modest and mysterious exteriors hide courtyards, architecture, and elaborately painted ceilings, glimpsed only through doorways and gaps in curtains. All of these buildings are now businesses, mainly banks. The tour ends in the historical port where the galleon “Neptune” from Polanski’s 1986 film “Pirates” is berthed. Many people do not recognise it and assume it to be an historical ship, to the amusement of the Genoese.

The "Neptune," built to full scale for filming of Roman Polanski's
"Pirates," is a popular tourist attraction in Genoa's harbor

Thursday, 19 September

This is my final morning with the research students, and I hear about two new projects. The remainder of the day is spent looking at research projects with colleagues and advising on the analysis. I am one of the few people who regularly use Mokken scaling, a form of item response theory. Some of the datasets being established here are suitable for analysis. I am especially pleased that a large dataset of older people with dementia is being gathered, including the Edinburgh Feeding Evaluation in Dementia (EdFED) scale—translated into Italian—which will soon be ready for analysis, at which point I will have my first co-authored paper with Italian colleagues.

Friday, 20 September

My final day is spent with colleagues, reviewing projects and planning potential publications. Already, I have several short visits planned for next year, which should give me a view of Genoa in all seasons. Combined with a planned visit to Rome, I feel that Italy has become a firm fixture in my professional life.

I have run here every day, building up from three to six miles over the course of three evenings. The Corso Italiana, a tiled promenade approximately two miles long, is ideal for this. There are many runners, walkers, and others taking various forms of exercise, and the view of the Ligurian Sea, especially as the sun goes down, is worth the effort. It is a great segue between the end of a working day and the start of an excellent Italian dinner. According to my Garmin webpage—where my runs are recorded from my GPS watch—I have burned 2,500 kilocalories in the past three days, a drop in the ocean compared to my calorie intake over the same period.

Saturday, 21 September

On this last morning, a last run, coffee by the coast, and a midmorning beer in the sweltering heat before going to the airport. I reflect on the title of this blog—a climbing term—and think how little outdoor climbing I have done this year. Back home, the season is almost over, but I still enjoy indoor climbing two or three times weekly with my children. As a form of exercise and mental rest, it is unbeatable. I have a fairly busy week ahead at my own university, then back to the airport on Saturday for a visit to Hong Kong. 

A significant piece of news is that The Lancet, one of the leading medical journals in the world, has invited me to lead a commission into U.K. nursing. I have accepted the invitation and am in the process of appointing commissioners. Although the commission will focus on U.K. nursing, it will not be completely composed of U.K. nurses. That’s all I can say for the moment, but I will keep you up to date on progress over the next two years.

 

3 October 2013

Heat, humidity, and innovation

 

HONG KONG—The ability of Hong Kong residents to fall asleep instantly on a train and awaken at their station amazes me. This week, I am living in Sha Tin, in the New Territories of Hong Kong, and commuting to Hung Hom to work at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU). The 20-minute train journey, which begins at Lo Wu, on the border with mainland China, is packed in the mornings. Those who get a seat simply close their eyes and sleep. Most of those standing stare at the screen of their mobile phone. I simply cannot imagine the Far East and Southeast Asia before the mobile phone. It is the same wherever I go in this part of the world. Whether in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong or Taiwan, the people’s dedication to mobile technology puts even my own technology-addicted children to shame.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University is a lively place. Recruitment days, graduations, celebrations—there is always something happening in its concourses. In a decade of visiting this campus, I cannot recall a time when there was not a new building being erected. To the present, these have always been in neat red brick. However, the most recent addition is Innovation Tower, which is drawing attention in the design world.

Innovation is a key word here, and it is also demonstrated in the exclusive Hotel ICON, built by HKPU to train students of hotel management in the environment of a five-star luxury hotel. The basement Asian buffet is great for lunch and, over dinner, the views from the high-level Above & Beyond are fabulous. HKPU has recently entered the Twittersphere and has been tweeting about our visit and our seminars.

The schedule at HKPU is heavy. I am here with my University of Hull colleague Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, to teach in a preregistration master’s nursing programme. But teaching here is not the same as back home. In the Far East and Southeast Asia, it is rare for students to ask questions in class; they would never dream of interrupting you. Instead, they queue up after the lecture and ask questions, individually. Generating audience participation is virtually impossible, and the most direct question is usually met with silence. This difference in culture is one adjustment you have to make to your teaching here; everything is very formal.

Alex Molasiotis

Students enrolled in the programme are all graduates and employees of the prestigious Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. Luckily, the hospital has requested that some of the teaching be provided by international scholars, so, for several years, we have visited twice annually. The students are bright and challenging, with varied academic backgrounds. They are a pleasure to teach and have no difficulty asking questions, but always after the lecture. I was pleased to hear from Alex Molasiotis, PhD, RN, head of the school of nursing, that the contract has been renewed for a few years.

Mark Hayter focuses on qualitative methods and I on quantitative methods. Therefore, my sessions cover the concepts of measurement, study designs, and statistics. I also give a presentation to new intakes of master’s and undergraduate students on a systematic approach to studying anatomy and physiology. This is something I want to work up into a more concise presentation and then publish something to accompany it.

I have published several books on anatomy and physiology, but I have a passion to convey the logic of anatomy and the relationship between structure, function, and control. As I write for my “Four things about ...” blog, which is about a simple approach to anatomy and physiology, I am encouraged by the number of hits (87,335). There was a public holiday during our visit, and I used the time to revise one of my online lectures on homeostasis, which is linked to the blog. We were both invited to give seminars; Mark delivers one on sexual health, and mine is on activities of daily living.

The weather is unusually warm for this time of year, and the humidity is high. Local colleagues assure us that it is getting cooler, but running for several miles means you end up drenched in sweat and severely dehydrated, with a core temperature above the physiological norm. Even after a cold shower, it takes an hour to cool down. If you arrive at a social event within that hour, you look as if you have been swimming—fully clothed.

 

15 October 2013

UK to USA via China

 

JINAN CITY, Shandong Province, China—If anything exemplifies the Chinese character, it is their behaviour in elevators. Most Westerners walk to an elevator, select a floor, and wait for things to happen. Not the Chinese. They run into elevators, select their floor, and immediately press the “> <“ button to close the door. Beware; in China, these buttons actually work! In the UK, they are buttons with no obvious purpose; most of us suspect they are not connected.

So, entering an elevator with a Chinese person in it requires rapid reactions and split-second timing. If you are some distance from the elevator, do you run, or do you wait? Getting that wrong could mean bruised elbows as the doors slam shut (another feature of Chinese elevators) and little sympathy from the occupant. If you get close to the elevator before the door slams shut, you may have the opportunity to press the call button and retain the elevator, incurring the wrath of the occupant or occupants.

The Chinese seem very impatient in their daily lives; everything happens at breakneck speed: driving, walking, speaking, eating, and thinking. To some Westerners—this one included—it can be exhausting. Retiring to your hotel room at night is like heaven.

But I love the Chinese people. They fascinate and frustrate in equal measure, something I discuss regularly with my Chinese colleagues. As the old cliché puts it, China is a country of contradictions, and these contradictions are everywhere.

 

On the one hand, it’s a nonindividualist, collective culture where, on the other hand, people drive with little regard for other road users. On the one hand, it’s a health-obsessed culture where taking exercise is highly regarded and each food is considered healthy for one spurious reason or another, this juxtaposed, on the other hand, against astonishing levels of tobacco use and alcohol abuse (amongst men). At a more prosaic level, Chinese adherence to modesty in dress and sexual mores is puzzling. When using the washroom in the school, I stood at a male urinal while the students I had been teaching (predominantly female) stood next to me and washed their hands, as if a more-than-middle-aged gent did not have enough problems.

Since my last entry, I have been back to the United Kingdom to teach, supervise, and hold meetings. I am ultimately heading for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Nursing in Washington, D.C., but I took the opportunity to return to the Far East to make one of many visits to Shandong University School of Nursing. These visits are intended to promote the Journal of Advanced Nursing, but I was asked to do some teaching and delivered a session on statistics to Master of Nursing students.

Yours Truly, Florence, and friends

I am always surprised to see the large bust of Florence Nightingale in the foyer to the school; another contradiction. What place this Western epitome of class, privilege, and Christian values has in atheist, communist China is hard to fathom. And nobody here can explain. China remains a communist country; students of all subjects at the university have to study Marxism. Official dinners, such as my welcoming banquet, are attended by the director of the School of Nursing, who is a Communist Party official. Every school has one. On the other hand, China has a free-enterprise economy, one of the strongest in the world, although its success is viewed here as an outcome of communism. Outside my hotel, I saw an old man rummaging through a garbage bin. Chinese communism/capitalism—whatever it’s called—has been successful, for some people.

The pollution here is very bad. Even my host admitted that Jinan is one of the most polluted cities in China. I arrived on a warm day with the usual blue haze in the sky. After a three-mile run near my hotel, the taste in my mouth was terrible, my eyes were stinging, and my throat hurt. The following morning, the rain came, and the clouds concentrated the pollution at a very low level. The fumes literally choked me, and I got an idea of what some of the industrial cities of England must have been like before the Clean Air Act. We have largely lost our heavy industry, as European manufacturing has moved on a large scale to China, the rest of the Far East, and Southeast Asia—and they are paying the price. The rain did, however, clear the pollution for a day, and I faced a beautiful clear morning on my third day. It felt like winter—perfect for running—but the effect in my respiratory system was the same. 

Before the rain

 

After the rain

While working out a round running route through my part of the city, I had the added pleasure of finding that, for motorcycle users—going at, yes, breakneck speed—the distinction between the road and the pavement intended for motorcycles is flexible. This uncertainty was compounded by pavements suddenly giving way to unguarded storm drains and then ending at busy junctions, with no obvious sign of a safe crossing. Next time, I may eschew running altogether but, at least, I got mainland China on my Garmin GPS webpage, and I intend to get the USA on the same page with runs in Washington. D.C. and Boston over the weekend.

Great news to end this entry! I just received an email from Rob Fast, the PA to my good friend Dean Courtney Lyder of UCLA School of Nursing, inviting me to dinner at 701 Pennsylvania Avenue on Friday night. Last year, this topped the best restaurants Washington. I feel like an A-list celebrity.

 

28 October 2013

Looking back on the American Academy

 

HULL, United Kingdom—Ten days and 11 flights after leaving the U.K., I returned, accompanied by a virus that floored me for four days. I hope I contracted it in the United States and not China, where airport posters warn of the dangers of some local strains of Avian flu.

The first sign I was ill showed up in Boston; I nearly fainted during a five-mile run along the Charles River. Previous runs in Washington, D.C., had gone well; this was a struggle. But for a welcome lamppost, I would have hit the ground. My flight home from Boston’s Logan Airport is a blur, and I hope that what I attributed at the time to jet lag and exhaustion has not infected too many other passengers. That was the low point of my recent round-the-world trip.

The high point was attending the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Nursing and seeing colleagues being inducted into the academy. The following pictures, all featuring Yours Truly, celebrate the event.

Joyce Pulcini, PhD, RN, FAAN, of George Washington University (left)
and Yours Truly with 
Sally Wai-Chi Chan, PhD, RN, director of Alice Lee Centre
for Nursing Studies in Singapore, who was recently inducted into the American
Academy of Nursing. Chan was sponsored for membership in the academy by Pulcini and 
Elaine Amella, PhD, RN, FAAN, of Medical University of South Carolina. Amella, one of my own sponsors in 2007, was unable to attend

 

Chan (center) and Yours Truly (far right) with Courtney Lyder, ND, FAAN, dean, UCLA School of Nursing, Los Angeles (second from right); Rob Fast, director of operations at UCLA School of Nursing and Lyder's personal assistant (far left); and Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, also newly inducted into the American Academy of Nursing. Hayter is a colleague of mine at the University of Hull and one of the editor's of Journal of Advanced Nursing

 

Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, PNP-BC, FAAN, also an editor of Journal of
Advanced Nursing
, with Hayter and Yours Truly

I always consider my fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing as one my greatest honours. I was among the first three non-U.S. citizens to be inducted in 2007, the first from the U.K. and Europe. While international fellows have been unable—until now—to sponsor our own fellows, I have been instrumental, most years, in successfully organising sponsors for colleagues, including David Thompson of the Australian Catholic University and Seamus Cowman of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Recently, however, the academy has decided to make its growing band of international fellows full members, charging us appropriately, but also affording us the right to sponsor our own fellows. There was some resistance to our initial entry, thus the two-tier membership for the past five years. Likewise, there was some resistance to this latest move. While lamenting the full fee—I’m Scottish—I publicly welcomed the move to full membership. I think it will increase the number and importance of the academy’s non-U.S. fellows. My previous hope—and efforts—to establish a forum for international fellows in the American Academy of Nursing may now be realized.

I see that dates for next year’s academy meeting clash with an invitation to Australia I have already accepted. I love Washington, D.C., now the permanent home of the academy’s annual meetings, and I will miss my 2014 visit. Anyone who doubts what America has achieved since independence only need visit Washington. The view of the capitol building from the National Mall—and vice versa—is one of the most impressive in the free world. I usually take in the White House and nod to the occupants, walk round the National World War II Memorial with gratitude for our allegiance, hold back tears at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and “have a dream” as I ascend the steps to the Lincoln Memorial. I guess all this will still be there the year after next.

 

18 November 2013

Back in Southeast Asia

 

SINGAPORE—I am not sure if anyone has ever died of jet lag, but if there is a theory related to this, I am testing it to its limit. I have just made my third flight between the U.K. and Hong Kong in a month, and, since the end of September, I have made that journey four times with a round-the-world flight thrown in for fun. I am back in Singapore, the source of another post exactly one year ago, where I will spend four weeks teaching, consulting, and writing. The weather is doing its equatorial best to wear me down, but spending most days in short trousers and short-sleeved shirts is no hardship; I left the U.K. shivering autumnally and preparing for winter.

Bangkok weekend

My first week is over. I’m pleased that my wife has joined me for most of the first two weeks. We both have many friends in the region and none more so than Sally Wai-Chi Chan, PhD, MSc, BSc, RTN, RMN, FAAN, outgoing head of the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies at the National University of Singapore, and her husband, Bing Shu Cheng, who has been working here in the Ministry of Health. We also have friends in Bangkok, and our first weekend was spent there with Alex Aziz and his family.

Mrs. Watson, Roger Watson, Sally Wai-Chi Chan, and Bing Shu Cheng

Alex was one of my former students but not of nursing. I used to be a university warden at The University of Edinburgh. The system of wardens is one whereby academic and other staff live with their families in university premises alongside the students. Our role is mainly pastoral, and we are allocated one block or house of several hundred students. Alex, who lived and worked in our residence at Edinburgh in the early 1990s, works with the International Labour Organisation in Bangkok, an agency of the United Nations dedicated to improving the lives of workers across the globe. Alex actually featured in our faculty blog when he met out mutual colleague, Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, on a visit to Bangkok.

Distinguished editors

In addition to me, there are two other distinguished editors on campus, and I went to hear them speak about global health at a lunchtime seminar today. They are Richard Horton, BSc, MB, FRCP, FMedSci, editor-in-chief of The Lancet, and Howard Bauchner, M.D., editor-in-chief of JAMA. These were interesting and inspiring talks; neither of these editors of two of the world’s leading medical journals displayed any kind of medical hegemony or superiority regarding their eminent journals.

Howard Bauchner makes a point

I was interested to hear Bauchner say that JAMA received more than 5,000 submissions annually and publishes only 5 percent of them. He told us how his own interest in global health developed and also discussed difficulties in defining global health. Both editors reflected on the growing importance of noncommunicable diseases and the ethical aspects of global health. 

Richard Horton in action.

Horton explained his vision of global health and how evidence for successful health initiatives could be presented to world leaders. I was especially struck by his vision for The Lancet—that it should be “more than a journal” and how, under some circumstances, The Lancet has acted like an NGO (nongovernmental organisation) in trying to influence the global health agenda and related decision-makers.

In my next post, I’ll be reporting again from Singapore, on the forthcoming 2nd NUS-NUH International Nursing Conference, which runs parallel with the 18th Malaysia-Singapore Nursing Conference. I am giving a paper on research into feeding difficulty in dementia. My wife returns to the U.K. at the end of this week after celebrating my birthday. I’ve chosen the iconic IndoChine restaurant in Gardens by the Bay. As I say, no hardship!

 

28 November 2013

Still in Southeast Asia

 

SINGAPORE—I’m still here. At this stage of any long visit, I realise that an enjoyable and productive time will end soon, but I also want to get back home and back to my desk at the University of Hull. Travel is always accompanied by mixed emotions.

The 2nd NUS-NUH International Nursing Conference, which ran parallel to the 18th Malaysia-Singapore Nursing Conference, was a great success. There were 300 delegates from 21 countries, including the United States. I gave my short paper on feeding difficulty in dementia. There is presently no cure for dementia, and, given the familial predisposition to the condition and that it is definitely associated with ageing, I told the audience that the only “cure” was to choose your parents wisely and die young. This very morbid piece of humour always raises a laugh. I was especially pleased to meet Theofanis (Theo) Fotis, PhD, RN, another Greek who works at Brighton University and co-edits the British Journal of Anaesthetic and Recovery Nursing. (It was here in Singapore that I met Alex Molasiotis, PhD, RN, for the first time.)

My birthday night was a great success, and the Indochine restaurant in Gardens by the Bay did not disappoint. The restaurant is themed Indochinese, the definition of which I just learned, and the rooftop bar has a stunning view of the gardens, the bay, and the elegant Marina Bay Sands Hotel. On the hotel’s three curved towers stands a huge overhanging boat-shaped platform, more than 50 storeys high. My wife let them know it was my birthday, and a “cake” duly arrived. Made of Thai crème brûlée with ice cream, with Happy Birthday written in chocolate sauce, it looked and tasted superb.

Happy Birthday to me from the Indochine restaurant

In addition to the conference presentation I gave on this trip, I have delivered seminars on writing for publication to research students and on good practice in thesis supervision and marking to colleagues. I also delivered the “Trends in Research and Education of Nursing Development in Singapore” (TRENDS) seminar titled “From getting published to getting cited.” In doing so, I discussed the use of the World Wide Web and various kinds of online social media to increase circulation, readership, and citation of published work. A blatant self-publicist, I gave examples from my own use of social media, such as my Twitter page, our faculty Twitter page, the Journal of Advanced Nursing Twitter page, and several sites for tracking publications and citations, including Google 7Scholarpublicationslist.orgResearcherID, and ORCID. (Did I leave any out?) I also showed a YouTube video from the excellent Social Media Revolution series on socialnomics, written by Erik Qualman.

Next week, I conclude my seminars with an update on Mokken scaling and some recent developments in this field. While here, I have written and submitted a manuscript with David Thompson, PhD, RN, FRCN, FAAN, of the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine at Australian Catholic University in Melboure, Australia and Wenru Wang, PhD, RN, of the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies at the National University of Singapore. The paper is about the phenomenon of Invariant Item Ordering in Mokken Scales, and we have submitted it to PAID (Personality and Individual Differences). The details of the study will be soporific to most readers of this blog, but I hope it excites the editors and reviewers of PAID. I also wrote the first draft of an article on quantitative research methods for Nursing Standard, to be included in a special feature edited by my fellow tweeter and good friend Leslie Gelling, PhD, RN, of Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge), United Kingdom.

Wenru Wang, PhD, RN, Yours Truly, and Honggu He, PhD, RN, at the HUS-HUH conference

Running continues, with difficulty. The National University of Singapore has excellent sports facilities on campus, including a full-size running track. This is well used by young students but not by many 58-year olds. I am sure that many of the students are surprised I can still walk. Given that it has been 86 degrees Fahrenheit and 91 percent humidity, I am also surprised. The effort is tremendous, even on the flat, and it’s almost impossible to compensate for the dehydration and salt loss. I convince myself that this is doing me some good, and I have managed to increase my distance to six miles by incorporating a run round the campus, nine laps of the track, and then the local park—all recorded for posterity on my Garmin Forerunner 110 GPS watch (other brands are available).

 

22 December 2013

Home for Christmas

 

UNITED KINGDOM—I love Christmas, and I’m not afraid to admit it. There is the underlying Christian message, which, along with a dwindling minority in the U.K., I actually believe. I also like the more Victorian aspects of Christmas: Christmas trees, Christmas cards (if my wife writes them), and Christmas Day. Aware that many spend Christmas alone and face hardship here and across the world, I am grateful that my family gathers together. At some point in the holiday season, all of our eight children and five grandchildren will visit, plus husbands, partners, friends, and a dog. I won’t answer email for a fortnight. Initially, I suffer withdrawal symptoms and then settle down, to emerge at the other end ready to face the next year. And next year is going to be one of my busiest.

Looking back on 2013

This year has been busy, too, but not exceptional. I have been lucky to visit 13 countries outside the U.K., and past blogs recount my visits to Hong KongItalyFinlandGermanyIrelandAustraliathe United StatesTaiwanChinaSingaporeThailandSaudi Arabia, and Bahrain. With the exception of Thailand, I have run in each of these places, which was one of my unstated goals for the year. My running miles on the ground this year amount to 700; my miles in the air 150,000. I am, I realise, very lucky to have the funding and freedom to do this.

Looking forward to 2014

A large part of my work next year will be taken up with the United Kingdom Research Excellence Framework (REF). A periodic exercise—recent ones, then called Research Assessment Exercises, took place in 2001 and 2008—it is the mechanism whereby the British government allocates core-research funding to British universities. I serve on the subpanel for dentistry, allied health professions, nursing, and pharmacy (subpanel 3 of main panel A), led by Hugh McKenna, CBE, FRCN, FAAN, pro-vice chancellor, research and innovation (equivalent to a university vice president) at the University of Ulster

McKenna a mental-health nurse, is one of the leading U.K. academic nurses. The REF is multifaceted, assessing research outputs (publications and patents), environment, and impact. However, at the heart of the exercise lies peer review, and the majority of the work is reading and rating publications for their international excellence. This will occupy almost all my waking hours between January and October 2014—in my office, on trains, and on planes.

I mentioned in a previous blog that I have been asked to lead a Lancet commission on U.K. nursing. This will take place over approximately the next two years, and I am in the process of assembling the commissioners this week. Once they are in place, the work of the commission can begin, and I will let you know who my colleagues are and keep you informed of progress. Each of the people I have contacted has received a statement from me, which is my assessment of the situation in the United Kingdom at present, and I have made this available on my own blog. Comments on this are welcome, as they will inform the commission.

Everyone’s an expert

Like last year, I thought I would make it to the end of the year without some public figure making an adverse pronouncement about nursing education, but I was wrong. This time it was Vince Cable, MP (member of Parliament), secretary of state for business, innovation, and skills in the British government. Cable claimed that degrees are superfluous to many jobs and, of course, he had to include nursing. I spotted this while I was in Singapore and, just as my blood pressure was rising, I saw that Ieuan Ellis, professor at Leeds Metropolitan University, had responded in the pages of THE (Times Higher Education).

I was especially gratified at his response, titled “Sterile debate,” because Ellis speaks with authority. He is chair of the U.K.’s Council of Deans of Health. Moreover, he is not a nurse; he is a physiotherapist and a pro-vice chancellor at Leeds Metropolitan University. In his response, Ellis said of Cable, “It is unfortunate that he is seemingly unaware of the benefits to patients of nurses being educated to degree level.” He cited a large body of work as follows: “The international RN4CAST study of nurses in more than 10 European countries (including England) shows that mortality is approximately 7 percent lower for every 10 percent increase in the proportion of nurses with degrees. This backs up work in the [United States] by University of Pennsylvania scholar Linda Aiken, who found that a 10 percent increase in the number of nurses with a bachelor’s degree was associated with a 5 percent reduction in the likelihood of patients dying within 30 days of admission.”


 

Season's greetings

I would like to thank the many people who have visited this blog; I hope that most of those who have read it will return in 2014. This is me, signing off for 2013 and wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

21 January 2014

Strange time of year

 

HULL, United Kingdom—I find January a strange time of year. The previous year ends in a frenzy of finishing things off, yet the New Year starts with just as much work to do as ever—and with the added stress that you’re now behind by at least two weeks.

My editor-in-chief inbox at the Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN) was full of new manuscripts to review. Clearly, the editors had been making the most of the break and processing their allocation of manuscripts, so my “outbox”—the one that fills up with manuscripts ready for editing and production—is still not empty. I’m not complaining. If there were no manuscripts, there would be no JAN. Incidentally, if you want to know more about the editorial team of JAN, visit our blog and scroll down to the series of pieces called “Ten things about,” and you’ll find out about us there.

The Lancet Commission

The Lancet Commission is taking shape. The commissioners are appointed, and the press has picked up the story—must have been something to do with my well-crafted press release. I’ve been in the local newspaper, on local radio, and in Nursing Standard. I understand the need to get information out to the press, but I get irritated speaking to journalists. Is it just me, or do they not understand the purpose of a press release? I feel like saying “That’s the story; you’ve got it,”' but they insist on probing, and they always make me feel I’m trying to hide something. I’m not afraid to say, “I don’t know,” to a journalist, but I hate the subsequent efforts to help me find an answer. It must be a technique they learn in journalism school. I have put up a list of the commissioners on my new “Lancet Commission on UK Nursing” blog.

Feeding difficulty in dementia

The other major distraction from doing what I want—making travel arrangements and running statistical analyses on large datasets—has been revising a grant application to the Alzheimer's Society. The application is for a three-year PhD studentship, and the proposed project is to take forward a line of work on interventions for feeding difficulty in older people with dementia. This is my second application, the first having been rejected.

Feeding difficulty in older people with dementia has been a major interest since my days in clinical practice. My development of the Edinburgh Feeding Difficulty in Dementia (EdFED) scale, along with Ian Deary, PhD, FBA, at The University of Edinburgh, opened many doors for me, none more important than that of Li-Chan Lin, PhD, of National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. I had the privilege of hosting Professor Lin as a Leverhulme Visiting Professor while I was at The University of Sheffield. She gave an excellent lecture that was chaired by Vice-Chancellor Sir Keith Burnett, CBE, FRS, and reported in Research Endeavours And Dissemination (READ), the nursing research bulletin. Lin and I translated the instrument into Chinese, and it has been used as an outcome measure in her seminal work on interventions to help older people with dementia who have feeding difficulty.

The interventions are based on Montessori methods and spaced retrieval, and all evidence to date suggests that they work. My intention is to transfer the work to the UK and develop a brief intervention. We have proof of concept, but the intervention is time-consuming and labour-intensive. If I have attended to the revisions to the satisfaction of the Alzheimer’s Society, I may be awarded the grant, and you will be among the first to know.

Nursing Open

Finally, as if I did not have enough to do, I have agreed to be the founding editor for a new Wiley journal called Nursing Open. The journal will be online, open access, and pay to publish, a very different venture from JAN. The website should be populated before my next entry, so I hope you will look forward to learning more about Nursing Open and its team of associate editors.

 

6 February 2014

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?

 

22 February 2014

Anybody NOT in Hong Kong?

 

Hong Kong SAR, China—My first 2014 visit to Hong Kong was busy, mainly because so many other UK nursing academics were here. The list included: Hugh McKenna, CBE, PhD, FRCN, FAAN, pro-vice-chancellor (research and innovation), University of Ulster, UK; Dame Jill Macleod Clark, DBE, PhD, FRCN, professor of nursing, University of Southampton, UK; and Dawn Freshwater, PhD, RN, pro-vice-chancellor, University of Leeds, UK (soon to become deputy vice-chancellor, University of Western Australia). McKenna chairs the Research Excellence Framework’s subpanel for dentistry, allied health professions, nursing, and pharmacy, on which Macleod Clark, Freshwater, and I sit, and McKenna and Macleod Clark will serve on The Lancet Commission on UK Nursing, which I will chair. It’s a very small world.

Of course, we had to have dinner, and we were joined at Felix, one of Hong Kong’s most exclusive “high-level” restaurants (located at the tower atop world-famous Peninsula Hotel), by Kay Jones, MBA, chief operating officer, School of Health Sciences, City University London, UK, and Philip Esterhuizen, PhD, RN, lecturer in adult nursing, University of Leeds. The view over the harbour to Hong Kong island is eye-watering, the food to die for (I don’t think I have ever used that expression before), and the service unobtrusive and immaculate. The washrooms are a triumph, with surprises for both genders (best Googled rather than explained).

Amidst all this luxury dining and fun, this impromptu type of meeting, which involves colleagues who are as busy or more busy than me, is crucial. We have to take these opportunities, as nobody else provides them. Held without agenda, aims, or objectives, they are the most productive. Untrammelled by organisational issues, hierarchy, or the need to list tangible, bean-counting outcomes, such as how does this benefit my university, these gatherings are the time to discuss the state of nursing, the future of nursing, and who we need to cultivate. Of course, the Chatham House Rule applies, and what is said by whom at these tables stays at these tables.

Once again, I was in Hong Kong with Mark Hayter, PhD, FRSA, FAAN, my colleague from Hull and fellow editor of Journal of Advanced Nursing. Although we were teaching and consulting at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, our time here allows us to set up lunches and dinners with key people in the SAR (Special Administrative Region) and to extend the influence of our own work with the Journal of Advanced Nursing and the University of Hull. We also took time while in Hong Kong to meet Linda Sim, manager of the Marco Polo Club, the frequent-flyer privileges club associated with Cathay Pacific Airways. We dined at Hutong, another high level Chinese restaurant overlooking Hong Kong harbour, and were joined by Graeme Smith, PhD, RN, professor of nursing at Edinburgh Napier University, UK, and editor of Journal of Clinical Nursing, based in Hong Kong.

Recognition at last

This month, Alzheimer’s Disease International published a report, Nutrition and Dementia, in which my work on the development of the Edinburgh Feeding Evaluation in Dementia (EdFED) scale is cited. I was very pleased to see this, as it may increase the use of the EdFED and stimulate further research. It also reminded me how grateful I am for long-standing collaborations in the development and application of the EdFED, especially with Ian Deary, PhD, FRSE, FBA, professor, The University of Edinburgh, UK, and Li-Chan Lin, PhD, RN, professor, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.

While in Hong Kong, I resided out in the New Territories, to the North of Hong Kong, where I found a running route along the reservoir in Sha Tin. It was cold this time of year and humid—not ideal for running, but still a great way to start the day and to register another 20 miles over five days in my wife-imposed half-marathon training program me.

 

1 March 2014

A good week for nursing

 

HULL, United Kingdom—I have just returned from a week in Genoa (Genova to the locals) in the Ligurian region of Italy, on the country’s northwest coast. Once again, I taught research students at the University of Genova and liaised with collaborators about various research and writing projects. My colleagues there have translated the Edinburgh Feeding Evaluation in Dementia scale into Italian, and I was helping them test its psychometric properties. This provides me with another database on which to run my own beloved method of Mokken scaling. The sample size is small, but the results are promising and point, as does most psychometric work, to the need for a larger sample. We should get a preliminary publication out of this work.

The most important nursing paper in Europe

Linda Aiken

I said it was a good week for nursing, and I was referring to the publication last week of a paper by Aiken et al. titled “Nurse staffing and education and hospital mortality in nine European countries: a retrospective observational study.” (Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN, Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing, professor of sociology, and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania, USA, is on the Lancet Commission on UK Nursing, which I will chair, as is another co-author of the paper, Anne Marie Rafferty, PhD, CBE, PhD, FRCN, chair of nursing policy, King’s College London, UK.) The paper, published in The Lancet, is one outcome of the RN4CAST study and, in addition to showing the effect of inadequate staffing levels on failure to rescue patients, shows—clearly—the benefit of degree-level education for nurses.

Alvisa Palese, MNS, BMS, RN, associate professor, Udine University, Italy, and I were among referees of the Aiken et al. paper, and we published a comment in The Lancet alongside it. I am pleased to have played a small part in such a seminal paper, a document many of us hope will have a profound influence on European nursing education and practice. Watch for further correspondence in the pages of The Lancet. My Italian colleagues have already submitted a letter and some “heavyweights” in Canadian, U.K., and Australian nursing are “limbering up.” (They emailed me the morning before I left Genoa.)

It has also been a good week for nursing in Italy. I’m a bit late with this news, but the first six nursing academics have just been given licences for employment as full professors. (I was able to confirm the numbers just this week.) Until now, nursing academics have been promoted only to the level of associate professor. It especially pleases me that Alvisa Palese, my good friend, colleague, and—ironically—research student, is one of the six.

The Italian process for appointing senior academics is national and very rigorous. A committee—the Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale (ASN)—makes annual judgments on the basis of individual applications. Although I am one of an international panel of assessors for the ASN, I was not involved in this last round. The primary “unit of currency” for promotion is publications, and these must be in refereed journals with an international reputation. Those with impact factors are at the top of the hierarchy.

There is worrying news that the ASN is going to make future recommendations on the basis of an individual’s h-index, and there is a rumour that an h-index of 23 will be the requirement. I have been consulted by Italian nursing academics and organisations about this, because the h-index is something about which I have written. My view on the use of h-indices per se is that caution should be exercised. Moreover, I think an h-index requirement of 23 is ludicrous. Few academics attain that level, and it is especially the case that few nurses have attained it, or will. I’m glad to say I have, but only after a 16-year professorial career.

Next ports of call

Next week, I will be in Belfast to sit on the validation panel of a nursing programme at the University of Ulster, and I have dinner booked with Hugh McKenna, CBE, PhD, FRCN, FAAN, pro vice-chancellor, University of Ulster, UK. Later this month, I go to Basel for a long weekend to discuss issues that face nursing globally with Hester Klopper, PhD, MBA, RN, RM, FANSA, president of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, and a select group of colleagues. We’ll be meeting under the umbrella of GAPFON (Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing).

I put more than 20 Genovese miles on my Garmin GPS watch, and I plan to add Northern Ireland and Switzerland for the first time this year. My 19-year-old son just broke 20 minutes for the first time in our local 5-kilometre parkrun race. Pressure to perform in my family is terrific, but what I like most is that none of my children—most of whom are runners and climbers—expect me to do any worse than they do. For your information, my fastest 5 kilometres is 21 minutes 38 seconds, and that was last year when I was a young man of 57. I am now 58 and have not broken 22 minutes this year, but I’m working on it.

 

10 March 2014

The cabbie test

 

HULL, United Kingdom—Wherever I go, cabbies (a UK expression for taxi or cab drivers) are never backwards at coming forwards with their views, whether in London, Dublin, Washington, D.C., or my hometown of Hull. Race, religion, or politics—no subject is off the agenda, and they tend not to care what your views are; only giving you theirs. I have twice had vociferous views on nursing expressed to me, always with frank disgust at the thought of nurses going to university.

Many years ago—1999 to be precise—I was the first professor of nursing in Ireland and part of a government committee charged with the task of establishing nursing degrees in that country. While en route from the Dublin airport to my apartment, the taxi driver asked what I did. I told him, and he “let fly” with a stream of invective about the move of Irish nursing education into universities. I thanked him for his views and took a mental note never again to tell a taxi driver what I did, exactly.

However, this week, on my way home from the railway station, lulled by a false sense of security, I told a taxi driver my occupation—and promptly regretted it. He had, at one time, worked as a nursing auxiliary, and his view was that everything nursing stood for had been lost with the move of “nurse training” into universities. My mind drifted to gratitude for that “loss.” I, too, used to be a nursing auxiliary, and I recall patients tied to chairs; tea, sugar, and milk being served in the same pot; medicines being forced on patients; and stealing from clinical areas on an industrial scale. But I kept quiet; I just wanted to get home to bed.

I have decided to inaugurate a new test—the “cabbie test.” Cabbies seem to be a barometer for the extremes of public opinion, and the opinion expressed by my drivers is not uncommon amongst the UK public. I rarely meet anyone who is glad about nurses being educated in universities, and I reckon that, even if public opinion were changed, we could not be sure it was permanent until a taxi driver asked what I did and then expressed support for university-educated nurses. When that day comes, if ever, I’ll know that a major milestone for the image of nursing has been achieved.

Running and climbing

I mentioned in my last entry that, for months, I had not broken 22 minutes in the local Saturday-morning 5 kilometre race. Well, last weekend I achieved a time of 21 minutes and 2 seconds, beating my daughter, who is an army physical-training instructor. Competitive or what! I now have 21 minutes in my sights, and, since Christmas 2013, have put the first 1,000 miles on my GPS watch.

My oldest daughter is a rock climber, and she borrowed some equipment from me this weekend to do some real climbing. During these cold, wet months, we mainly climb indoors, but my daughter—a cardiothoracic intensive-care nurse—is clearly getting outdoors. I’m keen to follow. A day on the rocks, with its unique combination of pain and terror, is one of the best forms of meditation available. It will take my mind off cabbies.

 

19 March 2014

Another expert on nursing!

 

HULL, United Kingdom—My next entry was to be from Basel—a report on fresh Swiss mountain air and a Who’s Who? of global nursing personalities. And then something annoyed me.

My wife got to the Sunday Telegraph (14 March 2014) the weekend before I did, taking great interest in an interview with Angela Rippon. Rippon is one of our national treasures: the first female newsreader on U.K. television and a former dancer who took the nation by surprise with a famous routine in a 1976 Christmas comedy special of the duo Morecambe and Wise. Now she fronts the occasional television special and co-chairs the dementia friendly communities champion group, something she became interested in after her mother died with dementia. Although my wife gave me some snippets from the interview, she failed—on the basis that she did not want Sunday spoiled—to read out the following quote (page 23): “Nurses themselves say that everything changed when nurses were learning in a university lecture hall, and not in the ward with hands-on practice. Because they trained on wards, they had contact with patients all the time.”

I had to take some time to catch my breath after typing the above; I nearly stopped breathing on Sunday. I am astonished by how ignorant some people are about nursing education and how ready they are to blame the ills on university education. Everything is not perfect; in fact, much is wrong. But pointing the finger at something that took place at a time when things, allegedly, got worse is simply irresponsible.

Since the halcyon days of nursing care by good-hearted angels of mercy called to the profession by God, or because they were not clever enough for medical school, so many things have changed—in the U.K. National Health Service, in the profile of patients in hospital and at home, and in our society. Of course, public figures often live in an evidence-free zone where they use their opinions to first convince themselves and, then, by taking every opportunity to air those opinions, to convince others, with each utterance making them more sure they are correct.

Linda Aiken et al.’s recent Lancet paper demonstrates the worth of graduate education for nurses. I doubt that Angela Rippon has read it, would read it, or would change her mind if she did read it. However, the most obvious error in the argument against university-educated nurses is that they do all their learning in a lecture hall. Note how “lecture hall”—as opposed to “classroom”—is often used pejoratively in these arguments, as lecture halls represent the epitome of a university education. The argument is wrong, because nursing students have always, demonstrably, spent 50 percent of their time in clinical practice. This was emphasised recently by the U.K. Nursing and Midwifery Council in response to the Francis Report on appalling standards of care in one U.K. National Health Service Trust.

OK, relax!

Good things continue to happen. Despite my present workload, my first loves—data analysis and writing—have not been neglected.

I, together with my good colleagues, David R. Thompson, PhD, FRCN, FAAN, of Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, and Wenru Wang, PhD, RN, of National University of Singapore, submitted a manuscript to Personality and Individual Differences (PAID) on the scale properties of the Mental Health Inventory. It contained a warning about the phenomenon of invariant item ordering, a desirable property of scales whereby the way in which the scale orders people is the same as the order in which they respond to the questions. Still with me?

The initial response from reviewers was longer than the submitted manuscript. However, we received some expert help on person-item fit statistics from Rob R. Meijer, PhD, professor of psychometric and statistical techniques at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and it has just been accepted for publication. The next paper, using the quality-of-life SF-36 scale will address some problems associated with local stochastic independence of items in questionnaires. It’s all fascinating stuff about which I love to talk, but I wonder why people avoid me in the coffee room?

 

30 March 2014

GAPFON is born!

 

HULL, United Kingdom—I have just returned from Switzerland, from the inaugural meeting of GAPFON (Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing). It was a privilege to be there. Established by Hester Klopper, PhD, MBA, RN, FANSA, president of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), GAPFON is chaired by Martha Hill, PhD, RN, FAAN, immediate past dean and professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (USA). The meeting was attended by Patricia ‘Pat’ Thompson, EdD, RN, FAAN, chief executive officer of STTI, a glittering host of global nursing stars … and me! The full list of participants is available in this news article in Reflections on Nursing Leadership, and the work of the panel will become public through various events across the world over the next two years. I intend that the Lancet Commission on UK Nursing will work very closely with GAPFON.

GAPFON was held near Basel in the idyllic town of Mariastein, a Catholic Marian grotto owned and run by the Benedictine brothers and Franciscan sisters. Mariastein means “Maria in the stone,” in honour of reported miracles in which the Virgin Mary was said to have protected children who fell down a cliff and escaped injury. In observance of those events, a statue of the Virgin was placed in a nearby grotto.

We were accommodated in the Hotel Kurhaus Kreuz, and it was the ideal venue for a few days of peace with time to think and begin planning for the future of nursing globally. We were in the mountains, the sun shone every day, and the scenery was beautiful. Apart from the slightly thin air—my excuse for a pounding heart and heaving chest—and the frequent hills in the road, this was an ideal running spot. There was hardly any traffic on the roads, and, on my second run, I left Switzerland and ran into France for around 10 miles. It was the first time I registered two countries on my Garmin webpage on the same day.

 

Hotel Kurhaus Kreuz

Next week I will be in London for the Research Excellence Framework subpanel meeting, and the rest of the week I will be in Glasgow at the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom International Nursing Research Conference. I look forward to hearing about the latest nursing research, meeting old friends, co-presenting on the use of social media in nursing, and launching Nursing Open.

7 April 2014

A very strange week!

 

HULL, United Kingdom—Last week I was in London at a Research Excellence Framework subpanel meeting and then in Glasgow at the 2014 Annual International Nursing Research Congress, sponsored by the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom. In Glasgow, I launched, together with Wiley colleagues, Nursing Open with a huge cake bearing a facsimile of the journal’s cover. I have not had my name on a cake since my childhood birthdays.

The conference was very good. I spent the first day in the registration and exhibition hall, where I was able to do some very valuable networking, catch up with old friends and colleagues, and answer questions about Nursing Open and Journal of Advanced Nursing. At the end of the day, I co-presented a workshop on the use of social networking in nursing. Led by my good friend Alison Twycross, PhD, RN, head of Department for Children’s Nursing, London South Bank University, and my new friend, Calvin Moorley, PhD, RN, senior lecturer, London South Bank University (we had only previously met on Twitter), the workshop was well attended and generated a good discussion.

The evening began with a reception at the magnificent Glasgow City Chambers, followed by dinner with Wiley colleagues at Glasgow’s excellent Urban Bar and Brasserie. I had black pudding starter and haggis sausages, and you probably don’t want to know what either of these Scottish delicacies contain.

On my second day, I lined up some research sessions to attend, and I was not disappointed. I gravitate towards sessions on quantitative research, and there were some excellent methodological sessions on Rasch analysis, questionnaire development, and stress and burnout in nursing. In particular, I enjoyed meeting Nina Geuens, PhD student, Karel de Grote-Hogeschool, Belgium, and her supervisor, Erick Franck, professor in applied psychology in health care, Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium. My long journey home by train was filled with thoughts of the Sheffield half marathon I was due to run on Sunday, 6 April, which brings me to Part 2 of this entry.


 

Nina Geuens, Yours Truly, and Erick Franck

Rebel runners

My early mornings in London and Glasgow were taken up with final preparatory runs. I followed a very strict half-marathon training programme by Hal Higdon. As my children would say, I was “up for it.” If you Google “Sheffield half marathon” or, on Twitter, go to “#sheffieldhalfmarathon” or “#rebelrunners,” you will immediately see what an interesting day this turned out to be.

My wife and I arrived at the starting line, along with more than 5,000 others, at the appointed time and were then held there for 50 minutes without explanation. Rumours abounded but, as it turned out, insufficient water had been supplied for the number of runners involved and, at 9:50 a.m., the run was cancelled. What followed will go down in running history. A predominantly middle-class, law-abiding crowd of runners expressed its disgust the only way we could: We started running, and the police were unable to stop us. I don’t advocate civil or any other kind of disobedience, but this was one of the most moving events of my life. I think Mahatma Ghandi would have been very proud of us.

The general public of Sheffield, which had waited for more than an hour to watch us run, went into their houses, food shops, and coffee bars and emptied fridges and cupboards of all the bottles of water they could find. There were bottles of water on the top of parked cars and runners—normally a selfish and competitive bunch—were handing half-finished bottles to other runners. Where the official water stands were closed by race officials, people stood nearby handing out bottles and paper cups, along with the runners’ best friend: Jelly Babies. These incredible, high calorie-sweets are made in Sheffield, and they are exactly what you need halfway round a long route. If you eat them when you are not taking exercise, the sugar high that results is unique.

The intrepid Dr Watson

Did I hear you ask how we fared in the race? Well, my wife dropped out, as she has to save herself for official races and has another one coming up soon. When I realised that the police had backed down and saw that the crowd of runners was beginning to snake its way through the town, I decided to complete the course, which was my first half-marathon. I enjoyed the first 10 miles but realised, at that point, that my plan for a fast final three miles was not going to happen. By 11 miles, I was considering ending it all by jumping into the oncoming traffic and, at 12 miles, had it not been for my wife and sister-in-law shouting my name, I might have knelt down and cried. But I carried on to the finish line and was glad to see that the organisers had decided to stay and hand out running vests, water, and medals.

My ambition was twofold: to remain standing at the end and to complete the run within two hours. My time: 1 hour, 47 minutes and 28 seconds and, with wobbly legs and bleeding nipples (exceedingly painful), I was still standing. Some might consider my inability to speak for a considerable length of time another positive result.

 

2 May 2014

Another quick visit to Rome

 

I was in Rome again this week to attend a conference. I missed by one day the 4 million visitors who were here for the double papal canonisation (Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II) on 23 April in St. Peter's Square. To non-Catholics, these events are unfathomable, and the ordinary “Catholic in the street” would have difficulty explaining the criteria, the significance, and the effect, if any, on their lives. As one of them, I won’t try to enlighten you.

The weather in Rome was a pleasant change from the U.K., where we are still having subzero Centigrade nights and the garden (the “yard”) is still a place to be endured rather than enjoyed. The conference, held in the Italian Ministero della Saluta (Ministry of Health), was run under the auspices of IPASVI (Nursing Board of Rome) and showcased the work of the Centre of Excellence for the Development of Nursing Research.

The research theme focused on the importance of nurses in feeding patients and contributing to health, and Gennaro Rocco, president of IPASVI, outlined the work of the centre. Since 2010, they have produced an impressive 82 publications from 48 funded projects, a great many in top journals and most in collaboration with other disciplines. Italian colleagues bemoan the poor state of academic nursing in Italy. I know everything is not perfect, but something seems to be working, and this is largely due to President Rocco.

The location of my accommodation was not ideal for running, but I managed to piece together two 3-mile runs early in the morning. Following my first half-marathon (see previous entry), I realised I was not as fit as I thought I was. So, I’ve been studying Run Fast: How to Beat Your Best Time—Every Time, by Hal Higden, and learning the difference between repeats and intervals—not the same thing—and what “fartlek” training is. If you sniggered at fartlek, go to the back of the class. It’s a real word; Google it.

Another review of UK nursing

I tried, without success, to take some days off at Easter, but, at least, I was mainly able to work at home. Once again, just when I thought it safe to read the newspapers without risk of stroke or heart attack, I see another review of nursing education has been commissioned by the U.K. government. The review will be led by Lord Willis, who led a commission on behalf of the Royal College of Nursing a few years ago. That commission looked at preregistration nursing education and came to the conclusion that there is no evidence that being an educated nurse means you are an uncaring nurse. It seems that this new commission will review all aspects of nursing education with a view to recruiting into nursing older candidates with the “right attitude.”

This strays into the territory of the Lancet Commission I will be leading, which I do not mind, but this newly commissioned review begins with the premise that there is a problem—that nurses are not caring enough and that they have little regard for patient dignity. These things may be true, but I am determined that the Lancet Commission is distinguished by the fact that it is not out to solve problems. It does not start from the premise that there is a problem—we don't deny there may be one. Instead, we want to see—whatever the current state of nursing—how best we can prepare nurses from registration throughout their careers to meet the challenges of the next 20 to 30 years.

Bad news

I mentioned in a previous entry that I was revising a research grant application for the Alzheimer’s Society. The proposal was duly revised, resubmitted, and rejected. I have never expressed irritation to a grant-awarding body in the past, but I did this time on the basis that I considered they had wasted my time. Everyone feels angry and let down when a research proposal representing months of works and investment of time and hope is rejected, but the task I was given was huge and the space in which it could be accomplished a challenge, and I failed—apparently. Back to the proverbial drawing board.

On the bright side, I have had several papers published, the most recent being one where, along with my co-authors David R Thompson, PhD, FAAN, Wenru Wang, PhD, RN, and Rob R. Meijer, PhD, we looked at issues affecting measurement of a property called invariant item ordering in the Mental Health Inventory. It was published in Personality and Individual Differences. Reviewer comments were extensive and very helpful, and, in the process of revision, we were asked to consider something that was new to me—person-item fit (PIF).

I contacted my Mokken scaling colleague Rob Meijer in the Netherlands, who has written about this. It just happened that he was developing software to analyse the kind of data I was looking at. In fact, he ran it for me and joined in authorship of the paper. Since then, his colleague Jorge Tendeiro, PhD, provided me with a link to the software and the syntax to run it. 

They also provided me with a draft article (“Practical Guide to Check the Consistency of Item Response Patterns in Clinical Research through Person-Fit Statistics: Examples and a Computer Program”) they wrote for people like me who may not, unlike them, have the programming and statistical knowledge to do these things without a lot of help. In fact, the paper quoted what I said to Meijer when I read one of his papers on PIF: “I have read the 2001 paper; frankly, most of this is beyond me and Google is not much help.” My ignorance has spurred a paper, and I was glad to be of service.

 

27 May 2014

Finland to United Kingdom to Bahrain

 

MANAMA, Bahrain—There could be no greater contrast than between the lush greenness and clean air of Finland and the scorched, dehydrated, and dusty landscape of Bahrain. That contrast is even more striking when you have only 24 hours between the two places with a very short visit home. The visit home was even shorter than planned, due to being stranded in Helsinki by one airline, having to transfer to another airline and another city in the UK, and finding my way home after public transport was closed. Such are the joys of international travelling, which some look upon in envy. As ever, I thoroughly enjoy what I do around the world, but the process of getting there can be tedious.

Finland

I was in Turku, as I was last year at this time, to give sessions on writing for publication to postgraduate research students at the University of Turku. This time, it was a Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN) show, as I was with fellow editor and Hull colleague Mark Hayter, PhD, FAAN, professor of sexual and reproductive health at the University of Hull. The sessions were enjoyable, and the students interacted well.

The weather was fantastic, the food excellent, and it is always good to catch up with international colleagues. If there is a link between Turku and Bahrain, it is the open-access journal I edit, Nursing Open. One of the editors, Riitta Suhonen, PhD, RN, works in Turku, and, here in Bahrain, I am with Seamus Cowman, PhD, FAAN, who is now head of nursing at RCSI Bahrain, affiliated with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). Cowman is another editor of Nursing Open and, incidentally, the first Irish nurse to be elected a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Bahrain

Bahrain continues to develop since my previous visit and, despite the desiccated landscape and dusty Middle Eastern backdrop, it has paradisiacal elements as land is reclaimed along the coast and small, exclusive communities emerge. I should be used to living in hotels—not all of which are five-star, believe me—but the luxury of the Gulf Hotel, Bahrain, and the tranquility and service of its Platinum Club provide an insight into a lifestyle that, but for generous hosts, I will never be able to afford. The dilemma is: Do you eschew it for fear of getting used to it and missing it; or do you indulge, knowing it will rarely be on offer again? As I stare out over the night lights of Bahrain from the top floor of the hotel and the waitress pours me another (free) drink, I think you see how I solved the dilemma. I’m going to miss this one day!

The purpose of my visit to Bahrain is to work as an external examiner on the master’s in nursing programme at the RCSI. I examine the same programme in Dublin, and part of the job is to ensure that the same standards are applied in both locations, on behalf of the RCSI and on behalf of the National University of Ireland, which is the degree-awarding body.

The Nursing Open theme continues, as one of the editorial board members, Catherine McCabe, PhD, RN, assistant professor, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, arrives today in her capacity as external examiner for the undergraduate nursing programme. I am very pleased that my contract has been extended for another year and that I will also be starting as an examiner next month at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. By sheer coincidence, my fellow examiner is none other than Cowman from RCSI. The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), is represented here by the relatively newly formed Rufaida Honor Nursing Society, which is seeking to become a full chapter of STTI. Catherine O'Neill, senior lecturer, RCSI Bahrain, played a major role in establishing it, along with local colleagues.

Running, climbing, and football

My efforts to get out on the rocks are being thwarted by an inordinate amount of travel, both in and out of the United Kingdom. This is probably the busiest year of my life. However, I continue to train indoors, and combine rock climbing with running. Finland was a joy to run in, but my 0530 run today in 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) to avoid the sun, had me almost at my physiological limits. I don’t understand why this should make your legs feel as if they had lead weights attached. In addition, the expatriate workers waiting for their transport to work shared incredulous looks as I panted past. To make a living, they are forced to work in this heat. I could be in bed in an air-conditioned room.

Finally, the UK football (soccer) season has ended, and the highlight of the English season, the Football Association (FA) Cup included, for the first time in the club’s 110-year history “The Tigers,” my local Hull City team. The match was played at Wembley, the 90,000-seat national football stadium in North London. The opposition was the mighty Arsenal, a North London club, and 25,000 of us made the journey south to watch the game, including the three Watsons pictured.

We lost, but only after taking a 2-0 lead and taking them into a period of extra time. Nobody expected that, and I think we were happier than the Arsenal fans. We stayed to see Prince William award the FA Cup runners-up medals and departed, elated. My voice took a week to recover, and I look back on what was, surely, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

 

16 June 2014

Middle East to UK to Far East

 

HONG KONG, SAR, China—I am always happy to visit a new country, and, last week, I was in Oman for the first time. I was examining at the College of Nursing at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat. Muscat, located on the northeast coast of Oman, faces the Gulf of Oman, which separates the Persian Gulf to the north from the Arabian Sea to the south.

I have to stoop to superlatives to describe the weather. The temperature was over 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), with humidity that exceeded anything I have experienced in the Far East and Southeast Asia. Leaving any air-conditioned building was like being hit in the face with a wet, warm sponge. One evening, at an outdoor cocktail party, I decided to check my phone for messages, and the phone, which had been in my air-conditioned room for hours, simply started dripping with water. I survived and even managed to run, at 0530, but my GPS watch was a victim of the humidity and stopped working—permanently.

The view from my hotel in Oman

Sultan Qaboos

Sultan Qaboos University is enormous and located on the same campus as Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH). Together, they serve as a major centre of medical and nursing education for the region. My own University of Hull has a long-standing relationship with both the College of Nursing and the hospital. One of my colleagues at Hull was a recent examiner at SQUH; colleagues from SQUH visit Hull and our local hospitals—my daughter has looked after them on the local cardiothoracic intensive care unit; and, over the next few years, we plan to take several cohorts of staff members into our post-registration, undergraduate degree program me.

In Oman, I met members of a recent delegation to Hull, who enthused about the personal and detailed care they received while at Hull. Although they visited many centres in the UK, they chose us because of our hospitality—crucial in Arab culture—and we have my colleague, Jeremy Jolley, PhD, RN, international coordinator, to thank for this. Jeremy preceded me as examiner at the Sultan Qaboos University College of Nursing, and his legendary sense of humour and easy way with international colleagues meant I had a lot to live up to. I don’t yet know if I passed the test, but will conclude I did if I am invited back.

New friends

I was not examining alone; I was reunited with my colleague from Bahrain, Seamus Cowman, PhD, RN, FAAN, head of nursing at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland–Medical University of Bahrain. Also, I was delighted to meet, for the first time, Marilyn Lotas, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate professor, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and Shadia Yousuf, PhD, RN, assistant professor, King Abdulaziz University Faculty of Nursing, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who gave me news about two of my previous PhD students, now working in Jeddah.

We examined the students in the clinical areas, presenting patient cases and interacting with patients, and following up with a series of very demanding oral examinations. We do nothing like this in the United Kingdom and, while I questioned the value and sustainability of some of the examination procedures (suitable for small numbers but probably unworkable for large numbers), I also wondered if we were not a bit “soft” on our own students.

Professor Cowman and I with male nursing students in Oman

Hong Kong … again

I returned to the UK for a day to remind my wife and family what I look like and then left for Hong Kong. This week, I am working for the University Grants Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Specifically, I am serving on the humanities and social sciences committee, reviewing research grant proposals related to health.

The view from my hotel in Hong Kong

I know Hong Kong well and have many friends and colleagues to see. Last night, I went to one of the best places here to get a haircut, the YMCA Salisbury Hotel. If your image of the YMCA is one of old sports halls with table tennis, pool, and a song by Village People, think again. The YMCA has two very good hotels here, and I often use them. In a few weeks, on the way back from Australia, I will be staying at one of them with my 15-year-old daughter.

The haircut at the YMCA reminds me of one of my funniest moments in Hong Kong. The first time I decided to have my hair cut there, I went in and an older Hong Kong lady was sweeping the hair from the floor. Nobody else was there. I asked about a haircut and, with no English, she pointed to me to sit down and proceeded to cut my hair—very well. I asked about the cost, and she said “one hundred dolla’,” meaning HK$100, which I gave her. She put the note in her pocket, and I thought no more about it until my next visit a few weeks later. The lady was still sweeping the floor, but there was also a young man there, who proceeded to cut my hair. At the end, I took out a HK$100 note and handed it to him. “No,” he said. ‘You must pay at the shop,” and handed me a bill for HK$110. I stole a glance at the hair-sweeping lady on the way out. I think I saw her smiling!

 

8 July 2014

Working on the Italian Riviera

 

HULL, United Kingdom—Last week, I made my third visit to Italy and my second to Genova this year. It is a pleasure to visit that historic and beautifully situated city. The weather was superb and, despite a classic running injury—plantar fasciitis—I managed two 10K runs along the two-mile esplanade called the Corso Italia. I had to make several loops but, because the sea was clear and blue and the sun was shining, this was no hardship.

You do not have to go far to experience a different culture, and this became evident in three incidents in which I was a customer—in two restaurants and a shop.

In the first incident, I took a table, asked the waiter for a beer, and, just as I began to say, “and could I see the menu?” was berated for my ignorance. This was not a bar, he informed me, but a restaurant. If I wanted a beer, I should go next door to the bar. I stood up, shrugged my shoulders, and walked out.

I then tried to buy some gelato and liked the look of the yogurt-flavoured variety. My idea of the perfect ice cream is one with no “bits” in it, or any other kind of adulteration. The vendor—who sensed I was not local—simply looked at me and told the person next to me in the queue that I ought to be trying something more typical of Italy or Sicily, from where he originated. So I pointed to some brightly coloured bitty concoction at the back of the display, which he seemed happy to serve me. I left muttering loudly, “So why do you have the yogurt-flavoured gelato?” And the one I bought was truly terrible. I made a mental note that, within a short time of my arrival, at least one restaurant and one shop were out of bounds in the future.

The final incident involved me buying coffee—which I did not want—after dinner, albeit I was able to have decaf. The coffee was “special,” explained the proprietor. It was made with limoncello, a highly alcoholic lemon drink. The coffee was terrible, too! But the restaurant was very good and an interesting place—a former, and I emphasise “former,” house of ill repute. (I can see the tweet now: Travelling professor visits a brothel.) I’ll say no more than that because, although the establishment’s mission had drifted, the decor remained what I imagine—I emphasise imagine—what one of those places may have looked like.

The University of Genova

I was not in Genova to report on local hostelries but to work for a few days at the University of Genova. I met PhD students to teach and discuss various aspects of research, including writing for publication. This time, I gave three sessions—open access publishing, impact factor, and the process of proceeding from data to published paper. While there, I also spent time with colleagues, advising on their research and publication strategies and looking for areas of common interest with our research at Hull.

One specific area of interest in health promotion is related to avoidance of melanoma, and the vast layers of seminaked bodies on the beaches of Genova suggest they may have a significant melanoma problem in Italy. In Australia, to cite one example, sunbathing, though not eliminated, has become almost a thing of the past. People there are very “sun-safe,” using clothing and protective creams to good effect. Italians have not yet gotten the message. Why we have such an interest in melanoma at Hull, where the sun rarely shines, is a mystery. But we do, and I hope my colleagues can begin to visit Genova and establish some collaboration.

There is one final incident to report, and that was running into a street demonstration while en route from Genova to the airport. The protestors—trade unionists—were blocking the road, and we had to stop. They had also blocked side roads leading to the main road. My anxiety level rose slightly, but we took an impromptu tour of the back streets of Genova, which was fascinating, and we arrived at the airport via a route I had never taken and from a direction I considered impossible. I have no complaints about Genovese taxi drivers, possibly the fastest and most intrepid in the world.

In case anyone wonders if I actually ever work at Hull, I was here the week before I went to Italy, and I am here this week. I am in the process of preparing a new online module in quantitative research methods for our Master’s of Research (MRes) students. MRes is something possibly unique to the UK. It is a genuine master’s degree, which can be taken as an exit point or, after graduation, for the first year of a PhD. Other master’s degrees, if the student graduates, oblige the student to start in the first year of a PhD. This module will be entirely online and asynchronous, a model that works very well, I think, for master’s students.

The rest of the month is taken up with a week in Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, at a Research Excellence Framework subpanel meeting. Then I head to Hong Kong for the 25th International Nursing Research Congress, sponsored by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Of course, you’ll be hearing about my time there. Maybe you’ll even be in my next blog.

 

14 August 2014

'And this is winter?'

 

My daughter’s first words on stepping outside at the Sydney airport form the title to this entry. It gets “cold” here, and there is even snow on the mountains, but what the average Australian considers cold would be an above-average summer day back home in the UK. I have lost count of my visits to Australia, but this is the first time my wife has been here, and I love to see old places through new eyes.

Two of my sons and another of my daughters have already been here, so my wife decided to see what all the fuss was about. In my view, part of the “fuss” is the unique combination of early morning frost in the suburbs of Sydney against the background of a deep blue sky that seems uniquely Australian. By midday, it’s officially warm—by UK standards—yet the locals are in coats and scarves, and, because I am mainly in shirtsleeves, I’m always being asked, “Aren’t you cold?”

View from my hotel.

University of Western Sydney

As mentioned in previous entries from Australia, I’ve been based at the University of Western Sydney (UWS). As the name suggests, the university serves the western side of Sydney but, in fact, it is not really in Sydney at all. It has campuses in Campbelltown, Paramatta and Hawkesbury, with an outpost in Liverpool, the Centre for Applied Nursing Research. During my recent two weeks in Sydney, I visited all the campuses where nursing is provided.

These visits often involve drives that would take you from one side of the UK to another. As with my sense of what is hot and cold here in terms of weather, I have to adjust my sense of distance in this vast country. I told someone I used to drive 60 miles to work and back, trying to instil a sense of horror at this daily feat. They looked at me with a “so what?” expression.

I was really pleased recently to notice that UWS had made the Times Higher Education list of the top 100 universities less than 50 years old (ranked 87th), alongside a very interesting list of younger universities across the world. While here, I have held scholar-in-residence consultations, given two seminars, and I had time to post online slide presentations about open access publishing and the uses and abuses of impact factor. This evening, in the presence of Rhonda Griffiths, dean of nursing and midwifery at the University of Western Sydney, and Scott Holmes, deputy vice chancellor for research and development at the school, I address a function at the university for senior people from local hospitals and health authorities. My topic is “The Francis Report: You simply could not make it up.”

Australia and onwards

This is the first of two visits to Australia this year. In October, I return to Canberra to speak at the 2014 Australian Capital Region Nursing and Midwifery Research Conference.

Aunt Jean, at age 90, the oldest member of the party,
meets the youngest, Rebecca, age 15

In addition to the professional aspects of my trips here, the past few years of regular visits have enabled me to connect with my extended family of cousins and one remaining aunt. I was especially pleased that my wife and daughter (Rebecca) were able to meet my Aunt Jean, who turned 90 in February.

Tomorrow, we leave Australia for Hong Kong and, after two days, we return to the United Kingdom. August is relatively quiet, but September and October will be intensive with final scores and report writing for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, after which I must turn my attention to the slightly neglected Lancet Commission on UK Nursing.

 

23 September 2014

At 'Oxbridge' and other seats of learning

 

GENOA, Italy—Despite the location of this entry, I have been mainly in the United Kingdom since my last post, which was from Australia. I made one brief visit to Dublin, Ireland, but otherwise have been in Cambridge and Oxford—two major seats of learning known collectively as “Oxbridge”—and Birmingham, the UK’s second-largest city and, arguably, also a major seat of learning. If you are not familiar with the very British TV comedy “Blackadder,” this YouTube clip will provide a sample and explain, at the expense of my own University of Hull, where Oxbridge is positioned in the UK educational hierarchy.

My visit to Cambridge was to attend part of the NET2014 conference and to present with Karen Holland, editor of Nurse Education in Practice, a workshop on writing for publication. The NET conference, formerly named the Nurse Education Tomorrow conference, evolved out of the journal Nurse Education Today. The conference was the idea of Jean Walker, a former colleague of mine from the University of Edinburgh, and one of its earliest proponents was Elisabeth ‘Liz’ Clarke, PhD, formerly of the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom and now of the Open University. In her keynote address, Clarke, who is not a nurse but a psychologist by background, reflected on the conference’s 25 years and challenged nurse educationists with these questions:

·         What are the greatest achievements in health care education of the past 25 years?

·         What are the big issues we must tackle?

·         What do we need to do to demonstrate our positive contribution to health care services, higher education, and society as a whole?

·         What are the priorities for our future scholarship agenda?

The conference was held in Churchill College, named after our great Second World War prime minister, whose papers are lodged there in a special archive. The college is relatively modern, built in the 1960s, and accommodations seem to have changed little since those days. I must be getting old and soft, but an unsprung student bed with a thin mattress is not what I am used to.

The purpose of my visit to Oxford was to meet with fellow Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN) editors and the management team from Wiley headquarters. This time, I can report excellent accommodation in a large hotel that incorporates a former Knights Templar hospital. I concluded these knights were not very tall, as I bumped my head several times on massive ceiling beams upon entering—and usually when leaving—the bathroom.

The JAN management-team meetings are one of the most enjoyable events of the year for me. Wiley looks after us very well, and the JAN editors are the best team in the world to work with. During two intensive days, every aspect of the journal is analysed, and our performance in terms of impact factor, downloads, and international outreach is scrutinised. Change always follows these meetings, but this is always positive and agreed to by the whole team. Our vision for the journal is ambitious, and we hope that this becomes obvious in the year ahead. Amongst other things, we hope to increase traffic to our blog, which has been renamed JAN interactive.

Birmingham was the venue for the penultimate meeting of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) subpanel for dentistry, allied health professions, nursing, and pharmacy, to which I have referred previously. I love working with this team, too, but I don’t think many of us will miss these events, as membership on these panels involves very hard work. The eyes of the UK academic community are on the REF panels and subpanels with the outcome—scores awarded to UK universities for excellence in research—eagerly awaited. The world is also watching and waiting, because this exercise was the first to include research impact. There will be international scrutiny to see how we did it and what we found, and it is my expectation that research impact will form part of research assessment in several of the countries I visit regularly.

I’m in Genoa—also known as Genova—for the usual reasons (blog passim): to meet research students at the University of Genoa and to collaborate with colleagues here. In the middle of the week, my dean, Steven Ersser, PhD, RN, makes a visit. I had better be on my best behavior.

 

3 October 2014

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.

 

17 October 2014

Australian Capital Territory: Like DC, only different

 

CANBERRA, Australia—Canberra, Australia’s capital city, divides opinion; there are those who love it and those who hate it. This is a planned city, designed by Walter Burley Griffin, an American, and the similarities to America’s capital city are striking.

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), is more modern than Washington, District of Columbia (DC), and has some splendid art deco buildings—my favourite architecture. It also has more post-art deco structures, some of which, frankly, look like they came from the notebook of Albert Speer. Wide boulevards and the fact that the site of the Australian Parliament is called Capital Hill complete the effect. (In Washington, it’s spelled Capitol Hill.)

Walter Burley Griffin is again very much in the public eye here. Fifty years have passed since they named a nearby body of water Lake Burley Griffin. But Burley was Griffin’s middle name, not part of a double-barrelled surname, thus the campaign to rename Lake Burley Griffin simply Lake Griffin.

I get the impression that not much happens here in Canberra. All the political action on Capital Hill is reported in the national press, and The Canberra Times conveys a picture of rural idyllic living. That said, I’m putting my cards on the table and stating that—from my very limited experience of the place—I like Canberra. Being accommodated by ACT Health in the five-star luxury of Hyatt Hotel Canberra helps. Steeped in history, this hotel has been, for decades, the haunt of Australian politicians, many who resided here.

Fantastic art deco stairway in Hyatt Hotel Canberra 

With its large, comfortable rooms, the hotel is a triumph of art deco style. My bathroom has French windows and is larger than many hotel rooms I have stayed in. The weather has been uncommonly cold—wet on my arrival—so I open the windows only to place my training shoes outside after returning from a run and to retrieve them before my next run, thus preventing the “what’s that smell?” smell my hotel rooms often get after a week or so. Running here is superb, and a loop, approximately four miles in length, goes from my hotel over two bridges that stand at either end of a section of the aforementioned Lake Burley Griffin. I was out at 6 a.m. this morning, and, along the south side of the lake, fitness classes were well underway with group and personal trainers.

ACT Nursing and Midwifery Research Centre Conference

I am here at the generous invitation of Australian Capital Region Health to give a keynote at the 3rd Biennial ACT Nursing and Midwifery Research Centre Conference. I gave that keynote yesterday and titled it “The path to publication.” On the previous day, I presented two workshops on social networking, including blogging, at the University of Canberra and Canberra Hospital.

This morning’s keynote address was presented by Christine Duffield, PhD, RN, who has an excellent track record in conducting nursing workforce research. Today’s address, probably the most authoritative lecture I have heard on the subject, ranged from the place of “assistants in nursing” (Duffield’s generic term for the unqualified, unlicensed “nursing” workforce) to advanced nurse practitioners. She provided a thorough look at nurse-patient ratios in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

At dinner last night, we were entertained by speaker Matina Jewell. This outstandingly intelligent and articulate lady has an incredible story about her time in Lebanon as an unarmed United Nations treaty monitor, the horrific injuries she received in a military vehicle, and the death of all her comrades. Although she tells the story most nights, she is still moved to tears in retelling it. Her message is about recovering from hitting rock bottom with depression over the loss of her military career and survivor guilt over the loss of comrades she had been leading. She is on Twitter @matinajewell—as I write, I see she has just tweeted me a message—and she deserves more followers than she has.

Hanging smart

I have done little climbing this year and, for the first year since a horrific accident that took place eight years ago, none outdoors. But my genes have been climbing. My oldest daughter, Hannah, recently spent a week in the Pre-Pyrenees in Spain, and her sister Emily has just returned from the Bavarian Alps. I seem to find little time to climb these days, and two trips each to Hong Kong and China, together with trips to Puerto Rico, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia before the first quarter of 2015, will probably further limit climbing. However, the spirit is willing even if the flesh is usually in an airport.

The extent to which my family travels is now becoming a standing joke. At dinner last weekend, my oldest daughter asked where I was flying to this week, and I responded “Dubai,” which was my first stop on the way to Australia. I asked her the same and she said, “Dubai!” We were in Dubai airport within 12 hours of each other.

 

31 October 2014

Tense days in Hong Kong

 

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT—It cannot have escaped any reader’s notice that Hong Kong has been volatile lately. My introduction to the “Umbrella Movement” was pictures of tear gas and riot police on BBC news reports. I instantly recognised Hong Kong’s administrative district, known as Central, thus the #OccupyCentral hashtag on Twitter.

Having been in Hong Kong for a week, I made sure I visited the site of the protesters, now relocated slightly to the district of Admiralty. It was a moving occasion. I was moved because I was here with my wife in 2003 when protesters first took to the streets—peacefully—and a million people marched through Admiralty and Central. I was impressed by the fact that the protesters made room for the bus we were on. We were traveling in the opposite direction, and they simply parted and let us through.

Protesters occupy Admiralty district of Hong Kong

 

Umbrella Movement banner at the university

 

Night view above Umbrella Movement protesters

This time round, things have been brought to a standstill. Pictures that accompany this entry show some of the scenes I photographed. My government has been quiet about all this, except to express that Mainland China—to whom sovereignty was transferred in 1997—is showing restraint. Ironically, citizens of Hong Kong now have more democracy—albeit limited—then under British colonial rule. We did not allow them to vote at all.

Why we are here

As usual for this time of year, I have been teaching, together with Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, my University of Hull colleague, at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU). It was a delight to be accompanied by Theofanis Fotis, PhD, senior lecturer, School of Health Sciences, from the University of Brighton. I first met Theo in Singapore (blog passim), and it was good fun to show him our version of Hong Kong.

Mark and I taught first-year students in HKPU’s Master of Nursing programme, dividing qualitative methods (Mark) and quantitative methods (me) between us. We also consulted with second-year students about their research projects.

I made a point of asking each group about the Umbrella Movement, and the reactions and responses were interesting. In typical Hong Kong fashion—modest, quiet, and unobtrusive, especially with “seniors”—they were reluctant to talk, but when I said I had visited the protesters, they opened up. Most had joined in at some point. Uncertain about the future, they were hopeful that nothing violent would take place. It is not my “fight,” but I am not hopeful. I cannot envisage China bending at all, and I worry, if it continues, how it will end.

Frequent flyers

Mark and I entertained Linda Sim, the head of Cathay Pacific’s frequent flyer Marco Polo Club—to dinner. We make this a regular feature of our visits to Hong Kong, to thank her and her team for excellent individualised service and to raise any concerns and questions we have. Frequent flying is serious business. We went to another of Hong Kong’s high-rise restaurants, Wooloomooloo Prime in Tsim Tsa Tsui. The view was stunning.

Buildings in Hong Kong are, for the most part, confusing to navigate—even after many years. Mark and I both had the experience of leaving our offices to attend a meeting, with a destination office number written on a slip of paper, only to realise after wandering about for a while that the meetings were being held in our own offices. If I told you Mark knocked on his own door, you would not believe me, but he did.

 

21 November 2014

China in November

 

JINAN, Shandong Province, China—It is Sunday, 16 November. The Beijing airport terminal is so vast that, with the haze of pollution trapped inside the building, it is hard to see from one end to the other. I have barely landed and the pollution is already stinging my eyes and coating my lips with a familiar and unpleasant metallic taste. I was led to believe that Beijing air had been cleaned up for the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit meeting attended by world leaders, including President Obama. Perhaps it had.

The taxi journey to Beijing station is gripping, and the lack of functioning rear seat belts adds to the excitement. I keep my eyes on the road ahead, as if I were driving, hoping to see hazards before the driver does and to brace myself accordingly. My blood pressure rises as the driver takes calls on her mobile phone while weaving in and out of the traffic. My student helper, Fancy, seems oblivious to this near-death experience and casually attends to text messages on her iPhone, never lifting her head to savour the excitement. I’m back in China!

This purpose of this visit is to spend a few days in Jinan at Shandong University School of Nursing, from which I reported late last year. As I write this paragraph, I am now in the vast Beijing station. Fancy has disappeared, along with my passport, in search of tickets for the train journey to Jinan. I’m assuming I’ll see her again—passport and tickets in hand—but I always feel vulnerable letting my passport out of sight.

Monday, the 17th

The train journey was uneventful; I slept for the two-hour journey to Jinan. Fancy decided to purchase my return ticket and disappeared again with my passport, but passport and I have now been reunited, and I am in University Hotel at Shandong University.

Breakfast was a déjà vu experience; the food on offer was exactly the same as dinner last night, which did not raise my hopes regarding lunch. Not a word of English is spoken by the hotel staff so, using the international language of pointing, smiling, and showing my room card, I managed to persuade them, both last night and this morning, that I wanted to eat. To me, this seemed an obvious conclusion given my presence in the dining room between the specified hours, but nothing is ever straightforward in China.

My run this morning was one of the shortest ever. I am not sure if it was the subzero temperature or the pollution that was taking my breath away but, once I circumnavigated the block, I lacked the willpower to pass the front door of the hotel and was glad to see my room again. Because of jet lag, I’ve been waking up at 1 a.m., so I had seen my room for most of the night.

My emails this morning were comprised of communications from Fancy with nine manuscripts attached. This is part of my job this week, to advise authors on these documents with a view to publication. I will also deliver a lecture this afternoon on the scientific and ethical aspects of clinical trials. This is not especially my area of expertise, and which aspect of my résumé gave my hosts the idea that it was, I cannot imagine. But, as my wife says, lack of knowledge has never stopped me from speaking about anything.

There’s a stuffed polar bear in the foyer of my hotel. As I say, this is China.

 


 

Tuesday, the 18th

There's a polar bear in the lobby of my hotel!

My session seemed to go well yesterday afternoon despite the usual lack of access to the lecture room until exactly the time I was due to start. It is incomprehensible to my Chinese hosts that you would like to see the facilities and load your PowerPoint and infrared slide changer in advance. Thus, the first five to 10 minutes of any session here are spent trying to keep your flash drive in your hand and in sight. The over-helpfulness of my Chinese hosts means that, as soon as it leaves your pocket, it is snatched from you to be inserted, clumsily, into the USB port—nobody does anything slowly or carefully here—often upside down with a lot of damaging wiggling before you can retrieve it and do it yourself.

There is also incomprehension that you need a device to change slides. After all, there are buttons on the computer! In China, you stand behind a lectern, shout into a microphone, and subject your audience to a nonstop barrage of PowerPoint slides. Not my style. I like to be seen, to walk around the stage, and even step off the stage to stand in front of the lectern. My hosts, here and in Taiwan, have warned me that one should not undermine one’s status as an authority figure by such informal behaviour. Again, not my style. I court informality, hate titles and unearned deference, and do my best to undermine these conventions, but they keep inviting me back, so it can’t be upsetting too many people.

I made a fundamental error last night by setting my alarm clock to UK time instead of local time and slept in, which meant no running, little time for breakfast, and then a “set to” with the hotel receptionist who, with translation by Fancy, informed me that, if I had laundry collected today, it should be back tomorrow. I pointed out specific details on the laundry card that clearly stated a 24-hour turnaround if it was collected by 11 a.m. It was 8:45 a.m. “Should” was not good enough, because I was leaving at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, and my supply of underpants would not last.

“Would I like the express service?” I was asked. “No!” I said, because the laundry card informed me that it was not necessary and was more expensive. There is always a solution here, but it is never “I will do what has been agreed and what you want.” Finally, adding insult to injury, I was told via Fancy that laundry had to be in the laundry bag with laundry card completed. I asked Fancy to translate to the receptionist that 1) I had travelled a lot, frequently used hotel laundries, and knew the system, and 2) I had already referred to the card, which I had duly completed. Also, as I had told her, I had hung the laundry bag for collection on the door handle outside my room. Did she think I had hung my underpants and several pairs of socks, not in a bag, but on the handle?

After the first section of my rant, I think Fancy simply apologised for my behaviour and probably said something to the effect of “Westerners, very rude, aren’t they?” I always travel with carry-on cabin luggage only, no matter how long the trip, so laundry facilities are a constant worry.

To compensate for the lack of a run this morning, I went out this evening for 3.5 miles around Jinan. Several more near-death experiences—one of which left what little hair I have standing on end—convinced me to stop running near the road and go to the local park next time. Motorcyclists here interpret the road-sidewalk distinction in their favour. They also weave in and out of the trees at the edge of the road, so you often end up facing an oncoming motorbike not knowing if it will disappear behind a tree or mow you down. I was glad to see my room again.

Dinner tonight was Chinese hot pot, and I mean hot. Health and safety regulations in the UK would never allow such a thing—a pot of boiling hot water balancing on a flaming pile of carbide. The idea is, you cook your own food in this, and I just cannot relax as I see tables where small children are engaged in dropping in and fishing out their cooked food on a table that is likely to topple and scald the diners. I survived.


 

Wednesday, the 19th

Hot pots make me nervous.

The past two days have mainly been spent reading, editing, and commenting on manuscripts sent me by master’s students. Despite my occasional lapses into frustration at how things are done in China, I never cease to be amazed at the industry of students here, especially these students. The manuscripts I am reading are the product of one module in their programme, and they all intend to publish in international journals. I had assumed these manuscripts were the outcome of their final dissertations, but discovered they are currently engaged in research for their final dissertations and that these manuscripts are “dress rehearsals,” based on research projects carried out earlier in the programme.

The programmes are long, at least three years. Coming from the UK, where the majority of master’s students no longer carry out empirical work and where many PhD students never publish, the work ethic here is impressive. These are not trivial studies. They are well powered, original, and of considerable clinical- and nursing-workforce relevance.

In the meantime

Back at the ranch (University of Hull), our dean has resigned to take up a clinical post, and the search for a replacement has started—to be appointed in the middle of 2015. Our associate dean for research is on long-term sick leave, and I am acting in her absence.

This week, from a distance, I have been helping to organise colleagues for an upcoming visit by the director of research and development of a major engineering company. They have an interest in health, and I think we can showcase two excellent aspects of our work, one in telehealth, the other an invention related to nasogastric tube positioning. (Patent considerations allow me to say no more.)

The deadline for submitting draft statements in advance of a dress rehearsal is the day after I return from China, so I think I will have to eschew University of Hull guidance that we take a day off following a long-haul flight, in addition to the day before. Such guidelines—I’ve encountered them before—are intended to protect the university in the event that one collapses, either in some far-off place or in one’s office at the university following a long-haul flight, and they are written by people who neither do long-haul flying nor have schedules like mine. I forgot to add that the guideline also advises us to have a day off after arriving at our destination and before leaving. If only!

I take the early train to Beijing tomorrow for the early afternoon flight to London. I leave China at midday and arrive in the UK at 3 p.m. the same day. This will be one of the longest birthdays—20 November, 59 years old—I’ve ever had. My next flight is to Dublin next week, and my next report will be from Puerto Rico in December when I meet Hester C. Klopper, president of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, and GAPFON colleagues.

 

11 December 2014

GAPFON grows

 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—The second meeting of the Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing (GAPFON) is over. We spent a day and a half in Puerto Rico to review progress since our first meeting in Basel and to plan for the future. Since our last meeting, a website has been created for GAPFON where you can see a list of panelists, our purpose, and sponsors. Additional information will be posted there as work progresses.

The next step is to hold regional consultations on the work of GAPFON, starting in the Middle East­—in Jordan­—and to determine priorities for these regions. In July, the 26th International Nursing Research Congress convenes in Puerto Rico, and, before Congress, two GAPFON consultations will take place here for the Caribbean and Latin America. Did someone mention Puerto Rico? In that case, I’ll be there!

Puerto Rico

This was my first visit to Puerto Rico. It will not be my last. I am glad to see that I have space in my diary to be here in July, and I have already decided that Puerto Rico is the destination for a holiday sometime soon for Mrs. Watson and me, fuelled by air miles and hotel loyalty points. Perhaps it will make up for missing our wedding anniversary—again—today. I have, literally, never fallen in love with anywhere so quickly. 

Buildings of Old San Juan.

This place is an island paradise. It's Hispanic, yet American territory, definitely the best of both those worlds. Coming from London’s Heathrow Airport on a dark, subzero winter morning and landing in this warm and sunny place with friendly people and discovering, as I did, that Puerto Rico is the home of the piña colada only accentuated my enjoyment. For me, it has everything. I could run in the early morning, and Old San Juan is a most beautiful town to visit. It is also inexpensive. My good friends and colleagues of GAPFON helped make this a memorable two days.

Restaurant Barrachina, home of the piña colada,
according to a plaque on the wall 

I was also delighted to find the tomb of Juan Ponce de León in the local cathedral. Juan is a bit of a hero of mine as some consider him to be the original gerontologist. The claim is a bit spurious. He did not study ageing as such; he merely came in search of the Springs of Bimini which, to drink from, allegedly give eternal youth. He may have found the fabled springs but, as his tomb testifies, eternal youth evaded him. His conquistador colleagues did not, exactly, acquit themselves with distinction. They enforced a new religion upon the populace with considerable violence and introduced local women—and presumably the men—to sexually transmitted diseases.


 

Flying home for Christmas

I am writing this in San Juan airport, officially known as the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. As I await my flight to Miami and then on to London, the holidays are on my mind. I like travelling, but these are the last flights until mid-January when I visit Finland and Qatar in quick succession, and I am quite glad.

When I get home, I have a week of work involving a faculty forum, where I will speak briefly to colleagues about our research and implications of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, the results of which are published next week. I also have several supervisions with doctoral students, a writing-for-publication workshop for National Health Service colleagues in Sheffield, and a teleconference on the day before we break up. On the evening of the last day of work (December 19), my wife, two of my sons, and I are going to listen to a show by comedian Frank Skinner, one of my favourites. Then I plan to eschew the Internet for two weeks and spend some time with my family, close and extended. Normal service will be resumed after my visit to Qatar.

Happy holidays!

 

17 April 2015

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.

 


 

12 May 2015

Jasmine in Genoa

 

GENOA AIRPORT, Genoa, Italy—The scent of jasmine hung in the heavy, humid coastal air of Genoa. It was especially pleasant in the morning, when the flowers were opening, and was still in evidence as the sun went down. However, not everyone enjoys this. Many locals are allergic to the pollen. During my time here, the offices around me at the University of Genoa echoed to the sounds of repeated sneezing and Italian cursing.

This was my second visit here this year, and the weather was superb. Lemons were growing within reach of my window, and I was very tempted to slice one up for a gin and tonic. My 10k training finished at the sea front on the famous Corsa Italia, and I am now resting my 59-year-old legs before a race this weekend. Climbing, including indoors, has been neglected lately due to running.

The view from my window in Genoa

My work at the University of Genoa with colleagues in the school of nursing continues to focus on the doctoral students with whom I am working on a rapid evidence assessment. These are not full-time students. Few live locally, and they meet only a few times yearly. Working hard at a distance, they retrieved and filtered some useful literature down to a few items that will form the basis of an excellent review paper, the topic of which will be revealed nearer to the time of submission. I averted a collective crisis of confidence, as they had convinced themselves that they needed to scrap what they were doing and start again. They are now back on track, and my visit, in this regard, was useful. Otherwise, I advised colleagues on their publication plans and research projects.

A new honor society?

I was asked about membership in the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) by one of the faculty who believes this would be a good thing for Italian nurses. I agreed, given that there is no Italian chapter and no Italian members that I know of. They were astounded when, within minutes, I put them in contact by Twitter with STTI President Hester C. Klopper, PhD, MBA, RN, RM, FANSA, —who replied—and by email with Elizabeth Rosser, DPhil, president of Phi Mu Chapter in England. I see from my email trail that they already have advice from Rosser on how to join and set up a society here. As the saying goes, “Watch this space.”


 

Rejection

News arrived from a journal editor that a major manuscript, which I have been leading and which has already graced the editorial desks—briefly—of three other journals, has been rejected again. I had to heed my own advice about not corresponding with editors over rejections and simply to take any good advice on board and submit elsewhere.

 

Yours Truly tames the Ducati Monster in Genoa

My co-authors, both much younger than me, kept me on track, but we were all astonished at a comment from one reviewer that defied all logic with regard to the method we were using and the principles we were addressing. Still, the experience was useful as, when I was taking a class with the master’s students in Genoa on scientific writing, I was able to say that I had just been rejected and was in the process of applying my fourth rule of writing: treat a rejection as the start of the next submission.

I don’t leave the UK until the end of the month, when I visit Bahrain and the fledgling Rufaida Honor Society at the RCSI-Medical University of Bahrain. Before then, I will be participating in an online series of lectures for International Nurses Day and presenting on “Global issues facing nursing” before travelling to London to take part in a forum at the headquarters of the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom. The following week is spent mostly in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I will examine a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, give a presentation on research assessment at Edinburgh Napier University, and meet a research collaborator at Heriot Watt University. Between those sessions, I will catch up with as many colleagues as possible.

I mentioned in my last entry that my daughter was taking part in an international street dancing competition in Florida. Her team won, as did the junior team from her dance club, so that was a memorable visit to the United States. I’m also glad to report that the long-suffering Mrs. Watson and her itinerant husband will be taking a holiday in New York City in July. I have never visited NYC, although my wife has, and this will be her turn to show me around a foreign city.

 


 

2 June 2015

Farewell to Bahrain

 

MANAMA, Kingdom of Bahrain—My four years as an external examiner at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland-Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI-MUB) are over. I may have said something similar last year, after three years as an examiner. However, I was invited to sit for a further year, and the absolute maximum is four. I am sorry to leave and will miss my visits to the island, but other opportunities are opening for me in the Middle East, to be reported in due course.

In addition to examining, I gave a workshop on scientific writing, after which I presented certificates to newly inducted members of the Rufaida Honor Nursing Society. Officers of the society recently met Hester C. Klopper, PhD, MBA, RN, RM, FANSA, president of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), when she was visiting the Middle East, and the local society is making progress in its bid for STTI membership.

New inductees of the Rufaida Honor Nursing Society

Uncool running

I rose almost early enough on two mornings to avoid the sun but failed to escape it completely. At 5:30 a.m., it is in the low 30s Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), but during the day it has been as high as 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), and when the sun is up, it is impossible to walk, let alone run. Foolishly, I went running at 6 p.m. one evening before it had cooled down, and the ambient temperature was body temperature (37 Celsius/98.6 Fahrenheit). The rest of the story is nearly heat-stroke history.

It was hot in Bahrain!

When I ran recently in a more civilised temperature back home in England, I completed a 10 kilometres race in 46 minutes and 5 seconds, three seconds above my personal best. The 46-minute target continues to elude me. For the rest of the running year, I’m going to focus on breaking 21 minutes for 5 kilometres, something I want to achieve before I am 60 years old.

The next few weeks

Back home at the University of Hull, I am handing back the job of associate dean for research and enterprise in stages to the incumbent, who will resume the position in July. The role has not prevented me from travelling or missing the most important meetings that go with it. Essentially, there is barely a job that cannot be done remotely these days, and nearly all of the administrative aspects of the role were done online. Our faculty of health and social care is now under the leadership of Julie Jomeen, PhD, RN, RM, and I look forward to discussing the next few years—the final ones of my career—with her soon.

Over the rest of June, I visit Spain, Hong Kong, Korea, and Australia. I will report in detail from each of these places, but I am pleased to note that my link with the Hong Kong Polytechnic will continue. I had reported its end in a previous entry, but today I was invited to become a visiting professor again, but in a different role. The university has launched a massive open online course (MOOC) in anatomy, to which I will contribute. “Human Anatomy” is offered under the auspices of EdX, which involves prestigious partner universities such as Harvard and MIT in the United States.

The world needed another Watson

Two weeks ago, Alex Watson, my sixth grandchild—no granddaughters yet—was born to the delight of his parents and grandparents but consternation of his big brother Connor who seems to be tolerating this 100 percent increase in number of his siblings and 50 percent decrease in amount of attention he gets. Yours Truly also has to fight for attention. I can almost predict the welcome tomorrow: “Oh, you’re back. When are you away again?”

 


 

10 June 2015

First time in Valencia

 

HULL, United Kingdom—Most of the time, travel goes well. Sometimes, it goes spectacularly wrong, and Monday, 8 June, was looking as if it would fall into the “spectacularly wrong” category.

I arrived at London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 early in the morning after an overnight stay in one of the airport hotels only to be told that I had no seat booked on the flight—or any flight. Apparently, all the air miles and frequent-flyer status in the world will not get you on a flight it you have no ticket. The travel agent used by my hosts in Spain had issued several itineraries but had not actually booked and paid for a ticket. I found this out after several phone calls to Spain that, in order to sort things out, required the travel agent to open the office early. Had I been in Valencia, I would gladly have turfed the agent out of bed myself.

Like most Spanish cities, Valencia is magnificent

Amedved/iStock/Thinkstock

Eventually, I caught a later flight for the same connection from Madrid to Valencia, meaning I had to do what I have done many times in the past: sprint through the terminal in Madrid to my connection. I made it. After recounting this to a colleague that evening on Skype, she described me as “the Daniel Craig of nursing.” With my accent, I had always been satisfied with being the Sean Connery of nursing, but I probably needed upgrading to a newer model.

Return to Spain

The international component of my nursing career began in Spain 25 years ago when I took part in a staff exchange programme between the University of Edinburgh and the University of Navarra in Pamplona. Thus began a love affair with Spain and the first of many professional and family visits to Pamplona. My oldest daughter, who studied nursing at the University of Hull and did an elective in critical care in Pamplona, has since worked exclusively in critical care and is well on the way to being a critical care advanced nurse practitioner.

This trip, however, was my first visit to Spain in nine years and my first ever to Valencia, located on the Mediterranean. Hosted by Universidad Europea Valencia, I was there to attend a public event at which a former PhD student of mine was making her case for promotion to associate professor. The former student—Silvia Corchón Arreche, PhD, MSc, RN—was one of the best I’ve supervised, and she sailed through the event. I was one of a panel of three external assessors. Colleagues and family members of the candidate were present, as was the rector (equivalent to president or vice-chancellor in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively). Before you ask if I can speak Spanish, the answer is no, but it is easy to read scientific Spanish, and I could follow the PowerPoint slides. When it came to questions, I was allowed to ask and be replied to in English.

I was accommodated in the historic quarter of the city, which houses many churches, markets, and a cathedral. Like most Spanish cities, it is magnificent. The temperature dropped from 49 C (120.2 F) to a cool 34 C (93.2 F) while I was there. Running was possible in the very early morning. A superb feature of the city, and surrounding the historic quarter, is the bed of a long-ago diverted river, complete with bridges, and it is ideal for running.

The return journey was uneventful, and I leave for Hong Kong and South Korea in three days. Dire warnings are being issued by the Hong Kong government about travel to South Korea due to the MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) crisis, so I am hoping it does not lead to any restrictions.

 

22 June 2015

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!

10 July 2015

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.

 

9 August 2015

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.

 

18 September 2015

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.

 

17 October 2015

Waltzing Matilda

 

SYDNEY AIRPORT, Australia—Sydney’s Qantas First Class Lounge is my favourite airport lounge in the world. Not only is it the untrammelled luxury, it is also the view. From where I’m sitting, I can see the classic outline of the Sydney skyline across a superb view of the airport with planes constantly on the move.

I have been in Australia as a guest of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Newcastle, New South Wales. My good friend and colleague, Sally Chan, PhD, RN, FAAN, invited me for the week as an international visiting research scholar. I also hold a conjoint professorship at the University.

Double happiness

The occasion for my visit is the 25th anniversary of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the university. Professor Chan describes it a “double happiness,” reflecting her Chinese heritage and referring to a very common and much loved Chinese symbol.

The week also coincided with the 2nd Australian Nursing and Midwifery Conference. Held in Newcastle, it attracts delegates from across Australia, the Far East, Southeast Asia, and Sri Lanka. My job for the week was to entertain the staff for three days with seminars on the publication process and open-access publishing. I also gave a lecture on my favourite analytical method, Mokken scaling, captured for posterity on my podcast page.

At the conference, I provided a workshop on writing for publication, which I broadcast on Periscope TV. Twenty people joined us, but I forgot to set my iPhone to save, so that was lost to posterity. I won’t repeat that mistake. Finally, at the 25th anniversary celebration, I gave the keynote address, titled “Nursing education: attitudes and evidence.” This was an important occasion for the school as the Honorable Jillian Skinner, MP, New South Wales Minister for Health, was present, along with the vice chancellor (president) of the university and the pro-vice chancellor for health.

My keynote focused on the need to maintain university level education for nurses in the face of pressure in the UK to return to the “good old days.” I was very pleased that Skinner—daughter of a nurse—made it clear that, while there is such pressure in Australia, such a return will not happen during her term of office. Before my address, we were entertained with some highly original a cappella singing, including a rendition by the university Echology choir of “Waltzing Matilda,” Australia’s unofficial national anthem.

Otherwise

It was not all work. On my first day in Newcastle, we visited Hunter Valley, famous for its vineyards. I tasted some of the best wines I have ever had. Apparently, you sip a little and pour the rest out, which seems like a waste to me. I slightly regretted my cabin-luggage-only policy, as I could not take any back with me. Some of my Australian family came to visit, and I ran a total of 22 miles along the waterfront this week. This was my first time in Newcastle. It will not be my last.

Yours Truly with Professor Sally
Chan in the Hunter Valley vineyards


The smile on my face speaks volumes

 

12 November 2015

St. Martin's summer in Genoa

 

GENOA, Italy—Following my return from Australia, October was spent mainly in the UK. Early November finds me back in Genoa, Italy for my final visit of 2015. My visits for next year are planned already. The weather is exceptionally good, and I’m assured this is St. Martin’s summer—a warm spell in early November during the feast of St. Martin before the weather turns cold. I made the best of it with several early-morning runs along the coast.

Mary Seacole Leadership Awards

Soon after returning from Australia, I was in London for the Royal College of Nursing Mary Seacole Leadership Awards. The event was held at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) in London’s Regent’s Park, and it was a bit like revisiting the scene of an accident. The 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise Nursing and Midwifery subpanel meetings oscillated between the Royal College of Surgeons and the RCOG, both in Regent’s Park, and while I enjoyed my time on that panel, the work was hard and prolonged.

Parveen Ali describes her project
at the Mary Seacole Leadership
Awards ceremony in London

I was invited to the awards ceremony by my very good friend and colleague Parveen Ali, PhD, RN, senior lecturer, University of Sheffield, one of the recipients in 2014. In addition to receiving her award at this event, she also presented her excellent project on the use of multilingual nursing staff as translators in UK hospitals. Her interest in the subject arose when she was working for a telephone triage service—since discontinued—called NHS Direct. A native of Pakistan, she is a fluent Urdu speaker, but when an Urdu speaker called, she was required to transfer them to a translator. Listening to the translators, who were not nurses, she often heard them misunderstand callers. These services cost a great deal, and she wondered why the National Health Service did not utilize the services of bilingual nurses, both for telephone services and in clinical practice. For her project, she reviewed the policies of many NHS Trusts and found much the same policy—with some anomalies—across England. Her study raises some very interesting points.


 

Genoa

Links between my own University of Hull and the University of Genoa are strengthening. Our previous dean made a visit with me last year, and colleagues from Hull are working, albeit at a distance, with Genovese colleagues on translation and validation of a questionnaire designed to help in health promotion related to melanoma. Mark Hayter, PhD, FAAN, my colleague of many sojourns to the Far East and a Journal of Advanced Nursing editor, visited two weeks before me and, like me, has a programme of visits planned for 2016 and has also established collaborative projects.

My week here has been spent working with colleagues on a range of research and writing projects and teaching research students about writing for publication. The next visit, which will bring Hayter and me here at the same time, is in February 2016.

Pain

My running continues, but climbing of all sorts and gym work have ceased, because of a deltoid muscle-rotator cuff injury. I can’t pour water out of a kettle, shake hands, use a mouse and keyboard, turn over in bed, or scratch my head without extreme pain. Although I am having physiotherapy and taking some very powerful antiinflammatory medication, I’m still in pain.

Next week, I will be Aberdeen, on the north coast of Scotland, the city of my birth, to take part in a review of the nursing and midwifery education provision at Robert Gordon University. I’m hoping that will be the final flight of 2016, but it looks like I may need to go to Saudi Arabia in late November or early December. Next week, I also celebrate my 60th birthday with family and friends at home in Hull, and then I look forward to a long break at Christmas before traveling to Oman the first week of January.

 

3 December 2015

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.

 

9 January 2016

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.


 

1 February 2016

From Utrecht to Tainan and back home again

 

EN ROUTE TO LONDON—January has been one of the busiest months I remember for a long time. After visiting the Middle East, I was in the Netherlands, and now, after a week in Taiwan, am returning to the United Kingdom from Hong Kong aboard Cathay Pacific’s Flight CX253.

Utrecht

My time in the Netherlands was spent in Utrecht, where I gave a keynote address to the European Academy of Nursing Sciences (EANS) Winter Summit. I was originally invited last year when the conference was in Athens, but other travel obviated that. So I was really pleased to be able to accept this time, especially since Julie Taylor, PhD, RN, FEANS, chair of the summit’s Science Committee and professor of child protection at the University of Birmingham in the UK, is a long-time and very good friend.

My keynote (listen here) was on using social media to promote academic publications. I met many other old friends and colleagues in Utrecht and continue to be impressed by the quality of research carried out by some of the up-and-coming nursing academics in Europe. I am not a political Europhile, but I am very glad we have these trans-European organisations. David Richards, PhD, RN, FEANS, president of EANS and professor of mental health services research at the University of Exeter, UK, gave a very thoughtful and provocative summary of current events in Europe.

In discussing mass migration from the Middle East, he addressed the dilemma of responding with compassion to stateless people while having zero tolerance for the despicable attitudes some male migrants display toward women in the countries that have welcomed them. Moving to academic nursing journals, Richards claimed that a great deal of what is published in them is flawed, not the best introduction I could have had for my keynote address. Nevertheless, he and I have exchanged a great deal of good-natured banter across the years, and a little more never hurts.

The Republic of China

The election of a woman—Tsai Ing-wen—as president of Taiwan put this small island country on the international stage in the week prior to my arrival. I have to choose my words carefully here because describing Taiwan as a nation will upset my mainland Chinese colleagues, and anything suggesting Taiwan is less than independent will upset my Taiwanese Green Party colleagues.

This week, I was in the south of Taiwan in Tainan, the former capital and heartland of the Green Party, where everyone was delighted by the recent election result. I was a guest of the Asian Congress in Nursing Education held at National Cheng Kung University, Tainan. I was there to give a keynote address and was “on the bill” with the legendary Afaf Meleis, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, USA.

Yours Truly at ACiNE conference.

My keynote (listen here) was on use of nursing informatics in education, and I showed a picture of all eight of my children and pointed to my oldest daughter Hannah Watson, RN, BSc, who, on that very day, was celebrating 10 years as a registered nurse. In fact, on the day she passed her finals, I was also in Taiwan. A critical care specialist, she is just completing her advanced nurse practitioner programme at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

This was a very special visit to Taiwan as it was the first time my wife had accompanied me. I cannot list all the people in Tainan and Taipei who were so wonderful looking after her, but special mention must go to Tzu-Pei Yeh, RN, who recently completed her PhD under my direction. She attended to our every need. We ate large quantities of Chinese food, listened to karaoke, and copiously toasted everyone with wine at a formal banquet. At least Mrs. Watson got some insight into my sufferings!

Tzu-Pei Yeh (right), my former PhD student, clarifies
a point for an attendee of her seminar.

Two nights in Taipei, where the recent election result was not greeted with much enthusiasm, completed the visit. We met Nanly Hsu, PhD, RN, former dean of nursing at Tzu-Chi University in Hualien, on the Pacific coast of Taiwan and Lin-Lian Huang, PhD, RN, FAAN, former dean of nursing at National Taiwan University, Taiwan. Former president of the Taiwan Nurses Association, Huang is a candidate to sit on the governing body of the International Council of Nurses (ICN).

Much to my embarrassment, Huang recalled that the UK, through the offices of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), is no longer a member of the ICN. I am a long-standing member and a fellow of the RCN, but I simply cannot agree with us losing our voice on the world stage. There is an All-Party Parliamentary Group in the UK currently working with the RCN to consider nursing’s contribution to global health. My individual response, submitted recently to the group, included the point that the RCN should rejoin the ICN.

A meeting with Li-Chan Lin, PhD, RN, of National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan—my longest-standing Taiwanese colleague—completed our visit. Lin was Leverhulme Visiting Professor when I was working at the University of Sheffield, UK. If I pioneered assessment of feeding difficulty in older people with dementia, it was Lin who took this work to another level by translating my scale into Chinese and using it in the first rigorous intervention trials using Montessori and spaced retrieval methods. She knows my wife and family very well, and we had our annual reunion in “our place,” le ble d'or.

Back in Hull

This coming week, I will be interviewed about nursing education by Jane Dreaper of the BBC; do some “firefighting” over issues that have arisen and for which I am—pro tem—responsible; and conduct an intimate but necessary medical investigative procedure—you don’t want to know the details—before returning to the University of Genoa in Italy for a week. Otherwise, the racing season for us runners has started here, and I need to decide which races to aim for. My ambition remains completing a 10-kilometre race in under 45 minutes.

 

24 February 2016

Italy, Qatar, and back to the UK

 

EN ROUTE TO MANCHESTER—After a 4 a.m. start, I’m having breakfast in the luxurious Al Mourjan Business Lounge in Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. I’m also reflecting on yet another month spent largely away from home as I watch my diary fill up with travel well beyond the middle of the year.

My flight to Doha was aboard the fabulous Boeing Dreamliner plane, and the picture shown below, which I took en route from Manchester, England to Doha, shows its unique wing shape against an extraordinarily blue sky. As I write this, I am about to return to Manchester from Doha, aboard Qatar Airways Flight QR46. 

Italy

Wing tip of the
Boeing Dreamliner

Earlier this month, I spent a week in Genoa, Italy at the University of Genoa, which I visit regularly. The weather in Italy was beginning to warm up, which was a change from a cold and dull UK. On this occasion, Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, my Hull colleague, was there, making his second visit. Since we both edit the Journal of Advanced Nursing, we often share our experience of writing for publication with colleagues and students. It’s a good double act, as we complement each other methodologically across the quantitative-qualitative spectrum.

One of my tasks on this visit was to inaugurate a series of international lectures for final-year nursing students, and I was asked to talk about writing for publication. I am really not sure how relevant this is to all of them, but I emphasised the bad things we academics get up to by way of cheating with regard to publications: plagiarism, duplication, fabrication, falsification, creation of bogus webpages and publications, and subversion of the peer-review system. Frankly, they loved it.


 

Qatar

Spotted on Professor
Gray's noticeboard

My return to the UK today follows a few days of visiting the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in Doha. This visit was built around several lectures, workshops, and tutorials on writing for publication, and I was there at the invitation of Richard Gray, PHD, RN. Gray is an editor of the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, also from the Wiley stable. 

Hamad Medical Corporation is, primarily, a private company that provides medical care on an impressive scale to the population of Qatar. It is not an educational or research institution but has a very active education department led by Annie Topping, PhD, RN, one of my long-time friends in nursing. I may have mentioned this in a previous entry, but I was a student nurse on the ward that Topping managed at St. James Hospital in London when I did my ward management assessment. We go back a long way.

In addition to the work, which starts at 7 a.m. in Qatar, I visited The Pearl, a housing complex mainly occupied by expatriates. The HMC owns two blocks there for its employees. Over a barbecue and speaking with friends, I gained more insight into expatriate lifestyle in Qatar, which, I imagine, is similar across the Middle East.

In a country that is nomadic in origin but now extremely urbanised, the expatriates are the nomads. Few spend a long time here, but most have spent a long time away from their native countries in expatriate communities. Similar communities can be found in Hong Kong and Singapore. Although expatriate life offers great rewards, it also requires great sacrifices, and I am not sure if it is a life I would have liked to lead. On the final day, I gave a lecture titled “Tips on successful publishing,” which you can listen to in this podcast.

Next month, the Middle East beckons again. I note that my 50-page passport has only one page left. and it is only four years old. My priority on returning to the UK is to obtain a new passport, or I will not be going anywhere.

 


 

31 March 2016

Saudi Arabia, Part 1

 

HULL, United Kingdom—Absence of a blog post from me for several weeks should not be interpreted to mean that I only write when I am on my travels. Occasionally, I post entries from Hull, where I have been for the past three weeks, but these weeks have been packed with long days, many meetings, learning about new processes, and catching up on supervision of doctoral students. As I remarked to my wife: “It’s almost like having a real job. I’ll be glad to get away for a rest.”

Yours Truly with Mustafa Bodrick

I have just returned to the UK from Saudi Arabia, the first of three visits scheduled in quick succession. At the invitation of Mustafa Bodrick, PhD, RN, director, Center of Nursing Education, King Abdulaziz Medical City, I have been at the King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), where I attended and presented—keynote, workshop, and plenary—at the 2nd International Conference in Nursing & Health Sciences. We arrived in a dust storm and searing heat, which were followed by torrential rain that cleared the air and cooled things down considerably.

There were about 2,000 delegates at the conference, and I was one of five international speakers, all of whom worked hard each day to fulfill their obligations. I was delighted, for the second time this year, to meet Afaf Meleis, PhD, RN, FAAN, who is now dean emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. We first met in Tainan, Taiwan. She is sparkling company, and her fluency in Arabic helped us all in several situations.

Yours Truly with local colleagues, Afaf Meleis (in
turquoise), and Shirley Moore (second from left)

I was also glad to renew acquaintance with Janye Smitten, PhD, RN, health administration tutor, Athabasca University, Canada’s Open University and Muntaha Gharaibeh, PhD, RN, former dean of nursing, Jordan University of Science and Technology. I met Smitten the first time a few years ago at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and Gharaibeh two years ago in Saudi Arabia. At the conference, I was also very pleased to get to know Shirley Moore, PhD, RN, FAAN, The Edward J. and Louise Mellen Professor of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and associate dean for research at that school.

I was able to squeeze in a meeting one evening with Ahmad Aboshaiqah, PhD, RN, dean of nursing, King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh, and a prospective doctoral student to discuss admission processes at the University of Hull and the possibility of pioneering an external joint supervision programme between Hull and KSU. There was no great pressure to finalise arrangements, as I will return to KSU at the end of next week. All I have to do between now and then is secure a visa, visit Dublin and Edinburgh, and get back to London Heathrow.

 

15 April 2016

Saudi Arabia, Part 2

 

JEDDAH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—Between “Saudi Arabia, Part 1,” posted 31 March, and this entry, I have been home to Hull, visited Dublin for one night to give a lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, was in Edinburgh for three nights, and now I have been in Riyadh for a week. This post comes from the Crowne Plaza Jeddah, a 90-minute flight from Riyadh, where I have retreated for the weekend (Friday and Saturday).

My Facebook memory told me this morning that it is, to the day, exactly one year since I was last here. I need this break, because it has been a hectic week with teaching, preparation for teaching, and meetings. I spent a day at the Female Student Campus of King Saud University holding consultations and teaching students who are pursuing their master’s degree in nursing. I visited King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre to arrange for my day of teaching there next week, and one evening I visited the British ambassador's residence for a function organised by another UK university, the University of Dundee, where I know colleagues well. A farcical taxi journey caused me to miss the address by British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, His Excellency Simon Collis, CMG, but I caught talks given by the Dundee staff.

Janice Rattray, University of Dundee, and
Ahmad Aboshaiqah, King Saud University

I was very pleased to see Janice Rattray, PhD, RN, who is also working here this week. The last time I met her was a year ago in the first-class lounge of King Khalid Airport, Riyadh when we were both leaving Saudi Arabia. I also had lunch with her next day in the sumptuous Ritz Carlton hotel.

The journey to the British embassy did not go well from the start. My driver was unavailable, so the hotel staff summoned a taxi. It was clear from the outset that the cabbie had no idea where the British embassy was, nor did he speak English. When getting into the taxi, however, my thought was, “How bad can this be?” Well, it got bad. He drove to the diplomatic area as directed, I think, by the hotel staff, and tried to drop me off at a British school. I had the upper hand, of course, as I still had the 50 Saudi riyal, the maximum taxi fare, in my pocket.

We proceeded to do a tour of the embassies, and when I spotted the Union Jack on a sign, I thought I was safe, but it transpired—thanks to a Dutch gentleman who was trying to hail a taxi outside the Belgian embassy—that this was not the side of the compound where the British ambassador lived. My poor taxi driver was almost as stressed as me and refused to move, even after instructions in Arabic from the guard at the Belgian embassy who, I’m sure, was watching the commotion with amusement. I goaded the driver to move, but he wouldn’t.

I was standing outside the car when another drew up beside us to ask the Dutch gentleman directions to the British embassy. The occupants were two ladies I had met last year, and they recognised me. “Dr. Roger,” they shouted. I did not recognise them, however, as they were wearing traditional Saudi female attire. I paid off my driver, invited the Dutch gentleman to that taxi—he declined—and I joined the ladies in their taxi. The story does not end there, but it would take too long to describe every detail of our two tours round the diplomatic area with me crying, “Stop!” when I correctly identified the proper drop-off point—to no avail the first time, but successfully the second time.

James Smith, founding editor,
Journal of Advanced Nursing

Meantime, turning the clock back a few days, I was in Edinburgh to attend the UK’s Royal College of Nursing (RCN) International Nursing Research Conference 2016, which celebrated 100 years of the RCN, 60 years of academic nursing at the University of Edinburgh, and 40 years of Journal of Advanced Nursing. I was there to interview James P. Smith, DLitt (honoris causa), OBE, founding editor of the journal, and Alison Tierney, PhD, FRCN, CBE, former editor-in-chief. I also entertained them, along with former editor Jacqueline Fawcett, PhD, FAAN. Fawcett recalled a lunch with my wife Debbie and me, and our then 10-year-old son Charles that took place more than 10 years ago on a very cold Boston winter day. You can hear the interviews in this podcast.

Despite coming to Jeddah to rest, I will be meeting two former doctoral students: Wafaa Al-Johani, PhD, RN, and Ahlam Eidah Al-Zahrani, PhD, RN, who both now work at The College of Nursing, King Abdulaziz University. They invited me to lunch with their dean, Hasnah Erfan Banjar, PhD, RN. I also had dinner with John Sedgewick, RN, director of nursing education and Saudization, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, and a doctoral student at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.

I don’t know if will return relaxed and refreshed to Riyadh tomorrow, but I have enjoyed every minute of this short break. I have a busy week ahead before I submit Part 3 of this Saudi Arabia trilogy.


 

20 April 2016

Saudi Arabia, Part 3

 

RIYADH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—This is the end of my Saudi Arabia trilogy, although an addendum will be posted in May when I come back to speak at a conference. (I suppose I could identify the now four-part series as a tetralogy or quadrilogy.) My visit to Jeddah was over too quickly. For the first three days back in Riyadh, with teaching and other presentations from early morning until late afternoon, I barely had time to think. Now, I have two days to reflect and clear up loose ends before I return to the UK.

Presentation time with Juliana D'Sa and
Raeid A. Faqehi.

My first day back in Riyadh was spent partly in the College of Nursing (male) with Master in Nursing students and partly in the Medical College, where I gave a lecture about detecting similarity in manuscripts (available on podcast). The next day was spent at the leading hospital in Riyadh, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSH), teaching on writing for publication and evidence-based practice. That day was hosted by Marinha Macedo, RN, nursing research senior specialist. By coincidence, I met her counterpart, Gillian Sedgewick, RN, at the Jeddah King Faisal hospital on the weekend. Both KFSHs are Magnet hospitals, the first in the Middle East. The third day was spent teaching at the General Directorate of Health Affairs, Riyadh on research and publishing. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, but I was glad when it ended, as I was exhausted.

Jeddah memories: Yours Truly with, l-r, Wafaa
Al-Johani, Shadia Abdullah Hassan Yousuf,
Hannah Erfan Banjar, and Ahlam Eidah Al-Zharani.

The day finished back at the Ritz Carlton at a dinner hosted by my former University of Sheffield student, Mansour Al-Yami, PhD, RN, now general director, training and scholarship, at the Saudi Ministry of Health, along with several colleagues from the Saudi Ministry of Health. You know you’re a frequent visitor to a place when you get tapped on the shoulder and turn round to see someone you know. Mustafa Bodrick, PhD, RN, of King Saud bin Abdulaziz University (blog passim) was also dining, and he introduced me to Gwen Sherwood, PhD, RN, FAAN, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with whom I will be dining tonight. Leaving the Ritz, I almost bumped—literally—into Joseph Westphal, U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Any closer, and I think the security detail would have “taken me out.” I wonder if he was making arrangements for U.S. President Obama, who arrives today.

Reflections on Saudi Arabia

I have mentioned before in this blog that I am often asked about my safety when travelling to the Middle East. When I ask people to specify more precisely what they mean—I understand the question but am tired of it—they never can. There is an association in people’s minds between Arabs and terrorists. The association is understandable, given press portrayal of the situation in some parts of the region. The same kind of association applied to Northern Ireland for a prolonged period, now euphemistically referred to as “the troubles.”

However, I have also noted a frequent question here—almost daily—in my meetings about my impressions of Saudi Arabia. My answer depends on the question. If I am asked, “Do I like Saudi Arabia?” I find it hard to say yes, simply due to the visual impact of women peeping out over niqabs, an image I find hard to accept. However, while the positional disparity of men and women runs deep in Saudi society, I realise this cannot be a barrier to cooperation and collaboration. I find the women charming, self-deprecating, funny, and easy to work with. This is not my country, and I am a guest.

On the other hand, I was asked if my view of Saudi Arabia was positive or negative, and I replied without hesitation that it is positive. To someone from the West, the intrusive nature of religion is alien. However, I have been coming here since 1991, albeit with a significant gap in time, and things are changing. This is a highly developed society with the best hospitality and the most respectful people I have ever met. As I have said before, we turn our backs on the Middle East at our peril.

Exercise

Running has not been possible here, as there is not enough pavement to accommodate it in the part of Riyadh where I have been staying, so it has been the treadmill for two weeks. My various injuries are starting to resolve, and I can do a full-length pull-up without screaming. This indicates that, if I continue to improve, I should be able to start climbing again.

 

12 May 2016

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.

 

6 June 2016

China: Hot food and hot weather

 

LUZHOU, Sichuan Province, China—I have been in China this week, making my third visit to what is currently known as The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University. On each visit, the name has changed—on one hand, as the status of the institution has risen, and, on the other hand, as objections from elsewhere in the province have risen about the name that is being used. Apparently, there are objections to the current name, and it may well change again before I return. Whatever the name, the hospital I visit here is in the same place: Luzhou, China, on the banks of the mighty Yangtze River.

Ostensibly, my visit here is to deliver a lecture at an international conference on transitional care. My topic? Telemonitoring of older people. When asked by other presenters if I am an expert on the subject, my reply was: “Well, I am now!” I have to admit to only a passing acquaintance with telehealth in any of its varieties, and there is much greater expertise available on the topic at my university. But I am the visiting professor here, and I am expected to know everything.

Yours Truly with Pulon Chang, Yang-Ming University,
Taipei, Taiwan; Frances Wong, Hong Kong Polytechnic

University; and Du Yihua, president, The Affiliated Hospital 
of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China.

I enjoyed reading about telehealth and telemonitoring and, with the help of my old friend and interpreter Daniel Liu, I managed to deliver my session. I am also very grateful to David Barrett, PhD, RN, senior lecturer on my faculty at the University of Hull, for some PowerPoint slides based on his recent research. Otherwise and more significantly, I am here to continue collaboration between the hospital and my university. We have already graduated one doctoral student, and we plan to have academic visitors and additional doctoral students.


 

About the food

Guess who

Food was plentiful and spicy as ever. My hosts outdid themselves one night when we visited a very traditional restaurant. My advice: If you have doubts about spicy food, avoid anything labelled “traditional.” Not for the first time in Luzhou, I was rendered speechless by some of the food, which combines the heat of chillies and the local specialty spice, which I now know is colloquially called “tip of the tongue,” as it renders the tip of your tongue, lips, and inner cheeks numb. You can’t speak, and neither should you, until the effect passes. The only known antidote is cold beer, also plentiful. I ran on the banks of the Yangtze River again, but the weather was too hot for anything very serious.

Climbing

Finally, after some procrastination, I returned to the climbing wall, my first visit in nearly 10 months. I really enjoyed my half hour (all I could manage) but have been unable to return due to a severe shortage of skin on my fingers, which are mostly healed now. I’m ready for a second visit soon.

 

17 June 2016

Hong Kong: The same but different

 

HONG KONG, SAR, China—Five days ago, less than a week after transferring through Hong Kong International Airport, I was back, jet-lagged. Although I have been through the airport 10 times since my last visit, this was the first time I had stepped out of the airport in 12 months.

I am back in Hong Kong to sit on the University Grants Council (UGC) Humanities and Social Sciences Sub-Panel. Under excellent chairing by Cindy Fan, PhD, vice provost for international studies and global engagement, UCLA Department of Geography, we disbursed approximately HK$ 50 million for research to eight universities in the Special Administrative Region. I am halfway through a six-year term (maximum), which guarantees me three more annual visits to Hong Kong.

We also made a UGC advisory visit to the University of Hong Kong. My assignment was to meet with the dean and colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine, which includes the School of Nursing. The University of Hong Kong is the oldest in Hong Kong and, for 50 years, its only university. Currently, the president and vice-chancellor is Peter Mathieson, a nephrologist from the United Kingdom. En route to a meeting, he introduced himself to me in the elevator, and I was able to tell him I was from the University of Hull. The University Grants Council, under which the Research Grants Council (RGC) sits, hosted an excellent banquet on the final working day.

Friends, old and very new

Graeme and Maggie Smith with Nathaniel

Outside of meetings, I had dinners with a series of old friends and colleagues, including Eric Chan, MBA, RN, dean of Caritas Institute of Higher Education and member of GAPFON. I extended my stay to attend a 100 Days celebration for Nathaniel Smith, 100-day old son of my good friends Graeme Smith, PhD, RN, of Edinburgh Napier University (UK) and his wife Maggie. I attended their wedding here six years ago. This was my first meeting with Nathaniel, and I think I made quite an impression.

The weather is always a topic of conversation in Hong Kong, something I think the locals inherited from the days of British colonisation. It’s been wet, humid, and increasingly hot over the course of the past week. That’s the same as usual, but during my 12-month absence a new high-rise building has risen on the Kowloon side of the harbour. Also, Louis’s Steakhouse, Hong Kong’s oldest and one of my favourite places to eat, has closed, priced out of business by rising rents in the Wan Chai district. I am lucky this year, because I will be back in Hong Kong in early July en route to Australia. I am taking my son Joseph, and we are meeting my daughter Lucy. Some of that will feature in my next entry.

 

20 July 2016

Evidence in support of baccalaureate nurses stacks up

 

HONG KONG, SAR, China—Less than a week after leaving Hong Kong, I was back, this time for a few days with my son—his first visit to Hong Kong—on the way to Australia. It is easy to make an impression on people with Hong Kong: the world’s highest bar (the 118th floor Ozone), possibly the best high-level restaurant in the world (the incomparable Felix restaurant), and searing hot temperatures.

The Conversation

One of the best things to come out of Australia in recent years is The Conversation. This is an online newspaper for which only academics may write. Supported financially by CommBank and most universities, The Conversation now exists in three other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. The articles take the form of short, blog-like entries, and individuals have to “pitch” pieces to the editors. After several failed efforts at pitching, I finally had one accepted on the basis of a study that I co-authored, which was published in Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Even for an experienced writer and editor, it was an instructive process. Once the pitch was accepted, I was given very specific instructions on how to write the piece and was given 48 hours to produce 700 words. The house style aims for the reading level of a 16-year-old with short sentences, no polysyllabic words (i.e. no “big” ones—sorry, couldn’t resist that), main points presented in the opening, and not ending with “More research is needed.” I am tempted to introduce the same style for Journal of Advanced Nursing. It works!

My article was titled “You’re more likely to survive hospital if your nurse has a degree.” The study was led by Richard Gray, PhD, RN, of the Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar. Evidence that baccalaureate nurses save more lives is already available from the work of Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, FRCN, FAAN, of the University of Pennsylvania and the RN4CAST study, and our study takes this work forward.

In Qatar, each incident of nursing care is recorded electronically, which means the nurse’s name is recorded. From that, we were able to see whether the nurse is a baccalaureate graduate. We were then able to calculate the extent to which patients received care from baccalaureate—as opposed to diplomate—nurses. The results show that when baccalaureate nurses deliver care, patients are less likely to die. As I write, less than two weeks after publication, my article has had more than 9,000 reads, and its Altmetrics score is currently 70.


 

Meantime, in Australia

I am making my annual visit to Western Sydney University (until recently called University of Western Sydney) as adjunct professor and also visiting my relatives in Brisbane. My son Joseph is here with me, and my daughter Lucy, an RN in the British Army, has also been here for a few weeks. We had a good family reunion.

Looking ahead to travel plans for the rest of the year, I see that Turkey is on my calendar for December. I have been invited to speak at a conference, and my wife will accompany me for our wedding anniversary. For that reason and because I have friends and colleagues in Turkey, I hope events following the failed military coup have settled down. I have been in contact with a very good nursing colleague who says they are all “stressed and depressed” at the present situation. Once again, I find that problems in another part of the world help put my own problems into perspective.

 

5 September 2016

How many shopping days?

 

HULL, United Kingdom—This entry finds me after significant breaks from blogging—at least in “Hanging Smart”—and travel. I take the title of this post from the UK obsession this time of year, when summer is ending and people are looking forward to their next major holiday, Christmas—especially the constant reminders from the retail sector of how many shopping days and weekends we have left in our spending spree.

Over summer, the long-suffering Mrs. Watson insisted we take a break, and that led to a few days in London doing things we never did when we lived there many years ago. On the scholarly side of things, two major research-grant proposals have been submitted to potential funders, and several manuscripts have been revised and resubmitted to journals.

We are now at that time in the academic year when our modules have to be revised for the coming semester and dissertations from final-year students marked. People often ask if, with all my travelling, I actually teach and mark students’ work. The answer is yes. I must admit that my incredible colleagues at Hull carry a heavier load than I of these things and, without their support, I could not maintain my international work. However, I like to think I am still engaged with students at all programme levels.

Since my last entry, I have been to Oxford, UK, to attend the management team meeting of Journal of Advanced Nursing. This is the best two days of the year in terms of discussion and decision-making, and I keep reminding myself how lucky I am to work with a superb publishing team at Wiley—I have known and worked with at least one of its members for 25 years—and a highly professional team of editors.

Immediately prior to that meeting, I attended the 2016 meeting of INANE (International Academy of Nursing Editors) at the headquarters of the Royal College of Nursing in London. There I had the privilege of listening to Ben Goldacre, MB, BS, MA, author of Bad Science (the book and the blog), Bad Pharma, and now I Think You’ll Find it’s a Bit More Complicated Than That. He signed a copy for me. Goldacre initiated the AllTrials campaign, which aims for total transparency in reporting clinical trials. I reflect on this meeting and what he had to say in a post titled “Being Ben Goldacre” in my blog “Publishing Standards.”

Eric Chan addresses colleagues at
Napier University on global health.

The break from travel ended last week. I have just returned from Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, which has launched a new School of Health and Social Care. The launch event took place over two days and was attended by colleagues from Hong Kong and Singapore. Of those colleagues, I was especially pleased to see my good friend Eric Chan, MSc, RN, dean of Caritas Institute of Higher Education in Hong Kong, former deputy chief nurse of the Hong Kong Health Authority, and one of the founding members of GAPFON (Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing & Midwifery).

I suppose I ought to be counting the time to Christmas by air miles and how many weekends I will actually spend at home. This week, I’m spending three days at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, at the 2016 NET (Nurse Education Tomorrow) conference where I am providing early-morning consultation sessions on writing for publication.

Looking further ahead, between now and the end of the year, in addition to another visit to Edinburgh and at least three to London, I will make two visits to Spain (Madrid and Pamplona); one to Maribor, Slovenia; one to Rotterdam, Netherlands; and one to Istanbul, Turkey. I will also visit Washington, D.C. for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Nursing. A visit to Egypt is also being arranged but is not yet finalised. I am sure these visits will have their high points and their low points. Either way, you’ll read all about them here.


 

30 September 2016

“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.

 

13 October 2016

This could be Rotterdam ...

 

GENOA, Italy—The well-known British pop band The Beautiful South played a song titled “Rotterdam,” the chorus of which observes, “This could be Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome …” It felt like that for me these past two weeks because, following Slovenia, I have been in Rotterdam and Genoa. Telling you this also allows me to note that, while many readers of “Hanging smart” will know the song, they may not know that The Beautiful South comes from my home town of Hull and evolved from an equally famous band The Housemartins. So, after that trip down musical memory lane …

Rotterdam

I was in Rotterdam last week for the 5th European Nursing Congress. The theme of these meetings is always care of older people, and the congress, held over four days, provided a series of keynotes and parallel sessions on research and practice related to gerontological nursing. The opening ceremony was attended by Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. One of the keynote speakers was my good friend and colleague Li-Chan Lin, PhD, RN, of National Yang Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan. Lin has pioneered the use of the Montessori method and spaced retrieval to help older people with dementia eat. I had the privilege of co-authoring an article reporting the first randomised controlled trial using these methods. Lin also spent six months with me at the University of Sheffield as a Leverhulme Visiting Professor, and her invitation for me to visit her in Taiwan in 2004 led to an unbroken stream of annual visits to Taiwan.

My own contribution to the Rotterdam proceedings was a workshop titled “Four easy steps to publishing your manuscript,” which was well attended. The Journal of Advanced Nursing provided a special issue for the conference abstracts, and it was good to see each of the 1,000 delegates holding a copy of the journal. Six years ago, at the previous congress, the abstracts were published in a special issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing, which I then edited.

Genoa

After one day at home to remind the family of my existence, I went to Genoa, Italy for a week of activities as a visiting professor (docenti) at the University of Genoa. In Rotterdam, I had met Julita Sansoni, PhD, RN, associate professor at Sapienza University of Rome, and illustrating the cliché “It’s a small world,” she was here in Genoa this week, and we had dinner together.

Loredana Sasso

Excitement is growing in the nursing department here because, next week, Loredana Sasso, MSN, MedSc, RN, will be inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in Washington, D.C. Sasso is the first Italian nurse to be inducted, and I am very proud to be her co-sponsor, along with my colleague Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, (also a docenti in Genoa). I will be there with Mrs. Watson and a delegation of 14 Italians cheering on this great pioneer of Italian nursing. Pictures and news from the academy meeting will feature in my next entry.

Cheers! In Genoa with (l-r) Milko Zanini, Giuseppe Aleo,
and Mark Hayter.

 

24 October 2016

An honor to run with Her Honor

 

RONALD REAGAN AIRPORT, Arlington, Virginia, USA—Between my previous entry—from Italy—and this one, which follows my visit to Washington, D.C., I had two days in the UK, one day at home and then a day in London at “the mother of parliaments” to attend the launch of Triple Impact, the outcome of the report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health (APPG) on nursing’s contribution to global health. I was invited as one of those who provided evidence to the APPG.

The report was presented by Lord Crisp and others also spoke, including Janet Davies, RN, FRCN, chief executive officer of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Frances Hughes, DNurs, RN, ONZM, chief executive officer of the International Council of Nursing (ICN). I thought it ironic that they were united here given RCN’s decision to quit the ICN several years ago, a move I consider very nearsighted. Following the meeting and before taking the train home, I had a very special treat when I was taken for drinks to The Athenaeum, the most prestigious club in London, by member Anne Marie Rafferty, CBE, PhD, FAAN.

Washington, D.C.

Next day, I returned to London with my wife to stay overnight before flying to New York and then on to Reagan National Airport in Arlington, the nearest airport to Washington, D.C. I avoid Washington Dulles International Airport, which, despite the Washington tag, could be situated (in my humble opinion) a lot closer to Washington.

Loredana Sasso proudly points to her picture on the Wall of Fame
at the American Academy of Nursing conference and induction.

We were in D.C. for the American Academy of Nursing’s (AAN) 2016 Transforming Health, Driving Policy Conference and induction ceremony for new fellows of the academy. Together with Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, I sponsored the first Italian to be inducted, Loredana Sasso, MSN, RN, FAAN. We had a thoroughly good time, and I showed my wife the sights of Washington, from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. We took in a few museums, the White House, and the Vietnam War memorial. We also visited Arlington Cemetery, my first time there.

At the AAN conference, I had the most wonderful time running into old friends and making new ones. Old friends included: Frank Shaffer, EdD, RN, FAAN, chief executive officer of CFGNSAfaf Meleis, PhD, RN, FAAN, former dean of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania; Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, FAAN, nurse scientist at The Ohio State University and one of my fellow Journal of Advanced Nursing editors; Jean Watson, PhD, RN, FAAN, nurse theorist and Distinguished Professor of Nursing from the University of Colorado; Cathy Catrambone, PhD, RN, FAAN, president of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International; and Susan Gennaro, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and professor at Boston College’s William F. Connell School of Nursing and editor of Journal of Nursing Scholarship.

Three old friends were inducted into the American Academy of Nursing: Dawn Downing, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor of nursing, Columbia University, New York, and long-standing colleague formerly in the UK; Ying Wu, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of nursing at Peking Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; and Esra Al Khasawneh, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of nursing at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. One new friend I was delighted to meet was Sean Clarke, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate dean of nursing at Boston College.

The induction ceremony was a triumph, and Mrs. Watson and I sat with a delegation of 14 Italians who were there to support Professor Sasso. The Italians were great company. One of the “upsides” for me was that my wife had a large selection of handsome tuxedoed Italian men with whom to dance while I got on with the serious business of running quality-assurance tests on a bottle of Yeungling beer, made by the oldest brewery in the United States.

At American Academy of Nursing conference,
l-r: Loredana Sasso, Annamarie Bagnasco, Yours Truly,
Giuseppe Aleo, Gianluca Catania, and Milko Zanini.

Running in D.C., but not for office

Naturally, Mrs. Watson and I took our running shoes with us, and we had a very pleasant run around Crystal City. The running triumph was finding a local ParkRun and working out how to get there. ParkRun started in the United Kingdom but has spread across the world. There are three in D.C., and the ambition is to start one in each ward of the city. We chose an amazing event to attend as Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington, D.C., joined us on the morning of the run as a way to promote her campaign of fitness in the city. I met Her Honor, shook her hand, and spoke to her. She ran the 5k course with us. I was very pleased to do a time of 22:34, coming in 14th out of 98 runners and first in my age category. Mrs. Watson came in first in her age category, too. I don’t think I can top that for this entry, so I’ll end there.

Next week, from Egypt.


 

John Adams

As I was finalising this entry and on the verge of submitting it for posting, I received news that a great friend and scholar, John Adams, PhD, RN, formerly of Homerton College, University of Cambridge, had just died. John was a mental health nurse and historian and one of the most entertaining public speakers I have had the privilege to know. In retirement, he had taken to writing obituaries of our departed colleagues, and I joked with him recently—while he was in poor health—that he would live long enough to write mine. Dear John, requiescat in pace.

 

30 October 2016

First trip to Egypt and first to Africa

 

DAMANHOUR, Egypt—I imagine emergency departments in Egypt have a thriving “trade.” I had been warned about the driving here but was not prepared for the terrifying three-hour drive from Cairo International Airport to Alexandria. I may have reported what I considered the most terrifying drive ever in blog entries passim, but this one topped the league.

Collected from the airport at 1:30 a.m. after the flight from London, I was taken by people who spoke very little English to an unmarked and battle-scarred car with no rear seatbelt and a pervading reek of exhaust fumes. I had visions of my death certificate with entries of “carbon monoxide poisoning” or “multiple trauma.” I was unsure if I was being kidnapped, taken to Alexandria, or both. Turned out my destination was my hotel in Alexandria, but that became clear only after being driven by someone in contention for the land speed record who was unsure of the route.

To compensate for his lack of direction, he chased and then drew up alongside other drivers, sounded his horn, and then leant over the sleeping passenger in the front seat to ask directions. Meantime, both cars were swerving and nearly colliding. Twice this happened with an intersection looming. I registered 140 kilometres per hour (86 miles per hour) at one point. We arrived at 4:30 a.m., but it was nearly 6 a.m. before my vital signs were within the normal range. I vowed the return journey would not be made in the same manner and emailed my hosts to that effect the next morning.


 

Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt and its largest
seaport, was founded in 331 B.C. by Alexander the Great

– Photo by Zbruch/iStock

Damanhour University

I am here at the invitation of the Faculty of Nursing at Damanhour University, which is approximately 40 miles inland from Alexandria. Alexandria, which is on the Mediterranean Sea, reminded me of Jeddah, except it is more crowded and less of a paradise. You get the impression it will take only a small percentage increase in the number of cars on the roads, and the whole city will grind to a standstill amidst a cacophony of car horns.

Today, my hosts drove me around and then down to Damanhour. Egypt is almost everything I expected. There is an acute sense of entropy here with little aesthetic appeal to buildings, with many of them—especially in the rural areas—leading you to wonder if they are under construction or demolition.

International conference

The Faculty of Nursing at Damanhour University is holding its 1st International Scientific Nursing Conference, and I am the international person. I gave a keynote today titled “The Path to Publication,” and tomorrow I give a workshop on writing for publication. Academic nursing here is organised very differently from in the UK. They have fewer students than we do at Hull, but there are far more staff members, and they are organised into departments around each of the subspecialties, such as paediatrics, and around more general areas, such as nursing management.

The author with Assistant Professor Enas Ibrahim (dean),
Assistant Professor Yaldez Zeineldin, and Professor
Neamat El-Sayed, with Mediterranean Sea behind.

The senior students—the men with suits and purple ties and the women with purple headscarves—acted as doorkeepers and helpers, something I could not imagine our own students being expected to do. This demonstrates a striking cultural difference among students I have seen in the Middle East, the Far East, and Southeast Asia. The students were fun, and my jaws ached from posing for hundreds of camera shots and selfies. It must also have been a slow news day in Damanhour, as three television channels interviewed me.

My first visit to Egypt—my first also to Africa—ends in the small hours of the morning after tomorrow. I have had to compromise on the return journey and accept being driven in a hired car with a qualified driver, as opposed to the university driver who initially collected me and whose driving is legendary. I cannot imagine a slower driver, but seatbelts are promised. I have not seen the pyramids or the Sphinx, but I have made some new friends who are planning to have me back again.

I return to the UK Tuesday night, 1 November, and then go to Edinburgh University to deliver, as part of its 60th anniversary of nursing studies, the Elsie Stephenson Memorial Lecture on the theme “Towards a public understanding of nursing.”

 

29 November 2016

To Spain and back, and back to Spain

 

MADRID, Spain—I reported on my recent visit to Egypt in the last entry, but I didn’t mention my “souvenir,” which became apparent only after my return. Microbiologically, it remains unidentified, but I think I can narrow it down to either Salmonella or E. Coli. Either way, the result was indescribable illness during which time I had to give a major public lecture and travel to Spain. I was debilitated for only 24 hours, but these bugs completely alter your gut fauna such that nothing works properly for days—10 days, to be precise.


 

Pamplona

Yours Truly with nursing students at Universidad
de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain in 1991.

I gave the Elsie Stephenson Memorial lecture at The University of Edinburgh (click here for podcast) with great trepidation but without incident. I then travelled to Pamplona in the north of Spain to spend a week as a visiting professor at Universidad de Navarra in the Faculty of Nursing, where I gave lectures and met with staff to discuss research projects and publications. I have a great many friends in Pamplona, as described in a previous entry, and the local food is very good. I have been coming here for 25 years, and someone found this picture from my first visit. I had more on top and less round the middle in those days.

I had to decline most invitations to eat until my intestines were finally brought under control by a combination of semistarvation and isotonic drinks. The visit to Spain reminded me how great international travel is—when it works! On the way to Madrid, I had a four-hour delay at London Heathrow and an unexpected and unwanted night in an airport hotel. On return, the flights worked, but my train to Hull from London was delayed by two hours.


 

Madrid

Yours Truly, 2016.

After two weeks at home, I returned to Spain but, this time, to the outskirts of Madrid to spend two days at the Universidad Europea de Madrid, one of three in Spain. I visited another campus of the same university in 2015, reported in a previous entry. These universities, part of the Laureate International Universities, are run as private universities and commercial companies, a very different model from the one I am used to in the UK where there is only one private university—the University of Buckingham.

My visit was organised around one lecture to staff and students titled “From research results to publication.” It was well attended, but what pleased me most was the intense and thoughtful questions from staff members and students about trends in scientific publication. I also had a long meeting with staff members to discuss publication strategies and to go into more depth on some aspects of the lecture.

The visit was hosted by Ana María Giménez Maroto, PhD, RN, head of nursing, whom I was delighted to meet. I was also very pleased to meet an old friend, Juanjo José Beunza Nuin, DE, MMed, Msc, a former cardiovascular physician who worked in Pamplona but who now divides his time between the Universidad Europea where he runs interprofessional learning and his consultancy company. Many years ago, we climbed together on some of Navarra, Spain’s enormous limestone crags.

This visit introduced me to a wonderful designer hotel, the Petit Palace Art Gallery near Plaza de Colón in the heart of Madrid. I was very amused to find one of those elevators you see in movies. You know, the ones that run up the centre of a spiral staircase with two sets of doors that you operate yourself and—in movies at least—always seem to be associated with suspense and drama. I have no idea what they are called, but I made a video that I uploaded to YouTube. Some people might say I need to get out more often.


 

9 December 2016

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.

 

 


 

Connecting Continents


 

20 January 2017

Bullish on Pamplona

 

The author runs the famous Running of the Bulls route—minus the bulls.

PAMPLONA, Spain—I am back in Pamplona, which is best known for The Running of the Bulls. This week I ran part of the route. No bulls were harmed in the process. Later, as I have done many times, I walked the route from its start to its terminus, the Plaza de Toros de Pamplona with its statue of Ernest ‘Papa’ Hemingway, who lived and wrote here and helped make The Running of the Bulls famous. The event takes place each day during the eight-day, annual festival of San Fermín, Pamplona’s patron saint.

I have never seen the bulls run in person. One of my daughters has. To secure a place in the crowd before the early-morning event, one must rise very early. Each day, six bulls are transferred from fields outside the city to the bullring, where they meet their gory and inevitable fate in the afternoon. In case you don’t know, people “run the bulls”—in front of them! As far as I know, only men take part in this madness, which requires considerable skill, speed, and understanding of a bull’s behaviour. The objective is to keep the bulls going in the same direction. As a few unfortunate tourists have discovered, a bull that stops or changes direction is essentially a killing machine. I have not made my mind up if I ever want to see the bulls being run.

How this place has changed
I pointed out in a previous post that I have been coming here for many years. How many years? Well, I noted in the main entrance to the hospital that a 25-year thanksgiving Mass was being celebrated for the oratorio (chapel) located in the basement, and I realized during this visit that I recall the chapel being opened. When I first came here to the University of Navarra, the present chapel did not exist, only the much smaller oratorio next to it.

It struck me that, in my professional life, I have done only one thing that has continued for 25 years and that is to maintain my relationship with the University of Navarra and its clinica (hospital). In that time, the hospital has nearly quadrupled in size. The university’s School of Nursing has evolved into a Faculty of Nursing. (Outside the United States, a faculty is an organisational unit.)

A physician was in charge of nursing education when I arrived, and men were not permitted to study nursing here. Nurses have been in the lead for more than 20 years, and there are now male nursing students. Few of the lecturers spoke English, and none had doctorates. Now they teach in English, run a doctoral programme, and hold significant research grants. Over lunch with Mercedes Pérez Díez del Corral, dean of nursing, I was asked how I thought they had done since I first arrived. “Quite well,” I replied.

During my time here, I have been teaching undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students and advising staff members about publications. However, the day job continues, and I have kept up with work at the University of Hull and with my journals. One of the less pleasant sides of editing is dealing with complaints from authors about other authors and editors of other journals. They range from authorship disputes to complaints about duplicate publications and plagiarism. They all have to be investigated, and it often takes months to arrive at a clear view of what has happened and then agree upon a suitable course of action. I am very grateful for guidance offered by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). There is rarely a time when a case is not ongoing.

Meantime, I am preparing lectures for a week at the University of Maribor, which I first visited last year. Before going to Maribor, I spend one night in Northern Ireland and take part in a PhD examination at the University of Ulster.

Great news!
I heard this week that I am to be inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place on 29 July 2017 in Dublin, Ireland during the 28th International Nursing Research Conference, sponsored by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. This is a great honour, especially when I see who has previously received it. Next entry from Slovenia.

6 March 2017

What I saw in Slovenia

 

They wore cowbells, but they weren’t cows. 

MARIBOR, Slovenia—More great news! In my previous post, I announced that I will be inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame during the 28th International Nursing Research Congress, sponsored by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI). Now I’ve learned that my good friend and colleague, Parveen Ali, PhD, RN, FRSA, University of Sheffield, will be honoured as an Emerging Nurse Researcher at the same event. She thus achieves a double—the first UK nurse to receive the award and the first Pakistani to do so.

I first met Ali in Sheffield when I interviewed her for a post as a research assistant on one of my projects. In a manner of speaking, we’ve been together ever since. She was working on her PhD while assisting me and gave birth to her second baby without any noticeable decline in work rate. (NB: I’m not advocating this!) I was very happy when she joined me at the University of Hull for a short time in her first lecturing role before returning to work in Sheffield. She is an expert on interpersonal violence, especially in the Pakistani community.

Meantime, in Slovenia
I was working in my hotel room one evening this week and heard cowbells approaching. In the street below, a white bear-like creature with a grotesque mask and cowbells strapped around the waist appeared and then entered a building opposite. I really had to pinch myself, and, yes, I was awake. Next day I discovered that I am here in the middle of Kurentovanje and that what I had seen was a man in a Kurent mask. The mask is, essentially, a costume, and I had seen them in a museum on a previous visit. But the difference between seeing a static mask in a museum and a large, noisy, hairy creature running along the street is striking.

The tradition, which occurs close to Easter, reaches its peak on what we call Shrove Tuesday in the United Kingdom, the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. Back home, Shrove Tuesday is also called Pancake Tuesday because we traditionally eat—and toss—pancakes. (My oldest son is an expert.) Here in Slovenia, they have a higher calorie tradition of consuming large doughnut-like cakes filled with marmalade, which we ate at the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Maribor. The man in the Kurent mask is doing an important meteorological job; he is chasing out winter.

This is my second academic visit to Slovenia. I have been teaching doctoral candidates about evidence-based practice and systematic reviewing, and they have been a pleasure to be with. I am collaborating here on a few studies and I think other European and UK universities could learn a lot from my nursing colleagues in Maribor. I was in Northern Ireland last week, and they were there. I go to Edinburgh regularly and have discovered they have links with all three universities there. Soon Dean Majda Pajnkihar, PhD, RN, and some senior colleagues will make their first visit to China.

Next on my agenda, after one full day at home, is a visit to Hong Kong to participate in the 20th EAFONS (East Asian Forum of Nursing Scholars). It is being held at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and I look forward to catching up with old friends.


 

21 March 2017

Both ends of Asia


From Hong Kong to Turkey by way of the UK.


ATATÜRK AIRPORT, Istanbul, Turkey—One full day at home after Slovenia before flying to Hong Kong seemed very short. I was in Hong Kong for the 20th East Asian Forum of Nursing Scholars (EAFONS), hosted by Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Thus, I was reunited in the Far East with Mark Hayter, my Hull University and Journal of Advanced Nursing colleague. Our commitments and travelling schedules mean we rarely meet in the UK, so it was good to have time to reflect on life, work, and academic publishing.

We are both intensely interested in nursing in the Far East, and EAFONS is a great opportunity to check how things are. We both presented at the conference, and my contribution to a Round Table on Doctoral Education in Nursing is available on podcast. The second keynote by Sonja McIlfatrick, PhD, RN, Ulster University, UK, on the same topic but covering the work of the International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing (INDEN), of which she is now president, was superb. McIlfatrick made the point that, because a PhD can be clinically oriented, it follows that PhDs can be relevant to clinical practice.

EAFONS provides an opportunity for me to catch up with old friends who are, literally, too many to mention. I was especially pleased to see Sophia Chan, PhD, RN, FAAN, again. Formerly head of the School of Nursing at the University of Hong Kong, she is now undersecretary for Food and Health, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Numerous other FAANs were also there, two of whom I witnessed being inducted into the academy in Washington, D.C., last year.

I also met Tzu-Pei Yeh, PhD. A former PhD student of mine from Taiwan, she is now an assistant professor at China Medical University. I also had an opportunity to meet another very good friend from Taiwan, Lian-Hua Huang, PhD, RN, FAAN. A professor in National Taiwan University School of Nursing, she is now a committee member of the International Council of Nurses.

Hong Kong was, mercifully, cool, and I recommend March as a time to visit. It will not be as cool when I return in June to work with the Hong Kong University Grants Committee.

The other end of Asia
Returning from Hong Kong, I landed at London Heathrow, arrived in Hull late having missed a train. After spending a full day there, I returned the next evening to Heathrow, this time to travel to Turkey to give a keynote titled “From results to readership: Publishing your research” at the first International Congress on Nursing in Antalya, Turkey (click here for podcast).

I had a heart-stopping moment on arriving at Antalya Airport—no driver. I phoned the number I had—“Sorry, no English.” Foolishly, I had no idea where I was staying and no other means of contacting anyone. After a long wait, a man holding a card with ROGER WATSON written on it turned up. This has only happened to me once before—in Turkey!

Most of the proceedings of the two-day conference were in Turkish, but this gave me the opportunity to meet and talk with people individually outside the sessions. I met Gülcan Taskiran, MSc, RN, again, who was a great help. She is a research assistant and PhD student in nursing at Istanbul University, where I met her last December.

I spent my final day in Antalya as a tourist and visited some ancient Roman ruins. The city of Perga is breathtaking, both for the ingenuity of its architecture and sheer size. The 15,000-seat amphitheatre at Aspendos almost defies description.

Time to breathe
My travel schedule is mostly self-imposed, and I pride myself on never putting up an “out of office” email when I am away. But even though I assiduously keep up with emails and writing, travel sometimes makes things are made more difficult. For example, Hull colleagues Jane Wray, MSc, RN, David Barrett, PhD, RN, and I were awarded a substantial research grant by the Burdett Trust for Nursing. The funds will enable us to investigate the transition from student to registered nurse as well as issues related to workforce retention at this critical time. Job adverts for project-related personnel are out, and, in the next few weeks, we will get it running. Meanwhile, I have mountains of data to analyse and several manuscripts in draft to move along toward submission. So, the long-suffering Mrs. Watson will have to put up with me for a few weeks.

However, I have just agreed to my third invitation to China this year to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Peking Union Medical College in Beijing. The dean of nursing, Hauping Liu, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a dear friend with whom I was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 2007. That's the good news. The great news is my wife is coming with me for her first visit to mainland China.

 

10 April 2017

Back to basics at Oxford

 

On keeping the important things important.

VIRGIN TRAINS EAST COAST, somewhere between London and Hull—Looking ahead, I have seven weeks in the UK, a record in recent years. Since the second week of January, when this year’s travelling began, I have not been home for more than a week.

I have just departed from the gleaming spires of Oxford and the RCN International Nursing Research Conference and Exhibition 2017. Well attended, there were several hundred delegates representing many countries, and the quality of papers and keynotes was high. With few exceptions, I have attended this conference since I was a staff nurse in 1988.

These days I attend in my capacity as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. The conference has grown, my colleagues have grown older, and it remains the main scientific conference for nursing in the United Kingdom. In pursuit of accommodation close to the venue, I chose Magdalen College (pronounced “modlin”) and was impressed by how cheap it was. Then I found out why. With mental images of a stately room overlooking the famous deer park or the splendid chapel, I was assigned to an “out house” quite a long way from the main college with no en suite facilities—a proper student dorm or hall of residence as we would call them. It was like being back in my junior officer training with the army. But, in fact, it was very pleasant and it led to some great anecdotes over dinner with other “inmates.” Good for the soul, I think. A perfect antidote to the business lounges and hotels I normally frequent.

Memory lane
In the two weeks since my visit to Turkey, I have been in London and Edinburgh, where I delivered sessions on writing for publication to staff members and students at London South Bank University and The University of Edinburgh. In a previous life at The University of Edinburgh, I was senior warden with responsibility for 3,500 students in university accommodation. The building where I gave my session at Edinburgh was the location of my office and, 19 years later, I could still see the mark on the door where the varnished and gold-lettered “Senior Warden” sign had been located before being unscrewed by my secretary and given to me as a present. I am not sure how my successor’s presence was indicated after my departure, but the sign now hangs in the summer house that is located in our back garden (“yard” for North Americans). The building is now called St Leonard’s Hall, but it may interest you to know that it was originally a girls’ school called St Trinnean’s and was, in fact, where the original St Trinian’s stories was based.

Publish or perish
So far, this has been a productive year with four refereed articles published, two under revision and, of course, the usual rejections. A career motto has been to make each rejection the start of the next submission, so the search for alternative destinations for the rejections is underway. The immense satisfaction of publishing anything and seeing my name in print has never waned since my first article in Nursing Times in 1984.

Returning to the Royal College of Nursing International Research Conference, Philip Darbyshire, PhD, RN, reminded us how publishing an article is the beginning of a process and not the end. To a packed fringe session, he gave a challenging session on self-promotion of your profile and work. We must, he said, get over the feeling that confidence in what you are good at and telling people about is arrogance.

In fact, it is essential to share what we accomplish. If we have a skill or have discovered something useful, we have a moral duty to promote it, and social media are the best way to do it. Challenged by some who claimed they had no time, were too busy, and already worked 12 hours a day, leaving no time for social media, he exhorted them to do an hour less of something unproductive. He asked how many meetings they attended were unnecessary and how often they sat in their offices waiting to see students who did not need to see them.

I have far less of my academic career left than has gone before and, as that time shortens, I want to see how much less I can do of some trivial things to help me achieve more of the important things. I left Oxford with many invitations pending, some obvious avenues for research collaboration, and new contacts to cultivate. My priority will be to prioritise these opportunities.


 

5 May 2017

Back to globe-trotting


But first, a virtual tour of where I live.

HULL, United Kingdom—I am in the final week of seven weeks at home, and it has been a good opportunity to catch up with the kind of work that can be hard to accomplish when you are on the move. Six manuscripts have been written, five submitted, and one already rejected (an occupational hazard). The latter will be revised and resubmitted. I can write easily when travelling, but data analysis is harder—impossible on a tablet and difficult on a laptop. For that, I need my own desktop computer with all the correct software installed.

In the meantime, I was very happy to have an article accepted in 
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatricsco-authored with my doctoral student Alvisa Palese, RN, from the University of Udine, Italy; other Italian contributors; and Hull colleague Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN. Palese is possibly unique. She is a full professor in Italy—no mean achievement—with an unmatched publication record in nursing, but only recently has she found time to pursue her PhD.

I met Alvisa years ago when she attended a conference workshop on questionnaire design I organised. She invited me to visit Trieste, Italy, and teach her graduate students. That was my first visit to Venice—the location of the nearest airport—and my first brief visit to Slovenia, which borders with Italy and is very close to Trieste. We have maintained contact, and it is my privilege to work with her. Already, an article from her doctoral work has been published in JAMDAand others have been submitted. Words like dynamo and whirlwind always come into conversations about Alvisa. She never walks—always runs—and I have never known her to waste a minute of her academic career.

#Hull2017

The above subhead is the hashtag for Hull’s year as 
UK City of Culture, and I was very pleased to organise an event to celebrate the life of Hull native Kay Mander (1915-2013). We showed the film “One Continuous Take” and were very lucky to have the film’s editor, Adele Carroll, who is also an award-winning producer and director, address us. Mander was a cinematographer of considerable repute. A woman in the man’s world of cinema in the 1940s, she was born in Hull less than a half mile from my house. We hope to celebrate this in due course by erecting a commemorative “green plaque” at the site. Perhaps you’ve never heard of Mander, but you will have heard of her lover Kirk Douglas, who recently celebrated 100 years.

Green plaques are unique to our 
conservation area of Hull, which is looked after by The Avenues and Pearson Park Association (APPRA). An alternative to the more official blue plaques, common in London and other cities of the UK, our green plaques require a great deal less bureaucracy to erect. We have already celebrated other famous residents, including actor Ian Carmichael; aviator Amy Johnson, another pioneering woman in a man’s world; and crime writer Dorothy L. Sayers, who developed the character Lord Peter Wimsey. I can see her plaque from my office window as I write.

Other famous Hull residents include another cinema link—director 
Anthony Minghella (“The English Patient” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley”)—and one survivor of the Titanic disaster, Fourth Officer Thomas Boxall, allegedly disowned by his family for surviving. If we succeed in having a green plaque erected for Kay Mander, it will be the first one honouring someone born—as opposed to only residing—in the area.

After giving you a virtual tour of the area where I live in this very special city of Hull, I now face a period of intense travel, starting at the end of this week. My number of visits to mainland China this year has increased to four. I have added another visit to Hong Kong, making that three this year. And I recently agreed to a visit to Taiwan, thus maintaining an unbroken record of at least one visit annually since 2003. I have a multi-entry visa to Saudi Arabia in my passport, arranged for by the Saudi Ministry of Health, and expect to be making a few visits to the kingdom soon. If the airline industry is struggling to make profits, it is certainly not my fault.

 

16 May 2017

It’s all ‘shuang’ in China

 

Check out my chopstick skills.

LUZHOU, Sichuan Province, China—The Chinese word “shuang” means cool. I learned this word on my previous trip to China and was determined to include it in my repertoire of Chinese words on this trip. It’s a great word. It can be used in the affirmative with an enthusiastic expression that says, “Yes, I’ll have more of that,” or in the negative with a raised hand and head shake that says, “No, I’ve had enough.” Given the lavish hospitality one is shown in China, the latter is a necessity.

My Chinese vocabulary amounts to about 10 words, and five of them are the words for one to five. It’s a challenge. For example, in the names Zang and Zhang, “z” and “zh” are pronounced quite differently. If you’re talking to a friend who has one of these surnames and pronounce their name incorrectly, you’ll be met with a blank expression, as so often happens to me. On the other hand, although my linguistic skills may be poor, my chopstick skills are impeccable, as this YouTube clip shows.

This is my fourth visit to Luzhou. Chen Yanhua, PhD, RN, my first Chinese doctoral student, is now second in command of the nursing school at Southwestern Medical University, and I have now recruited a second student who joins us in Hull at the end of the year. We are also expecting an academic visitor soon, who will work with me for one year.

I have always maintained that any relationship in China takes three visits to establish, often over three years. The purpose of the first visit is to look at you, the second visit to listen to what you want, and the third visit to tell you what you will get. In the fourth year, things start to develop, and this is exactly the process that has occurred here. I think things have been greatly helped by a visit earlier this year from Julie Jomeen, PhD, RN, RM, dean, Faculty of Health and Social Care at Hull.

My visiting professorship here enables me to make one visit annually and to deliver one lecture at their annual conference. This year, I spoke about nursing care of older people with dementia. I have also been helping to edit and comment on manuscripts for publication. My colleagues here keep apologising for their poor English and the work it takes me to help them get manuscripts to the stage where they can be submitted. I marvel at the work they accomplish while using a second, very different language and the fact that they produce so many manuscripts. I emphasise that it’s a process, and, provided they get help with their English—especially with the final draft before submission—they should keep their production line working. I also tell them about publication ethics and the poor reputation some institutions in China have, as evidenced by high levels of retracted articles.

My next visit to the Far East is next month, to work for a week on the University Grants Committee of the Hong Kong University Grants Council. Currently, I am working through grant applications that have been given to me to administer to determine if they are worthy of funding. Each year, there are more applications, and it becomes harder to find reviewers, but I am very grateful to the many people across the world that are on my list and never fail to provide their reviews on time.

 

12 June 2017

Ramadan in Riyadh

 

Author teaches night classes—from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

ABOARD TRAIN BETWEEN LONDON AND HULL, United Kingdom—I have just returned from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where I experienced Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, for the first time in the Middle East. It was unusual to be invited during Ramadan—quite a privilege, in some ways, as this is a spiritual time for Muslims, and most non-Muslims leave to take a holiday. For me, with the very short working days and long nights associated with Ramadan, life essentially got turned upside down during my time in Riyadh. During Ramadan, eating and drinking are completely forbidden to Muslims during hours of daylight. Mercifully, days are short in the Middle East during that time. (Spare a thought for our Muslim colleagues in the upper reaches of the Northern Hemisphere).

Fasting is only during the day and, frankly, a considerable amount of eating goes on from the evening meal—iftar—until dawn. Work also goes on during those hours, and I had my first experience of teaching from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thus, I needed coffee to stay awake without the subsequent benefit of alcohol to help me sleep. I was not obliged to fast, but if I wanted breakfast I had to order it before dawn. So, I got into a routine of pocketing a few items at iftar—fruit and yogurt—and depositing them in my fridge. Although eating and drinking are forbidden in front of Muslims during Ramadan, my friends and colleagues were helpful in providing me with water and opportunities to drink it at meetings. One day, I delivered a four-hour workshop and had to be excused several times to take a few sips. By the end of the day, because of the dust in the air and the fierce air-conditioning—the outside temperature was 55 degrees Celsius (131 degrees Fahrenheit)—I was croaking like a frog.

The ‘Godfather’
I was in The Kingdom at the invitation of Mansour Saleh Alyami, PhD, RN, director general for training at the Saudi Ministry of Health and a former PhD student of mine. The ministry is currently upgrading the educational level of a vast range and number of health technicians—including nurses—who are not presently able to practice safely. The next step is to upgrade the equally vast numbers (tens of thousands) of diploma-educated nurses to degree level. It was wonderful to see Mansour in his “empire,” with four floors of a ministry building under his command and an office that would not shame a prime minister. Well respected by his colleagues, he is a man of impeccable manners who ensured that his personal assistant, through whom my arrangements had been made, was found and taken to meet me. A nice touch in a country where hierarchy and upward respect are prominent with little reciprocation. I am touched that he refers to me, and did so publicly, as his “Godfather.”

I had a very pleasant dinner with an old friend, Mustafa Bodrick, PhD, RN, who is a former PhD student of Hester Klopper, PhD, RN, past president of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Mustafa is now the first nursing adviser appointed to the Saudi Commission for Health Specialities. A man of incredible erudition and learning, his life story is fascinating. A Roman Catholic and a Muslim, we toasted, in light of recent events, world peace with a fine, nonalcoholic Tempranillo.

I also had the privilege of meeting a new and much younger friend, Jonas Cruz, PhD, RN, who works at a university three hours outside Riyadh. We have been corresponding about research, and when I told him I was coming to Riyadh, he arranged to drive up and have dinner with me.

These are tense days in the UK, and that tension was reflected in the Middle East. I woke on the first full day of my visit to the news that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates had severed diplomatic ties with Qatar.

This train journey from London to Hull takes me home for one night. I then return to the airport and board for Hong Kong.

 

20 June 2017

Renewing connections in Hong Kong

 

Despite a typhoon and torrential rain, a good week.

HONG KONG, SAR, China—This has not been the best week for weather in Hong Kong. We’ve had a typhoon, torrential rain, thunder, and intense humidity. Professionally and socially, however, it has been very worthwhile.

I am back for my annual visit to the Research Grants Committee of the Hong Kong University Grants Committee, where we distribute approximately HK$50 million (more than US$6 million) to local researchers. I also attended the Prestigious Fellowships Committee, where senior academics are recognised and allocated funding to undertake a year of study. I looked around the table at Ivy LeagueOxbridge, and Russell Group university colleagues—distinguished in all sorts of fields from design to social sciences—and had to pinch myself. However, I was equally happy to introduce myself as “Roger Watson from Hull, UK, and I’m a nurse.” 

Outside of meetings, I have had an intensive series of lunches and dinners to catch up with old friends and colleagues, including Alex Molasiotis, PhD, RN, head of nursing at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Sek-Ying, PhD, RN, chair of Nethersole School of Nursing, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

For the first time in more than a decade, I visited Chinese University, which is in Shatin District in the New Territories near the Chinese border, to give a seminar on publishing in impact-factor journals. I first visited here as an external examiner in 2003—my first visit to Hong Kong and my first to the Far East. It was the start of a love affair with this part of the world.



I had dinner with Fowie Ng, PhD, occupational therapist and Hull graduate. I also visited him at the state-of-the-art hospice where he works in the New Territories. On my final day, I had lunch with Eric Chan, MSc, RN, dean of Caritas Institute for Higher Education and founding member of the Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing & Midwifery (GAPFON).

Good news
Meanwhile, work goes on, and this has been a week of good news. First, I had two manuscripts accepted by good journals, one a first-authored article reporting on a longitudinal study of feeding difficulty in older people with dementia in Italy and the other a systematic review with one of my colleagues at Hull.

Then, contrary to our expectations, the impact factor for Journal of Advanced Nursing increased to 1.998. We continue to hover under the magical number 2.0, but there is always next year.

Then Yu Chen, my colleague from Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, graduated with her PhD. Yu spent a year working with me in Hull. In two weeks, I return to Hong Kong to take the train up to Guangzhou to spend two weeks with her.

The visual backdrop as I write this post is a 26-story view of Hong Kong harbour. Immediately below me intensive construction work is taking place—as it has ever since I started serving on the Research Grants Committee. One thing is always assured in Hong Kong: Everything changes.

 

12 July 2017

In the footsteps of Marco Polo

 

From Italy to China, with a quick flight home to England.

GUANGZHOU CITY, China—The gross domestic product of China’s Guandong Province exceeds that of many countries. Its population is more than 100 million, and its capital—Guangzhou City—has a population of 14 million. Southern Medical University’s Zhujiang Hospital, which I visited, has 2,200 beds.

Last week I was in Genoa, Italy, the birthplace of Marco Polo, who did so much to tell Europe about China. After a single night at home to remind my wife she is not a widow, I flew to Hong Kong and took the train to Guangzhou. Since my first visit to Hong Kong, when I saw trains passing through the New Territories to China, I have wanted to make the journey.

The conveyance I took used to be called—eponymously and romantically—the Kowloon China Railway (KCR), which describes its function perfectly. Now it is called, less romantically, the East Rail Line. The journey takes two hours, and I arrived in Guangzhou in torrential rain. According to my hosts, when an important person arrives in a Chinese city, it rains. “Who is coming?” I asked.



Genoa
My week in Genoa was in fulfilment of my role as visiting professor at the University of Genova (another spelling of Genoa), one of three visits I make annually with my colleague from Hull, Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN. Between pizza and pasta, we met daily with colleagues and graduate students to discuss progress on several projects and publications on which we are collaborating. This has been a very productive group effort that has resulted in several publications, one of which was recently published online.

The weather in Genoa was superb and conducive to running in the morning before the sun rose. We happily agreed to another year of visits. I am also pleased to report that, this coming October, a second Italian nursing academic and my good friend Gennaro Rocco, PhD, RN, of Rome will be inducted in Washington, D.C., as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

China
I am finishing the first of two weeks as a visiting professor at Southern Medical University. My inauguration to that role took place on my first day. In addition to delivering three conference keynotes and giving a lecture at Zhujiang Hospital, I’ve spent morning and afternoons this past week teaching. Next week, things will be less hectic, and I will meet individually with staff members to advise on publications. As is typical in China, my hosts have been very generous with their hospitality. In addition to visiting Canton Tower, which was, briefly, the tallest tower in the world, we made a boat trip one evening on the Pearl River (the Zhujiang). This weekend, I explore Guangzhou and more of Guandong Province.

The rain that accompanied my arrival in Guangzhou set the meteorological tone for my visit. The kaleidoscope of weather has included thick clouds, bright sunshine, and driving rain, often in the space of 10 minutes. Determined to keep running, I went out in the pouring rain at 6 a.m. the first morning after my arrival, to the astonishment of campus security staff and sweepers. My hosts have registered me with a local fitness club, which I can see from the main gate of the campus. Nevertheless, there is constant worry that I will either become lost or be hit by a car on the way there. Has the ageing process left me looking that helpless? This constant and close attention to guests is also a prominent feature of Chinese culture.

I have no doubt I will survive the week ahead. Proof of my survival will be a blog entry later this month about the 28th International Nursing Research Congress in Dublin, Ireland, sponsored by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. During my time in Dublin, I will be inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.

 

23 August 2017

Taiwan, possibly my third home

 

Oh, THAT vice president!

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Hong Kong SAR, China—My unbroken record of visiting Taiwan annually since 2003 remains, thanks to an invitation to visit China Medical University in central Taiwan this week. This is my first visit to Taichung, which is a beautiful city. It’s green (politically and ecologically), it’s quiet and has many interesting modern buildings.

The invitation came from my former doctoral student Tzu-Pei Yeh, PhD, RN, an sssistant professor here. It was especially nice to share the visit and the travel with Graeme Smith, PhD, RN, professor of nursing, Edinburgh Napier University and Hong Kong University. We are both editors; Smith edits Journal of Clinical Nursing, and part of his time here was devoted to reviewing and advising on manuscripts for publication. We also gave lectures on our areas of research and on writing for publication.

With high temperatures and high humidity, it was possible to run only in the very early morning, by which I mean starting at 5:30 a.m., before the sun was up. The first morning, I got completely lost, prompting me to wonder if I ought to be allowed out alone in foreign places. Confidence was restored later in the week, however, when I managed to find the route I had planned and my way back to the hotel without stopping to get my bearings.

At the end of the week, I travelled to Taipei spend some time during which I met several old friends. These included Hui-Chi Huang, DNS, RN, whose doctoral examination at the University of Ulster I attended more than 20 years ago. She has worked in several universities and has invited me here several times. Retired from university work, she now consults for various bodies on long-term care.



Today I attended Mass at the Holy Family Church—my “parish” church in Taipei—with Lian Hua Huang, PhD, RN, FAAN, formerly dean of nursing at National Taiwan University and recently appointed a committee member of the International Council of Nurses. After Mass, she introduced me to their vice president who, I assumed, was vice president of her university but came to learn I had been speaking to the vice president of Taiwan, Chen Chein-jen. Former minister of health in Taiwan, he earned his ScD in human genetics and epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University!

Finally, I had lunch with my oldest and dearest friend in Taiwan, Li-Chan Lin, PhD, RN, professor of nursing, National Yang-Ming University, who first invited me here in 2003.

JAN news
Since my last entry, the annual release of journal impact factors has taken place. Amidst concerns that the impact factor of Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN) was going to fall, we were very pleased—and relieved—that it improved to 1.998. Due to some spectacular increases in impact factor by a few other journals, we have fallen down the “league table.” I would like to be higher up the table, but for the time being, I’ll settle for an increased impact factor.

Other news from JAN is that we are going to lose two excellent colleagues: Brenda Roe, PhD, RN, FQNI, and Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, FAAN. Roe is professor of health research, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK, and has been a colleague since 1984 when we were fledgling nurse researchers at the Nursing Practice Research Unit, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, UK. She joined JAN a long time before I became editor-in-chief, and her profound experience of clinical trial and systematic review methodology as well as her clinical expertise in care of older people will be hard to replace. Pickler is FloAnn Sours Easton Endowed Professor of Child and Adolescent Health, Ohio State University, Columbus. I am delighted to say that she has been appointed editor-in-chief of Nursing Research. The search for replacements is taking place, and we are especially interested in having editors from North America and the Far East.

A sign proclaiming “Taiwan touch your heart” used to greet arrivals at the Taipei-Taoyuan International Airport (next to one stating that drug traffickers will be executed), and over the years it certainly has touched my heart. A visit to Taichung is already being arranged for next year. On the immediate horizon is my first visit to Karachi, Pakistan.

 

29 September 2017

Celebrating in Beijing

 

Facts and figures about Chinese nursing stagger me.

The author recounts his recent visit to Beijing to join in centenary observances of Peking Union Medical College.

HONG KONG, SAR, China—I am on the home leg of a visit to Beijing with my wife, her first to mainland China, and we are having “a relax”—as my Chinese friends endearingly refer to it—in Hong Kong for a day before returning to the rigours of life in the UK. I have to say that Mrs. Watson is very impressed with China, but, as I pointed out to her, I don’t always stay in the Grand Hyatt. We were there courtesy—and extreme generosity—of Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), which was celebrating its centenary. Specifically, I was invited by Liu Huaping, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and professor at PUMC School of Nursing, with whom I was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2007 and with whom I have maintained contact. This was my second visit to PUMC.

Founded by the Rockefeller family in 1917, the college established—with the help of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA—a fine medical school, now one of the most prestigious in China. With help from Christian organisations in the United States and the United Kingdom, it also established the first university school of nursing in China. I could not help but reflect on the influence of the Rockefeller family on nursing, as they also established, at the University of Edinburgh, the first school of nursing in Europe. Indeed, descendants of the Rockefeller family were present in Beijing this week.

The history of PUMC School of Nursing is fascinating and was beautifully told by Sonya Grympa, PhD, RN, dean and professor of Trinity Western University, Canada, in her keynote. During the Sino-Japanese war, when Beijing was invaded by the Japanese, the school was closed. Undeterred, the then dean and a handful of staff members undertook their own “long march” and walked to Chengdu in Sichuan Province to re-establish the school. It’s a three-hour flight from Chengdu to Beijing. The nursing dignitaries from around the world who also attended the centenary observance are too numerous to mention, but I was especially pleased to meet Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, FAAN, former deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and to learn we have many colleagues in common.

The celebration included entertainment by nursing students, a first-rate Chinese banquet, and a morning of speeches and films about PUMC, its history, and distinguished alumni. I came away laden with gifts and brochures, many of which had to remain in my hotel room in Beijing, but I will take home and treasure the panoramic precelebration photograph of nursing dignitaries present at the centenary and a beautiful two-part pictorial history (in Chinese) of PUMC.

Facts and figures related to China and Chinese nursing stagger me. There are more than 900 nursing schools. In 2012, China had 2 million nurses, and now it has 3.5 million. By 2025, they aim to have 7 million nurses, a fraction of what they need to reach the nurse-population ratios of other developed countries. It puts UK nurse shortages—a serious issue, to be sure—into perspective.

As usual, it was not all work. Daniel Liu, my good friend and oftentimes translator in China, took my wife Debbie to see the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Then Debbie, who now, of course, knows her way around Beijing better than me, took me to see the Olympic Stadium, known now as the National Stadium but affectionately referred to as “the bird’s nest.” My wife is an Olympics nut—ask her any question about it—and I have never seen her so excited.

Next week, we go to Washington, D.C. for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Nursing. At the end of that week, I am back in Hong Kong for another celebration followed by another week in China.

 

10 October 2017

Sadness and celebration

 

First FAAN inducted from UK-Europe honors recent inductees.

Author attends American Academy of Nursing induction ceremonies in Washington, D.C.

HULL, United Kingdom—Flags were flying at half-staff for the duration of our stay in Washington, D.C. last week. For anyone unaware of the shooting incident in Las Vegas, the constant television coverage would have brought them up to speed very quickly. Notwithstanding the devastating effect of this tragedy, life went on in the U.S. capital as usual, the best response to those who would attempt to terrorise us.

I was in Washington with my wife for the induction of the 2017 class of 173 fellows into the American Academy of Nursing, which brings current FAAN ranks to approximately 2,400. In light of continuing arguments in the UK over the value of nursing more moves to undermine the present model of all graduate entry to the profession, it was almost therapeutic for me to read and hear about achievements of the people who crossed the stage last Saturday evening.

I am inordinately proud of my own FAAN designation. As a pioneer of those inducted from outside the United States into the American Academy of Nursing, I am very pleased to see an increasing number of international FAANs being inducted, including many of my friends from across the world. [Editor’s note: Inducted as a fellow in 2007, Watson was the first UK-European nurse to be elected to the American Academy of Nursing.] It is always my pleasure to attend the annual ceremony and to applaud and personally congratulate those who are inducted.

This year, I was there to support my Italian colleague, Gennaro Rocco, PhD, RN, FAAN, who pioneered regulation of nursing in Italy and parts of Eastern Europe. I first encountered Rocco a few years ago when he was head of IPASVI—the nursing board of Rome—and I look forward to joining him in Palermo, Sicily, in a few weeks to address a conference on advanced nursing practice.

Another inductee I was very pleased to see was Edith Hillan, PhD, RN, FAAN, a fellow Scot now at the University of Toronto, Canada, where she has served as dean and continued her work in midwifery. Others whose induction I was personally gratified to witness were Melissa Batchelor-Murphy, PhD, RN, FAAN, Duke University, who works in my own area of dementia-related feeding difficulty, and Sek Ying Chair, PhD, RN, FAAN, Chinese University of Hong Kong, whom I have known for many years. A most impressive inductee was Walter Sermeus, PhD, RN, FAAN, Leuven University, Belgium, who has extended RN4CAST work across Europe.

The highlight of the evening for me, however, was an emotional reunion with my own FAAN sponsors from 10 years ago: Paula Milone-Nuzzo, PhD, RN, FAAN, former dean of nursing at Penn State and now president of MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, and Elaine Amella, PhD, RN, FAAN, Medical University of South Carolina. It is a privilege to have such friends.

Behind the scenes, Mrs. Watson and I “ran” D.C. On our first morning, we were leaving the hotel at sunrise, intending to head directly into town from Dupont Circle. But the bellman asked where we were going and suggested an alternate three-mile route to the White House, which we took and then ran back through the city. Running along the Potomac with the sun coming up as teams of rowers were being put through their paces, and then running by the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial was wonderful. On Saturday morning, we participated in the Roosevelt Island DC parkrun with 70 other runners, many from the UK and some from Australia and South Africa. My wife recognised and spoke to one of the organisers from the run we did last year at Fletcher’s Cove. Her recognition ability is a skill that completely eludes me.

The academic year has started in the UK, and I am pleased to see a good number of graduate students signing up to take my online quantitative methods module. I also have a group of final-year, undergraduate-student projects to supervise, and I look forward to meeting this group soon. In addition, we have new PhD students, and I have the pleasure of supervising two of them, one from Thailand and another from China. I also have international visiting scholars from China to work with.

Our community of Chinese nurse academics is growing, and they are a great pleasure to have with us. As they adjust to their new surroundings, one of my major tasks will be to help them relax as they contemplate what lies ahead and begin establishing—unassisted—daily goals for themselves. Our cultures are very different, as I will be reminded again next week when I make my final visit to China for 2017.

 

7 November 2017

My final China tour for 2017

 

Includes Hong Kong, Wuhan, and Shanghai.

The author recounts his final visit to China in 2017—his fourth this year.

SHANGHAI, China—My fourth visit to China this year and my final visit to the Far East in 2017 began with three nights in Hong Kong. I was invited by Hong Kong Polytechnic University (referred to locally as ‘PolyU’) to take part in their celebration of 40 years of nursing education. Until recently, I was an honorary and visiting professor. The paper I presented at the International Nursing Research Congress (INRC) in Dublin—my second INRC presentation—was part of the celebration and represented the end of a 10-year association with PolyU. I look forward to taking up a visiting professorship at The University of Hong Kong.

I also gave a workshop on grant writing at Caritas Institute of Higher Education, which is in the capable hands of Director Eric Chan, MSc, RN, a founding member of the Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing & Midwifery (GAPFON). The final evening in Hong Kong witnessed a marvellous party in the luxury Icon Hotel, belonging to PolyU. Entertainment was by The President’s Band with Timothy Tong, PhD, FHKEng, outgoing president of PolyU, on lead guitar, shown here on my YouTube channel. Sophia Chan, PhD, RN, FAAN, Minister for Food and Health, was the guest of honour, and it was very good to have a few minutes catching up with her.

Next, I flew to Wuhan in Hubei Province to spend seven days at Wuhan Polytechnic University teaching staff and research students about writing for publication. I also gave speeches on research and nursing education at two local, modestly sized, 5,000-bed hospitals. Wuhan itself is a city of 10 million people. So rare are westerners in Wuhan that I was often stopped on the street by people wanting to exchange hellos. Asked by my hosts to sum up my first impressions of Wuhan, I said, “Friendly.” Wuhan is also very historical. The first shots of the revolution against colonial rule were fired here in 1911. An excellent museum was built in 2011 to mark the centenary.

My time in China ended with three days at Fudan University in Shanghai at the invitation of Dean Hu Yan, PhD, RN, a member of the editorial board of Journal of Advanced Nursing. I presented a paper on evidence for practice at the first Joanna Briggs Institute Asia Symposium on Evidence-Based Health Care. The opening address was given by Alan Pearson, PhD, RN, FAAN, founder of the Joanna Briggs Institute, which now has more than 70 centres worldwide.

Apart from a brief journey between airports, this was my first visit to Shanghai, which is very different from any other city in China. Shanghai has retained a great deal of its colonial past with the various “concessions” (British, French, German, and Dutch). The waterfront at The Bund is spectacular at night, not so much for the bright lights and high-rise buildings—Hong Kong style—on Pudon Island but for the massive French colonial buildings illuminated opposite. I had a very attentive and willing PhD student assigned as my helper, but I insisted he take the day off on my last full day to allow me to negotiate the Metro and explore by myself. The other highlight of the visit was the Shanghai Circus. I rarely recommend things, but I think this should be seen if you come to Shanghai. See this link on my YouTube channel.

So, my time in Asia for 2017 is over, and only April and June next year are fixed for return visits. However, several other activities are planned, though not yet in the diary. I return to Hull to meet my new Chinese visiting academic from Beijing, who has arrived ahead of my return and will be with me for one year. She has been able to fit right in, thanks to my existing doctoral student and another visiting academic from China. The next three weeks find me in that part of Europe we British call “The Continent,” with two visits to Italy and one to Spain.

 


 

13 December 2017

A royal visit

 

A few trips to “the Continent” before year’s end.

HULL, United Kingdom—In November, the University of Hull was honoured by a visit from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to open our new medical building. I was not directly involved in the visit, but my colleagues who were involved all reported on her genuine interest in the people she met and the sheer stamina of our nonagenarian monarch who remained on her feet for more than two hours at Hull after visiting two other local projects earlier in the day. Royal visits literally take years of preparation, and this was a day that staff and students of the University of Hull will never forget.

Following my final visit of 2017 to China, I have been confined to Europe. I took in Italy (twice), Spain, and Ireland, and I even spent some time in the United Kingdom. These travels started with a very short visit to Palermo, Sicily, to give a paper on the development of advanced nurse practitioners in the UK. The conference was held under the auspices of IPASVI, the Nursing Board of Rome, and it was the first time I had been to Sicily. It was nice to swap a cold, wet, and windy UK for a warm and dry place and still be in Europe.

Spain
With a turnaround of less than 24 hours, I was on my way to Pamplona, Spain, to spend another week at the University of Navarra as a visiting professor. The weather was more or less the same as at home, but an imminent 10k race meant I had to explore the dark, cold, wet, and windy streets of Pamplona on my evening runs.

I mainly advised colleagues on research projects and manuscript preparation, but I also had the privilege of meeting the international master’s students and a large class of undergraduate nursing students who were preparing to visit various places across the world as part of their international programme. The School of Nursing at the University of Navarra is committed to international exchanges for students, and I had previously provided them with contacts in Singapore. This time, we discussed how they could make links in the Far East. As I write, these connections are being formed.

Italy
Next, I spent a week in Italy. It was my third visit of the year to the 
University of Genova. Over the years, it has been impressive to watch them develop their PhD programme and increase the number of publications resulting from their research. I am one of several UK and Irish colleagues who visit the university, and we all agree that, although we work hard, the rewards of a week in Genoa with some of the best food in the world and the sheer pleasure of the Ligurian coast are ample reward. As ever, this is one of my favourite places to run, and the poor weather could not deter me as my 10k training continued. 

Ireland
My mention above of Irish colleagues is a neat segue for telling you about traveling to Dublin, Ireland, for my final work-related visit of the year—three days at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Formed in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, some parts of this very traditional university date back to that time. Outside of the Oxbridge universities in the UK, it is unlikely you will find anything quite like The Commons. Essentially the staff club, it is a labyrinth of dining rooms and bars joined by magnificent large function rooms with carpets several inches thick and invaluable portraits on the walls. Mobile phones are forbidden, and decanters of port and sherry are placed strategically on tables.

Back in the real world, my job at TCD was to provide a workshop on writing for publication to Faculty of Health research students and a paper on publishing to a local research group focusing on spirituality. I also met Mary McCarron, the dynamic dean of health sciences—the first female dean—at TCD. By sheer coincidence, Mary’s sister is married to one of my best friends from my undergraduate days, and he and his wife are the godparents of our second daughter, Lucy. In another neat segue, my final flights of the year are to Cyprus with Mrs. Watson to visit Lucy before her current army posting there ends.

The race
Twice, I’ve mentioned a 10k race. It’s the famous Percy Pud race, now in its 25th year, and I ran with Mrs. Watson, who had run the course before. I was dressed for deepest winter, and the day turned out to be bright and warm. So, it was a hot race for me but I was pleased with a time of 28:13, which is still a long way from my target and slower than my wife’s best time on this course. 

The family will gather in Hull for Christmas, but we will be minus my son-in-law, who is currently engaged with peacekeeping duties with the United Nations in South Sudan. He returns next year in time for the birth of our seventh grandson in February to our daughter Emily, by which time I will have been to South Korea, Spain, and Slovenia. You will hear about these visits next year.

Best wishes for 2018!

 


 

7 January 2018

Cold in Seoul

 

The author shares highlights from the East Asian Forum of Nursing Scholars, which he attended in Seoul, South Korea.

LONDON, United Kingdom—In less than a month, I have visited two countries divided by demilitarized zones: Cyprus and Korea. Cyprus, which seems to live with this reality very well, has, essentially, free movement across the zone. Korea lives less comfortably with theirs. Nevertheless, the zone between North Korea and South Korea (always referred to in South Korea as the DMZ) has, with typical Far Eastern entrepreneurship, become a tourist attraction. As one colleague aptly put it, “They have commercialized their difficulties.” I declined my opportunity to take a tourist trip to the DMZ, mainly because the temperature there was at -14 Celsius (6.8 Fahrenheit). It was not that cold in Seoul, but it was cold enough to make even the shortest walk—with four layers, hat and gloves—a miserable experience. Mostly, I moved between my hotel and the underground restaurants located at the basement level of the shopping malls. It reminded me of Toronto in winter. 

I was in Seoul for the third time to attend, for the second time, the East Asian Forum of Nursing Scholars (EAFONS). This was the 21st EAFONS, and it attracted more than 1,000 people, significantly more than the few hundred delegates I recall in the early years. I was not invited this year to address the conference, and I decided not to submit an abstract. This gave me wonderful freedom to move among sessions and meet all sorts of interesting people.

The keynotes were of a very high standard with a range of North American and local speakers. Notably, Sally Thorne, PhD, RN, FAAN, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, addressed the conference twice. Her second paper on the value of qualitative research was one of the best justifications for the method I have heard, cutting through much of the obfuscation that I often associate with it. Sally and I are both Wiley editors. She edits Nursing InquirySarah Kagan, PhD, RN, FAAN, of the University of Pennsylvania, was also a keynote speaker. She edits the International Journal of Older People Nursing, which I launched many years ago as a supplement of Journal of Clinical Nursing. Under the initial editorship of Brendan McCormack, PhD, RN, of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, the journal soon became independent.

It was especially good to see Sigma’s continued presence at the conference and, even more, Cynthia Vlasich, MBA, BSN, RN, Sigma’s director of Global Initiatives. Both of us were members of the initial cohort of GAPFON global panelists. I also greatly enjoyed meeting more junior colleagues, particularly those I consider “rising stars.” Amongst those I met and spent some time with was Ken Ho, PhD, RN, Tung Wah College, Hong Kong, SAR, China. I first met Ho a few years ago in Hong Kong while he was still working toward his PhD. He submitted a manuscript that we published in Journal of Advanced Nursing, and I was impressed by his writing and clarity of thought.

In Seoul, Ho made a presentation in which he discussed his work with migrant workers who are hired by families to look after older members. A fraction of the thousands of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong who come from poorer countries in the region, they have, traditionally, not had a voice among the local Hong Kong Chinese population. Ho is doing something unique and worthy, and he is winning the respect of the migrant domestic community.

Another person I consider a rising star is Su Wai Hlaing, MSc, RN. She is from Myanmar, but works clinically in Singapore. She is the only Burmese person I know. As such, she has educated me about her country, which has been much in the news lately, and what it is like to work in Singapore. She provides a different perspective from the somewhat rarefied view I often get from senior academic colleagues. Hlaing recently completed her master’s degree through Edinburgh Napier University and is already putting her skills to work by leading a project in her hospital on the sexual needs of older people with stroke. Internationally, this is a largely neglected area and, locally, in a Southeast Asian culture, almost a taboo. I am convinced she will become a regional leader in nursing.

My year of connecting continents has begun. Next, I visit Slovenia and then Spain and Italy. The rest of my year’s schedule in the Far East and other places is not clear yet, but I have several invitations to honor in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. I also hope a symposium jointly submitted with Australian colleagues on the topic of open access and predatory publishers will be accepted for the 29th International Nursing Research Congress in Melbourne, Australia, in July. I’ll let you know.

 

8 February 2018

Celebration in Slovenia

 

Dean of nursing at University of Maribor—a Sigma member—promoted to full professor.

The author returns to the University of Maribor, where he teaches, reviews manuscripts, and celebrates achievement.

LONDON, United Kingdom—This time of year, you can expect temperatures well below freezing in Slovenia, but I arrived during a week of exceptionally warm weather. Everyone was complaining. Warm weather melts snow, and it is said that Slovenian children are born with skis on their feet. The locals regard skiing almost like jogging. Local ski slopes, which use artificial snow during warm spells, dominate the skyline. It is not uncommon for Slovenians to ascend the slopes after work, make a quick downhill run, and be home for dinner. Several of my children are very good skiers, and one of my daughters organizes the British Army Medical Services cross-country ski team—on one occasion to victory. Her abilities were not inherited; I am not a skier. 

I was back at the University of Maribor in Slovenia for three days of classes with first- and second-year doctoral program students. My sessions were on writing for publication and questionnaire development. Because it’s a two-year program, some of the students have heard a great deal of my material before, but it’s still a different experience for them as they have now made a start toward both publication and research design. I was really pleased at the level of engagement, so I came in early and sacrificed a lunch break to meet with students and give advice on their manuscripts. It was a real pleasure.

The big news during my visit was the promotion of Dean Majda Pajnkihar to the rank of full professor. I was especially pleased, as I was one of her international external assessors. Her prolific output, remarkable achievements, and contributions to the university made the case for promotion clear-cut. Professor Pajnkihar established the first doctoral nursing program in Slovenia and works tirelessly to represent nursing at the nation’s highest levels.

My visit was not all work. One afternoon, we visited the town of Bled with its famous and beautiful lake. The Slovenian Alps—snow-tipped this time of year—are reflected perfectly in the still, clear water. An island with a church on it is a tourist attraction, and you can be transported to it in a rowboat. I thought I was the first in our family to visit Bled, but after putting some pictures on Instagram, I learned that my son-in-law had already been there and had swum to the island. In light of the imminent birth of our seventh grandchild—his first child with my daughter—I am assuming he will develop a more responsible attitude.

 

1 March 2018

Homage to Catalonia

 

If you’re in Barcelona, you’re in Catalonia.

The author chairs an appointment panel at the University of Girona, teaches at the University of Navarra, and appoints three editors in meetings at Oxford.

HULL, United Kingdom—Following decades of work in Spain and transits through the Barcelona airport, I finally set foot on terra firma in Catalonia. I am sure that, until recently, many people who aren’t residents of Spain were unaware that Barcelona is in Catalonia. Although it is a part of Spain, the region has a fierce sense of identity and its own language. Of course, many are now aware of Catalonia’s special status following the referendum for independence and events that followed, which continue.

I have no view on the issue of Catalan independence, but I am frequently reminded of George Orwell’s first-hand record of the Spanish Civil War as recorded in his book of essays titled Homage to Catalonia. The tragic brutality of civil war and Orwell’s own near-death experience made a great impression on me as a schoolboy, and I went on to read all his books.

I was in Catalonia to chair an appointment panel at the eponymous University of Girona, situated on the Mediterranean. The appointment was under the auspices of the Serra Húnter Programme, which seeks involvement in promoting prestigious academics—from assistant to associate professor, for example. Successful candidates are then partly funded for a few years by the program. The universities making the appointments thus benefit financially while reaping increased research activity from Serra Húnter scholars.

One of my panel members was Dame Nicky Cullum, DBE, PhD, FAAN, dean of the Division of Nursing, Midwifery, and Social Work at the University of Manchester in the UK. I first met Cullum at the University of Edinburgh in 1989. She was sitting outside the office of the dean of social sciences, and we were both waiting to be interviewed for a lectureship. On that day—and she will not mind me recalling this—I was the successful candidate, but her career has been the more stellar, culminating in her elevation to Dame of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. My note of congratulation included the hope that we were “good” following the events that took place way back in 1989. We were, and we are!

On to Pamplona
After chairing the panel, I traveled by high-speed trains back to Barcelona and on to Pamplona. Next to China, Spain has the most high-speed rail track in the world, and the services are punctual, fast—as the name suggests—and very comfortable. I spent a week in Pamplona at the University of Navarra as a visiting professor, advising colleagues on publications and lecturing to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as usual. On my first visit to the university in 1991, I needed a translator with me always. Now, all my colleagues are fluent in English, and I can teach without a translator. My Spanish remains as good as it was in 1991—i.e., not very.

And back to the UK
Back in the United Kingdom, I have just returned from a meeting at Oxford of the JAN management team. (We have dropped use of the name Journal of Advanced Nursing and are now officially going with JAN.) This is one of the best weeks in my annual cycle of activities. We had two full days of meetings, and, as usual, I spent four nights there to ensure that I caught up socially with all of the editors. Last year, we lost two excellent colleagues—Brenda Roe, PhD, RN, who demitted, and Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, FAAN, who left to take up the reins at Nursing Research. I was very pleased to make not two but three new editor appointments: Doris Yu, PhD, RN; Cindi Logston, PhD, RN, FAAN; and YingJuan Cao, PhD, RN. These appointments maintain our U.S. profile and increased our Chinese profile.

March will be spent in Europe—UK and Italy—before my Far East work in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan starts in April. I’ll be reporting from Italy next.

 

2 April 2018

Research assessment season in the UK

 

A veteran of research panels and subpanels, the author opts out this time.

Between trips to Italy and Finland, RNL’s roving blogger discusses university research funding in the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom was the first country to have a government-based assessment system to disburse teaching and research funds to universities. When I matriculated at university in 1974, there were no fees. In fact, I received money from the government in the form of a student grant. These grants were means tested against parental income and family circumstances. 

The conditions under which I went to university could not be more different from the conditions my children face. They pay tuition fees, and low-interest loans are available that leave them with considerable debt upon graduation. However, the money paid from these student loans to the universities barely covers the cost of the education delivered, and we remain largely dependent on government funding. 

Compared with the money raised by deans and university presidents in the United States, the amounts raised by UK universities are risible. I recall when the University of Sheffield raised 1 million pounds in a year. I have seen more raised in one week by the dean of nursing at UCLA. Only the Oxbridge universities could afford to dispense with government funding, and we have only one private university in the UK, the University of Buckingham

More universities, same funding
Returning to the topic of research assessment, when I went to university, the government could afford—wholly—to fund university students and research, the latter based on the size of the university. There were only 40 universities in the United Kingdom. However, at the hands of both Conservative and Labour governments, there was a three-fold increase in the number of universities between the early 1980s and the end of the 1990s with no increase in funding. Thus, the introduction of tuition fees in the UK (except for Scottish students attending Scottish universities) and a more meritorious system of disbursing research funds, loosely referred to as “research assessment.” 

I am old enough to have been involved in all of these periodic research assessments. They began in 1989, my first year as an academic. I have had the honor to serve twice on assessment committees—the Research Assessment Exercise in 2008 and the Research Excellence Framework in 2014. It has been my even greater honor to serve on both occasions under the chairmanship of Hugh P. McKenna, CBE, FRCN, FAAN, and I am delighted to say that McKenna has been elected again to lead the subcommittee that assesses dentistry, allied health professions, nursing, and pharmacy for the 2021 Research Excellence Framework

Exercising discretion on the homefront
In addition to this role, McKenna, a former university pro-vice chancellor (equivalent to vice president), is now leading the establishment of a medical school at Ulster University. We often bemoan the lack of nurses at the “high table” of decision-making in UK academia and health, but McKenna, in addition to winning the respect of his own profession, commands the respect of other professions that will be assessed by his committee. I was asked if I would consider sitting on the committee again, but I decided that the fees we earn would make little impression on the divorce settlement when Mrs. Watson discovered that I was to be almost permanently in absentia for another year. On the other hand, I am delighted that my dean, Julie Jomeen, PhD, RM, of the University of Hull, has been appointed. 

There is never a time when research assessment is not high on university agenda. However, with the recently published criteria and announcement of the composition of the panels and subpanels, our focus on research assessment has become more intense. As a veteran of every exercise—in addition to leading three and assessing two—I am in demand at Hull and at other universities for advice on research assessment. Primarily, I am involved in assessing publications and advising my own and other universities on the best ones to submit. I possibly spend as much time on this as being a subpanel member. The difference is, once submissions have been finalized at the end of 2020, when the intense work of the subpanels begins with whole weeks spent in various locations around the UK throughout 2021, I can put my feet up, figuratively speaking. 

My recent travels included a week in Italy at the University of Genoa with doctoral students. I left the UK covered in snow, so the blue skies and warmer days were a welcome break. After Easter, I go to Oulu in the north of Finland to teach master’s degree students, and that precedes by a few days my first visit of 2018 to China and Hong Kong.

12 April 2018

Snow in Finland

 

The author shares publishing knowledge with doctoral students near the Arctic Circle.

An award-winning writer of many words, the author is gratified to learn he has won an award for just a few.

HULL, United Kingdom­—I recently returned home after the first of three visits to Finland this year. I was there slightly longer than expected as my tight connection at Helsinki airport did not connect. My incoming flight was late, and the lady at the transfer desk kept telling me, “It does not look good.” I kept asking, “How much worse can it be?” In the end, I did not make the flight and had to spend the night in the airport hotel and take a very early flight home. I travel strictly with cabin luggage and calculate my laundry needs carefully, but any more information will be too much for my readers. 

I was in Oulu in the north of Finland for the first time. The city is within sight of the Arctic Circle. The days were quite long and there were copious amounts of snow, most of it piled 10 feet high by the road or at the end of parking lots. Like all countries that expect large amounts of snow on a predictable basis, Finland works normally despite the snow, and the Finns just take it in stride. With sheets of ice on the sidewalks, walking was dangerous. I ran three miles one morning in -8 degrees Celsius (17.6 Fahrenheit), but a nosebleed and red raw skin on my face convinced me, thereafter, to run in the afternoons. 

My work was at the Nursing Science Department of the University of Oulu where, for three days, I taught doctoral students on systematic reviewing and writing for publication. I am used to teaching in Finland. Finns, being a polite and reserved people, are initially quiet. Once they have “weighed you up,” the questions start coming, and by the end of the week my sessions had turned from monologue to dialogue. My next visits are in quick succession—next month to Tampere (for the first time) and later to Turku. 

I visit my own University of Hull from time to time. In fact, over Easter, while most colleagues were sunning themselves on the Mediterranean, I was teaching quantitative methods at the University of Hull Easter School, which is designed for doctoral students not based at Hull. I never cease to be amazed at the calibre of our doctoral students. When I ran into some problems while demonstrating aspects of a statistical package, a computer science student showed me how to do it. From that point on, I took a back seat and the class ran itself. 

So far this year, I have published 10 refereed articles. I am especially pleased with two articles published in collaboration with my former doctoral student Mansour Al-Yami. As general director of academic affairs and training at Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health, Al-Yami is third in line to the kingdom’s minister of health in Riyadh. He is a remarkable man who combines a high-pressure job with academic work and impeccably good manners. He remains a good friend—my “godson,” as he describes himself—and I look forward to seeing him in October when I next visit the kingdom. 

I have another piece in The Conversation this week where I outline reasons nursing students in the UK should not be paid bursaries by the National Health Service. I have already drawn fire on this issue, and my popularity rating with the Royal College of Nursing and the nursing student body will not increase. But I am not alone in this view. 

Finally, and for the first time in this blog, I refer to my increasing interest in haiku poetry. I have composed haiku regularly for the past two years and, last year, began getting published. To date, I have three poems published in the Journal of the British Haiku Society, with more accepted by them and another journal. But my surprise at coming in among the top 32 with an honorable mention in an international haiku competition of more than 700 entries is one of the best surprises I have had in years. The editor of RNL permitting, I may inflict a few on you. I start with my honorable mention. Most are more cheerful than this one. 

silent shredder
graveyard
of all my thoughts

 

30 April 2018

Stirring debate about nursing scholarships in the UK

 

The author expresses his opinion and hears back from those who disagree.

While visiting China, Watson politely fields a flood of comments from readers reacting to an article he wrote and keynotes a nursing conference in Luzhou, Sichuan Province.

HULL, United Kingdom—I’m not sure I was ever the most popular nursing professor in the UK, but my ratings certainly tumbled after my piece “Nurses don’t need bursaries—here are four reasons why” was published in The Conversation. Colleagues alerted me that I was being heartily criticized for my article, and the media office at the University of Hull fielded many enquires and issued a press statement. While I was sitting behind the great firewall of China, my article had more than 17,000 reads, a typhoon of protest on Twitter, and a series of comments—only one of support—on the publication’s webpage.

Once I had gained access to the internet and—via a virtual private network—to Twitter (otherwise blocked in China), I understood what the fuss was about. I made a point of responding to all the comments on the webpage and as many as I could on Twitter. Expressing gratitude for the comments, most of which I predicted, I tried to politely neutralize the anger directed at me. I cannot deny, however, that some of the more personal comments penetrated. I am now back home, and things seem to have calmed down.

China

My China visit was to Luzhou in Sichuan Province, where I gave a keynote at an annual nursing conference. In addition to my keynote, I also consulted with Master of Nursing students at Southwestern Medical University about writing manuscripts for publication.

I have often reported that the mighty Yangtze River divides Luzhou in half, and I have written about the caustically hot food they serve. I took in the Yangtze on a morning run but refused to take in any local food promised to be, as my hosts would say, “a bit spicy.” The local airport is closed while they build a new one—nobody knows why they didn’t keep the old one open until the new one was built—so I had the pleasure of a three-hour round-trip drive from Chongquing (pronounced chong-ching), where they have a magnificent new airport. 

This was my second visit to the Far East this year and the first of what will probably be four visits to China. On the way back to the UK, I spent one night and one day in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong
I stopped in Hong Kong to chair a meeting at The Education University of Hong Kong. The university accommodated me in the Royal Park Hotel Shatin, where Mrs. Watson and I stayed the first time I came to Hong Kong in 2003.

I had dinner with Doris Yu, PhD, RN, of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in the evening. Yu was a doctoral student when I first met her in 2003, and now she is a well-established nursing academic and a recent addition to the editorial team at Journal of Advanced Nursing (now simply JAN).

The meeting at The Education University of Hong Kong was to review the Bachelor of Health Education program following the graduation of its first cohort. I met senior staff members, teaching staff members, students, and a local stakeholder. I also visited several on-campus facilities.

The institution only recently attained full university status. As a member of the Research Grants Committee (RGC) of the Hong Kong University Grants Council, I visited the former Hong Kong Institute of Education to assess its research activity and make a recommendation to the UGC about granting university status. It is nice to have played a small part in Hong Kong’s educational history. 

 

26 May 2018

A Finnish fortnight


For his 100th 
RNL blog entry, the author reports on recent trips to Finland.

Looking for tips on writing for publication? Roger Watson, editor-in-chief of JAN and editor of Nursing Open, provides helpful resources he has created.

HULL, United Kingdom—After a visit earlier this year to Oulu in Finland, I made two more trips to that country, a week apart. Unlike my visit to Oulu, when snow was still on the ground, Finland was experiencing a heat wave with temperatures rising to 28 Celsius (82.4 Fahrenheit), and the days were very long.The first of my last two visits was to the University of Tampere, where I had not been previously, to deliver a seminar on writing for publication to doctoral students in health sciences. My hotel was one of the tallest buildings in Tampere, and, from the roof bar, I could see lakes surrounding the city and well into the distance. The air in Finland is unpolluted.

Dinner with my hosts was in an even taller structure—the Näsineula—which has a revolving restaurant at the top. Again, the view was superb, and in the two revolutions it took to eat dinner, I was able to take it all in. I had never experienced a revolving restaurant before, so my vision of having to hold on to my plate was unfounded. The pace of revolution is quite sedate and barely perceptible, but I did wonder why the bar was getting further away during dinner, only to reappear. Yours truly really needs to get out more. 

After a weekend at home, I was back on another flight to Finland—to Helsinki. This time I was with my University of Hull and JAN colleague Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, and we visited a place with which we are both very familiar—the University of Turku. Again, the purpose was to deliver seminars on writing for publication to doctoral students in various health sciences.

Running
I was able to fit in two lovely early-morning runs in Finland. In Tampere, I ran through fragrant forest. Apparently, after the snow clears, the smell of the tree resin emerges. In Turku, I ran along the river to the harbor and over some very picturesque bridges. I am in training for the Humber Bridge 10K race on 27 May, my first race this year. The Humber Bridge is pictured at the top of this blog entry.

I have been trying to emphasize quality over quantity in my program with frequent track training sessions—mostly spent catching up with the rest of the pack, which is much younger—and hill training, which, from start to finish, has me praying for it to stop. Derek Rickets of City of Hull Athletic Club, our fantastic coach, is ever encouraging with choice phrases, including: “Never mind, Rog; the one at the back is always benefiting the most.” I must, therefore, be gaining maximum benefit. In my heart, I want to get a good time in the race. In my head, I will just be glad to be standing at the end.

Readers of “Connecting Continents” will realize that I deliver many seminars and workshops on writing for publication. This is an integral part of my role as an editor-in-chief, and I always enjoy doing them. I have a range of presentations available, and what I deliver depends on what I’ve been requested to present. Over the years, the hot topics in academic publishing have changed. The topics that interest people also vary across the world, depending on local and national academic pressures, and awareness of issues in academic publishing varies across the world. In recent years, however, I am increasingly emphasizing publication ethics, open access, and the problem of predatory publishing.

Nurse Author & Editor
I am also making a habit of pointing audiences to the publication Nurse Author & Editor, edited by Leslie Nicoll, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN. Published under the auspices of the International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE), the online Nurse Author & Editor, to which I am a frequent contributor, can be subscribed to at no charge. It’s a good venue for sharing short, accessible, and useful pieces on emerging issues in academic publishing and on writing for publication.

I have recorded my most recent pieces as podcasts, which are available on my podcasting site and my YouTube channel. Even though I say it myself, they are proving very popular. You may want to check out two: one on writing an introduction and background to a manuscript and another on how to start a discussion section of a manuscript. The advantage of the podcasts is that they can be downloaded.

I inflicted one of my haiku on you in a recent entry. I am delighted to say that I now have an entry in the Living Haiku Anthology. I see some of the truly “big names” in haiku there, so it is a special honor to be counted amongst their number. Someone has tried several times to register my interest in haiku on my Wikipedia entry, but an editor quickly removed those attempts because there was no published evidence. Last time I checked, the link to the anthology was there, so I think the Wikipedia editors must be happy now. Anyone who doubts the rigor of Wikipedia should try creating or editing a page; little gets past the editors without scrutiny.

I have one week in Hull before I head back to the Far East for a short tour, taking in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. That will be the subject of my next entry.

 

15 June 2018

The Far East and a bridge too far

 

RNL’s bridge-running, continent-connecting globetrotter provides an update.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT—Viewed from the outside, China can seem impenetrable and daunting. My most recent visa application was initially refused because I was an editor-in-chief and thus, in their view, a journalist. “Face” (
mianzi) prohibits Chinese officials from backing down—demonstrated in my phone call with the embassy—but a solution always arises. In this case, a letter from my publishers at Wiley confirmed my status but assured them I was not there to write or report as a journalist. They also explained that JAN is an academic journal, not a newspaper. In the future, I must ensure that letters of invitation make no mention of my editorship.

Next problem: I had been asked to give a “lecture” at a conference, and this was not permitted. Lecturing is a job and requires a work permit. The compromise? I was permitted to give a “speech.”

My visit to China, my second this year to the Far East, lasted a little over 24 hours. The bureaucracy left me with a dark cloud over my head but, as always when I enter China, the doubts and fears dissolved when I received a welcoming smile from the immigration officer at Beijing airport and was greeted with a wave at the arrivals lounge by my very enthusiastic helper. Her enthusiasm wasn’t dampened by the fact I had been delayed by monsoon rains for two hours in Hong Kong and it was already past midnight. I got to bed in the Beijing Hilton at 2 a.m. only to rise again a few hours later for the next stage of the journey. Later in this post, I’ll tell you what I was doing in China.

Taiwan
This Far East visit began in Taiwan, where I was visiting China Medical University (CMU) in Taichung for the second time. It was the 60th birthday of the university, and I was asked to give two lectures at the School of Nursing. I spent three days in Taichung, managed to fit in some early morning running in the parks, and was looked after very well.

My very good friend Lian Hua Huang, PhD, RN, FAAN, former head of nursing and former head of the Taiwan Nurses Association, is now chief executive officer for nursing at CMU. It’s a new post with responsibility for overseeing and integrating nursing across the university’s campuses and associated hospitals. Huang also represents her region in Geneva, Switzerland at the International Council of Nurses. A tour de force of Taiwanese nursing, she is always busy but always has time not only to meet me but to take me to my favorite restaurants. On the return journey, I spent a day in Taipei catching up with several old friends before leaving for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong
Most of the next week was spent in Hong Kong serving on several Hong Kong University Grants Committees: the General Research Fund, the Early Career Researcher Scheme, and the Prestigious Fellowships Awards Committee. I do not serve, as you may assume, on the medical panel where nursing research is considered, but rather on the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Committee, to which many nurses also submit applications. We deal with a fascinating spectrum of topics, ranging from archaeology to design. I nod sagely at the appropriate times until something I understand is tabled.

The committee work is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the work we do. In January, we are presented with the complete list of nearly 200 applications and asked to indicate our preferences. After they are allocated in February, we spend four months finding reviewers and conducting our own reviews. The work is not easy, but it is a great pleasure, and it’s a privilege to spend three days with some of the top scholars from some of the top universities across the world, e.g. Harvard, Berkeley, UCLA, and Oxford.

China
I was in China at the invitation of the Chinese Nursing Management Journal, which, along with two other journals, is published by the Chinese Association of Nursing Managers. I gave the opening keynote on challenges for nursing management at the 2018 China Nursing Management Conference in Tianjin. I think it was a record audience for me—3,000 people. Not spoiled for choice regarding topics, I selected: the scope of the role; the ageing nursing workforce; demonstrating cost-benefit of nursing; and leadership training.

Tianjin is 30 minutes from Beijing by high-speed train. These trains are wonderful! They travel at 300 kilometers per hour, but the movement is barely perceptible. The longest trains have 16 carriages and, at what I call the “pointy ends,” four-berth business class carriages rival in comfort anything offered by most airlines. My visit to Tianjin was too short to explore the city. Just over 24 hours after arriving, I rose early to take a direct flight from Tianjin to Hong Kong, from where this blog entry is submitted.

Running
In my previous entry, I mentioned I was preparing to run in a 10-kilometer race over the Humber Bridge and back. It is the second longest suspension bridge in the world. (The longest is here in Hong Kong.) I did not do too well. It was very hot and, despite lots of running, I had not done enough training—specifically, not enough hill training. For anyone who thinks bridges are flat, try running the Humber. Suspension bridges have slopes at both ends, and I felt every one of my 62 (and a half) years as well as my lack of hill training. That will be remedied over the rest of the summer.

 

5 July 2018

Sun, soccer, and Italy


The author pays tribute to Jim Smith, his friend and mentor.

GENOA, Italy—I start this entry with the sad news that James Patrick Smith, OBE, FRCN, founding editor of Journal of Advanced Nursing—now known as JAN—has passed. Always known as “Jim,” Smith not only was a great figure in 20th-century nursing, he was my close friend and mentor. Indeed, as I have said many times about him and to him, “I would not be where I am today without Jim Smith.”

Jim had a truly remarkable career. Qualifying as a nurse in 1955, the year I was born, he was the first man appointed to the nursing staff at St. George’s Hospital, London, which, incidentally, is the hospital where I trained as a nurse. He published my first scholarly article in JAN in 1989 and later invited me to join the editorial board. Jim gave me many opportunities to publish, including my own column in JAN, and edited my earliest efforts ruthlessly. I learned how to write and edit from Jim, and it was always my pleasure, as time passed, to see fewer underscores, strikeouts, and marginal comments. “You’re learning,” was his phrase of encouragement.

Jim attended the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) International Nursing Research Conference in Edinburgh in 2017 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of JAN. I interviewed him—against a great deal of background noise—and that exchange is available as a podcast. I last saw Jim late in 2017 when he came to hear me deliver the Elsie Stephenson Memorial Lecture at The University of Edinburgh, also available as a podcast. Jim died peacefully at age 84 near his home of Fochabers in Scotland and is survived by John Forde, his partner of 54 years. INANE published a short tribute, and I hope, in due course, to organize a memorial service for Jim in London.

Italy
This post comes from Genoa, Italy. Genoa, also known as Genova, is the subject of many of many of my entries as I have been visiting the university here regularly for many years. I left a sweltering heat wave in the UK to arrive in an even more sweltering Italy. (Frying pan and fire clichés come to mind.) The fantastic weather, food, and wine are always a distraction from work here, but this time there was an even greater distraction—England’s knockout match against Colombia in the World Cup. The competition itself was a sore point here in Italy, as they failed to qualify, but the local fans happily cheered on England as they beat Colombia on penalties. Mark Hayter, PhD, FAAN, my Hull colleague with whom I visit Genoa, was a nervous wreck!

I’m a Scot but happy to transfer my allegiance to England, my home at various stages of my life for a total of nearly 30 years. This is unthinkable for many of my compatriots for whom, in sporting terms, England is “the enemy.” But my native country has had such a dismal record in the World Cup and in most international competitions that we rarely have a team to support. Naturally, when Scotland plays England in any competition, I am 100 percent Scottish.

Haiku
In a recent entry, I advertised the fact that I dabble in Haiku poetry. I expounded on this a bit more in a blog entry titled “Stuck in a moment,” published recently on the National Conference of University Professors website. I am very pleased that more of my poetry is being published and that I qualified for an entry in the Living Haiku Anthology, updated each time a haiku is published. Moreover, Patricia McGuire of the Poetry Pea website featured me in one of her podcasts. I don’t think I will be giving up my day job any time soon, but it helps me look forward to eventual retirement when I will have more time to study and write haiku. 

New horizons
My next post will report on my first visit to New Zealand. I won’t be working while in New Zealand, but I will be making a work-related stop in Australia—together with Mrs. Watson, our youngest daughter Rebecca and her boyfriend George—for a week. My family has a house on the Gold Coast, where we will be based for a few days, and I will make a brief appearance at Sigma’s 29th International Nursing Research Congress in Melbourne where, for fewer than 24 hours, I will cram in a couple of meetings and a symposium. From there, we travel to New Zealand for 10 days of touring on the North Island before making a 48-hour stopover in my beloved Hong Kong and then traveling back to the UK.

 

14 August 2018

Touching down in Melbourne

 

The author takes a break from vacation to attend congress.

While vacationing in Australia and New Zealand, Roger Watson flies to Melbourne to visit friends and co-present a session at research congress on predatory publishing.

This is a retrospective entry written after my return to the UK following a three-week vacation in Australia and, for the first time, New Zealand. The vacation was punctuated by a flying visit—literally—to Sigma’s 29th International Nursing Research Congress in Melbourne.

Our family vacation was based in Brisbane, where winter is like summer in the UK. When my flight landed in Melbourne on Sunday evening, 22 July, the weather was very different from Brisbane­—cold and windy. I went into town to meet two very good friends: David Thompson, PhD, RN, FAAN, of Queen’s University Belfast, UK, and Philip Darbyshire, PhD, RN, international consultant and inspirational speaker. Thompson, a leading cardiovascular nurse in the UK with a stellar international profile, preceded me here at the University of Hull, and I have known him well for the past 20 years. Darbyshire and I go back to my earliest days in nursing when, from 1974 to 1978, I worked during university vacations as a nursing auxiliary. A staff nurse at the time, he was inspirational for me and has since become one of the best-known faces in nursing in both the UK and Australia. He made his home in Australia many years ago.

Fighting the fakes
On Monday, Darbyshire and I, together with Linda Shields, PhD, MD, another long-time friend and former Hull colleague—now of Charles Sturt University in Australia—presented a symposium at congress about the problematic rise in predatory journals and conferences. We titled the session “Fighting the Fakes: How to Identify and Beat the Predatory Publishers,” and were delighted, considering our early morning slot on the final day of the conference, to have 40 attendees. The session has created a buzz. In addition to invitations to speak on the topic when I return to Australia, I have been asked to author an article on predatory publishers for Reflections on Nursing Leadership. Watch for it in coming weeks! Later that day, I flew back to Brisbane.

Back to vacation
My vacation, shared with the long-suffering Mrs. Watson, my youngest daughter Rebecca, and her boyfriend, George, took in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Byron Bay. My family has a beach house on the Gold Coast. I had barely opened my first beer on the balcony when we spotted the spouts of humpback whales migrating along the Pacific coast. At Byron Bay—Australia’s most easterly point—we were entertained by dozens of humpbacks spouting and rearing themselves out of the water. It was a truly moving and memorable experience to see these leviathans gracefully making their way north, oblivious to our attention.

A week in Australia was followed by 10 days on New Zealand’s North Island. After spending time in Auckland, we took the 10-hour Northern Explorer train to Wellington through some outstanding scenery. Wellington was wonderful, and I managed to run 10 miles along some of the most beautiful coastline I have ever seen. We had lunch with David Prentice, PhD, FIPENZ, another long-time friend. Former chief executive of Opus, a multinational New Zealand company, Prentice now chairs the New Zealand government’s Interim Committee on Climate Change. My two middle daughters were bridesmaids at his wedding in the UK when we worked together at The University of Edinburgh.

Finally, we hired a car and drove to Napier, which was rebuilt in the Art Deco style after its destruction by an earthquake in 1931, and then on to Rotorua to witness the geothermal geysers and smell the sulphur—a truly extraordinary place. Our final day in New Zealand was back in Auckland, followed by an overnight in Hong Kong and then home. My next “Connecting continents” entry will be from Turkey.

 

21 September 2018

Airport stress and Turkish delight

 

The author gives keynote at conference on nursing history.

With international travel comes the anxiety of logistical uncertainty. For RNL blogger Roger Watson, it also brings the wonderful rewards of meeting new and old friends.

ISTANBUL, Turkey—Arriving in Turkey can be anxiety provoking, as attested to by my virtually unbroken record of not being met here at airports. This was the third time it happened. Actually, I dislike being met at airports, preferring a destination address and local taxi service. Fewer things go wrong. 

The worst scenario is arriving to find nobody among the line of awaiting drivers who bears a sign with your name. Without a destination and given the extreme difficulty of making an international call on my cellphone, I feel really stuck—as I did when I arrived this week in Izmir. With the help of the young lady at the information desk, I managed to contact a person from the travel office who assured me the driver was there—patently not the case—and that he was outside. I went outside, and he was not in sight, but eventually someone waving a sign with my name on it emerged from the airport. Because of my Turkish deficiency and my driver’s English deficiency, I was unable to ascertain why we missed each other. Anyway, as assured by local colleagues, “Don’t worry, you made it.”

Ege University
Ege University—like me—was founded in 1955. Located in Izmir, Turkey, which is situated on the Aegean Sea, Ege (pronounced egg-ye, which means Aegean) University houses the largest school of nursing in the country. They have more than 3,000 undergraduate students, hundreds of master’s and doctoral students, and more than 1,000 faculty members. 

I had been invited to give the opening keynote at their Third National and First International Nursing History Congress. I also delivered an afternoon workshop on writing for publication, which had 50 participants. The conference was truly international with contributions from the United Kingdom, Greece, Iran, Portugal, Palestine, and the United States.

Turkey continues to experience political change, but the area where Izmir is located is fiercely loyal to Atatürk, the father of the nation, and portraits of him adorn every room. The Turkish border with Syria continues to be disputed, and the Turkish economy has been considerably weakened in recent years. But the spirit of the Turkish people, and especially Turkish nurses, seems unyielding. They are rightly proud of their country and their legendary hospitality to visitors. You may be abandoned at an airport, risk death in any kind of transport, and find the language incomprehensible, but you will never starve and will rarely be without a cup of Turkish coffee or tea in one hand and a delicious piece of Turkish delight in the other. 

My fitness regime has faltered due to a running-acquired injury, and the recent assault on my digestive system in Turkey has set my program back by weeks. But it’s all in the line of duty, and, as I remind my colleagues, “Someone has to do it.” 

Mirror images

The two best aspects of traveling are mirror images—meeting new friends and meeting old friends. I was very pleased to meet the dean of nursing at Ege University, Fisun Senuzun Akyar, PhD, RN. Amongst the old friends were PhD student Gulcan Taskiran, MN, RN, whom I met in 2017 on a previous visit to Turkey, and longtime friend retired Col. Sevgi Hatipoglu, PhD, RN. Formerly of the Turkish army and founder of the first army nursing school in Turkey, she is a highly respected figure here. She recalled our first meeting many years ago when my second daughter had just joined the British Army. 

I return to Hull briefly before going to Edinburgh next week to advise at Edinburgh Napier University on their Research Excellence Framework strategy, then to London to deliver a keynote at the Beta Gamma Sigma Global Leadership Summit and to attend my first meeting as a committee member of the National Conference of University Professors

Haiku writing continues. Editors of the Living Haiku Anthology have seen fit to give me a page. Take your pick, but I was quite pleased with: 

at the junction
only my mood changes
broken lights

Blithe Spirit 28.2, May 2018

 

6 November 2018

One month, three countries

 

The month of October found RNL blogger Roger Watson in Italy, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, where he taught, advised, attended conferences, met friends, and ran races.

WASHINGTON—For me, October started in Genoa, Italy, continued in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and ended in Washington. Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, my University of Hull and JAN colleague, was with me in both Genoa and Washington.

Mark and I were in Italy for the third time this year, fulfilling our visiting professorial arrangements at the University of Genoa. It’s never a hardship to be there; we were doing our usual work of advising on research projects and publications and teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Our colleagues in the School of Nursing at Genoa, under the leadership of Loredana Sasso, MSc, RN, FAAN, are currently engaged in seeking to establish a Sigma chapter at the university, the first in Italy.

As usual, it was an enjoyable time but also sobering. The expanse of the motorway Morandi Bridge that collapsed in August was clearly visible from the plane as we landed, and we had very good views of it on the way from and to the airport. Everyone had a story to tell related to the disaster—either near-death escapes for themselves, friends, and family or of knowing someone who was injured or killed. The effect on the people of Genoa is palpable—the shock of the tragedy as well as the shame associated with the poor workmanship and fear of similar disasters. (I just received news of a terrible storm that hit the Ligurian coastline and caused a great deal of destruction in Genoa.)

Saudi Arabia
This was my only visit to the kingdom this year, and it coincided with the current diplomatic row about which few can be unaware. Although the story in the kingdom about events in Turkey and the brutal slaughter of journalist Jamal Khashoggi differs from the prevailing one outside Saudi Arabia, life seemed to proceed as usual in Riyadh. Whatever our governments do and say—and whether or not we agree—there is always a place for personal interaction with people who are simply trying to do their best for their colleagues, their workplaces, and their country.

I was there at the invitation of the leadership of King Fahad Medical City to address its annual International Nursing Symposium. As is often the case, what happens between sessions and outside the conference is as important as the proceedings, and I was very pleased to catch up over dinner with Mustafa Bodrick, PhD, RN, consultant in nursing education to the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties and chair of Sigma’s Research and Scholarship Advisory Council. In addition to being a gold mine of information about Saudi Arabia, he knows the best restaurants in Riyadh. After spending the weekend in Riyadh, I returned to the UK for a week before traveling to Washington for what has become my annual visit to attend the American Academy of Nursing’s Transforming Health, Driving Policy Conference.

Washington
Because the academy’s conference events hold less interest for non-U.S. fellows than their American counterparts—although we keep trying to establish a foothold—I forgo attending them and use most of my time in Washington to run, sightsee, and visit friends. I was delighted, however, that Frank Schaffer, EdD, RN, FAAN, president and chief executive officer of CGFNS International, organized a reception for recently inducted international fellows and invited me to attend.

I find the hotel lobby of the academy’s conference venue the ideal place to position myself and watch national and international stars of nursing mingle and, occasionally, to pick off a few with whom I really want to speak. It was good to see Gennaro Rocco, PhD, RN, FAAN, again. He was inducted last year. A new inductee, Alessandro Steviano, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate director of the International Council of Nursing’s Nursing Health Policy team and a longtime friend of mine, accompanied him. Another new inductee, also well-known to me, was Col. Alan Finnegan, PhD, RN, FRCN, FAAN. Formerly of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC), he met my daughter Captain Lucia Watson, QARANC, in Afghanistan. The Saturday night event at which new fellows are inducted is not to be missed, and I was there this year to see my nominee, Majda Pajnkihar, PhD, RN, FAAN, inducted.

Not all work
I love Washington, and I was really pleased, after a long spell of resting due to injury, to repeat the 10K run I did last year. The course begins at the Washington Hilton, follows the Potomac to the Lincoln Memorial, then up 17th Street to Connecticut Avenue and back to the hotel. On Saturday morning, I went down to Theodore Roosevelt Island in Virginia and took part in the 5K parkrun, my second time there and my third parkrun in the United States. After a week at home, I go to China for three weeks. 

 

30 November 2018

Making connections in China, logistically and professionally

 

Three seasons in two weeks.

The author gives two keynotes on getting published in Science Citation Index journals and celebrates a birthday.

In my last entry, I indicated I was about to leave for three weeks in China. In fact, it has been only two weeks, as I visited three cities—Jinan, Guangzhou, and Wuhan—instead of four. (Click here to view map locations.) These are all places I had visited before, but their vast geographic separation required a complicated series of flights—from Hong Kong into China, back to Hong Kong, then back into China—followed by a 600-mile, high-speed train trip.

The journey also took me from freezing temperatures in Jinan to Guangzhou—where there were still blossoms on the trees—and then up to an autumnal Wuhan marked, as it was on my previous visit, by noxious pollution. As I write this, I am about to take a flight to Hong Kong and then home to the UK.

Jinan
In Jinan, I became reacquainted with colleagues at the Second Hospital of Shandong University. I was previously an honorary professor there, and this year I was appointed a visiting professor for three years. My induction took place to theme music from “The Magnificent Seven”! In accepting, I joked that, although there is only one of me, I am magnificent. Silence. I think I’ll leave that joke in the bag next time.

To earn my stay, I gave a keynote speech at their international professional nursing conference on getting published in Science Citation Index (SCI) journals. This was ably translated by Zang Yuli, PhD, RN. Also known as Amy, she is one of my longest-standing friends in China. Formerly of Shandong University, she is now at Chinese University of Hong Kong. Click here to listen to podcast.

Guangzhou
I was in Guangzhou in my role as visiting professor at Southern Medical University. For their international evidence-based nursing conference, they asked me to talk about getting evidence published in SCI journals, so I was able to present, essentially, the same keynote.

The weather in Guangzhou was good enough for outdoor running, and I was there on my birthday (63 years old). Of course, a suitably embarrassing fuss was made by one of my colleagues—Chen Yu, PhD, RN, of Southern Medical University—and her students. One feature of China, which all visiting Westerners need to understand, is the excruciating (for us) level of ceremony, formality, and fuss that anyone deemed “VIP” is subjected to. I won’t recount it all, but see picture.

Wuhan
My first duty in Wuhan was to give a speech at Wuhan Children’s Hospital. As I approached the main door, I could see, from a long way off, my name in large letters on a red banner above the entrance. Nurses in uniform lined the steps, and I was applauded into the building. This is not uncommon and is totally unstoppable. Incidentally, this specialist hospital has 3,000 beds, and they plan to double its size.

The rest of my visit was spent at Wuhan Polytechnic University, where I taught mainly Master of Nursing students. I also signed the formal contract for my time there as a High-End Foreign Expert Visitor, which will require two more visits, each of at least one-month duration, in 2019 and 2020. I hope I can persuade Mrs. Watson to accompany me, as a month is a long time.

If the Chinese government is reimbursing you—as it is under the High-End Foreign Expert arrangement—its anticorruption legislation requires setting up a bank account to prevent any diversion of funds. Despite my frequent suggestions to do this upon my arrival, my input went unheeded, so I spent the best part of two days­—my last in Wuhan—visiting four banks. By then, my effort was too late to be of any use.

I did, however, get the good news that I’ve been appointed an honorary adjunct professor at Australia’s University Technology Sydney, which I look forward to visiting over the next three years. Beyond my work, I am happy my collection of published haiku continues to grow, with most gathered at the Living Haiku Anthology. People seemed to like:

church spider
behind the radiator
preying?
—British Haiku Society Anthology 2018, p. 21

 

21 December 2018

And the year ends in Spain


A world traveler returns home for the holidays.

A final visit to Pamplona—sans the bulls—and Roger Watson returns home to celebrate the festive season with friends and family. 

PAMPLONA, Spain—I am writing this at Escuela Enfermería, Universidad de Navarra—University of Navarra School of Nursing—in Northern Spain just prior to my departure for the UK. A train journey to Madrid, a flight to London tomorrow, and I am finished traveling for 2018. I am finished with work for two weeks. As I write, 
the drone situation at London Gatwick seems to be over, not that it would have affected me flying in to London Heathrow, but it emphasizes how vulnerable air travel is to such disruptions.

I have been back in Pamplona, Spain, for my final visit this year. The week has been spent advising doctoral students and colleagues on manuscripts. I also presented two seminars on developing a publication strategy for successful writing. I am pleased to see a stream of high-quality manuscripts emerging from the school, many with my stamp on them. Some come to JAN, the journal I edit, but I also suggest other venues for publication.

In a previous entry, I explained that Universidad de Navarra is an Opus Dei institution. It was founded in 1952, and, on the day I arrived, the first rector of the university—Ismael Sánchez Bella—died. Opus Dei tends to divide opinion. I have my own views on the organization, but there is no doubting the remarkable development of a campus that began with Sánchez Bella teaching six law students in a small building to the present day with 14 faculty and more than 12,000 students. The university is ranked as the best private university in Spain, and its hospital is used by the Spanish royal family.

I always have an excellent social program here, and the evenings were spent barhopping in the old city on the Estafeta. This is the narrow street down which half a dozen bulls run each morning during the San Fermin toward the bullring and their ultimate, bloody fate. I have never witnessed the bulls running, although my oldest daughter has, but I run the Estafeta at least once when I am here. The street is filled with bars. In any other part of Spain, they would be called tapas bars, but here in Pamplona, they are referred to as pinchos (to pick up with a sharp stick). Each of these bars has its own unique selection of delicious pinchos. In addition to meeting old friends, I was delighted to spend an evening with newly promoted Professor Mari Carmen Portillo. Portillo used to work here in Pamplona but has been based in the UK at the University of Southampton for the past four years. She is one of my associate editors on Nursing Open, although we had met only briefly in the past.

Back in Hull, our Burdett Trust-funded The STaR Project is gathering momentum, and we had an away day to discuss the forthcoming publication of our systematic review and plan the next stage of data collection. The project is investigating ways to retain newly qualified nurses in the workforce, and we are beginning to forge links with similar projects around the UK. The project is just past the halfway point, and we are beginning to think of potential sources of funding to continue the work.

Next year, my travel starts early, with a January visit to Singapore and then on to Sydney, Australia. In the meantime, I have no intentions of leaving Hull and rarely leave my house over the festive season. My family will gather over Christmas, so we expect to produce 27 meals over Christmas and Boxing Day. I have some large books to read, and none of them will be remotely related to nursing. Whatever you believe and however you celebrate this special time of year, I wish you all the very best for 2019.

 

30 January 2019

Singapore, Sydney, and Brisbane in one week

 

Somewhere between Sydney and Brisbane, the glamour of international travel wore off.

HULL, United Kingdom—It has been six years since my last visit to Singapore, and one thing you can be sure of in Singapore is that nothing changes. Admittedly, the terminal at which I arrived at Changi Airport—Terminal 4—was new, but its structure so resembled the terminal I previously used that I did not realize it was new until someone told me. I think this permanency is a deliberate feature of the island. The roads are lined with finely manicured trees and verges, there is a sense of order, and everyone smiles.

I was here to attend the 22nd East Asian Forum of Nursing Scholars (EAFONS), where I was to present a session on publishing in Science Citation Index Journals. The conference was fully subscribed with 800 delegates, and I was pleased to see more than 100 people at my session. It was good to renew long-time acquaintances from the region—Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines—and especially good to make new friends, particularly among the many Japanese doctoral students present. Those who have traveled in the region are familiar with its business card culture whereby exchange of cards is done with great politeness and attention to their details. I left with a folder full of business cards—other people’s—and very few of mine. I am never sure what happens to all those business cards.

Before moving on to Australia, I had a free day to spend in Singapore, and I was very happy to see my good Burmese friend, Su Wai Hlaing, a local nurse and fellow haiku writer. Her work is now published in the Living Haiku Anthology. Also a runner, she recently discovered that there are several of my beloved Saturday morning parkruns in Singapore, so we decided to take part in the one nearest my hotel, in lovely Bishan Park. Running in Singapore is always hard work if you are not acclimatized, and I wasn’t. I managed 24 minutes 30 seconds, which is a minute longer than my recent times at home, but paid for it with an hour of profuse perspiration and dehydration. That was my last run in more than a week. Shortly afterward, I came down with a viral infection and have been suffering ever since.

Australia
Because I arranged my flights to Australia at the last minute, I was unable to book a direct flight to Sydney from Singapore. Hence, I was routed via Hong Kong, arriving in Sydney at 7:30 a.m. And I had a 10:30 workshop to present at the local campus of the University of Tasmania! I will never make that mistake again. I struggled through the day and saw nothing of Sydney that evening. The next day, I gave another workshop and left directly for the airport to fly to Brisbane. Somewhere in mid-air between these two great cities, the often referred to “glamour” of international work and long haul flying definitely wore off.

My only reason to be in Brisbane was to catch up with my cousins there, but my late flight arrangements meant I only had an evening and a day with them before I was back in the air for the start of a 19-hour journey back to the UK. My next major bout of travel is to China for a prolonged period in March and April, and I will be sure to arrange those flights well in advance.

 

19 March 2019

A farewell tour of Europe

 

I don’t mean that it’s my last trip there.

The first part of my “farewell tour” took me to Slovenia and Italy, where I have reported from in the past.

GENOA, Italy—By farewell tour, I don’t mean that—like aging rockers who begin a series of such tours­—it’s my last trip there. But it may be my last while the UK is—politically—still part of Europe. With the chaos in Parliament, anything could happen. There has never been a time in my life when the “mother of Parliaments” has—despite the seriousness of the issue and how it has divided communities, friendships, and families—provided us with such entertainment. The first part of my “farewell tour” took me to Slovenia and Italy, where I have reported from in the past.

Slovenia
I went to the University of Maribor to teach a new cohort of doctoral students and to collaborate on research and writing projects with Gregor Štiglic, PhD, vice dean for research in the Faculty of Health Sciences and my colleague in health informatics. I had dinner with Majda Panjkihar, PhD, RN, FAAN, the first person from Slovenia to be inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Maribor is a skiing town where the children are said to be born wearing skis. After several years of visiting the city, I took the cable car to the top of the ski slope for the first time and had a wonderful view of Maribor and the surrounding countryside. Hundreds of skiers were taking advantage of the opportunity to ski before it becomes too warm to sustain the artificial snow used this time of year. The city is good for running and has some excellent places to eat and drink. To get to Maribor, I travel from London to Vienna, Austria, and then take a 20-minute flight to Graz on the Austrian-Slovenian border. From there, it’s a 30-minute drive.

Italy
I was in Genoa with Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, my colleague at the University of Hull. This was the first of the three-times-a-year visits we make to the University of Genoa to collaborate on research and writing and to help supervise doctoral students. On this visit, we had the additional pleasure of attending the first induction ceremony of the university’s recently formed nursing honor society.

We were addressed by Elizabeth Rosser, DPhil, RN, PFHEA, member of the board of directors of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma), past president of Sigma’s Phi Mu Chapter in England, and recently retired from Bournemouth University. In her capacity as Sigma board member, Rosser spoke about the growth and impact of the honor society with a focus on Europe. Hayter and I entertained the audience with presentations on leadership in research and academic publishing. All three of us were gratified to be inducted as honorary fellows of the Genoa University Nursing Honor Society.

Otherwise
My new hobby is Wikipedia. Some colleagues kindly created a Wikipedia page for me. As a result, I have been busy checking pages of leading nurses across the world, improving them where possible, and trying to identify information gaps, of which there are quite a few. I have also created a few pages. For example, I created a page for Hugh McKenna, CBE, PhD, RN, FAAN, a leading light in UK nursing for many years. I am not alone in trying to create Wikipedia pages for leading nurses, and I am quite happy to assist if you have questions. My email address is r.watson@hull.ac.uk.

My other hobby—writing haiku—is going well. I was included in the European Top 100 Haiku Authors of 2018. My page on the Living Haiku Anthology continues to grow, and I am now included in the Living Senryu Anthology. Upon returning to Hull, I will review the hard-copy proof of my first haiku book, dewdrops. Soon to be published, it is co-authored with and illustrated by Su Wai Hlaing, MSc, RN, from Burma.

Next up on Connecting Continents, three visits to China—in March, April, and May.

 


 

23 April 2019

Ten flights, seven cities, and three weeks in China


The author learns about medical uses of donkey skins, visits a factory that makes clinical thermometers—liquid and digital—and visits the hometown of Confucius.

LUZHOU, Sichuan Province, China—As indicated in my previous post, I have been in China—twice—in recent weeks. When not flying, I’ve traveled by high-speed train and have been lucky to visit new places.

Hangzhou and Dong’e
Hangzhou was the first place I ever visited in China—more than a decade ago. It was great to be back to visit the same institution—the eponymous Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, affiliated with Zhejiang Medical University. (Click here to learn about Sir Run Run Shaw.) Established in the last century by American Seventh Day Adventists, the hospital has a regular stream of visitors from the United States. I was there to give a lecture on writing for publication.

After only one night in Hangzhou, I was aboard the train to Jinan in Shandong Province, a city I have visited often. Upon arriving, I was taken by car to Dong’e, a relatively small city, where I spent two nights and gave another lecture on writing for publication at a conference held at Dong’e Hospital. Ambitious for the hospital to rise in national ratings, administrators intend to accomplish that by attracting more international visitors and increasing its presence in high-quality publications.

Dong’e is the home of “e jiao”—pronounced ooh-jo—a traditional Chinese medicine extracted from donkey skins. According to information at the factory I visited, e jiao cures almost every ailment and maintains youth. My nursing colleagues testified to this, too. It often concerns me in China that the same person may advocate evidence-based practice on one hand while expressing faith in purported remedies that haven’t been subjected to rigorous testing. Nevertheless, e jiao is a major industry in Dong’e and the fate of many thousands of donkeys annually.

Another significant town industry is manufacture of clinical thermometers, and I visited the factory’s museum. They manufacture both liquid and digital thermometers. I was astonished to see that they still make liquid thermometers. Apparently, some of the more remote and poorer areas of the world still use them. The factory originally made mercury thermometers but with increasing concerns about the toxicity of mercury and its abolition from most parts of the world, they developed a nontoxic alloy as a substitute, which was used widely until the advent of digital thermometers. I could go on about thermometers for much longer. The guide at the factory did!

The highlight of my time in Shandong Province was a visit to Qufu (pronounced shoo-fo), the birthplace of Confucius (known in China as Kongzi). I had long wanted to make this visit and had booked it for the one free day I had. I bought a small wooden carving of Confucius to present to our Confucius Institute at the University of Hull. I returned to Hangzhou to give a lecture on research in advanced and specialist nursing practice at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Medical University before returning via Hong Kong to the UK.

Beijing, Changyuang, Kunming, and Luzhou
After a week at home, I returned to China, this time for two weeks. I spent a week in Beijing under the auspices of the Journal of Chinese Nursing Management. Together with local colleagues, I was invited to provide four days of seminars to clinical nurses on writing for publication. More than 100 nurses from across China attended. This was my longest stay in Beijing. In the evenings, with the help of one of the editors, I explored more of the city and especially enjoyed visiting the city’s historic hutongs—narrow lanes or alleys between rows of single-story, four-sided courtyards known as siheyuan.

On the weekend, I visited Zhongzei Institute of Nursing Information to hear about their development of a workload measurement instrument and adoption of a nursing classification system known as the Clinical Care Classification, or CCC, system. The institute has developed a very large database and was seeking guidance on a publication strategy.

I next traveled by train to Changyuan in Henan Province. There I visited Henan Hongliv Hospital, where the CCC system is in use. After observing nurses using the system on the wards, I was given a “tour” of the data they were gathering. I was impressed and look forward to seeing some powerful articles generated that are based on that data, especially as the system rolls out across China.

After two nights in Changyuan, I flew to Kunming in Yunnan Province for one night, where I gave a lecture at the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University. I had been told Kunming is beautiful—and it is. It’s green, the climate is constant all year—warm and dry—and there is no pollution. Everything went well except for getting completely lost for 30 minutes after my morning run. I showed my hotel card to several police officers to no avail until two locals, one with a map app on his phone, helped find my hotel.

The final days of my visit were spent in Luzhou, Sichuan Province, where, as a visiting professor at the Affiliated Hospital of Southwestern Medical University, I have reported from several times. I attended their annual conference and caught up with local colleagues.

I missed Easter with my family and all of my “Easter duties” as there is no Vatican-recognized Catholic church in China. I’ll be glad to get home and prepare for my next visit to China next month.

 

29 May 2019

And back to China

 

The author makes his first visit to Yangzhou, China, and closes a circle he started in Genoa, Italy.

In my previous entry, I reported on two visits I made to China in rapid succession. I said I would be back soon, and here I am. On this trip, I visited, for the first time, the beautiful and historic city of Yangzhou, where Marco Polo once worked as an administrator. As readers of this blog are aware, I regularly visit Genoa in northern Italy, where Marco Polo—Venetian by birth—was based for many years, much of that time in prison. So, visiting Yangzhou closed a circle for me.

En route, I visited with Mark Hayter, PhD, FAAN, fellow editor of Journal of
Advanced Nursing
, and my colleague at the University of Hull, where he is associate dean of research. Through the generosity of our hosts in Yangzhou and an incredible bargain offered by British Airways, we flew first class from London to Shanghai. This allowed us to use the coveted Concorde Room, where we rubbed shoulders with 
Orlando Bloom. One of my daughters asked if there was opportunity for a selfie with Bloom, and I said, “No, he didn’t ask!”

While in China, we were guests of Yangzhou University School of Nursing. The University of Hull has an arrangement with Yangzhou whereby we teach diploma nurses and bring them to bachelor level, so there is regular traffic of Hull nursing educators to Yangzhou. Soon, the school’s first undergraduate students will visit Hull. We also hope to recruit students for our doctoral program.

On this trip, however, we are here to address their first international conference on geriatric nursing. Care of older people is a priority of the Chinese government, and geriatric nursing care is expanding. The conference was truly international with U.K., U.S., Australian, Japanese, Korean, and Hong Kong colleagues in attendance, in addition to delegates from 15 of China’s 23 provinces. One of the international attendees was Wendy Moyle, PhD, RN, of Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, a forthcoming inductee into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.

The visit was very short, and the little time we had for sightseeing after the conference was a washout with torrential rain. However, one afternoon, I was able to visit Yangzhou Museum and the adjacent China Block Printing Museum. Yangzhou Museum contains contemporary work—mainly ink drawings—and the 100-meter Epic Scroll of China’s Grand Canal, located near Yangzhou. The scroll is a wonderful historical and social account—I think; an English translation wasn’t provided—of the development and life of the canal. One of the security guards disappeared momentarily and came back with a beautifully illustrated and expensive-looking souvenir book, which he gave to me.

The block printing exhibition was very good. It traced the industry from its origins up to the development of the Gutenberg Press, which effectively ended the woodblock printing industry. As I toured the exhibition, where they showed equivalents of typesetters, proofreaders, and printers, I reflected that, as a writer and editor, I am part of a remarkable industry, albeit far removed historically from what I was observing. I wondered what woodblock printers would make of the internet.

Haiku news
I continue to publish haiku. Recently, together with Su Wai Hlaing, a Burmese friend and nurse in Singapore, we published a book of haiku titled dewdrops. Many of Hlaing’s haiku relate to her clinical work. Here’s a perfect example of her sense of humor and powers of observation that was recently published in Pulse.

Next up
By coincidence and maintaining the Marco Polo Italy-China connection, my next international trip, planned for June, takes me to Genoa, Italy.

18 June 2019

Mass protests amid the smell of onions and garlic

 

Hong Kong not business as usual these days.

Roger Watson has visited Hong Kong more than a hundred times, and he wasn’t sure if he would have anything new to report on this trip. He was wrong.

HONG KONG SAR, China—I have been to Hong Kong often and, usually, don’t have much to report, so was concerned the same would be true on this visit. How wrong I was! This time, from my hotel room I could see throngs of protesters surrounding the Legislative Council building—LegCo­—as Hong Kong residents demonstrated against the proposed extradition bill. (Organizers say nearly 2 million have taken part in the mass protests, which I’m sure you’ve noticed on the news.) As I emerged from the MTR (Hong Kong’s underground train system), I detected a pungent odor—onions and garlic—that took me back more than 25 years. Initially, I wasn’t sure if I was smelling what I thought I was, but CNN reports later confirmed it was tear gas.

When I did my military service, we used tear gas to test the integrity of our respirators and perform self-protection drills against nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Rubber bullets have also been fired to disperse the Hong Kong demonstrators. Rubber bullets sound innocuous, but these hard, plastic cylinders—also called baton rounds—can inflict serious damage. So, history has been made in Hong Kong.

In all the pro-democracy protests that have taken place here over the years, including the “Umbrella Movement,” such force had never been used against its citizens—until now. With its copious numbers of armed police, row upon row of police vans, and roadblocks shutting down the island’s main artery, Hong Kong—for one day—had the feel of a police state. Things calmed down for a time, but before I left for home, protesters were again gathering in the streets. I wasn’t in personal danger but was glad to get out. 

Will I be back?
It’s the first time in more than 15 years that I have departed Hong Kong without knowing when I would be back—without knowing if I would be back. In one way or another, I have been associated with all of the nursing schools in Hong Kong. I am still an honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong, but, so far, the position has not involved any specific duties. I doubt very much that this is goodbye to Hong Kong for me. I’ve been here in various capacities more than a hundred times, and I have no complaints.

This visit was my swan song at the University Grants Council (UGC), where I’ve served on the Research Grants Council (RGC). Three terms of two years each is the maximum allowed. The RGC has disbursed around 50 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately US $8 million) to successful General Research Fund applicants. We also disburse funds to the Early Career Scheme and the Prestigious Fellowships Scheme.

In addition to our funding responsibilities, we also undertake a visit on behalf of the RGC to local UGC-funded universities. This year, it was Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), where we learned about their ambitious plans to increase research activity. We also visited various schools at the university related to our personal areas of interest.

Chinese medicine
I spent most of my time in the School of Chinese Medicine, where they are making genuine efforts to identify active ingredients, test them, and produce standardized and reliable medicines. They are also looking for novel compounds and uses for existing Chinese medicines. I was tempted to ask, if they could identify and properly test compounds, would these drugs remain Chinese medicines—if they worked—or would they be moved into what they refer to as Western medicine. Currently, HKBU doesn’t have a nursing school, but they plan to develop one. I wonder if they want a visiting professor.

Apart from work, I met with many longtime friends in Hong Kong and on the RGC panel. The saddest part of these visits was bidding farewell to fellow panelists, who are some of the most prestigious people in their fields, and to Cindy Fan, PhD, vice provost for international studies and global engagement at UCLA, who has chaired my subpanel with good humor and efficiency.

Despite coming to Hong Kong for so many years, I am always pleased to find something new to visit. A fellow panelist enthused about the Nan Lian Garden, which is maintained by a Buddhist nunnery. It really is beautiful with bougainvillea in bloom, fabulous water features, and typical Chinese buildings. The nunnery is out of bounds, and the main hall was closed for refurbishment, but the atmosphere was conducive to writing haiku, so I wrote a sequence based on some of the things I saw there. 

Creating and editing Wikipedia pages
In a previous entry, I mentioned my interest in creating Wikipedia pages for nurse leaders and identified a page I had made for Hugh McKenna. I have also generated pages for Parveen Azam AliBrendan George McCormackMajda PajnkiharLoredana Sasso, and David Robert Thompson. Some of these require improvement, and anyone is welcome to edit or add material. The compete list of my Wikipedia activities can be found here, including many other pages I edit that also feature nurse leaders.

Next, in rapid succession, come two visits to Genoa, Italy. The first is a short visit to speak at a conference and the second to perform my role as visiting professor at the University of Genoa. The long-suffering and often neglected Mrs. Watson will accompany me on the first trip and says she is looking forward to it. I thought she was coming because she wanted to be with me but it’s because of the terrible weather we are experiencing in the UK. I know my place.

 

24 June 2019

Back to Italy


Roger Watson makes the second of two visits this year to Genoa, Italy. He also learned recently that he has been honored with an invitation that very few nurses receive.

GENOA, Italy—In the space of four weeks, I’ve made two—that’s due (DOO-eh) in Italian—trips to Genoa. The first was to address a conference at the University of Genoa and the second to help satisfy my contractual obligation to make three annual visits as a visiting professor at the same university. This was the second.

The conference in June, the first Italian conference on fundamentals of care, stemmed from work at the University of Genoa School of Nursing toward completing the Italian portion of the RN4CAST project. The conference, which was a great success, attracted nurse leaders from across Italy.

The opening keynote was delivered by Alison Kitson, PhD, RN, FAAN, vice president and executive dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University in South Australia. Sigma was represented by Elizabeth Rosser, PhD, RN, past president of Phi Mu Chapter in England.

I had the privilege of closing the conference with a presentation—drawing on some of the work of my graduate students—on mealtime interventions for older people with dementia. One major outcome of the gathering is that the School of Nursing in Genoa, under the leadership of Loredana Sasso, MedSc, RN, FAAN, is in the process of establishing an Italian observatory on fundamental care.

I was lucky to have the company of my wife on that visit, and we made the best of two free days to explore more of Genoa than I had seen on previous visits. One highlight was visiting Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, a street in Genoa’s historic center that is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We also took a boat trip to the beautiful town of Portofino, holiday resort of the stars, including Madonna and Elton John.

On this second trip to Genoa for this year, I was accompanied, as usual, by Hull colleague Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, and—making his first visit—David Thompson, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor of nursing at Queen’s University Belfast. The previous week, I made an overnight visit to Ulster University in Belfast to deliver some seminars on writing for publication and research assessment, and I also met David there. In case you think that visiting positions in Genoa have been sequestered for an old boy’s club, there are also many female visiting professors, but our visits rarely coincide with theirs.

Academia Europaea
I was honored and delighted to receive news this month that I have been invited to become a member of Academia Europaea, The Academy of Europe. I am one of very few nurses to be invited, and we hope to become a visible presence in the years ahead. Scanning the membership, I am impressed by the caliber of its members and honorary members, and I look forward to developing my personal webpage.

This is my prevacation blog post. I’ve been extremely busy this year with little time to call my own, so I am really looking forward to two weeks in the United States in New York and Washington, D.C. My next entry will be from China.

 

7 September 2017

Change of plans

 

Author spends unexpected gift of time at nursing conferences.

Because of a change in travel plans, the author spends part of the unexpected gift of time at the International Philosophy of Nursing Society Conference and the Nurse Education Tomorrow Conference.

HULL, United Kingdom—My previous entry ended with the news that I was going to make my first visit to Karachi, Pakistan, this week, but I’m still at home. I was going to visit the prestigious Aga Khan University but missed information contained in one of the emails stating that, to collect my visa, I was to visit the Pakistani embassy with my letter of invitation. So, I find myself with a gift of time, and I hope to rearrange Pakistan for next year.

Philosophically speaking
It’s conference season in the UK, and these past two weeks I have been at conferences. The first was the International Philosophy of Nursing Society (IPONS) Conference in Worcester to which I was invited to give the keynote address on my capacity as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN). I agreed months ago and, as the date approached, it was with increasing trepidation that I looked forward to the event. I am not a philosopher but have crossed swords with at least two prominent IPONS members. We are all good friends—philosophers have a unique ability to savage you intellectually and then take you for a beer. As I said several times in my presentation, in my arguments with philosophers I have always come off worst but have also always come away wiser.

Drawing upon the utility of philosophy as published in JAN, I titled my speech “Philosophy in nursing: What have the Romans ever done for us?” To prepare, I read as many philosophy articles as I could find and came up with a few names of people who had influenced me and the development of JAN over the years. I’m not sure it was my best performance; you can judge yourself from this podcast.

This was my first visit to Worcester. With its large ancient cathedral and river, along which I ran for a few minutes one morning as the sun was rising, it was very impressive. My hotel overlooked Worcestershire County Cricket Club. A game was in progress, but it was hard to tell. For those outside England—and I mean England, not the UK—cricket is a game resembling baseball but without any of the fun, excitement, or spectators. 

Wowed at Cambridge, again
Next, I visited Churchill College, Cambridge. It was my annual visit to the Nurse Education Tomorrow Conference, also known as the NET Conference, and I spent time with people who consulted me about manuscripts. In addition to networking, I listened to a highly entertaining keynote speech by Roy Lilley, the UK’s foremost writer and commentator on the National Health Service and UK government health policy.

I never cease to experience the wow effect at Cambridge. Churchill College houses the papers of the UK’s two foremost prime ministers, Winston Churchill and Baroness Margaret Thatcher. The buildings, frankly, are dated, by which I mean they are not the typical medieval and subsequent-centuries buildings often associated with Cambridge. Churchill College was built in the 1960s, and the somewhat brutalist architectural approach divides onlookers. Nevertheless, the college alone is housed on grounds larger than the total area of my own University of Hull. The periphery is exactly two miles. I know—I ran it.

Hong Kong, then Beijing
Although I failed to reach Karachi, the same will not happen next week when I leave for Hong Kong and then travel to Beijing. Mrs. Watson makes her first return to Hong Kong in eight years and her first to mainland China. I have a good friend and translator standing by in Beijing to show her the city while I attend a conference. We have a dinner to attend in the Great Hall of the People before we return for a few days to Hong Kong. I’ll tell you more in the next entry.

 

13 September 2019

Catching up

 

First, art appreciation.

After a memorable family vacation in the United States, the author returns to work, traveling to China and Australia.

SYDNEY, Australia—My wonderful family vacation in the United States seems a long way back now, but it was memorable. It was my first visit to Washington, D.C., without being at a conference or other work-related activity, and it was a privilege to have time to explore the place at leisure.

It was also good to show my youngest son—a history graduate—and his girlfriend around. They made repeated visits to the White House Visitor Center to buy gifts and quiz the ever-helpful shop assistants about the history of U.S. presidents as represented by the annual White House Christmas decorations. If you have not viewed these displays, you must check them out the next time you’re in Washington. [Editor’s note: The 45th Biennial Convention of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma) will be held in Washington 16-20 November.]

The highlight of my visit was the National Gallery of Art, which I had not previously seen. With the range of paintings on display, I was in my element. All the “big names” are represented: Picasso, Mondrian, Modigliani, Pollock, Kandinsky, and more.

We also spent a week in New York during the July heat wave, which limited activities slightly. It was very nice to have time to introduce my family to Sean Clarke, PhD, RN, FAAN, executive vice dean for academic affairs at New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Clarke is a long-standing friend I meet regularly at the annual conference of the American Academy of Nursing. While in New York City, my family did the usual tourist visits, and I went to the Museum of Modern Art. For the first time, I saw an original and very characteristic painting by Georgia O’Keefe.

China

Back to work. My first work-related visit after returning from vacation was to Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, China, bordering Inner Mongolia. I was there, courtesy of the local Shanxi Medical Periodical Press, to deliver a keynote for a training event attended by 150 doctors and nurses from across China. With two Wiley-related editors—Fiona Timmins, PhD, RN, editor of Journal of Nursing Management, and Eileen Lake, PhD, RN, FAAN, editor of Research in Nursing & Health—I was in good company. Carolyn Yucha, PhD, RN, FAAN, CNE, editor of Biological Research for Nursing, was also with us. In addition to the conference, an interesting social program was arranged for us with visits to museums and other places of interest. I especially liked Yingze Park, which was very close. The air quality was good, and I was able to run there twice.

It was nice to get away from UK news and Brexit-related politics for a while. In fact, it was nice to be away from news altogether, but that meant I heard nothing about Hong Kong for a few days. News there is heavily censored with CNN going offline for the duration of anything controversial. Upon landing in Hong Kong on my return journey, I learned the situation had grown more tense.

After returning to the UK for less than a week at the start of September, I attended the Royal College of Nursing International Nursing Research Conference in Sheffield for three days. Along with Alison Tierney, PhD, RN, FRCN, Hugh McKenna, CBE, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Parveen Azam Ali, PhD, RN, I organized a symposium on the theme of research impact. It was billed as a tribute to the late James P. Smith, OBE, RN, FRCN, founding editor of Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Australia
At the kind invitation of Michelle Cleary, PhD, RN, at the University of Tasmania (Sydney campus), I spent three days in that city doing consultancy work with colleagues on staff development and manuscripts for publication. Although located at a relatively small outpost of the University of Tasmania’s main campus, the team has become tight-knit and highly productive under Cleary’s leadership. I have known her and watched her career develop for more than a decade as she has held positions at other universities in Australia and Singapore where I have held visiting positions.

I normally visit family while in Australia, but I’m heading back to the United Kingdom to an international family reunion of cousins from Australia, Canada, and the UK. Next reports will be from Europe—Turkey and Italy.

 

22 October 2019

My last European trip before Brexit?

 

I speculate again. Soon, we’ll know.

The author visits Turkey, where he shares his thoughts on complementary therapies—more specifically, how to properly publish studies about them.

ULL, United Kingdom—I have speculated in recent entries about the possibility that a particular visit to Europe could be my last while the UK is still—politically—part of the Continent. And I speculate again. I am writing this the day after the UK Parliament met on a Saturday for the first time since 1982, an occasion necessitated by the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands. At this moment, I know which way the vote has gone at Westminster—the government lost—but there remains great uncertainty about whether the prime minister can realize his stated aim of achieving Brexit by the end of the month. Next time I post an entry, we’ll know.

Turkey
Turkey, if not politically part of Europe, is at least partly in Europe geographically. I was there, at Ege University in Izmir, to give a keynote at the 2nd International and 4th National Congress on Complementary and Supportive Care Practices. I didn’t address the topic of complementary therapies directly. I was asked to speak about how to get studies in complementary therapies published. Essentially, I said there could be no compromise on good designs, study registration (must comply with AllTrials guidelines), and publication (must conform to EQUATOR standards). You can listen to this lecture at my podcast site. My visit was very short, but I enjoyed catching up with some longtime friends in Izmir, and I passed through the new and very impressive Istanbul New Airport.

Italy

Together with Hull colleague Mark Hayter, PhD, RN, FAAN, I made my final visit for the year to the University of Genoa in Italy. We continue to collaborate on a wide range of projects, including the Italian leg of the RN4CAST project. The 2nd International Conference of the Genoa University Nursing Honor Society had been held the week before. The gathering was addressed by Marie-Louise Luiking, MANP, RN, of the Netherlands, president of Sigma’s Rho Chi at-Large Chapter. The Genoa University Nursing Honor Society has applied for chapter status and expects to hear early next year if it has achieved it. I’m very pleased to have played a part in all this, however small, by putting Genovese colleagues in contact with Sigma’s Phi Mu Chapter in England, where they were inducted before taking things forward in Italy.

United States and China
This week I will be in Washington, D.C., again with Mark Hayter, where we will see colleagues from the UK, Finland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan inducted as fellows of the American Academy of Nursing. A notable recipient this year is Brendan McCormack, PhD, RN, FRCN, a member of Sigma’s International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. After many years of encouraging him to consider applying for the academy fellowship, I am very glad to have co-sponsored him.

Then I go to China for five weeks on a High-End Foreign Expert Scholarship from the government of Hubei Province. I must arrive at and leave from Wuhan, capital of the province, and spend some time at Wuhan Polytechnic University, which sponsored me. Otherwise, I have visits arranged for other cities across China, including Yangzhou University, with which the University of Hull has a joint undergraduate nursing program.

Sadly, I will be on my own for this long visit. Mrs. Watson obtained a visa for traveling to China with me but then succumbed to acute lower-back pain. To avoid a series of long-haul flights and transporting luggage between airplanes and trains, she has decided to remain in the UK. My next entry will be from China.

 


 

18 November 2019

Two weeks in China and counting

 

Three to go.

The teacher learns a lesson: There is no substitute for good planning.

YANGZHOU, China—As I write this blog entry, the UK is, apparently, still part of Europe! I am very glad to be here in China if only to escape news, views, and arguments over our forthcoming general election. I will be home in time to vote, but I can do that without having to listen to too much sloganeering. Frankly, while the past few years since the Brexit vote have been a media bonanza, I think many of my compatriots want a prolonged period without politics.

Hong Kong
You cannot have missed the increasingly dreadful news from Hong Kong. I only mention it here because faculty at my university are now banned from going to Hong Kong, and I noticed that my former university—Sheffield—has urgently recalled all exchange students. I was even questioned by senior management at my university for transiting through Hong Kong on my way to China. But the airport is probably one of the safest places now. All movement to it is being closely monitored to ensure there is no surge of protesters. I am in daily contact with colleagues in Hong Kong. Some do not expect to return to work for a long time—all the universities are closed—and they are struggling to support their students.

Wuhan
I am based in Wuhan, Hubei Province, for nearly five weeks. Unfortunately, despite arranging a visa for her, my wife is not with me. She is unable to travel due to acute lower-back pain and is in the process of having investigations. The basis for my visit is what is grandly called a High-End Foreign Expert Scholarship. This Chinese government-funded initiative is administered at the provincial level, so mine was awarded by Hubei Province. The stipulation is that I spend 30 days in China. Because my academic visitor visa is for 30 days, I must be out on the final day. Nothing can go wrong!

My duties, which involve some teaching, are mainly concerned with meeting Master of Nursing students to discuss manuscripts arising from their degree projects. I receive a stream of manuscripts in various states of preparation and a wide range of quality. Nearly all must be substantially rewritten.

I ask each student the same thing, “Have you selected a journal?” The answer is usually no. The palpable cultural difference between these students and ours in the UK is compounded by difficulty in searching the internet. Google and all Google-based platforms, including Google Scholar, are blocked here. Independent thinking is not part of the curriculum in China, and most students here are publication mills for their supervisors.

There is also the expectation that I will want to add my name as a co-author to manuscripts that I edit. Unless I have been involved in advising on the research project, I turn down the offer. But it provides an opportunity to give my usual lecture on publication ethics, emphasizing eligibility for authorship, and referring them to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for guidance. I sound critical but, in fact, am awestruck by their hard work and ability to write even a poor manuscript draft in a second language.

Yangzhou
I spent a week in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, at Yangzhou University School of Nursing teaching Master of Nursing students. I visited Yangzhou earlier this year. Our university teaches a joint undergraduate program here, so I am only one of a steady stream of University of Hull faculty members visiting Yangzhou.

I taught for five days and was lulled into a false sense of security after a great first day with the students. On Days 2 and 3, I simply could not connect with them and had to abandon my planned lectures. I then suggested another topic, to which they agreed, and the final two days were a pleasure. It was a lesson to me—even in the twilight of my teaching career—that there is no substitute for good planning. There were faults on both sides here; the desired content and level could have been better conveyed. But I could have asked for greater clarity about the class. Next time, it will be better.

Nursing Open
Some of you may already have seen the news, as my excellent editorial colleague Sarah Oerther has been tweeting about it. My journal Nursing Open has been accepted for impact measurement by Science Citation Index. The minimum time to achieve this is three years, and we have done it in five, which is good. This makes us the first gold open-access, online nursing journal to be on the list, and in 2020 we will receive our first impact factor.

I am, as you can imagine, very pleased and proud of my colleagues on the journal—past and present—who have helped us achieve this. Nursing Open was conceived over coffee with two Wiley colleagues six years ago in Cork, Ireland, during a meeting of the International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE) held in town that year.

Before the end of this year, I will report on my final weeks in China. That will be my last entry for 2019.

 

5 December 2019

Flying home for Christmas

 

Best wishes for the festive season and forthcoming year.

Roger Watson returns to the United Kingdom after five weeks in China.

WUHAN, Hubei Province, China—Since the posting of my last column, I have remained in China to complete the terms of my scholarship. Activities continued with lectures to students and local hospitals as well as individual and group meetings with staff members and students. At Wuhan Union Hospital, where I gave a lecture two years ago, I met five students—three Syrian, one Iraqi, and one Tanzanian—who were pursuing their doctoral degrees at the hospital. I have long predicted that China, instead of being a net importer of educational expertise in nursing, will soon be an exporter. I think this has started.

The meetings, held without benefit of an interpreter, were mainly to advise on research projects and draft publications. My Chinese is confined to the basics: “ni hao,” “ir bing pijiu,” and “xie xie,” translated hello, two cold beers, and thank you. Despite excellent English reading and writing skills, the general level of spoken English and comprehension amongst the students was quite poor, so the meetings were quite long and exhausting. Ascertaining exactly what was being done and what they wanted to know from me could be quite frustrating at times. But I remain awestruck by the general level of industry, willingness to try, and sheer patience that the students showed as I struggled—sometimes less patiently!

It was a busy week. First, I was invited by the UK consulate-general in Wuhan to have lunch with their trade and investment officer and consul for trade and investment. It was good to be briefed at the highest level on what the UK is trying to achieve in China and to see where my university and nursing colleagues can contribute. This is not the place to reveal state secrets, but suffice to say, I’ll be back next year in connection with these meetings and will report on that in this column.

Second, it was my birthday—64 years old. I celebrated by taking five students who have been helping me to a Japanese bar where we drank beer and had Japanese food. The students, who are in their mid-20s and early 30s, were quite anxious about the whole event. I was astonished to learn that none of them had ever been to a bar in their lives, which was another cultural insight for me. However, history was made as I was able to pay for the whole evening. In 14 years of coming to China, I have never been permitted to buy a meal for any colleagues or students.

Back to Yangzhou
I made a very quick return visit to Yangzhou in my final week. Amanda Lee, associate dean (international) at the University of Hull, was visiting, and we thought it would be a good opportunity to exchange notes on mutual activities in China, discuss progress with our collaborators in Yangzhou, and for me to brief her on my meetings with the UK consul. With both of us being involved in international activities, we rarely meet in Hull. Frankly, this was a welcome distraction and a break from my time in Wuhan.

Lee also introduced me to the wonders of the Google Translate app, the most endearing feature of which is that it is free! (Other apps are also available.) I had been paying for an app that worked poorly, so I cancelled that and installed the free one. The fun feature of the app is that you can point it at Chinese characters, and it tells you what they say.

Because I’ve been slightly bored in my last few days here, I have been going about my hotel and even out in the street pointing my phone at signs. A whole new world has opened for me along with some curious entertainment for local street traders. If the angle is wrong or all the letters are not included, the translation will be off. For example, my room service menu lists “the first film” as one of the items. With a slight adjustment, it read—correctly—“chicory.”

Generally, the weather in Wuhan has not been good—initially, not too cold, but latterly, very cold. When it rains, it comes down in torrents so heavy you can’t go out. Because the air quality, except for two clear days, has been poor because of smog, it has not been a pleasure to walk outside for long, so I explored very little.

I did walk to Wuhan Museum to see some fascinating artifacts, including extraordinary jade and porcelain ornaments. However, after a few hours, I was coughing, and my eyes were stinging. At times like this, I wonder about the health of the local population and my own health. China is taking steps to reduce pollution, but winter brings a surge in the levels of smog. My life here has, essentially, revolved around my hotel room, visits to the nursing school, and dinner in a friendly noodle bar where I worked my way through the menu several times.

Haiku
With its array of unusual sights and smells, China is always a good place for haiku. My efforts are recorded in my haiku blog. Last year, Jim Mattson, editor of Reflections on Nursing Leadership, drew my attention to Pulse: Voices from the heart of medicine, which publishes all manner of reflective pieces on medicine, including a weekly haiku. One of my entries has been accepted and will be published on 20 December 2019. My submission for next year was rejected, but I will keep trying.

This has been my longest visit to China. It’s been mostly enjoyable and productive, but I am glad to be heading back to the UK and my family. Best wishes for the festive season and forthcoming year.