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Engaging in research and using evidence based practice are essential for mental health nurses to provide quality nursing care to consumers and families. This paper reports on a Delphi study that identified the top ten mental health nursing research priorities at one area health service in Australia servicing a population of 840,000 people. Initially 390 research questions were identified by nurses and these were then reduced to 56 broader questions. Finally, the top ten questions were ranked in order of importance. The priority questions were clinically and professionally focused and included research into the delivery and organisation of mental health services and the need to design and evaluate new practice paradigms for nurses in the primary care setting. The mental health knowledge and skill set of graduates from Australian comprehensive nursing programs along with improved recruitment and retention of graduates in mental health were also identified priority areas for research.

Driving during and after a psychiatric illness is an important area about which relatively little has been written. This paper reports on a questionnaire study aimed at seeking psychiatrists' knowledge and views on this issue. Of 187 questionnaires distributed 101 were returned, and replies indicated that psychiatrists are generally unaware of regulations currently in force. Suggestionson how to improve matters are made.Despite a recent fall In the annual number of fatalities on British roads, driving accidents remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortal ity. It has been estimated that a quarter of all road accidents involve drivers whose skills are im paired by either alcohol, illness, emotional turmoil or drugs (Cremona, 1986). The link between alcohol and road traffic accidents is well documented but driving and fitness to drive during and after a psychiatric illness is a more difficult area. Not only can certain psychiatric conditions make driving hazardous, but sideeffects of psychotropic drug medication can impair psychomotor performance.Apart from a few exceptions, relatively little work has studied driving ability in psychiatric illness (Metzner et cd, 1993). One notable excep tion has been the driving habits of patients with dementia. Many patients continue to drive after the diagnosis has been made and as one might expect driving skills deteriorate as the Illness progresses, with greater likelihood of accidents (O'Neill, 1993).British law is clear in making it the responsi bility of the licence holder (or applicant) to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)if they develop a medical condition affecting fitness to drive. Good medical practice requires doctors to inform patients if they fall into this category. To satisfy this requirement doctors should have a sufficiently detailed knowledge of current guide lines so as to advise patients both for their own safety and that of the general public. The studyA questionnaire was sent to all general adult psychiatrists working In Lothian, Dundee and Fife. Questions included those relating to DVLA regulations regarding fitness to drive for Group 1 licences (motorcycles and cars) when suffering from neuroses, psychoses, dementia and sub stance abuse. Questions also enquired about knowledge relating to whose responsibility fitness to drive was and whether current regulations were felt to be too strict or too lax. The study was primarily interested in assessing when there was a change In the ability to drive and for this reason questions relating to learning disability and personality disorders were excluded. Anonimity of the respondents was assured. FindingsIn total, 101 questionnaires were returned and this represented response rates of 44% (52 from 119) for Lothian, 77% (33 from 43) for Dundee and 64% (16 from 25) for Fife. Table 1 sum marises the current DVLA regulations for various conditions and the accuracy of psychiatrists' knowledge. As a group, senior registrars were most knowledgeable about the regulations. For example, 65% of senior re...

This paper describes the integration of the Alice 3D virtual worlds environment into a diverse set of subjects in middle school, including the development of tutorials, example worlds and lesson plans. In the summer of 2008 our experiences with middle school teachers included three-weeks of training in Alice and guidance in the development of lesson plans. Our experiences with middle school students involved two one-week summer camps of instruction in Alice. We found both the teachers and the students strongly engaged with Alice. The teachers created lesson plans with Alice worlds to interactively teach a topic and other lesson plans in which students build an Alice world on a particular topic either from scratch or using a template world. The students in the Alice camps had both instruction in Alice and free time to develop Alice worlds of their choice. We found that the students used a large variety of basic Alice concepts and computer science concepts in the worlds they built in their free time.

This paper describes the integration of the Alice 3D virtual worlds environment into a diverse set of subjects in middle school, including the development of tutorials, example worlds and lesson plans. In the summer of 2008 our experiences with middle school teachers included three-weeks of training in Alice and guidance in the development of lesson plans. Our experiences with middle school students involved two one-week summer camps of instruction in Alice. We found both the teachers and the students strongly engaged with Alice. The teachers created lesson plans with Alice worlds to interactively teach a topic and other lesson plans in which students build an Alice world on a particular topic either from scratch or using a template world. The students in the Alice camps had both instruction in Alice and free time to develop Alice worlds of their choice. We found that the students used a large variety of basic Alice concepts and computer science concepts in the worlds they built in their free time.