Aims and objectives This paper reports an integrative review of the literature on nursing competency standards for nurses working in primary health care and, in particular, general practice. Background Internationally, there is growing emphasis on building a strong primary health care nursing workforce to meet the challenges of rising chronic and complex disease. However, there has been limited emphasis on examining the nursing workforce in this setting. Design Integrative review. Methods A comprehensive search of relevant electronic databases using keywords (e.g. 'competencies', 'competen*' and 'primary health care', 'general practice' and 'nurs*') was combined with searching of the Internet using the Google scholar search engine. Experts were approached to identify relevant grey literature. Key websites were also searched and the reference lists of retrieved sources were followed up. The search focussed on English language literature published since 2000. Results Limited published literature reports on competency standards for nurses working in general practice and primary health care. Of the literature that is available, there are differences in the reporting of how the competency standards were developed. A number of common themes were identified across the included competency standards, including clinical practice, communication, professionalism and health promotion. Many competency standards also included teamwork, education, research/evaluation, information technology and the primary health care environment. Conclusion Given the potential value of competency standards, further work is required to develop and test robust standards that can communicate the skills and knowledge required of nurses working in primary health care settings to policy makers, employers, other health professionals and consumers. Relevance to clinical practice Competency standards are important tools for communicating the role of nurses to consumers and other health professionals, as well as defining this role for employers, policy makers and educators. Understanding the content of competency standards internationally is an important step to understanding this growing workforce.

The experience of myeloma is increasingly characterized by issues associated with chronic disease and 'survivorship'. It is important for nurses working with people with myeloma to understand the overwhelming nature of illness work in this context. Nurses can put in place supportive measures to address the two main 'drivers' of this work: constant risk to well-being of survivors (including carers) and the recurrent need to manage emotions in social interactions.

Aims and objectives: To explore how nurses influence the perceptions and experience of safety among consumers who have been admitted to an acute mental health unit. Background: Safety is a priority in acute mental health inpatient units, yet consumers do not always experience acute units as safe. Despite being primary stakeholders, little is known about what safety means for consumers in acute mental health units. Design: A qualitative descriptive study informed by naturalistic enquiry was conducted and is reported using the COREQ checklist. Methods: Fifteen consumers with experience of mental illness participated in semistructured individual interviews. These interviews explored what safety meant for them during their acute mental health unit admissions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings: The theme Influence of Nurses reflected that the way nurses engaged in acute mental health units had a profound impact on participants' sense of safety. Three sub-themes emerged as follows: (a) Availability: "It's about nurses spending time with you"; (b) Being responsive: "They would listen if you had a concern"; and (c) Caring: "Little acts of kindness." Conclusions: These findings challenge the dominant discourse around safety in mental health organisations, in which nursing practice is often oriented towards the management of risk, rather than the promotion of safety. The findings demonstrate that, through their clinical practice, nurses can enhance consumers' feelings of safety in the acute mental health unit. Relevance to clinical practice: Nurses play a key role in providing care within acute mental health units. It is vital that the behaviours and actions nurses can enact in order to promote feelings of safety among consumers in this setting are enabled at individual, unit and organisational levels.

The impact of curriculum on nursing students' attitudes, perceptions and The impact of curriculum on nursing students' attitudes, perceptions and preparedness to work in primary health care: An integrative review preparedness to work in primary health care: An integrative review