Researchers at the University of Hull's Faculty of Health and
Social Care have made a breakthrough in developing an instrument to assess
nurses’ contribution to the NHS. The April Scale, as it is known,
was inspired by an approach known as vernacular modelling. Dr Peter Draper explains 'We noticed that in
everyday life, people rate performance by relating it to commonly accepted
standards. For example, the size of a place might be expressed in relation to
the size of Wales. Alternatively the performance of a football team could be
expressed relative to that expected of Doncaster Rovers on a wet Wednesday
evening.'
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| A typical nurse |
The April Scale results from work to find a similar way of
defining and measuring nursing work. The scale consists of three sub scales,
respectively measuring the size of the territory a nurse is capable of covering
on foot in a month, an estimate of his or her intelligence, and the likelihood
in any given year that he or she will pack in nursing for a job in a
supermarket.
The research team has found a way of indirectly estimating the
size of territory a nurse is able to cover without the need for direct
measurement. Professor Roger Watson explains 'Whilst walking about the campus
we have often noticed that district nurses' calf muscles are more well
developed than those of other health professionals, due entirely to the miles
they put in walking round the Bransholme estate. We realised that the
circumference of the calf muscle is directly proportional to the distance a
nurse is able to travel, and this led to the development of the Bransholme
Index.'
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| Professor Roger Watson |
The second sub scale is an estimate of intelligence. Intelligence
is traditionally measured by the IBM 2 (Insensate Building Materials) test
which expresses intelligence relative to two short planks, a widely accepted
standard of mediocrity, although some researchers have achieved equally good
results with the IMB 1, which relates intelligence to a single brick. Dr Peter
Draper explains that the advent of graduate nursing meant a new approach was
required. 'We know that nurses are
amongst the smartest members of the workforce, and the smartest of all are
those educated at the University of Hull'. The breakthrough came when the team
realised that nurses' intelligence is directly proportional to the distance
between their Alma Mater and the Hull campus.
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| Dr Peter Draper |
The final subscale proved the trickiest of all. Large numbers of
the profession are reported to be leaving for jobs in the retail food industry,
and the team needed to find a way of estimating the likelihood that a nurse
will prefer pushing a shopping trolley to a medicines trolley. This led to the
development of the Lidl index. Blindfold nurses are led to a succession
of trolleys where trolley behaviour is measured. Those that tend to put things
in to the trolley are deemed latent shoppers, and are likely to end up in a
supermarket, whereas these who naturally dispense things out of the trolley are
much more likely to stay in the profession.
The researchers' current priority is to combine the sub scales
(Area, Intelligence, and Lidl) into a single measure. The prototype of APRIL 1
is released this morning.
On Friday 24th March two schools visited the Biomedical Science subject group for a Forensic Science taster session. The students learnt about the usefulness of a Forensic Science degree due to its application of many different sciences to answer the questions posed by the legal system. To this end students analysed their own hair and hair casts using clear nail varnish and microscope slides. And they analysed their fingerprints, which are unique to every individual even identical twins. David Stamper, Associate Assistant Head of Headlands School in Bridlington wrote “Can I just pass on my thanks for a great day. We all really enjoyed it and the students got a great deal out of it.”
Amy Newton, the Schools and Colleges Liaison Service wrote, “I just want to say a huge thank you for organising and leading the Forensic Science sessions on today’s school visits. The students appeared very engaged and I received a lot of positive verbal feedback about the session from both staff and students on their return to the coaches. I also really enjoyed the session! Thank you once again …”
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