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Extensive exposure to specific kinds of imagery tunes visual perception, enhancing recognition and interpretation abilities relevant to those stimuli (e.g. radiologists can rapidly extract important information from medical scans). For the first time, we tested whether specific visual expertise induced by professional training also affords domain-general perceptual advantages. Experts in medical image interpretation ( n  = 44; reporting radiographers, trainee radiologists, and certified radiologists) and a control group consisting of psychology and medical students ( n  = 107) responded to the Ebbinghaus, Ponzo, Müller-Lyer, and Shepard Tabletops visual illusions in forced-choice tasks. Our results show that medical image experts were significantly less susceptible to all illusions except for the Shepard Tabletops, demonstrating superior perceptual accuracy. These findings could possibly be attributed to a stronger local processing bias, a by-product of learning to focus on specific areas of interest by disregarding irrelevant context in their domain of expertise.

BACKGROUND: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to manage pregnancy-related conditions is becoming increasingly popular. This article draws on a qualitative study that aimed to explain the processes midwives engaged when determining the role of these therapies for pregnancy care. METHODOLOGY: Our study used grounded theory methodology. Twenty-five midwives, who were employed in metropolitan hospitals situated in Victoria, Australia, participated in the study. Data was collected from semistructured interviews and nonparticipant observation of a subgroup over an 18-month period. RESULTS: Midwives' attitudes and behavior toward the CAM was influenced by their professional ideology and knowledge. When participants considered the role of these therapies, they employed various strategies including aligning CAM with midwifery philosophy, using the therapies to increase women's options, valuing diverse ways of understanding and seeking out professional knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: Although midwives do not reject conventional medicine, many value the opportunity CAM offers to individualize care and promote natural childbearing.

Violence is widespread in Australian emergency departments (ED) and most prevalent at triage. The aim of the present study was to identify the causes and common acts of violence in the ED perceived by three distinct groups of nurses. The Delphi technique is a method for consensus-building. In the present study a three-phase Delphi technique was used to identify and compare what nurse unit managers, triage and non-triage nurses believe is the prevalence and nature of violence and aggression in the ED. Long waiting times, drugs and alcohol all contributed to ED violence. Triage nurses also indicated that ED staff, including security staff and the triage nurses themselves, can contribute to violence. Improved communication at triage and support from management to follow up episodes of violence were suggested as strategies to reduce violence in the ED CONCLUSION :There is no single solution for the management of ED violence. Needs and strategies vary because people in the waiting room have differing needs to those inside the ED. Participants agreed that the introduction and enforcement of a zero tolerance policy, including support from managers to follow up reports of violence, would reduce violence and improve safety for staff. Education of the public regarding ED processes, and the ED staff in relation to patient needs, may contribute to reducing ED violence. What is known about the topic? Violence is prevalent in Australian healthcare, and particularly in emergency departments (ED). Several organisations and government bodies have made recommendations aimed at reducing the prevalence of violence in healthcare but, to date, these have not been implemented consistently, and violence continues. What does this paper add? This study examined ED violence from the perspective of triage nurses, nurse unit managers and non-triage nurses, and revealed that violence is experienced differently by emergency nurses, depending on their area of work. Triage nurses have identified that they themselves contribute to violence in the ED by their style of communication. Nurse unit managers and non-triage nurses perceive that violence is the result of drugs and alcohol, as well as long waiting times. What are the implications for practitioners? Strategies to reduce violence must address the needs of patients and staff both within the ED and in the waiting room. Such strategies should be multifaceted and include education of ED consumers and staff, as well as support from management to respond to reports of violence.

Older people have a greater need for emergency medical care than others in the community, and the number presenting to emergency departments (ED) from residential aged care is increasing (Roberts, McKay and Shaffer 2008). In the case of elderly patients transferred from residential aged care facilities (RACF), many arrive via ambulance and are unable to give a coherent medical history or describe their treatment wishes.

To explore the evolution of grounded theory and equip the reader with a greater understanding of the diverse conceptual positioning that is evident in the methodology. Grounded theory was developed during the modernist phase of research to develop theories that are derived from data and explain human interaction. Its philosophical foundations derive from symbolic interactionism and were influenced by a range of scholars including Charles Darwin and George Mead. Rather than a rigid set of rules and procedures, grounded theory is a way of conceptualising data. Researchers demonstrate a range of perspectives and there is significant variation in the way the methodology is interpreted and executed. Some grounded theorists continue to align closely with the original post-positivist view, while others take a more constructivist approach. Although the diverse interpretations accommodate flexibility, they may also result in confusion. The grounded theory approach enables researchers to align to their own particular world view and use methods that are flexible and practical. With an appreciation of the diverse philosophical approaches to grounded theory, researchers are enabled to use and appraise the methodology more effectively.

Across cultures, speakers produce iconic gestures, which add - through the movement of the speakers' hands - a pictorial dimension to the speakers' message. These gestures capture not only the motor content but also the visuospatial content of the message. Here, we provide first evidence for a direct link between the representation of perceptual information and the motor system that can account for these observations. Across four experiments, participants' hand movements captured both shapes that were directly perceived, and shapes that were only implicitly activated by unrelated semantic judgments of object words. These results were obtained even though the objects were not associated with any motor behaviors that would match the gestures the participants had to produce. Moreover, implied shape affected not only gesture selection processes but also their actual execution - as measured by the shape of hand motion through space - revealing intimate links between implied shape representation and motor output. The results are discussed in terms of ideomotor theories of action and perception, and provide one avenue for explaining the ubiquitous phenomenon of iconic gestures.

In 2010 more than 180,000 people were living in residential aged care facilities in Australia with 75% of those in high level care.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate whether observation of actions by others can affect the trajectory of a reach to an object, that is, the means by which that goal is achieved. This work has been inspired by the discovery of mirror neurons in primates and evidence that humans also possess a miITor system. The 13 experiments presented in this thesis used a reaching and lifting task involving obstacle avoidance to naturalistically manipulate the heights of reach trajectories. The results from these experiments provide strong evidence that people do simulate the specific kinematics of observed reaches, and that this affects the subsequent reach of the observer. Importantly, this demonstrates that the human miITor system is concerned with more than just behavioural goals, setting us apart from other primates. The effect was independent of viewing perspective, occurring both when participants sat next to and opposite each other. Action priming by observation did not occur in all circumstances. When participants viewed obstacle avoidance outside of peripersonal space priming did not occur. The final experimental chapter presents experiments that explored further the nature of the effect of peripersonal space, providing intriguing contrasts. In some circumstances the judgment of peripersonal space appears to be purely metric, rather than space that can be reached or acted within. The last pair of experiments, however, suggest that action priming may be affected by more than just the visual properties of the observed reaches, and that higher-level concepts, such as ownership, may effect priming.