Interviews were undertaken with registered nursing staff
who met the inclusion criteria (Table 1), were willing to
participate, were from various areas of the hospital, differing
nursing levels, ages, gender and length of experience.
Nine of the interviewees were from emergency arenas
(emergency department, medical assessment unit and surgical
receiving unit), thirteen from surgical wards and nine
from medical wards. Twenty-two participants were female
compared with nine male. Twenty were Band 5 nurses, four
were Band 6 nurses and seven were Band 7 nurses. Staff
ages ranged between 21 and 65, with more of the participants
being below 40 than above (nineteen compared to
twelve. Twelve participants had five years or less years of
service, eight participants had between 6–15 years’ experience
and eleven had over fifteen years.