BACKGROUND:General practice across Europe faces a workforce crisis, with a projected shortfall of up to 1660 general practitioners in Ireland by 2028. While policy interventions have been proposed, a gap remains between the Irish health system's strategic objectives and the day-to-day realities experienced by general practitioners. OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study is to explore the perspectives of Irish general practitioners in addressing recruitment and retention challenges in general practice. Specific objectives include identifying solutions and the supports necessary for sustainable future general practice. METHODS:A qualitative study design was employed, utilizing semi-structured online interviews with general practitioners recruited through a network affiliated with a university. Thematic analysis was conducted by four experienced researchers. Data collection continued until thematic saturation was achieved. RESULTS:Three primary themes emerged: (i) Towards a More Effective Health Service-participants emphasized the necessity for a whole-system approach to address recruitment and retention shortfalls; (ii) Role Clarification, Boundary Setting, and Support-participants highlighted the need for role reallocation within multidisciplinary teams to allow them to focus on complex cases; and (iii) Practice-Level Response-digital infrastructure improvements and administrative task reallocation were identified as key strategies to reduce workload and enhance patient care. CONCLUSION:To address the general practice workforce crisis, systemic reforms, expanded multidisciplinary teams, and practice-level adaptations are needed. The findings reflect the importance of general practitioner involvement in healthcare planning and policy development. These insights will inform targeted policy interventions in Ireland and in healthcare systems facing similar workforce challenges.

Objectives This study explored general practitioners’ (GPs) understanding of physical activity advocacy to patients and their own self-care, how GPs perceive their own physical activity behaviours, how their personal experience of physical activity affects how they promote it in practice and how they define the limitations of their role in this.Design A qualitative design, involving online semi-structured interviews, was employed. Data was analysed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers using an inductive thematic approach.Setting and participants Participants were GPs (n=21) and were recruited from an education and research network.Findings A single meta-theme was identified—moving towards more physically active lifestyles through the art of medicine—with three related subthemes. Subthemes relate to how GPs determine the extent of their role and responsibilities, how physical activity promotion is adapted to the context and how ‘what I’ say is not necessarily ‘what I do’. After many consultations, mutual trust can develop when the GP’s role is clarified, and the GP can educate and support the initiation and maintenance of physical activity behavioural change by sharing personal experiences of physical activity behaviour.Conclusion Based on personal experience and enduring relationships with their patients, GPs are in a unique position to discuss appropriate physical activity with their patients and perform an important role in explaining and gaining access to physical activity for their patients. Support in the form of community-based resources and programmes as well as brief intervention skills could enhance GP ability to further promote physical activity.

Objective The objective of this study is to explore the experiences and perspectives of general practitioners’ and medical students’ use of, and behaviour on, social media and to understand how they negotiate threats to professional and personal life on social media. Design A two-phase qualitative design was used, consisting of semistructured interviews and follow-up vignettes, where participants were asked to respond to vignettes that involved varying degrees of unprofessional behaviour. Data were analysed using template analysis. Setting and participants Participants were general practitioner tutors and third year medical students who had just completed placement on the University of Limerick longitudinal integrated clerkship. Five students and three general practitioners affiliated with the medical school were invited to participate in one-to-one interviews. Results Three overarching themes, each containing subthemes were reported. ‘Staying in contact and up to date’ outlines how social media platforms provide useful resources and illustrates the potential risks of social media. ‘Online persona’ considers how social media has contributed to changing the nature of interpersonal relationships. ‘Towards standards and safety’ raises the matter of how to protect patients, doctors and the medical profession. Conclusion Guidance is required for students and medical practitioners on how to establish reasonable boundaries between their personal and professional presence on social media and in their private life so that poorly judged use of social media does not negatively affect career prospects and professional efficacy.

This case study describes an ethnographic study in an acute general hospital carried out by a psychologist looking at a hospital merger. The ethnography involved observation of professional, support, and administrative staff which developed into shadowing, whereby organizational members were accompanied while carrying out of their work and were asked questions while doing so. This case study also examines the challenges involved in gaining access to a hospital for research and the importance of achieving ethical approval. The research process is described in detail as is the manner in which participants were recruited once organizational permission and ethical approval were granted. Members of the nursing, medical, and administrative staff were observed and shadowed in the course of their jobs. Grounded theoretical approaches were used in the taking of notes and in producing a theory as to what was happening in the organization. The ethnographic approach used was able to highlight the concerns organizational members had about the hospital after it was merged. Also, it was able to show the daily functioning of each ward and the importance of nurses in co-ordinating ward activity. Finally, the ethnographic approach gained insight into the importance of documents and how they at times enabled or constrained hospital activity. Suggestions are made for future research in this area, including the use of mixed methods, such as surveys and in-depth personal interviews, to triangulate the observations of what a hospital worker does.

AbstractEmployee engagement is an important construct in management research as engaged employees not only perform better in their jobs but also feel happier and more fulfilled in the workplace. Employee engagement is a function of the job resources employees have in coping with their job demands. This paper makes a threefold contribution to the existing engagement literature by: (1) exploring this construct with a sample of third-level academics in the Irish public sector – a relatively unmapped sample in engagement research, (2) identifying organisational support as a key job resource that enables academics to cope with their job demands and (3) proposing that employee engagement reflects how strongly an employee puts his or her heart into work – suggesting a reconceptualization of engagement as love. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Brian Harney and Kathy Monks, the two editors of this book, set the tone well on the first page when they say: ‘The purpose of this book is to provide an integrated overview of both theory and evidence of the practice of strategic HRM [SHRM] in an Irish context.’ This book presents this ‘integrated overview’ extremely well with contributions from academics primarily based in Ireland and on Irish data. These include disparate, sometimes differing, strands within the debate about strategic human resource management (SHRM). The book shows its high quality by containing, as the editors mention, ‘multiple interpretations and sometimes contested meanings’ (p. 1). The watchword, stated early in the text, is for subtle and evidence-based treatment of SHRM: ‘we caution against simplistic assumptions of progress or staged evolution and invite more contingent explanations of the status of SHRM in Ireland’ (Harney, Heffernan and Monks, p. 17). All this is done in chapters of similar length, which are very well structured and which give a succinct introduction to each aspect of SHRM then followed by the most cutting edge research; the key points of disagreement amongst scholars and then suggestions for future research. Obviously a great deal of work was put in by the editors to ensure such consistency and it makes the reader’s task easier and much more pleasant.