Jo Rycroft-Malone, nurse researcher, professor and editor, and her husband, Nick Malone, a nurse practitioner, spent New Year’s Eve walking up Snowdon Mountain, located near their home in Wales, United Kingdom. They reached the top just before midnight.

“We saw the New Year in with about 50 other walkers who had the same ideas—some hot mulled wine and a blanket of stars to cover us,” Nick says. “It was a great start to 2009. Unfortunately, paragliding in the dark is not recommended, so we had to walk back down.”

When weather conditions and time of day permit, Nick enjoys the peaceful tranquility of cross-country paragliding. A paraglider is a free-flying wing, or canopy, made of two layers of fabric attached to lines. The lines fasten to a harness, where the pilot sits. When opened, the wing inflates with air. Moving air creates lift in the paraglider wing, much like the lift generated when air flows over an airplane wing. When folded, the wing fits into a rucksack or backpack. This portability allows the pilot to hike to a location high enough for launching.

Soaring on the wind

(Above) Nick Malone prepares for a paraglider flight.    (Below) He describes the flight as "peaceful, with just the    sound of wind."

“It is possible to fly with a motor, but I prefer free flight,” Nick says. “Even a short, two-minute flight is enough to realize why I love this sport. Once in the air, you are completely on your own, with the challenge of keeping the glider flying above your head, seeking areas of lift and working out where thermals [updrafts of warm air] are. It is peaceful, with just the sound of wind. The views are constantly changing as you gain height and fly cross-country.  

“On occasions I have been accompanied by vultures; sharing a thermal with them is incredible.”  

Understanding the risks and knowing when weather conditions are suitable for flight (the wind can’t be too strong) are important parts of the flying experience, Nick says. While paragliding in Spain, he reached an altitude of 6,500 feet and also recorded his longest flight—a distance of 25 kilometers (15 miles).

During a visit to Australia, Jo tried paragliding in tandem with a pilot. “Whilst I enjoyed the experience,” she says, “I didn’t enjoy not being in control. This says more about me than the pilot!”

Although paragliding isn’t Jo’s sport of choice, both she and Nick enjoy rock climbing, mountain biking, kayaking and climbing via ferrata (fixed metal ropes). In the past 20 years, they have visited rock-climbing sites in France, Spain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. They also find time to work on renovating their house, a cottage built in 1850 that was a Sunday school for the children of miners who worked in a nearby slate quarry. Nick is studying beekeeping with the hope of setting up hives on their land, while Jo is planning a vegetable garden.

Adventures in evidence-based nursing
The couple approach their nursing careers with the enthusiasm they dedicate to recreation.

Jo recently was promoted and awarded a personal chair, Professor of Health Services and Implementation Research, at Bangor University in Wales, United Kingdom. Her responsibilities range from supervising research projects and PhD students to writing papers and giving presentations around the globe. For the past 10 years, her research has focused on improving processes of care to enhance patients’ experiences.

“I love my job,” Jo says. “One of the best things about it is the variety. The amount of variety can be the biggest challenge, but I am also fortunate to have the ability to be organized.”

The couple approach their nursing careers with the enthusiasm they dedicate to recreation.As a member of the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) team, Jo helped develop a framework for implementing evidence in practice. During the past several years, evidence-based nursing (EBN) has focused primarily on developing the ability of individual nurses to critically appraise research articles and apply evidence to their practice. However, EBN leaders now recognize that many nurses work in environments that do not support reflection and critical inquiry.

“We are gradually shifting to recognize that we also have to work on the contexts in which practitioners work, and make them more conducive to the routine use of evidence in practice,” Jo says. “That means giving people the space and freedom to inquire, and access to the resources they need to seek and find information.”

New editor, new journal
In addition to her research and teaching responsibilities, Jo is editor of Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, a peer-reviewed journal published by Wiley-Blackwell in association with the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Although Worldviews began publication only five years ago, it already ranks 12th among 46 nursing journals in impact factor (how often it is cited in other publications).

“As a new editor, and editor of a new journal, the challenges during the start-up period were many, but always interesting and never insurmountable,” Jo says. “The main challenge was to ensure an interesting format—one that would be appealing to all sorts of readers across many countries. 

“We are always looking for interesting and relevant copy,” she adds. “As an editor, I have a commitment to working with less experienced authors to develop their skills in writing for publication; many papers go through several iterations before they are published.”

Bridging the gap between evidence and action is a primary aim of Worldviews. Introducing new, evidence-based concepts of patient care can be challenging in an environment such as the small, rural hospital where Nick works. Internet access is limited, and finding time for study is difficult.

One positive result of EBN in the United Kingdom was the introduction, in the early 2000s, of national standards for nursing practice based on the best available evidence. Standards for nutrition, hygiene, continence, pressure area care and other “essences of nursing care” have been influential in benchmarking practice across different hospitals and throughout the country.

Adventures in clinical care
As night site manager for a small hospital in Llandudno, a town on the north coast of Wales, Nick handles a wide range of clinical issues—surgical, medical and trauma. He decides whether patients can be treated at the rural hospital or if they should be transferred to a larger facility.

“I need to be ready for anything,” Nick says. “The more unusual things I have had to deal with include children breaking into the hospital at night time, patients absconding, finding doctors when they don’t turn up for their shift and making sure the roads have been gritted [covered with sand] when the temperatures have been sub-zero.”

Nick’s adventurous nature was an asset when he spent three months as a medic in Costa Rica and Nicaragua in 2004. In addition to treating scorpion stings, burns, hypothermia and trench foot, he helped build schools, toilets and an artificial reef.

Whether treating trench foot, rock-climbing around the globe or discovering ways to link evidence to nursing practice, Jo Rycroft-Malone and Nick Malone are actively engaged—coping with challenges and appreciating the rewards.

Jane Palmer is assistant editor of Reflections on Nursing Leadership.