bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Knowledge, attitudes, perceived vulnerability of Chinese nurses and their preferences for caring for HIV‐positive individuals: a cross‐sectional survey
Authors: Chen Wei‐Ti , Han Mei 
Published: October 2010

Aims.  The study was to assess HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and perceived vulnerability with potential factors.Background.  HIV/AIDS is a public health catastrophe in China. Nurses are expected to care for nurture, comfort and advocate for all patients regardless of their condition. However, in the area of HIV/AIDS, nurses suffer as a result of expectations put on them by their professional roles.Design.  This was a descriptive, cross‐sectional design that used a survey approach.Method.  Data were collected from Summer 2003–Winter 2004.Results.  Nurses reported significant perceived severity of risk from occupational exposure. Many nurses were frequently exposed to being stuck by needles (86%) and being splashed by body fluids and more than half of them (59·7%) were concerned about contracting HIV/AIDS. Nurses who had experience of finger pricks worried about potentially contacting HIV and being unaware of it (odds ratio= 0·444, p = 0·004). Nurses demonstrated a lack of knowledge and training in infectious diseases which may be a result of the fact that the study location is not considered a ‘concentrated area’ for infectious disease transmission; therefore, the need for the infectious diseases training has not been considered urgent.Conclusions.  A well‐designed educational programme on occupational hazards and risk behaviour should be implemented to educate nurses in suburban cities and the general public. Hospital administrators should implement on‐site continuing education on HIV/AIDS throughout China. Armed with better knowledge of both transmission routes and precautions, nurses can protect themselves while providing care to patients.Relevance to clinical practice.  Nurses in China urgently need psychosocial and physical supports from families, friends, communities and their working environments while combating HIV epidemic. With good support system, nurses will better educate patients and their family members on how to prevent transmission not only of HIV/AIDS but of a wide range of other infectious diseases as well.
The impact of fatigue on daily activity in people with chronic kidney disease
Authors: Bonner Ann , Wellard Sally , Caltabiano Marie 
Published: October 2010

Aims and objectives. To examine the impact of fatigue on the daily activity levels of people with chronic kidney disease, compare whether being predialysis or receiving different renal replacement therapies had any effect on fatigue and activity and identify whether any items in the fatigue severity scale were more predictive of daily activity levels.Background. Chronic kidney disease is a complex and long‐term disease where people commonly experience fatigue and reduced levels of fitness; both of which impact on an individual’s ability to carry out routine activities of daily life.Design. A descriptive cross‐sectional design.Methods. A convenience sample of 112 people completed the fatigue severity scale and Human Activity Profile. Participants differed in their renal history and were either predialysis or receiving renal replacement therapy.Results. Women or older participants were significantly more fatigued and less active than men or younger participants. A significant difference between mean fatigue and activity scores was found for type of renal replacement therapy, with participants receiving peritoneal dialysis being the most fatigued and the least active. Additionally, lower levels of albumin were significantly correlated with greater levels of fatigue and the ability to engage in fewer activities.Conclusion. People with chronic kidney disease regardless of whether they are predialysis or receiving either peritoneal or haemodialysis experience high levels of fatigue and are able to engage in fewer daily activities. The fatigue severity scale and the Human Activity Profile are useful indicators of fatigue and physical activities which can be used in routine assessment practices.Relevance to clinical practice. Renal nurses are ideally positioned to engage in early identification and regular monitoring of both fatigue and activity levels in people with chronic kidney disease. Individual care plans can be developed to incorporate supportive rehabilitative strategies which aim to reduce fatigue and maximise activity levels.
Paediatric catheterisation: exploring and understanding children’s nurses’ perceptions and practice in an acute setting
Authors: Bray Lucy , Sanders Caroline , Flynn Anita 
Published: October 2010

Aims and objectives.  This research study explored the factors which influenced the ability of children’s nurses to urethrally catheterise children in their care.Background.  There is currently limited evidence to inform the clinical skills training of children’s nurses and the impact of competencies and other educational documents on practice. The project aimed to use data to inform local service provision and the design and development of future training programmes in an acute paediatric hospital.Design.  A mixed method study using questionnaires and focus groups.Methods.  Data were obtained through two focus groups (n = 10) and questionnaires (n = 34, response rate 88%) with trained children’s nurses to explore the influencing factors on their ability to conduct this clinical skill.Results.  The children’s nurses discussed that barriers to being competent and confident to catheterise included a lack of exposure to the clinical skill, increasing awareness of the role of competencies and litigation and the presence of specialist roles. Current catheterisation training was evaluated positively with most nurses stating their knowledge and clinical skills had increased; despite this only 55% (n = 18) identified that would feel able to catheterise a child in their care.Conclusions.  Comprehensive training of all children’s nurses in an acute care setting may not provide a workforce, which is competent and confident in urethrally catheterising children, and resources for training may be more appropriately deployed to ensure the optimum care of children and families.Relevance to clinical practice.  This study highlights the difficulties encountered for clinical nurses to remain competent in infrequently used clinical skills. This has relevance to the challenges of providing a multi‐skilled workforce in children’s nursing.
Becoming a coronary artery bypass graft surgery patient: a grounded theory study of women’s experiences
Authors: Banner Davina 
Published: October 2010

Aim.  To explore women’s experiences of becoming a coronary artery bypass graft surgery patient.Background.  Coronary heart disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for both sexes worldwide and is associated with significant human, fiscal and personal burden. There are growing numbers of women undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery; however, little is known about their experiences of being diagnosed, referred and waiting for surgery.Design.  Grounded theory.Methods.  A grounded theory study of 30 UK women with coronary heart disease waiting to undergo coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Data were collected using semi‐structured interviews and were contextualised through informal observation of the main clinical areas.Results.  Coronary heart disease and associated symptoms had extensive physical, social and emotional ramifications for the women. A substantive theory of the public‐private dialogue around maintaining and renegotiating normality emerged and demonstrated that women faced significant disruption to their lives as they attempted to normalise and make sense of their illness experiences. Six categories emerged from the data: help seeking, diagnosis and referral, conceptualising surgery, living with coronary heart disease and waiting for surgery.Conclusion.  This study has uncovered women’s experiences of becoming a coronary artery bypass graft patient. It has highlighted the extensive ramifications of heart disease and the need for more gender‐sensitive information and support.Relevance to clinical practice.  The findings of this study provide health care professionals with a greater understanding of the experiences and needs of women through their journey to becoming a coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The study demonstrates that women need meaningful information particularly in relation to domestic and physical functioning. Nurses are in an important position to contribute to the care and support of women undergoing this process by providing appropriate and gender‐sensitive information that can improve health outcomes and quality of life.
Patients’ experience of open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm – preoperative information, hospital care and recovery
Authors: Letterstål Anna , Eldh Ann Catrine , Olofsson Pär , Forsberg Christina 
Published: October 2010

Aims and objectives.  The aim was to elucidate patients’ lived experience of the care pathway of going through open surgery for abdominal aortic aneurysm.Background.  Open surgical treatment has a great impact on patients’ health‐related quality of life both before and after treatment. The transition from being independent and asymptomatic to dependent on nursing care can be difficult. To facilitate this process and provide high‐quality care, patients’ needs must be better understood.Design.  An exploratory descriptive design was chosen to describe and understand patients’ lived experience.Method.  Audio‐taped interviews were performed three months postoperatively, covering the care pathway before and after surgery. Interviews were analysed with qualitative content analysis.Results.  The informants made a transition from becoming aware of the deadly risk associated with abdominal aortic aneurysm to gradually understanding the physical and emotional impact of the surgical procedure during the recovery process. The experience of not understanding fully the risks of undergoing surgery or its consequences on daily life made the informants unprepared for complications and limitations during the recovery period. Many concerns emerged, with a need for more dialogue and opportunities to understand their own care than those provided by the health care staff.Conclusions.  To facilitate the transition process, health care staff should consider patients’ unpreparedness for the physical and emotional impact that can follow diagnosis and treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysm and recognise the need for dialogue to enhance participation during recovery.Relevance to clinical practice.  Throughout the care pathway, patients’ need for information and for opportunities to reflect on bodily and emotional reactions to the diagnosis and treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm should be recognised by nurses and physicians to support patients getting realistic expectations of the consequences of treatment and facilitate participation in decisions concerning care and medical treatment.
The significance of routines in nursing practice
Authors: Rytterström Patrik , Unosson Mitra , Arman Maria 
Published: October 2010

Aim. The aim of this study was to illuminate the significance of routines in nursing practice.Background. Clinical nursing is performed under the guidance of routines to varying degrees. In the nursing literature, routine is described as having both negative and positive aspects, but use of the term is inconsistent, and empirical evidence is sparse. In the research on organisational routines, a distinction is made between routine as a rule and routine as action.Design. A qualitative design using a phenomenological‐hermeneutic approach.Method. Data collection from three focus groups focused on nurses’ experience of routines. Seventeen individual interviews from a previous study focusing on caring culture were also analysed in a secondary qualitative analysis. All participants were employed as ‘qualified nursing pool’ nurses.Result. Routines are experienced as pragmatic, obstructive and meaningful. The aim of the pragmatic routine was to ensure that daily working life works; this routine is practised more on the basis of rational arguments and obvious intentions. The obstructive routine had negative consequences for nursing practice and was described as nursing losing its humanity and violating the patient’s integrity. The meaningful routine involved becoming one with the routine and for the nurses, it felt right and meaningful to adapt to it.Conclusions. Routines become meaningful when the individual action is in harmony with the cultural pattern on which the nursing work is based. Instead of letting contemporary practice passively become routine, routines can be assessed and developed using research and theoretical underpinnings as a starting point for nursing practice.Relevance to clinical practice. Leaders have a special responsibility to develop and support meaningful routines. One approach could be to let wards examine their routines from a patient perspective on the basis of the themes of pragmatic, meaningful and obstructive routine.
Influence of four major plant traits on average height, leaf‐area cover, net primary productivity, and biomass density in single‐species forests: a theoretical investigation
Authors: Falster Daniel S. , Brännström Åke , Dieckmann Ulf , Westoby Mark 
Published: October 2010

Summary 1. Numerous plant traits are known to influence aspects of individual performance, including rates of carbon uptake, tissue turnover, mortality and fecundity. These traits are bound to influence emergent properties of vegetation because quantities such as leaf‐area cover, average height, primary productivity and density of standing biomass result from the collective behaviour of individuals. Yet, little is known about the influence of individual traits on these emergent properties, despite the widespread use in current vegetation models of plant functional types, each of which is defined by a constellation of traits. 2. We examine the influence of four key traits (leaf economic strategy, height at maturation, wood density, and seed size) on four emergent vegetation properties (average height of leaf area, leaf‐area index, net primary productivity and biomass density). We employ a trait‐, size‐ and patch‐structured model of vegetation dynamics that allows scaling up from individual‐level growth processes and probabilistic disturbances to landscape‐level predictions. A physiological growth model incorporating relevant trade‐offs was designed and calibrated based on known empirical patterns. The resulting vegetation model naturally exhibits a range of phenomena commonly observed in vegetation dynamics. 3. We modelled single‐species stands, varying each trait over its known empirical range. Seed size had only a small effect on vegetation properties, primarily because our metapopulations were not seed‐limited. The remaining traits all had larger effects on vegetation properties, especially on biomass density. Leaf economic strategy influenced minimum light requirement, and thus total leaf area and basal area. Wood density and height at maturation influenced vegetation mainly by modifying individual stem mass. These effects of traits were maintained, and sometimes amplified, across stands differing in productivity and mean disturbance interval. 4. Synthesis: Natural trait variation can cause large differences in emergent properties of vegetation, the magnitudes of which approach those arising through changes to site productivity and disturbance frequency. Our results therefore underscore the need for next‐generation vegetation models that incorporate functional traits together with their effects on the patch and size structure of vegetation.
What does minimal important change mean to patients? Associations between individualized goal attainment scores and disability, general health status and global change in condition
Authors: Mullis Ricky , Lewis Martyn , Hay Elaine M. 
Published: October 2010

AbstractRationale, aims and objectives In previous work we described a modified version of goal scaling, which enabled patients to identify a meaningful change in their condition within important areas of their lives affected by low back pain. The aim of this study was to explore the associations between goal attainment scores and disability, general health and global change in condition, with particular reference to minimal important change.Methods This was an observational cohort study. Patients attending a multidisciplinary clinic to manage unresolving acute low back pain were interviewed using the modified goal scaling schedule, completed the Roland‐Morris Disability Questionnaire and rated their general health status. They were reassessed at 3 and 6 months.Results Thirty‐five patients were recruited. Minimal important change was identified on 67% of the goals. At follow‐up, goal attainment scores were able to distinguish between ‘improvers’ and ‘non‐improvers’, and these categories showed significant agreement with change in disability (Kappa = 0.865). Goal attainment was highly correlated with satisfaction (Spearman's rho = 0.88) and moderately associated with general health status (Spearman's rho = 0.40).Conclusions The modified version of Goal Attainment Scaling used here may provide useful additional information about both the problems associated with, and the progress of patients who consult with low back pain in Primary Care.
Patient preference for falls prevention in hospitals revealed through willingness‐to‐pay, contingent valuation survey
Authors: Haines Terry P. , McPhail Steven 
Published: October 2010

AbstractRationale, aims and objectives  Patient preference for interventions aimed at preventing in‐hospital falls has not previously been investigated. This study aims to contrast the amount patients are willing to pay to prevent falls through six intervention approaches.Methods  This was a cross‐sectional willingness‐to‐pay (WTP), contingent valuation survey conducted among hospital inpatients (n = 125) during their first week on a geriatric rehabilitation unit in Queensland, Australia. Contingent valuation scenarios were constructed for six falls prevention interventions: a falls consultation, an exercise programme, a face‐to‐face education programme, a booklet and video education programme, hip protectors and a targeted, multifactorial intervention programme. The benefit to participants in terms of reduction in risk of falls was held constant (30% risk reduction) within each scenario.Results  Participants valued the targeted, multifactorial intervention programme the highest [mean WTP (95% CI): $(AUD)268 ($240, $296)], followed by the falls consultation [$215 ($196, $234)], exercise [$174 ($156, $191)], face‐to‐face education [$164 ($146, $182)], hip protector [$74 ($62, $87)] and booklet and video education interventions [$68 ($57, $80)]. A ‘cost of provision’ bias was identified, which adversely affected the valuation of the booklet and video education intervention.Conclusion  There may be considerable indirect and intangible costs associated with interventions to prevent falls in hospitals that can substantially affect patient preferences. These costs could substantially influence the ability of these interventions to generate a net benefit in a cost–benefit analysis.
Pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic integration of orbifloxacin in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) following oral and intravenous administration
Authors: HAWKINS M. G. , TAYLOR I. T. , BYRNE B. A. , ARMSTRONG R. D. , TELL L. A. 
Published: October 2010

Hawkins, M. G., Taylor, I. T., Byrne, B. A., Armstrong, R. D., Tell, L. A. Pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic integration of orbifloxacin in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) following oral and intravenous administration.J. vet. Pharmacol. Therap.34, 350–358.The pharmacokinetics of single‐dose administration of orbifloxacin were determined in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) at dosages of 5 mg/kg intravenous (i.v.n = 12) and 7.5 mg/kg oral (p.o.;n = 5), 10 mg/kg p.o. (n = 5), 15 mg/kg p.o. (n = 12) and 20 mg/kg p.o. (n = 5) via HPLC. Orbifloxacin minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against 22 microbial isolates from various bird species were performed to calculate pharmacodynamic surrogate markers. The concentration–time data were analyzed using a naïve pooled data (NPD) approach and compartmental and noncompartmental methods. Steady‐state volume of distribution (Vdss) and total body clearance (Cl) after i.v. administration were estimated to be 1.27 L/kg and 0.60 L/h·kg, respectively. Following 15 and 20 mg/kg p.o. dose, bioavailability was 102% and 117%, respectively. The harmonic mean of the corresponding terminal half‐lives (T1/2λz) across all the dose groups was 1.71 h. The Cmax/MIC90and AUC0∞24/MIC90for the 15 and 20 mg/kg p.o. doses were ≥5.22 and ≥8.98, and ≥25.80 and ≥39.37 h, respectively. The results of this study suggest that 20 mg/kg orbifloxacin p.o. would be a rational daily dose to treat susceptible infections in Japanese quail not intended for food consumption. For more sensitive bacterial organisms, 15 mg/kg p.o. may also be effective.
Involvement of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2) in the secretion of danofloxacin into milk: interaction with ivermectin
Authors: REAL R. , EGIDO E. , PÉREZ M. , GONZÁLEZ‐LOBATO L. , BARRERA B. , PRIETO J. G. , ÁLVAREZ A. I. , MERINO G. 
Published: October 2010

Real, R., Egido, E., Pérez, M., González‐Lobato, L., Barrera, B., Prieto, J. G., Álvarez, A.I., Merino, G. Involvement of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2) in the secretion of danofloxacin into milk: interaction with ivermectin. J. vet. Pharmacol. Therap.34, 313–321.Danofloxacin, a veterinary fluoroquinolone antimicrobial drug, is actively secreted into milk by an as yet unknown mechanism. One of the main determinants of active drug secretion into milk is the transporter (BCRP/ABCG2). The main purpose was to determine whether danofloxacin is an in vitro substrate for Bcrp1/BCRP and to assess its involvement in danofloxacin secretion into milk. In addition, the role of potential drug–drug interactions in this process was assessed using ivermectin. Danofloxacin was transported in vitro by Bcrp1/BCRP, and ivermectin efficiently blocked this transport. Experiments with Bcrp1−/− mice showed no evidence of the involvement of Bcrp1 in plasma pharmacokinetics of danofloxacin. However, the milk concentration and milk‐to‐plasma ratio of danofloxacin were almost twofold higher in wild‐type compared with Bcrp1−/− mice. The in vivo interaction with ivermectin was studied in sheep after co‐administration of danofloxacin (1.25 mg/kg, i.m.) and ivermectin (0.2 mg/kg, s.c.). Ivermectin had no significant effect on the plasma levels of danofloxacin but significantly decreased danofloxacin concentrations in milk by almost 40%. Concomitant administration of multiple drugs, often used in veterinary therapy, may not only affect their pharmacological activity but also their secretion into milk, because of potential drug–drug interactions mediated by BCRP.