bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The organization of care: its influence on health education practice on acute wards
Authors: MABEN JILL , LATTER SUE , CLARK JILL MACLEOD , WILSON‐BARNETT JENIFER 
Published: November 2007

Summary

This paper explores the relationship between organization of care and nurses' health education practice at ward level and is based on data from a larger 2‐year Department of Health‐funded study examining the health education and health promotion role of the nurse in acute‐ward settings.
Concepts such as continuity of care, autonomy, accountability and responsibility are examined in terms of their association with organization of care and primary nursing in particular.
Other factors closely associated with organization of care such as ward democracy and the empowerment of nurses, are also discussed in relation to ward‐based health education practice.
Data analysis reveals that the way in which care is organized on the ward may have a direct influence on the type, quality and consistency of health education advice given to patients.
The impact of nurses' encounters with cancer on their attitudes towards the disease
Authors: CORNER JESSICA 
Published: November 2007

Summary

A study to develop understanding of nurses' knowledge, confidence and educational needs in relation to cancer care was undertaken.
Data from this study on nurses' attitudes and the effect of professional encounters with cancer on such attitudes are presented.
A cancer attitude scale was completed by 127 nurses, and 68 of the sample were interviewed in depth.
Data presented reveal a pervasive negative attitude towards cancer amongst these nurses, and the important negative impact that professional encounters with cancer have on nurses' feelings about the disease.
Data presented are taken from a larger study, which is reported elsewhere (Corner, 1990; Corner & Wilson‐Barnett, 1992).
The Psychological and Psychiatric Morbidity Questionnaire (PPMQ): a measure to assess and predict psychological and psychiatric morbidity in individuals following burn trauma
Authors: BOSWORTHRGN CHRISSIE , REGEL STEPHEN 
Published: November 2007

Summary A pilot study is described which aims to:

assess the predictors of psychological and psychiatric morbidity of patients following burn trauma;
assess the reliability of the Psychological and Psychiatric Morbidity Questionnaire (PPMQ). Implications for training, supervision and post‐burn rehabilitation are discussed.
Change in process: bringing about change in health care through action research
Authors: EAST LINDA , ROBINSON JANE 
Published: November 2007

Summary

A 2‐year action‐research project aiming to facilitate the management of change was carried out in a district general hospital.
Hospital managers and senior ward nurses had very different views concerning the source of challenges and problems within the hospital organization.
A case‐study of nurses' experience of change at ward level was produced as part of the diagnostic phase of the action research.
The results of the case‐study indicated that general managers and professionals had different agendas for change hut that there is common ground between them.
How to choose: nurses' judgements of the effectiveness of a range of currently marketed continence aids
Authors: GIBB HEATHER , WONG GRACE 
Published: November 2007

Summary

Continence is a costly health problem, both in terms of financial burden in continence aids, but also in terms of quality‐of‐life issues for the person who has continence problems.
Manufacturers arc often perturbed as to why products specially designed to help continence problems are not popular, or do not appear to be applied as intended.
This paper reports on a study involving a quantitative evaluation of a range of continence aids presently being marketed, as applied in a large elderly care centre.
The evaluation used nursing judgements on a series of comfort and effectiveness criteria: amount of leakage around the pad, comfort to the client when the pad was cither wet or dry, skin integrity and snugness of fit, as well as whether the pad concealed well beneath clothing.
Five body pads were evaluated two disposable and three washable and three bed wider‐sheets.
Effectiveness of pads was found to vary substantially according to sex of client and voiding type, that is whether the client had heavy or moderate incontinent episodes.
Student midwives' learning experience on the wards
Authors: McCREA HALLY , THOMPSON KATE , WELL LESLIE CARS , WHITTINGTON DOROTHY 
Published: November 2007

Summary

This paper is based on an investigation into the learning experiences of student midwives in the clinical setting in one maternity unit in the Republic of Ireland.
A questionnaire approach was adopted for the data collection and 42 student midwives participated in the study.
A number of factors were identified which appear to influence students' experiences of ‘learning on the job’. The quality of their clinical teaching and their observations of the way in which trained staff practise midwifery may influence their decision to continue practising midwifery following registration.
These findings clearly point to the importance for midwives to reassert their true role as ‘independent practitioners’ of normal maternity care.
The USA's nurse managers and UK's ward sisters: critical roles for empowerment
Authors: CAMERON‐BUCCHERI ROBIN , OGIER MARGARET E. 
Published: November 2007

Summary

The nurse manager/ward sister* role is becoming endangered as many of these nurses are being asked to take fiscal and personnel responsibility for multiple units/programmes and supervise more non‐registered nursing staff.
Loss of this important nurse manager/ward sister role could severely decrease nursing's voice in the development and implementation of policies that affect nurses arid the care they deliver.
The authors review 20 years of literature from both the USA and the UK regarding supportive supervision and the role of the nurse manager/ward sister. Nurse managers/ward sisters were found to be key individuals within the entire health‐care organization.
Nurse managers/ward sisters can empower the nurses they surpervise to initiate changes that will improve patient care. Nurse managers/ward sisters can also improve the working conditions and thus increase the job satisfaction and retention of those they supervise.
Strategies for being more supportive of these overworked and endangered nurse managers/ward sisters are suggested.
Supporting families of critically ill children
Authors: AMICO JUDY , DAVIDHIZAR RUTH 
Published: November 2007

Summary

Having a critically ill child can be a heartbreaking experience. The sudden transformation of a healthy child to a critically ill or injured child causes parents to undergo feelings of pain and shock.
Parents with a critically ill child are in acute need of support and intervention by caregivers.
This article describes a parents' support group, conducted as part of a nursing programme student experience, in a pediatric critical‐care unit. This experience provides information concerning the group that others may wish to replicate.
Experiences of social support among participants in self‐help groups related to coronary heart disease
Authors: HILDINGH C. , SEGESTEN K. , BENGTSSON C. , FRIDLUND H. 
Published: November 2007

Summary

Self‐help groups for coronary heart disease (CHD) patients were initiated by the Swedish National Association for Heart and Lung Patients in co‐operation with Halland University College of Caring Science. Professional support was given in the form of a guidebook with health advice to be used at group meetings.
The aims of this study were to describe the experiences of social support and the effects of health advice among people suffering from CHD and their next‐of‐kin participating in self‐help groups.
A questionnaire was developed containing three scales with questions about social support in connection with group participation and the effects of health advice shared during the programme.
The results showed that 84% of participants knew about risk factors; all group members had changed their attitudes in some way concerning their life‐style and 65% thought that they had changed their daily life activities as a consequence of the group participation. Most participants had experienced social support, through both support received (82%) and their own ability to provide support (7.1, scale range 0–10).
In self‐help groups layman support is the most effective kind of support, but the results indicate that health professionals also have an important role to play. In future research and clinical planning of rehabilitation of people with CHD, self‐help groups, both from a human and economic point of view arc well worth considering.
How do registered nurses think and experience nursing. A phenomenological investigation
Authors: GRAHAM IAIN 
Published: November 2007

Summary

This research adopts a phenomenological approach to investigate how registered nurses think and experience nursing.
Findings from the study highlighted the dynamic nature of how nurses think and experience nursing. This dynamic nature demonstrates the often vulnerable and stressed position nurses find themselves in today when trying to meet their professional aspirations within a medically dominated, bureaucratic health‐care system.
The findings suggest that not only is educational reform required, but nurses need skills to enable them to form change strategies so that their paradigm of health care can be established. This study represents the very beginning of trying to create that paradigm inductively.
A review of primary health‐care organization
Authors: WOOD NEIL , FARROW STEPHEN , ELLIOTT BERNADETTE 
Published: November 2007

Summary

A contract for the provision of community nursing and associated services was drawn up between the Plymouth Community Unit and general practitioners associated with a fundholding practice at a health centre in Devon in October 1991.
This project, which aimed at applying purchaser/provider principles, contained some novel features and was subject to evaluation and review after 6 months.
An evaluation which had four main aspects was carried out, consisting of interviews and questionnaire assessment of staff attitudes, patients' views of the effectiveness of aspects of the practice health‐promotion activity, an analysis of staff activity data before and during the pilot phase and an examination of the documentation concerned with critical issues which had arisen.
Questionnaire data indicated that staff motivation and enthusiasm for the project was high and that patients' views on the practice facilities were generally positive.
The role of the Macmillan nursing service at this practice was greatly enhanced during the pilot project with a fourfold increase in the number of visits carried out.
Over 120 h were spent by health visiting and district nursing staff on issues surrounding the pilot project including attending additional meetings.
The results are discussed in relation to service benefits to patients, the effect on the cohesion of the primary health‐care team and issues of fundholding and are considered in the context of models put forward for the future development of community‐based nursing care.
Monitoring diabetic control
Authors: COATES VIVIEN E. 
Published: November 2007

Summary

Recent research from America has confirmed that the quality of metabolic control achieved by people with insulin‐dependent diabetes does influence the onset and progression of diabetic complications.
More than ever before diabetic individuals now have good reasons for striving to attain as good a standard of diabetic control as is possible. Regular monitoring of diabetic status is essential if good control is to be achieved.
This article will focus upon the concept of control and consider aspects of diabetic monitoring which may be undertaken either by patients or through professional services.
Both direct and indirect monitoring methods will be discussed and strengths and weaknesses considered.
Identifying feelings engendered during triage assessment in the accident and emergency department: the use of visual analogue scales
Authors: CROUCH ROBERT , DALE JEREMY 
Published: November 2007

Summary

Feelings engendered during 585 triage nursing assessments made by a total of 10 nurses were studied.
Marked differences in nurses' feelings were demonstrated towards patients attending the accident and emergency (A&E) department with ‘primary care’ needs compared with those assessed as having ‘A&E&’ needs. In particular, nurses demonstrated more negative feelings, in the form of less sympathy, more irritation and less motivation to help, towards patients with ‘primary care’ needs. Nurses' feelings were adversely affected by delays in patient presentation following the occurrence of illness or injury.
Nurses perceived patients' attendance as illegitimate when it had deviated from expected norms of health‐care‐seeking behaviour.
These findings were elicited using visual analogue scales completed immediately following the triage assessment of the patients. This work is part of a larger study into developing the primary care role of accident and emergency nurses.
The culture of the A&E department is discussed, and the need to challenge and change this culture to ensure it becomes more responsive to individual patients' needs is advocated. This paper calls for development of triage training and education and further investigation into the effects of nurses' attitudes on patient assessment.
The ethics of smoke‐free zones: an exploration of the implications and effectiveness of a non‐smoking policy as a health‐promotion strategy in the context of an orthopaedic trauma ward
Authors: PHILPOT TERENCE K. 
Published: November 2007

Summary

Pressure to reduce the incidence of smoking is increasing and widespread, coming from health professionals, independent research groups and Government policy objectives.
Moves to introduce non‐smoking policies within health‐service premises are gaining acceptance, and form an element of the Government's overall health plan.
This paper considers the background to smoking prohibition in hospitals, its merits and drawbacks as a health‐promotion strategy, and some of the health and ethical issues that may arise.
In particular, the paper explores the application of non‐smoking policies in the speciality of orthopaedic trauma, the benefits and conflicts that may occur, and the scope for nurses in this area to resolve problems resulting from these policies.
A review of lay health beliefs research: insights for nursing practice in health promotion
Authors: DINES ALISON 
Published: November 2007

Summary

Recent sociological research in the field of lay health and illness beliefs is reviewed and discussed in the light of nursing practice in health promotion.
How the findings might deepen nurses' understanding of difficulties in adhering to desired health behaviours is outlined.
The distinctions between ‘public’ and ‘private’ accounts of health, the ‘taken‐for‐grantedness’ of health, the emotive nature of health and the difficulty of accessing ‘unpolluted’ lay views of health is considered. The implications for nurses working in health promotion are discussed.
There is a need for further research into the relationship between health beliefs and behaviour, the health beliefs of various groups within society and a need to examine how health beliefs arise and change.
‘It's the little things that count’: the hidden complexity of everyday clinical nursing practice
Authors: MACLEOD MARTHA 
Published: November 2007

SummaryThis article reports on one aspect of a phenomenological study of everyday experience in nursing and how it contributes to the development of nursing expertise.The study was carried out with 10 ‘excellent, experienced’ surgical ward sisters in two Scottish teaching hospitals.The ward sisters were found to help individual patients towards recovery by making the ward work for all.When moment‐by‐moment nursing practice, the context of nursing experience, is examined, it is found to be patient‐centred and complex, geared towards multi‐layered goals.Three distinct yet inextricably intertwined processes–noticing, understanding and acting–characterize how nurses practise nursing. The quality of these processes contributes to the effectiveness of nurses' caring practices.The ‘little things’ of nursing practice make a difference to patients because they are imbued with nursing knowledge and skill.
The Prevalence and Determinants of Obesity in Adults with Intellectual Disabilities
Authors: Melville C. A. , Cooper S.‐A. , Morrison J. , Allan L. , Smiley E. , Williamson A. 
Published: November 2007

Background  Obesity is a major public health concern internationally and this study aimed to measure the prevalence of obesity in adults with intellectual disabilities in comparison with general population data, and examine the factors associated with obesity.Methods  This was a cross‐sectional study of all adults with intellectual disabilities, in a defined geographical area, in the context of a primary care health screening programme. A total of 945 adults with intellectual disabilities were involved, all of whom were living in the community. Body mass index (BMI), demographic characteristics, socio‐economic deprivation, level of intellectual disabilities and various health parameters were measured.Results  Overall, 39.3% of women and 27.8% of men were obese, compared with 25.1% of women and 22.7% of men in the comparison general population. The mean BMI of women with intellectual disabilities (28.8, range 12.3–59, SD 7.8) was significantly greater than the mean BMI of men with intellectual disabilities (26.7, range 12.6–49, SD 5.9), and women were more likely to be obese than men with intellectual disabilities (χ2 = 29.6, P < 0.001). Regression analyses showed that for both women and men, the risk of overweight and obesity reduced as the severity of intellectual disabilities increased, and Down syndrome was associated with an increased risk of overweight and obesity.Conclusions  There is a need to carry out research to further our understanding of the reasons behind the increased prevalence of obesity in adults with intellectual disabilities. Effective weight management interventions and accessible clinical services are required to reduce the health inequalities experienced by adults with intellectual disabilities.
From ‘Woman‐Loving Woman’ to ‘Queer’: Historiographical Perspectives on Twentieth‐Century British Lesbian History
Authors: Jennings Rebecca 
Published: November 2007

AbstractHistoriographical approaches to 20th‐century British lesbian history have been shaped by a range of political perspectives. Lesbian feminist historians writing in the 1980s and 1990s emphasised the role of female friendships and lesbian relationships in supporting the lives and work of key figures such as Radclyffe Hall, as well as the negative impact of patriarchal oppression. In the 1990s, definitions of ‘the lesbian’ and the notion of the interwar period as a defining moment in modern lesbian history were challenged by queer and post‐structural approaches, which encouraged an interpretation of categories of sexual identity as unstable. The recent historical concern with geographies of sexuality has prompted lesbian historians to explore the impact of space and the material world on the construction of lesbian identity and experience.
The ‘Culture de guerre’ and French Historiography of the Great War of 1914–1918
Authors: Smith Leonard V. 
Published: November 2007

AbstractSince the late 1980s, the historiography of the Great War of 1914–1918 has experienced something of a renaissance, particularly among French historians and historians influenced by French historiography. Scholarship has centered around the notion of ‘war culture’ (culture de guerre), defined as the sum total of the means through which contemporaries understood the conflict and persuaded themselves to continue fighting it. This article focuses on two aspects of the culture de guerre– consent, a form of commitment to prevailing in the conflict that deepened with adversity; and brutalization, the ferocity with which contemporaries fought the war in ways often overlooked by previous historiography. The article concludes with a consideration of some of the critics of the culture de guerre.
Therapeutic Selective Adsorption of Anti‐DNA Antibody Using Dextran Sulfate Cellulose Column (Selesorb) for the Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Authors: Kutsuki Hidetoshi , Takata Satoshi , Yamamoto Kozo , Tani Nobutaka 
Published: November 2007

Abstract: The Selesorb therapeutic dextran sulfate cellulose column (Kaneka Corporation, Osaka, Japan) selectively adsorbs anti‐DNA antibody, anti‐cardiolipin antibody, and immune complex from the plasma of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The Selesorb system is composed of twin columns attached to an automated regeneration apheresis unit. Anti‐DNA antibody in plasma is continuously removed through 1 of the 2 columns alternately. Clinical application of the Selesorb system to SLE patients with high titers of anti‐DNA antibody showed improvement of proteinurea, arthralgia, rash, lymphocytopenia, etc., with the concurrent use of steroid and/ or immnosuppressant. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor should not be administered to patients treated with the Selesorb system to avoid anaphylactoid reactions based on rapid increases of bradykinin concentrations in the blood.Abstract: The Selesorb system removed anti‐DNA antibody, anticardiolipin antibody and immune complex from the plasma of SLE patients. Other biochemical parameters such as total protein and albumin remained at almost the same levels as before apheresis. The efficiency of the removal of anti‐DNA antibody was maintained during the treatment using the 2 adsorbent columns with alternate use of adsorption and regeneration using the automated apheresis unit MA‐01. Clinical manifestations such as proteinurea, arthralgia, rash, lymphocytopenia, etc., were improved under concomitant use of conventional immunosuppressants during Selesorb treatments. Care should be taken not to administer ACE inhibitor to patients treated with the Selesorb column to avoid anaphylactoid reactions.