title: Using honey in wound care

authors: Molan, Peter C.

subjects: biology

abstract: Honey is primarily a herbal product with some modifications that are made by the bees that process the nectar or sap collected from the plants to store as honey. The types of phytochemicals present in a honey depend on the plant source of the honey. The hydrogen peroxide that is formed in honey by an enzyme the bees add, and sometimes also particular phytochemicals from the nectar or sap, give honey antibacterial activity that is sufficient to be effective in clearing infection from wounds. The phytochemicals also give honey its antioxidant activity which is also important in wound care, acting to decrease inflammation. Honey has been used in wound care since ancient times, but was displaced from use by the advent of antibiotics. With the widespread resistance to antibiotics developing in bacteria, it is now being 'rediscovered', and in many cases is proving to give better results than modern wound-care products. It has the advantage of providing moist healing conditions without the risk of bacterial growth, preventing adhesion of dressings to wound tissues, giving rapid removal of pus, dead tissue and debris from wounds, decreasing inflammation and thus decreasing swelling, pain and exudation of serum and preventing scarring, and speeding up the growth of tissues to repair wounds.

text: Using honey in wound care Honey is primarily a herbal product with some modifications that are made by the bees that process the nectar or sap collected from the plants to store as honey. The types of phytochemicals present in a honey depend on the plant source of the honey. The hydrogen peroxide that is formed in honey by an enzyme the bees add, and sometimes also particular phytochemicals from the nectar or sap, give honey antibacterial activity that is sufficient to be effective in clearing infection from wounds. The phytochemicals also give honey its antioxidant activity which is also important in wound care, acting to decrease inflammation. Honey has been used in wound care since ancient times, but was displaced from use by the advent of antibiotics. With the widespread resistance to antibiotics developing in bacteria, it is now being 'rediscovered', and in many cases is proving to give better results than modern wound-care products. It has the advantage of providing moist healing conditions without the risk of bacterial growth, preventing adhesion of dressings to wound tissues, giving rapid removal of pus, dead tissue and debris from wounds, decreasing inflammation and thus decreasing swelling, pain and exudation of serum and preventing scarring, and speeding up the growth of tissues to repair wounds.

year: 2006

title: Enhancing the mathematics achievement of Pasifika students: Performance and progress on the numeracy development project.

authors: Young-Loveridge, Jennifer

subjects: mathematics

abstract: This paper reports on the analysis of data from approximately 30,000 Pasifika students whose teachers participated in the Numeracy Development Project (NDP) between 2002 and 2005. Most students' performance improved from the beginning of the year to the end, and performance and progress seemed to improve from 2002 to 2005. As a result, the gap between European and Pasifika students appeared to reduce fairly steadily over tune. These improvements coincided with changes in the composition of the cohort over time, most notably a reduction in the percentage of students from low-decile schools and an increase in the percentage of students from medium- and high-decile schools. Hence, it is difficult to conclude with any confidence that it is the NDP that is primarily responsible for the improvements. Although the gaps in achievement between European and Pasifika students were not completely eliminated, when these differences were put beside those found in other large-scale studies, it was evident that NDP differences were much smaller (a quarter of a standard deviation compared to a whole standard deviation). The use of an individual, orally presented assessment tool with an emphasis on explaining the strategies used to get answers, rather than a written test on which the number of correct answers is simply totalled, may help to explain the positive outcomes for NDP students.

text: Enhancing the mathematics achievement of Pasifika students: Performance and progress on the numeracy development project. This paper reports on the analysis of data from approximately 30,000 Pasifika students whose teachers participated in the Numeracy Development Project (NDP) between 2002 and 2005. Most students' performance improved from the beginning of the year to the end, and performance and progress seemed to improve from 2002 to 2005. As a result, the gap between European and Pasifika students appeared to reduce fairly steadily over tune. These improvements coincided with changes in the composition of the cohort over time, most notably a reduction in the percentage of students from low-decile schools and an increase in the percentage of students from medium- and high-decile schools. Hence, it is difficult to conclude with any confidence that it is the NDP that is primarily responsible for the improvements. Although the gaps in achievement between European and Pasifika students were not completely eliminated, when these differences were put beside those found in other large-scale studies, it was evident that NDP differences were much smaller (a quarter of a standard deviation compared to a whole standard deviation). The use of an individual, orally presented assessment tool with an emphasis on explaining the strategies used to get answers, rather than a written test on which the number of correct answers is simply totalled, may help to explain the positive outcomes for NDP students.

year: 2006

title: Exploring patient experiences and power dynamics in an acute general surgical ward: A mixed methods study exploring patient and staff
perceptions of the inpatient experience at Waikato Hospital

authors: Drake, Emma Rose

subjects: Nursing

abstract: Background: Alongside health outcomes, patient experiences are considered crucial in identifying the quality of a health care setting. General surgery comprise the largest range of pathologies and accounts for the highest number of patient discharges of any surgical specialty. As a way to address the power imbalance between healthcare staff and patients, patient-centred models of care are increasingly being adopted and implemented within hospitals including surgery. This study aims to investigate the current experiences of acutely admitted patients in a general surgical ward at Waikato Hospital, including opportunities for and challenges to improvement initiatives. Furthermore, the study examines relevant staff members perspectives of the inpatient experience and seeks to determine the efficacy of a proposed intervention focusing on empowering patients and their families.
Methods: The study was a mixed method design involving two phases. Phase I obtained qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with six patients and twelve staff members. Themes which emerged from the qualitative data in phase I were used to inform the development of phase II, as well as to inform a proposed patient self- assessment intervention. Phase II obtained quantitative data through Likert scale response surveys provided to acute patients on, or near to, their day of discharge from the surgical ward over a two month period.
Results: A total of six patients and 12 healthcare staff (senior registered nurses, n=3; surgical registered nurse managers, n=2; surgical fellows, n=2; surgical registrar, n=1; dietitian, n=1; social worker, n=1; occupational therapist, n=1; and physiotherapist n=1) were involved in phase I. A total of 53 surveys were returned from patients in Phase II (63.1% response rate). Qualitative data from phase I was analysed using a general inductive approach. This revealed three themes including power and control concerns for patients, the hierarchy of the health care team and the surrounding stressors of the organisation and environment. Analysis of the quantitative data collected descriptive statistics and calculated chi-squares. Of note were the statistically significant differences particularly between patients of Māori ethnicity comparatively to non-Māori, and according to gender and reason in hospital. There were no statistically significant differences for patients according to age group.
Conclusion: This study identified both the experiences of patients and staff in an acute general surgical context. The study found that the proposed patient self- assessment intervention was not immediately recommended. This was due to the current recommendations from patients who identified their strong preference was for face-to-face communication with staff. It was also due to staff members identification of a perceived inability to consistently provide person-centred care which corresponded with the patient self-assessment data. Acute general surgical care needs of patients were perceived by staff as taking precedent and current workplace stressors, including staffing and skill mix deficits and perceived lack of staff wellbeing supports, were strong inhibitors for staff to provide their preferred capacity of patient-centred care.

text: Exploring patient experiences and power dynamics in an acute general surgical ward: A mixed methods study exploring patient and staff
perceptions of the inpatient experience at Waikato Hospital Background: Alongside health outcomes, patient experiences are considered crucial in identifying the quality of a health care setting. General surgery comprise the largest range of pathologies and accounts for the highest number of patient discharges of any surgical specialty. As a way to address the power imbalance between healthcare staff and patients, patient-centred models of care are increasingly being adopted and implemented within hospitals including surgery. This study aims to investigate the current experiences of acutely admitted patients in a general surgical ward at Waikato Hospital, including opportunities for and challenges to improvement initiatives. Furthermore, the study examines relevant staff members perspectives of the inpatient experience and seeks to determine the efficacy of a proposed intervention focusing on empowering patients and their families.
Methods: The study was a mixed method design involving two phases. Phase I obtained qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with six patients and twelve staff members. Themes which emerged from the qualitative data in phase I were used to inform the development of phase II, as well as to inform a proposed patient self- assessment intervention. Phase II obtained quantitative data through Likert scale response surveys provided to acute patients on, or near to, their day of discharge from the surgical ward over a two month period.
Results: A total of six patients and 12 healthcare staff (senior registered nurses, n=3; surgical registered nurse managers, n=2; surgical fellows, n=2; surgical registrar, n=1; dietitian, n=1; social worker, n=1; occupational therapist, n=1; and physiotherapist n=1) were involved in phase I. A total of 53 surveys were returned from patients in Phase II (63.1% response rate). Qualitative data from phase I was analysed using a general inductive approach. This revealed three themes including power and control concerns for patients, the hierarchy of the health care team and the surrounding stressors of the organisation and environment. Analysis of the quantitative data collected descriptive statistics and calculated chi-squares. Of note were the statistically significant differences particularly between patients of Māori ethnicity comparatively to non-Māori, and according to gender and reason in hospital. There were no statistically significant differences for patients according to age group.
Conclusion: This study identified both the experiences of patients and staff in an acute general surgical context. The study found that the proposed patient self- assessment intervention was not immediately recommended. This was due to the current recommendations from patients who identified their strong preference was for face-to-face communication with staff. It was also due to staff members identification of a perceived inability to consistently provide person-centred care which corresponded with the patient self-assessment data. Acute general surgical care needs of patients were perceived by staff as taking precedent and current workplace stressors, including staffing and skill mix deficits and perceived lack of staff wellbeing supports, were strong inhibitors for staff to provide their preferred capacity of patient-centred care.

year: 2022