Journal of advanced nursing
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Review
Critical care outreach services and early warning scoring systems: a review of the literature.
The aim of this paper is to explore the literature relating to critical care outreach services and the use of early warning scoring systems to detect developing critical illness. ⋯ The paper concludes that further study is required to evaluate the effectiveness of critical care outreach services and early warning scoring systems, and that ward staff need to be educated to identify those patients at risk of developing critical illness. Finally, it is suggested that nurses' decision-making in relation to calling the outreach team requires further investigation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
From hospital to home care: a randomized controlled trial of a Pain Education Programme for cancer patients with chronic pain.
To investigate the role of district nurses in the care of cancer patients with chronic pain at home, as well as the effects of a Pain Education Programme for patients and their district nurses. The Pain Education Programme consisted of a tailored multi-method approach in which they were educated about pain, instructed how to report pain, and how to contact health care providers. ⋯ These findings suggest a significant but moderate effect of the Pain Education Programme, with district nurses only playing a minor role in the treatment of cancer pain.
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Low back pain (LBP) remains a common and costly problem among the nursing profession. Several studies have indicated that LBP is attributed to mentally straining or demanding work, fatigue or exhaustion or general work satisfaction. ⋯ The results indicate that an association exists between work stress, manual lifting and LBP prevalence. The main route to prevention of LBP among nurses is likely to lie in improved ergonomics and psychological health in their work place. Good posture and correct transferring techniques in ward situations should be reinforced with hands-on practice performed on nurses' common types of clients.
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AIMS OF PROJECT: To evaluate a workshop to prepare health professionals for breaking bad news in the paediatric setting. ⋯ The educational approach reported is considered by participants to be beneficial in preparing health professionals for breaking bad news in a collaborative way.
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The study identifies third-year nurses' expectations of the graduate nurse role and ascertains how prepared they feel to fulfil this role. ⋯ When asked about their initial expectations of the workplace, third year student nurses expressed little apprehension and reported high levels on scales of organizational commitment and professionalism. The research literature suggests that divisions exist between students' expectations of the graduate year and the actual work experience. The expectations of the graduate year described in this study offer a student-centred perspective that contributes to future planning and policy directions of undergraduate curricula, graduate year programmes and nurse retention.