Journal of advanced nursing
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This paper reports a study to compare nurses' ratings of pain intensity and suffering (affect) in adult surgical patients with patients' own ratings of these variables, and to investigate whether pain ratings were influenced by cultural and ethnic differences. ⋯ The findings have implications for the management of postoperative pain by highlighting the need for more accurate pain assessment. Further research is required to elucidate the way in which nurses and patients conceptualize pain and to understand better the process of pain assessment in clinical nursing practice.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Effects of acupressure therapy for patients having prolonged mechanical ventilation support.
This paper reports an investigation of the effects of acupressure therapy on dyspnoea, anxiety and physiological indicators of heart rate and respiratory rate in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease having mechanical ventilation support. ⋯ This results support the suggestion that acupressure therapy could decrease sympathetic stimulation and improve perceived symptoms of dyspnoea and anxiety in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who are using prolonged mechanical ventilation.
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This paper reports on a study examining the level of agreement between the pain perceptions of nursing assistants, older people without dementia and patients with Alzheimer's dementia. It was hypothesized that nursing assistants would overestimate the pain experience of patients with Alzheimer's dementia. ⋯ Nursing assistants may overestimate the extent of suffering from pain of patients with Alzheimer's disease. They might be very well able to estimate this pain, provided they were educated about new insights into the influence of the various subtypes of dementia on pain.
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This paper reports a study to investigate and follow-up relationships between post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and quality of life in patients after traffic-related injuries. ⋯ The findings suggest that traffic accidents have an impact on people's psychosocial wellbeing. Healthcare professionals need to implement interventions to decrease post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety to increase the quality of life for patients following traffic injuries.
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This paper reports an examination of intra- and inter-observer agreement in midwives' visual interpretation of intrapartum cardiotocographs (CTGs). ⋯ Inter- and intra-observer variability are intrinsic characteristics of the interpretation of intrapartum CTGs. Levels of agreement revealed degrees of variation that expose room for improvement. Efforts are needed to reduce inter- and intra-observer variation in interpretation of intrapartum CTG tracings. In addition, research should focus on the development and evaluation of non-invasive, low observer variability methods of intrapartum assessment of fetal well-being. The subjectivity of CTG interpretation and inconsistencies in interpretation should also be considered in intrapartum management, clinical audit and in medico-legal settings.