Journal of advanced nursing
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Despite a plethora of information on the prevention of pressure sores, they remain a significant problem in both hospital and community settings. The need to reduce the incidence of pressure sores has been well documented; unfortunately there is little evidence to suggest improvement. The reasons for this lack of improvement have been explored, but the picture remains unclear. While some studies have suggested that nurses have the appropriate knowledge to prevent pressure sores developing (but do not use their knowledge), others suggest that nurses' knowledge of preventive strategies is deficient. In Greece, similarly to the United Kingdom (UK), the incidence of pressure sores is high. There is currently no evidence on Greek nurses' knowledge and practice and therefore no baseline on which to build, in terms of improving practice. ⋯ The results of this study suggest that the knowledge and practice of participants could be improved. It is of particular concern that methods known to be detrimental were in common use. Finally, there is a need to improve the research skills of Greek nurses in order to provide them with the appropriate knowledge to use research findings.
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To identify and describe palliative patients' perception of factors within the interaction with the community palliative care nurse that enhance feelings of health and well-being, and to begin to define health promotion in relation to palliative nursing in the primary care setting. ⋯ For the patients, a combination of 'new' (therapeutic) nursing and a more traditional expert-led approach resulted in the promotion of an enhanced sense of physical and psychological health and well-being, and was an integral part of community palliative care nursing. Based on the study findings, the researcher offers a definition of health promotion relevant to palliative nursing in the primary care setting, which identifies that for the patients (but with caveats related to generalizability), the practice of holistically therapeutic palliative nursing is the ideal.
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The sudden death of a family member is always traumatic to the family. Nursing actions such as providing comfort measures and providing an opportunity to view the deceased were consistently perceived as helpful by the suddenly bereaved. Little is known about the perception of bereaved family members in Hong Kong concerning the care they received in accident and emergency (A & E) departments. This study serves to identify actions, which were perceived as helpful in A & E setting in Hong Kong. ⋯ Accident and emergency nurses have unique role in offering helpful actions to support suddenly bereaved family members.
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To provide the reader with a basic understanding of the elements of poetry and to review poetry's contribution to nursing. The review will examine the poetry written by nurses, poetry's effect on the profession, and its use in education, patient care, and research. ⋯ The use of poetry in the nursing profession provides us with the opportunity to gain new meaning and understanding about the profession and the clientele served. Poetry is a rich textual medium that can assist in illuminating nursing's core belief about the uniqueness of the nurse-patient relationship, and enhance the 'art' of nursing and 'ways of knowing'.
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Stress-related outcomes of job satisfaction and absenteeism among nurses should receive more attention in Hong Kong because absenteeism is costly. Many nurses' complaints are due to organizational change in privatization since the establishment of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority in 1991. Organizational climate is found to be an antecedent of job dissatisfaction and absenteeism in many studies in western societies. ⋯ The empirical findings provide support for the climate-job satisfaction and climate-absenteeism relationships. Psychological distress could be an antecedent of job satisfaction; and job satisfaction could be an antecedent of absenteeism. Certain climate dimensions should be improved to enhance job satisfaction and reduce distress, which in turn will reduce absenteeism.