Journal of advanced nursing
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Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) has successfully made the transition from a research tool for the investigation of pain, to a wider clinical utility as method of pain control. Reliable and sophisticated PCA systems have been commercially available for some time. ⋯ The choice of opioid, the settings chosen for demand dose and the lockout interval will greatly influence the effectiveness of this method of analgesia. Psychological variables are also important in predicting the efficacy of PCA.
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Urinary incontinence is a common problem experienced by patients in hospital. As part of a series of studies, a retrospective survey was carried out of 229 nursing and medical records of patients identified as incontinent of urine by the nurses-in-charge, in 14 acute medical wards and 26 health care of the elderly wards. The aims of the survey were to investigate the extent to which urinary incontinence had been identified as a problem, and to examine the nature of its assessment and management. ⋯ The causes of incontinence were rarely recorded and in approximately half of the nursing and medical records examined there was a complete absence of any information related to a management plan. Where recorded, interventions reflected predominantly palliative measures such as routine toileting regimens and the use of continence aids. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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The idea that much of nursing is 'ritualized' activity which is harmful to patient care assumes that 'ritual' itself is unacceptable behaviour or practice. At a time when market forces are clearly influencing the delivery of care and, in turn, changes in nursing practice, it has become important both to clarify what 'ritual' is and to determine its existence and 'form' within nursing. ⋯ There is a clear need, however, to determine specifically the difference between 'unsafe outdated practices' and ritual in a cultural 'sense'. This would ensure that what had to be relinquished would in no way jeopardize the future existence of nursing and nurses as socially cohesive groups with their own culture.
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This literature review was written as part of a pilot study into staff perceptions of inappropriate attendance at accident and emergency (A&E) departments. The pilot study was carried out in the final year of the BSc Nursing Studies course at Birmingham Polytechnic. ⋯ The review covers quite a span of years, the oldest piece of literature under review dating back to 1849. Some 143 years show that indeed this particular problem is not necessarily a modern one but one that has its origins in another century.
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This study aimed to identify qualified nurses' perceptions of the helpfulness of selected nursing actions, derived from the literature, in meeting the needs of suddenly bereaved family members in the accident and emergency (A&E) department. The effect of age, length of professional experience and death education received on the respondents' perceptions was examined. The nurse subjects' feelings of preparation for this stressful role were also identified. ⋯ Analysis of the sample's responses to the 35 nursing actions included revealed that certain activities were ranked lower in terms of their perceived helpfulness, compared to the survivors' perceptions in other studies. All three variables considered had a statistically significant correlation with the perceptions of the sample as measured by the instrument (P < 0.05, using Mann-Whitney U-test). Only 42% of the sample had received any form of death education and 56% felt unprepared for this specialist role.