Research in nursing & health
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Meta-analysis facilitates the transfer of knowledge from nurse researchers to clinicians. In this article, the benefits and criticisms of meta-analysis for nursing are identified along with the specific problems a meta-analyst may encounter in conducting a quantitative analysis and synthesis of the literature. Problems in data retrieval from the primary studies for a quantitative literature review can plague a meta-analyst. ⋯ Also, sample characteristics and methodological variables are deserving of detailed descriptions in research reports. Editors can consider including a summary table of basic descriptive and inferential statistics. Another recommendation for editors is to develop a reviewer's checklist to ensure the author has included all relevant statistical information and study characteristics a meta-analyst needs.
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Redesigning health care environments has occurred in response to cost and quality pressures. Efforts to redesign the nursing practice environment have focused on the structure and process of nursing care delivery. When redesign efforts address the structure of nursing practice systems to facilitate one important process, nurses' participation in decision making, better patient and organizational outcomes are expected. ⋯ Administrative and professional authority accounted for a small but significant amount of variation in participation in decision making. Because the extent of explained variation was small, the findings may challenge the prevailing assumption that greater authority for decision making results in the exercise of that authority. Redesign of the practice environment therefore must incorporate multiple factors in achieving greater participation in decision making.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Professional nursing support for culturally diverse family members of critically ill adults.
Family members' perceptions of professional support expected of critical care nurses were examined for differences related to cultural affiliation using the "Professional Support Questionnaire for Critical Care Nurses Working with Family Members" (PSQ). The PSQ was administered face-to-face to family members waiting to visit a critically ill relative admitted to the intensive care unit. ⋯ Despite these differences, family members' expectations of professional support from critical care nurses were generally universal-suggesting equitable care, dignity, and respect should be universal values. There is a need for critical care nurses to develop interventions that respect some cultural uniqueness as well as address the universal needs of family members coping with the ICU admission of a critically ill family member.
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Imaging ability, the ability to generate mental images and become absorbed in them as if they were real, is proposed as a moderator in the relationship between guided imagery and symptom relief. Two existing measures of image generation, Marks's (1973) Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire and Betts's (1909) shortened Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery (Sheehan, 1967), and one measure of absorption, Tellegen's Absorption scale (1993; TAS) were completed by 60 graduate students prior to listening to a guided imagery intervention to relieve anxiety associated with an upcoming stressful task. Analyses were conducted using data from 30 participants (7 men and 23 women) who reported an increase in anxiety level after learning of the stressful task. ⋯ Absorption (TAS) scores were significantly higher for persons in the successful group; there were no differences in image generation scores. Two TAS items were identified as potential predictors of success with guided imagery. Findings may be helpful in developing a clinically useful instrument to predict likelihood of success with guided imagery in relieving cancer pain and its distress.
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Although behavioral observation is recommended as the primary pain assessment for the nonverbal postsurgical child, little is known about clinicians' use of observation in their medication administration decisions. Eight infants were videotaped after surgery and segments of the videotapes were categorized as medication inactive or medication active (assumed to relieve pain) based on the usual duration of infants' analgesics. ⋯ Nurses reported using the pain behaviors described in the literature as well as other infant characteristics in their decision making. Infant behaviors observed in the medication inactive snippets were not suggestive enough of the presence of pain to result in the nurses choosing to medicate.