ANS. Advances in nursing science
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This article overviews the holistic, hospice, and palliative care models as they relate to end-of-life (EOL) care outcomes. Freire's model of overcoming oppression, which builds on Hegel's philosophical approach, is used as a framework for raising nurses' awareness of end-of-life issues. Concerns that require critical dialogue, as well as questions that warrant discussion, are posited.
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Clinical judgments and decisions are an integral component of nurse work and nurses are increasingly being challenged to account for their judgments and decisions. Nursing research is needed to help explain judgment and decision making in nursing, but most research in this area is almost exclusively characterized by descriptive studies. ⋯ This hybrid technique is an excellent method for studying judgments and decisions across settings, roles, disciplines, and countries. This article outlines the steps of the method and demonstrates its applicability with an exemplar from a study across nurses from 3 countries.
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Chronic pain is a worldwide problem with significant physical, psychological, and social impacts. Despite its prevalence and cost, the phenomenon is not well understood. ⋯ A random sample of nursing, psychology, and neurophysiology literature published over a 30-year period (1969 through 1999) was used to generate a consensual definition of chronic pain. The transition in the attributes, antecedents, consequences, related concepts, and surrogate terms of chronic pain is described, and the implications of the findings for practice and research are discussed.
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Case Reports
Transcendence and transformation in the life patterns of women living with rheumatoid arthritis.
Considering personal life stories as the context for health transitions can enhance understanding of what is meaningful in living with chronic illness. Informed by Margaret Newman's theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness, this interpretive study described the life patterns of three women with rheumatoid arthritis as a process of expanding consciousness. The women's stories revealed transcendence of self-boundaries and personal transformation as new ways of living, including "simple pleasures" and "being positive." Through understanding life patterns within caring nursing partnerships, transitions in an entire life story can be appreciated as complex processes involving transcendence and transformation.
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Advancement in knowledge development comes from novel perspectives and new visions, not from maintaining the status quo. Doctoral programs are mandated to develop nurse scholar-researchers who contribute to the discipline's body of knowledge. ⋯ This article describes an exploratory inquiry involving two focus groups of self-described passionate dissertation scholars. Underlining the passion, participants called passionate scholarship exciting and risky, personally meaningful and socially relevant life's work.