Journal of professional nursing : official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing
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This article examines the evolution of state and federal legislation and court opinions in the 1990s concerning treatment abatement and assisted suicide. The recent Supreme Court decision on assisted suicide is summarized, and its rejection of a recognized constitutional right to assisted suicide is explored. Additionally, surveys of the opinions of nurses, physicians, and the public regarding the permissibility of assisted suicide are evaluated. The contradictions between public opinion and some federal and state legislation are highlighted and discussed.
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The purpose of this longitudinal qualitative study was (1) to extend the work of Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule by interviewing female university nursing students to determine their "way of knowing" according to the Women's Ways of Knowing (WWK) schema and (2) to determine what relationship this way of knowing might have with critical thinking when accumulating a specific body of knowledge such as nursing. Interviews were conducted with 21 sophomore nursing students. Fourteen were reinterviewed their junior year, and 10 were interviewed or participated in a focus group their senior year. ⋯ Connected knowing was found to be congruent with nursing and the ways these women wanted to be as nurses. Separate knowing was found to be incongruent with nursing except for critical thinking purposes. Contrary to the notion that critical thinking is principled rather than procedural, procedural knowing, according to WWK, became the principle on which these women based their nursing actions, moving them to constructed knowers and caring, critical thinkers as they experienced nursing education.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Characteristics of patient visits to nurse practitioners and physician assistants in hospital outpatient departments.
Many authors have described differences between nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Most studies have compared physician with nonphysician providers' practice. Few studies have compared nurse practitioners and physician assistants, and none has used a national data base. ⋯ Results of multivariate logistic regression suggest that nurse practitioners were the most likely nonphysician provider for outpatients receiving more health promotion and counseling (therapeutic) services and for those needing women's and children's services. Outpatients in rural areas predicted visits to physician assistants. As more nonphysician providers enter the work force, the results of this research may assist with understanding the utilization of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in primary care.
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Using women's standpoint research to analyze the data, a qualitative, retrospective case study was undertaken to study the group process among 27 female nurse educators/administrators who met from 1987 to 1990. The group was engaged in making major changes to integrate nursing education programs from a variety of institutions. Part of the research involved studying the group's conflict-handling strategies. ⋯ Integrating, the most efficacious strategy, was used to resolve only two issues, whereas accommodating was not identified as an obvious strategy, although two aspects of it were apparent. One conclusion is that conflict management theories based on men's behavior do not adequately explain nurses' (women's) conflict management behavior. This study suggests that nurse educators/administrators may have a distinct approach to conflict management that has not been recognized.