Scandinavian journal of caring sciences
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This study aimed at investigating the relationships between work-related psychosocial factors, worry about work conditions and health complaints (sleeping problems, headache and stomach symptoms) among female and male ambulance personnel. Out of 4000 ambulance personnel in Sweden, 1500 (300 female and 1200 male personnel) were randomly selected. They answered a questionnaire including items on self-reported health complaints, individual characteristics, work-related psychological demands, decision latitude, social support and worry about work conditions. ⋯ The prevalence of sleeping problems, headache and stomach symptoms were significantly associated with psychological demands among both female and male ambulance personnel. Notably, worry about work conditions seems to be an important risk factor for health complaints. This suggests that worry about work conditions should not be neglected when considering risk factors among ambulance personnel.
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Comparative Study
Descriptions of pain in elderly patients following orthopaedic surgery.
The aims of this study were to investigate what words elderly patients, who had undergone hip surgery, used to describe their experience of pain in spoken language and to compare these words with those used in the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) and Pain-O-Meter (POM). The study was carried out at two orthopaedic and two geriatric clinical departments at a large university hospital in Sweden. Altogether, 60 patients (mean age =77) who had undergone orthopaedic surgery took part in the study. ⋯ To achieve a more balanced and nuanced description of the patient's pain and to make it easier for the patients to talk about their pain, there is a need for access to a set of predefined words that describe pain from a more multidimensional perspective than just intensity. If the elderly patient is allowed, and finds it necessary, to use his/her own words to describe what pain is but also to describe what pain is not, by combining the words with a negation, then the risk of the patient being forced to choose words that do not fully correspond to their pain can be reduced. If so, pain scales such as the SF-MPQ and the POM can create a communicative bridge between the elderly patient and health care professionals in the pain evaluation process.
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The aim of this study was to describe risk factors for delirium and the impact of delirium on the rehabilitation outcome for patients operated for femoral neck fractures. Sixty-one patients, aged 70 years or older, consecutively admitted to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Umeå University Hospital, Sweden for femoral neck fractures were assessed and interviewed during hospitalization and at follow up 4 months after surgery. Delirium occurred in 38 (62%) patients and those who developed delirium were more often demented and/or depressed. ⋯ Delirium after hip fracture surgery is very common especially among patients with dementia or depression. This study shows that delirium has a serious impact on the rehabilitation outcome from both short- and long-term perspectives. Because delirium can be prevented and treated, it is important to improve the care of elderly patients with hip fractures.
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Family caregivers experience both positive and negative reactions in caregiving situations. There has been considerably less published about the positive aspects, however. The general aim of this study was to explore a previously developed instrument to study rewards gained by caregivers and to determine the factors associated with satisfaction in family members caring for patients with dementia living at home. ⋯ Factorial analysis of the Caregiver's Assessment of Satisfactions Index was performed and it became more specific for conditions of dementia when it was reduced. Stressors as measured by the Caregiver Burden scale and satisfaction can coexist and assess different aspects of the caregiver's situation. The caregiver can perceive both moderate burden and great satisfaction at the same time, and further studies may help to broaden our understanding of how we can reduce the degree of burden whilst increasing the sense of satisfaction.
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Assisted personal body care (APBC) tends to be regarded as an unproblematic nursing activity with little professional challenge. For severely ill patient diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) daily bathing and washing is, however, a significant self-preserving activity that requires substantial efforts on the part of both patients and nurses. The aim of this study was to report on the complex pattern of APBC in hospitalized patients with severe COPD and highlight significant characteristics that should be considered in clinical practice in order to support patients' comfort and well-being. ⋯ Curtailing is a subtle, purposeful balancing of protection from breathlessness and promotion of patients' present and future functional capacity in order to preserve their integrity. The idea that body care is a simple task belonging to patients' private daily lives may obscure the importance of determining a mutual nurse-patient agenda and the professional nurse responsibility may consequently be nebulous. Finding in this study will contribute to the development of a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the APBC and suggest the need for further investigation of the interaction perspective.