Applied nursing research : ANR
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A feeding study conducted at a tertiary care center's neonatal intensive care unit tested a predictive model of bottle-feeding readiness and feeding outcomes. The study examined how bottle-feeding experience influences both bottle-feeding readiness and outcomes. The clinical coordinator played an integral role in the success of the research by coordinating the education of nurses, data collectors, and families; communicating with various interest groups; managing recruitment, enrollment, and participant tracking; and overseeing data collection.
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The purpose of this study was to determine the patient cues that emergency department (ED) nurses use to triage male and female patients with complaints suggestive of acute coronary syndromes (ACSs) and to determine if cues used by ED nurses to make clinical inferences varied by patient sex or nurses' demographic characteristics. Using clinical vignette questionnaires with different patient characteristics, ED nurses' triage decisions were evaluated to determine the patient cues used to predict ACS. ⋯ In addition, female vignette patients were more likely than male vignette patients to be assigned a suspected cause of cholecystitis for their presentation in a small subset of 13 (11:2; odds ratio, 1.653; 95% confidence interval, 1.115-24.47; p=.036). This study provides insight into the complex phenomenon of triage decision making and warrants further exploration.
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Pain is a common problem that affects the functional status and quality of life of people in all communities. This study explored the occurrence of pain and the pain self-treatment modalities used by 723 community residents. Mean worst pain scores were moderate to severe and interfered with all activities at a low-to-moderate level. ⋯ Current regimens were reported to relieve only 45% of pain. Twenty-eight percent of participants reported that they had not informed their primary care practitioner of their self-treatment choices. Knowledge of self-treatment choices is imperative in planning treatment regimens for pain or other health problems to prevent potential interactions or side effects.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Adolescent scoliosis: effects of corrective surgery, cognitive-behavioral interventions, and age on activity outcomes.
The effects of spinal fusion surgery and cognitive-behavioral interventions on 88 adolescents' (11-18 years) activity outcomes were examined using a randomized trial with three intervention groups (information only, coping only, coping plus information) and a control group. The effects included a significant drop from baseline (preoperative) in usual activities and social activities at 1 month postsurgery for all groups, indicating that initially postsurgical recovery is particularly disruptive to patients' lives. At 3 months after surgery, all groups showed increased usual activities and social activities. ⋯ Younger adolescents (ages 11-14) in the combined information plus coping group and the control group had higher social scores over the postsurgery recovery period compared with those in the coping-only group. No differences were found on academic performance. The adolescents did not return to their baseline social activity levels during the 9-month recovery period (typically when long-term recovery is completed), indicating that the surgery itself has a long-term negative effect on patients' social life.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on arthritis knee pain in older adults with osteoarthritis of the knee.
The objective of this study was to examine the short- and long-term effects of a home-based, 12-week neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) of the quadriceps femoris to decrease arthritis knee pain in older adults with osteoarthritis of the knee. The study sample (N = 38) was randomly assigned to the NMES treatment plus education group or the arthritis education-only group. Pain was measured in both groups with the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) at baseline, during the intervention at weeks 4, 8, 12, and at follow-up and with the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale 2-Pain Subscale (AIMS2-PS) at baseline and week 12. ⋯ There was a significant 22% decline in pain 15 minutes after as compared with immediately before each NMES treatment (p <.001), as measured by the PD. No significant group differences were found between the 2 groups over the course of the intervention and follow-up. These findings indicate that a home-based NMES intervention reduced arthritis knee pain 15 minutes after a NMES treatment.