International journal of nursing practice
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Comparative Study
Children's postoperative pain at home: family interview study.
The purpose of this study was to: (i) describe the methods that are used in the identification and management of postoperative pain in children aged 1-7 years after minor outpatient surgery at home; (ii) to identify parents' perceptions regarding children's pain and pain medication; and (iii) to examine parents' perceptions of discharge advice. Family interviews with inductive content analysis were used to gather information from families of 17 Finnish children undergoing minor outpatient surgery at a university hospital in Finland. ⋯ The results indicate a need for further research in order to identify what elements of parents' perceptions of children's pain and pain medication should receive additional attention. In addition, the content, methods of providing and timing of discharge advice need to be developed in order to help parents with their efforts to achieve maximum pain relief in children after surgery.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparison of the FemoStop device and manual pressure in reducing groin puncture site complications following coronary angioplasty and coronary stent placement.
This study compared two techniques, the FemoStop device (RADI Medical Systems, Uppsala, Sweden) and manual pressure, currently used by nurses to achieve haemostasis at the groin puncture site following removal of femoral arterial sheaths in patients following coronary angioplasty and coronary stent placement. Participants were randomly allocated the FemoStop device or manual pressure. Participants' groins were observed for evidence of complications including haemorrhage, haematoma formation and pseudoaneurysm following removal of the femoral arterial sheath and the following day. ⋯ There was not any significant difference between the two groups in reported pain during removal of the femoral arterial sheath; however, there was a significant distinction in the amount of time taken to achieve haemostasis. The results showed that haemostasis was achieved more quickly in those participants in the manual pressure group than those in the FemoStop group. The results of this research study indicate that although manual pressure achieved haemostasis more quickly than the FemoStop device, both methods are as effective in reducing groin complications in patients following removal of the femoral arterial sheath following coronary angioplasty and stent placement.
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Unrelieved acute pain remains prevalent in hospitalized patients despite advances in pain management. A decade after the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council called for improved pain management practices by health professionals, it released clinical guidelines to provide clinicians with current scientific evidence to augment their clinical decision-making. ⋯ Pain management guidelines have failed to decrease patients' postoperative pain because organizations and researchers have ignored the impact of contextual influences on clinicians' decision-making. It is recommended that for successful implementation of national guidelines to occur at the local level of practice, organizations must assist clinicians to identify local influences on their decision-making, to address the issues specific to their own work environment and to evaluate any changes in practice.
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Humour is an important and integral part of everyday life, social integration and professional nursing care. However, there has been little systematic research into the use of humour in nursing contexts, from the clients' point of view. With a touch of humour, this article aims to describe the positive impact of humour on client-nurse relationship and on clients' well-being. ⋯ Humour also helped clients to show their emotions and to preserve their dignity. In the nurse-client relationship, humour enabled the client to communicate criticism or to express themselves. Nurses can alleviate clients' anxieties through humour, and humour can help nurses to cope.
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Nurses encounter ethical dilemmas in their practice and need guidance in making relevant patient-care decisions. Nursing theory is believed to be the best source of such guidance. The aim of this paper is to describe the ethical dimension in nursing theory. ⋯ Criteria for the development and evaluation of the ethical dimension are presented, with an example using a middle range theory. The ethical components pertinent to a nursing theory need to be made explicit if theory is to guide practice. Nursing scholars are invited to elucidate the ethical dimension in their theories in order to enhance moral reasoning and provide a framework for ethical practice.