Nursing research
-
Little research has examined the recovery patterns of older adults who have had major abdominal surgery. ⋯ Pain, depression, and fatigue are important factors to consider in the provision of care to abdominal surgery patients with a relatively uncomplicated postoperative course. Specific interventions to reduce pain, depression, and fatigue need to be evaluated for their impact on the postoperative recovery of older adults.
-
Children with cancer experience pain related to the disease process, the treatment, and the associated procedures. For children with leukemia, the pain experienced after diagnosis has received scant attention. ⋯ Children with leukemia experience pain throughout the first year of treatment. In this study, the pain was responsive to the management strategies used by the parents and children.
-
Before an established research instrument is adopted for use in a cultural context different from that where it was developed, its validity and reliability must be reassessed so that it is applicable to and congruent with the culture of the population under study. ⋯ Although some satisfactory psychometric properties of the translated instrument were found in this study, they should be used as a reference for studies with larger samples. The current form is not ready for wide dissemination until more concrete research evidence is available.
-
Despite ongoing physical and psychological distress, little is known about sense of coherence (SOC) and holistic quality of life (QOL) in women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). ⋯ Women with IBS have a reduced SOC and holistic QOL when compared to women without IBS. It remains to be determined whether interventions targeted at enhancing SOC and holistic QOL can impact the psychological distress associated with IBS.
-
Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Backrest angle and cardiac output measurement in critically ill patients.
Cardiac output is an extremely important measurement in the care of critically ill patients, but the accuracy of measurement is unknown when patients are in positions other than flat and supine. ⋯ No differences in the continuous cardiac index values across the nine different measurement conditions were found. An examination of the determinants of cardiac output (stroke volume and heart rate) indicated that the lack of change in continuous cardiac index was not a result of a compensatory change in either stroke volume or heart rate. These data indicate that in daily clinical practice with critical medical surgical patients it may be unnecessary to reposition patients solely for the purpose of obtaining continuous cardiac index measurements. The measurements appear to be reproducible at head-of-bed angle up to 45 degrees.