International journal of nursing studies
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Clinical guidelines are one of the most promising and effective advances for defining and improving the quality of care. However, their development, dissemination and implementation in practice are rarely straightforward. Within nursing practice, guidelines have the potential to ensure the clinical application of research findings, thus ensuring that the profession rejects ineffective practices while employing those shown to work. Nevertheless, the benefits and limitations of clinical guidelines should be carefully considered by practitioners, managers and consumers of health care alike.
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Assessment of care quality is integral to health and palliative care provision and there is a need to develop and implement outcome measures to assess quality. This study aimed to: (1) describe the implementation of a palliative care outcome measure in non-specialist palliative care settings and (2) to understand the implementation of the measure. ⋯ It is difficult to integrate outcome measures into routine clinical practice. Future interventions should consider how to tailor the implementation of outcome measures within existing working structures and provide education and training to enable nurses to deal with potentially sensitive palliative care issues.
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Most nurses live and work in multicultural settings. Given the need for all nurses and health-care workers to communicate--with patients, with families and with other health-care professionals--the study of the relationship between culture and communication can help to inform practice. This paper offers the findings from an ethnographic study of culture and communication, carried out in Thailand. ⋯ Findings reported in this paper include those relating to 'Thainess', Buddhism, the nursing profession and nurse--patient/doctor--patient relationships. The report ends with a 'portrait' of Thai nursing communication. It is suggested that understanding the cultural aspects of nursing in various contexts can help nurses, internationally.