International journal of nursing studies
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The purpose of this study was to identify and analyse Korean health professionals' attitudes and knowledge of organ donation and transplantation. An exploratory study using semi-structured interviews with nine key informants from three major hospitals which provide transplant services in Seoul was conducted. ⋯ It was also found that the participants' attitudes were mixed and somewhat negative, as they did not regard brain death as true death. In addition, a majority demonstrated a contradiction when it became a more personal issue.
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Comparative Study
Validity of pressure ulcer risk assessment scales; Cubbin and Jackson, Braden, and Douglas scale.
This study was to compare the validity of three pressure ulcer risk tools: Cubbin and Jackson, Braden, and Douglas scales. Data were collected three times per week from 48 to 72 h after admission based on the three pressure ulcer risk assessment scales and skin assessment tool developed by the Panel for the Prediction and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers (1994) from 112 intensive care unit (ICU) patients in a educational hospital Ulsan, Korea during December 11, 2000 to February 10, 2001. When a patient developed a pressure ulcer at the time of assessment, the patient was classified into 'pressure ulcer group', and when patients did not have a pressure ulcer until they died, moved to other wards or were discharged from the hospital, they were classified into 'not pressure ulcer group'. ⋯ Based on the cut-off point presented by the developer, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value were as follows: Cubbin and Jackson scale: 89%, 61%, 51%, 92%, respectively, Braden scale: 97%, 26%, 37%, 95%, respectively, and Douglas scale: 100%, 18%, 34%, 100%, respectively. AUCs of ROC curve were 0.826 for Cubbin and Jackson, 0.707 for Braden, and 0.791 for Douglas. Overall, the Cubbin and Jackson scale showed the best validity among scales tested and we recommended it for this ICU.
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The prison population is increasing and the health problems of prisoners are considerable. Prison is designed with punishment, correction and rehabilitation to the community in mind and these goals may conflict with the aims of health care. ⋯ Health promotion and the health of the community outside prisons are desirable aims of prison health care. The delivery of effective health care to prisoners is dependent upon partnership between health and prison services and telemedicine is one possible mode of delivery.
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To investigate nurses' attitudes toward pain treatment with opioids in a Belgian university hospital. ⋯ Despite a neutral to positive score on the OAS (mean=69.4%), nurses had clearly negative attitudes towards the use of opioids during a diagnostic phase and the risk of possible addiction. These negative attitudes can hinder adequate pain treatment.
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The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical model to understand the influences of six predicting variables in post-surgical cognitive disturbance in older Taiwanese patients after elective surgery. The data were collected in a medical center in Taipei, Taiwan. Ninety-three patients were included in the final analysis. ⋯ It is necessary to monitor and correct these variables at admission or before surgery to prevent or reduce the impact of post-operative delirium. It is also necessary to monitor these variables during the hospital stay to help nurses to distinguish the etiology of delirium. In each case, knowing when confusion is more likely to occur can assist in focusing more appropriate and effective efforts at detection, thereby reducing the consequences associated with confusion.