Nursing & health sciences
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Nursing & health sciences · Jun 2012
Intravenous fluid administration and monitoring for adult ward patients in a teaching hospital.
Many acutely unwell, hospitalized patients receive continuous intravenous (IV) fluids. Complications of IV fluid administration include electrolyte abnormalities and fluid overload, which be detected by appropriate IV fluid administration and monitoring practices. This prospective clinical audit described the administration and monitoring of maintenance IV fluid in ward patients in an Australian tertiary teaching hospital. ⋯ Findings show that approximately one-quarter of adult ward patients in our hospital received IV fluids. Monitoring of such patients using regular blood tests and fluid balance charts is high, but patient weight measurements are low. Why hospitalized patients who require maintenance IV fluids do not have regular body weight measurements requires further investigation.
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Nursing & health sciences · Jun 2012
Grief reaction model of families who experienced acute bereavement in Japan.
The present study clarified the structure of factors that affect grief reactions of families who experienced acute bereavement in critical care settings in Japan. Sixty-four families who experienced acute bereavement answered a questionnaire. The questionnaire included the Miyabayashi Grief Measurement, recognition of bereavement, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Tri-Axial Coping Scale. ⋯ Factors that influenced stress recognition were subjective degree of sadness, acceptance of bereavement, regret for bereavement, and recognition of a peaceful death. These results show that the quality of end-of-life care in critical care settings is an important factor that affects bereaved families' stress recognition and grief reactions. Nurses and medical staff must provide end-of-life care to help family members accept the death of their loved one and reduce regrets as much as possible.
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Nursing & health sciences · Dec 2011
Music as a nursing intervention: effects of music listening on blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate in abdominal surgery patients.
Contradictory results have been presented on how music listening affects patients' blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of music listening on blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate on operation day, and on the first, second, and third postoperative days in abdominal surgery patients. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-post-test design, 168 abdominal surgery patients were assigned every second week to the music group (n=83) or to the control group (n=85) for 25 months. ⋯ A significant reduction in systolic blood pressure was demonstrated in the group that received music compared with the control group on both the first and second postoperative days. Evaluation of the long-term effects of music on physiological factors showed that the respiratory rate in the music group was significantly lower compared with the control group. Nurses should offer music listening to surgery patients because of its potential benefit.
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Nursing & health sciences · Dec 2011
Use of peer assessment as a student engagement strategy in nurse education.
This paper describes how peer assessment was implemented in an undergraduate nursing program in Ireland to enhance student engagement, and reports students' (n=37) experiences of the process. The process involved second year Bachelor of Nursing Science students developing marking criteria and marking two of their colleagues' assignments anonymously. A qualitative descriptive design using focus group interviews was used to collect data on students' experiences. ⋯ The findings revealed that most students enjoyed the process, and that peer assessment facilitates and enhances student engagement. The findings also provide evidence to support the self-regulation theory of learning. A detailed account of the methods used to implement peer assessment is also provided, which might be useful for other nurse educators seeking to implement peer assessment at an undergraduate level.
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Nursing & health sciences · Dec 2011
Attitudes, beliefs, and practices of Sri Lankan nurses toward cancer pain management: an ethnographic study.
Cancer pain is a serious problem that requires specialized nursing knowledge. In the present ethnographic study, we sought to explore the experiences and cancer pain management practices of nurses working at a government hospital in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from October 2007 to January 2008, and were obtained by observing the nurses in a cancer ward, conducting semistructured interviews with 10 participants, and maintaining a research diary. ⋯ Additionally, the nurses are not autonomous, and are required to refer to medical staff for cancer pain management strategies. The nurses work in a task-oriented system that rarely acknowledges cancer patients' pain management needs. This study might improve nursing pain management practices for cancer patients and lead to changes in the curriculum of nursing courses in Sri Lanka.