Multiple symptoms in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Norway

This paper examines the prevalence of multiple symptoms and the relationships between future expectations and multiple symptoms in a cross‐sectional study of 100 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A questionnaire was used to examine the patients’ symptoms of breathlessness, anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, fatigue, and pain, and their outlook for the future. All patients reported breathlessness, 64% anxiety, 69% depression, 28% sleeplessness, 72% fatigue, and 45% pain. Those with anxiety reported significant depression (P < 0.001), and those with fatigue reported significant depression (P = 0.004). Patients who reported pain also reported significant sleeplessness (P = 0.022). A negative outlook for the future was reported by 42% of patients who also reported significantly more anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, fatigue, and pain (P ≤ 0.049). Multiple symptoms are common in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and patients with a pessimistic view of the future reported more symptoms. Those with multiple symptoms and a negative outlook toward the future may benefit from interventions to help them achieve a more positive outlook for the future, which may relieve symptom burden.     

Decision-making models of Finnish nurses and public health nurses

This study described nursing decision-making models and variables related to these models For this purpose a 56-item Likert-type questionnaire was constructed according to the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition as applied to nursing by Benner and information processing theory The target group consisted of 100 registered nurses working in inpatient clinics and 100 public health nurses working in preventive health care The decision-making variables explored were nurses' experience, education and knowledge as well as the nature of the nursing task and context The results revealed four different types of decision-making (a) unquestioning/questioning decision-making, (b) creative—diversive decision-making, (c) patient/nurse-oriented decision-making, and (d) rule- and situation-based decision-making The most important factors related to decision-making were experience and the nature of the nursing task and context     

The quality of intraoperative nursing care: the patient's perspective

The purpose of this study was to document patients' responses (n = 246) to intraoperative care and to find out whether or not their opinions (n = 158) changed with time Another goal was to develop a patient-based scale for continuous systematic evaluation The data were collected by a structured questionnaire in two phases in 1993 first at the end of the patients' hospital stay, and then after a few weeks at home The following themes were covered in the questionnaire biological-physiological, experiential, cognitive, functional, ethical, the characteristics and competence of nursing professionals, and environmental Statistical analysis suggested that the patients were satisfied with their intraoperative care Problems occurred mainly in cognitive and experiential perspectives, such as the need for continuous access to information and coping with the anxiety related to the impending surgery It also emerged that special attention must be paid to keeping the patient warm in the operating theatre and to looking after emergency patients, younger patients, and patients who only remain in the operating department for a short period of tune The patients' evaluations of the standards of care tended to be less critical in hospital than they were a few weeks after discharge     

Patient education in orthopaedic nursing

The objectives of this study were to describe (1) how the content, structure and educational solutions of orthopaedic patient education were perceived by patients and nurses; (2) what patients knew about their care; and (3) how nurses evaluated their educational skills. The sample consisted of 146 orthopaedic patients (response rate 81%) and 56 nurses (response rate 67%) on three orthopaedic wards in a Finnish university hospital in 2001. Data were collected using two parallel, purpose-designed, mainly structured questionnaires. The bio-physiological and functional aspects of patient education were found to be dealt with most adequately, while experiential, ethical and financial issues received least attention. Personal discussions, written material and demonstration/practice, were the most commonly used educational methods, while videos and PCs were seldom used. Patients’ knowledge about their care was quite sufficient, but in matters concerning unwanted effects of treatment and potential problems it was inadequate. According to nurses’ self-assessments, their educational skills were best in the area of mastering the content and poorest in that of using different educational methods.The results indicated that both the content and methods of orthopaedic patient education should be developed.