Diagnostic ultrasound--the view from Down Under.

This paper was presented at the Dallas meeting of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, November 1, 1977.     

The social construction of nursing.

The struggle that nursing has experienced to gain just status and financial reward can be explained, at least in part, by examining dominant ideologies in Australian society today. For example, such ideologies devalue caring in various ways, and since caring is a basic tenet of nursing, these ideologies ultimately devalue nursing itself. This paper explores the way in which the image and role of nursing has been socially constructed in light of such hegemonic assumptions.     

Under pressure: pulmonary arterial hypertension . . . A mother's struggle

Nursing grand rounds is a way for staff nurses to present an interesting case through evidence-based practice. Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension is an incurable syndrome that can devastate a patient. This article describes a patient's experience with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension and outlines the pathophysiology, treatment, psychosocial issues, and nursing implications that were presented in a nursing grand rounds presentation at a hospital.     

Under the radar: contributions of the SUPPORT nurses.

SUPPORT (The Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatment) failed to produce changes in 5 quantitative outcome measures of care received by nearly 10,000 seriously ill patients in major teaching hospitals. This article reports a content analysis of documents produced during the SUPPORT study by the 17 nurses who delivered the intervention. "Effective communication" emerged as the central category, with "educational support" and "emotional support" as subcategories. "Readiness" of patients and families to accept prognoses, engage in decision making, and the like also arose from this analysis as an important concept. The investigation suggests that the SUPPORT intervention did have an important impact, albeit not one captured by the main effects analysis.     

Injuries from construction falls. Functional limitations and return to work.

Finding a measure that distinguishes well between the severity levels of less serious injuries such as those found in occupational settings has been problematic. In this study of 255 construction workers who sustained nonfatal falls at work, two measures of injury severity were used--the Injury Severity Score (ISS) and the disability index of the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), a functional limitation measure. The HAQ scores were more normally distributed than the ISS and provided useful information about the degree to which workers were disabled from falls during their first week of recovery. The mean HAQ score was 1.46 (SD = 0.75) on a scale of 0 to 3, with higher numbers representing more limited functioning. With regard to individual tasks, participants reported having the most difficulty performing heavy chores (mean = 1.89; SD = 1.02), dressing themselves (mean = 1.54; SD = 1.05), and bending to pick up clothing from the floor (mean = 1.40; SD = 1.02). The HAQ scores were significantly and moderately correlated with days lost from work (r = .52; p < .001). Unexpectedly, 97 workers reported that they were able to return to light or modified duty following their falls.