The patient in the middle--when perspectives differ.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A R Killen.
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A clinical judgement about a patient situation precedes the selection of appropriate nursing actions and the identification of patient outcomes. The North American Nursing Diagnosis Association nomenclature (i.e., nursing diagnoses) is the accepted language for naming nurse's clinical judgements. Two hundred thirty-nine members of the Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc, rated the frequency and treatment priority of 60 nursing diagnoses. They rated two diagnostic labels (i.e., risk for perioperative positioning injury, risk for infections occurring in more than 50% of the clinical judgments they make about perioperative patient situations that require immediate nursing action. These data reinforce perioperative nurses' primary role in protecting surgical patients from harm.
One of the many challenges that face perioperative nurses is articulating the moral dimensions of our practice. The stories of practicing clinical nurses are used to articulate caring and competence, two essential components of the perioperative nursing practice. Analysis of patient's stories is essential to validate and safeguard the moral integrity and economic future of the registered professional nurse in the operating room.
The purpose of this study was to identify the ethics and human rights issues encountered by Maryland perioperative nurses in their practice. The most frequently occurring issues, the most disturbing issues, and content for ethics education are identified. Implications for education, management, and future research are presented.
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The AIDS epidemic is now in its second decade and shows no sign of relenting. Unfortunately, however, the AORN study shows that perioperative nurses' knowledge regarding HIV and AIDS is not adequate to enable them to provide patient care while maintaining safe practices. Focused educational programs should be made available to perioperative nurses to help them apply universal precautions and OSHA standards to everyday practice. Perioperative nurses must become knowledgeable about the disease and sensitive to the needs of patients who have this illness. All nurses have a special obligation to care for all patients; education and management strategies that enable exploration of values, fears, and prejudices will help nurses understand their own beliefs and those of other individuals. Recommendations from this study may be viewed as a starting point for this perioperative education.
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This article describes a collaborative effort between specialty areas at a large urban medical center to develop a comprehensive liver transplant educational program. The historical overview, needs assessment, and program planning are discussed. The implementation, planning, and evaluation phases are examined. The process presented here can serve as a framework for clinical educators confronted with major new initiatives.
Persons with diabetes experience elevated risks of a variety of other illnesses-- including circulatory, visual, neurological, renal, and skin disorders--relative to their nondiabetic peers. Previous estimates of the economic burden of diabetes, however, have not taken full account of this related morbidity and mortality and have therefore understated the cost to the nation due to this disease. Accordingly, we estimated the economic costs of type II, or non-insulin-dependent, diabetes mellitus, reflecting its contribution to the total burden of disease in the United States. In 1986, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was responsible for $11.6 billion in health care expenditures, including $6.8 billion for diabetic care and $4.8 billion attributable to an excess prevalence of related (principally cardiovascular) conditions. The human toll of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus included 144,000 deaths -- about 6.8% of total US mortality -- and the total disability of 951,000 persons. The total economic burden of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in 1986, including health care expenditures and productivity forgone due to disability and premature mortality, was $19.8 billion.
The role of 123I-N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine (123I-IMP), a new agent used in brain imaging with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), has been assessed in the early diagnosis of acute infarctive stroke and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The diagnosis of these conditions in their early stages has remained problematic, principally due to limitations of existing technologies. To more formally assess this new technology, we estimated the sensitivity and specificity of 123I-IMP SPECT scanning in the diagnosis of stroke and AD. We based our assessment on a review of all published studies that reported on 123I-IMP SPECT scans and which included three or more patients. The results from three major studies indicate that 123I-IMP SPECT scanning has a higher sensitivity (92% to 100%) than computerized tomography (55% to 86%) in the early diagnosis of acute cerebral infarction. Preliminary findings from studies using 123I-IMP SPECT in the diagnosis of early AD are promising and show a sensitivity of at least 69%. Furthermore, 123I-IMP SPECT scanning clearly discriminates patients with advanced AD from normals: sensitivity has ranged from 50% to 100%, while specificity has ranged from 97% to 100%. Studies also suggest that it can discriminate AD patients from those with multi-infarct dementia. Our review indicates that 123I-IMP SPECT may have an important future role in the early diagnosis and management of patients with acute infarctive stroke and AD.
The last decade has seen the growth of liver transplantation as a recognized treatment modality for forms of end-stage hepatic disease. This innovative advancement in health care has challenged the critical care nurse to formulate nursing diagnoses to recognize actual problems, prevent potential problems, and manage this complex patient.