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Biomedical subjects

C S Alexander

Publications and source records attributed to C S Alexander.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Maternal employment and use of pediatric clinic services.

This article explores the relative importance of maternal employment as a determinant of pediatric care utilization using data from a 6-month longitudinal study of pediatric clinic use. This study sample (N = 167) was taken from a population of users of a pediatric ambulatory care clinic of a large urban hospital. The clinic served an inner city with a predominantly low-income, working-class population. Independent variables come from personal interviews conducted with the mothers of the preschoolers and from a 4-week health diary. Data on episodic illness care use were obtained from the children's medical records. Results indicate that children of working mothers made fewer visits to the clinic than children of housewives. Somewhat different factors were associated with clinic use for children with employed mothers as compared with children with nonemployed mothers. Findings from multivariate analyses suggested that mother's employment influenced utilization through its relationship with social support and daily stress. Work outside of the home was associated with greater social support as well as greater daily stress. Both social support and stress predicted utilization. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Evaluating primary nursing in hospitals: examination of effects on nursing staff.

Despite widespread support in the nursing literature for the adoption of primary nursing as the optimal method of organizing hospital nursing care, little empirical evidence exists as to its effects on patients or nursing staff. This study compares units that have employed primary nursing for at least five months (N = 31) with nonprimary units (N = 20) in two large university-affiliated hospitals. Comparisons are made with respect to structural attributes of nursing units, nurses' perceptions of their jobs and units, and three outcomes: nurses' job satisfaction, absenteeism rates and resignation rates for the units. No significant differences are found between primary and nonprimary nursing with respect to measures of job satisfaction. Primary units at one hospital exhibit lower resignation and absenteeism rates than do nonprimary units. The adoption of primary nursing is discussed in light of these findings.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed1981

Determinants of hospital staff nurse turnover.

Organizational and nonorganizational determinants of staff nurse turnover are investigated in a panel study of 1,259 nurses employed in two university-affiliated hospitals. Findings are consistent with a causal chain in which perceived autonomy, job satisfaction, intent to leave the hospital and turnover are a sequence of outcomes reflecting the successive stages of a nurse's decision to resign. Both personal characteristics and job-related attributes are predictive at various stages of the process, although family status variables have no significant effects. Implications for hospital management of turnover are discussed.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1981

Evaluating reasons for nursing turnover: comparison of exit interview and panel data.

Data from a study of nursing turnover are used to compare findings based on two techniques for evaluating the reasons for resignations within the same population of hospital nurses during one year. The techniques are: (1) exit interviews, in which resigning nurses were asked to report in an open-ended format their major reasons for leaving their jobs; and (2) a prospective panel study, in which nurses who resigned are compared with nurses who remained, and actual turnover is predicted. Results show that due to the absence of a comparison group of remaining nurses and of baseline data, causal inferences based on exit interview data alone are overly simplistic and misleading for management purposes. Results of the panel study are more informative, although implications for hospital management are more complex. Use of the prospective panel design is recommended for hospitals concerned with evaluating nursing job conditions during a period of high turnover and staff nurse shortages.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗
PubMed1980

Job satisfaction among hospital nurses: a longitudinal study.

Data from a two-wave panel study of staff nurses in two hospitals are used to assess the relative importance of several types of independent variables as determinants of job satisfaction. Both organizational and nonorganizational determinants are examined, with the formed including both perceptual and structural measures. Job satisfaction is measured in two ways using both Overall and Multi-Facet indicators. The independent variables were measured five months before the dependent variables were measured in order to attenuate contamination problems. Findings indicate that perceptions of job and nursing unit attributes, particularly autonomy and task delegation, predict satisfaction most strongly. In addition, a nurse's own characteristics are found to be more important than either structural attributes of nursing units or job characteristics in predicting job satisfaction.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Cardiac amyloidosis in hereditary neuropathic amyloidosis diagnosed by endomyocardial biopsy.

A 57 year old male first developed progressive neuropathy of the lower extremities and then similar involvement in the upper extremities. Two years later he developed dyspnea and then complete atrioventricular block requiring the use of a permanent cardiac pacemaker. An older brother had an almost identical clinical course, including the installation of a permanent pacemaker. Both died of left ventricular failure. An endomyocardial biopsy revealed extensive amyloidosis and fibrosis of the myocardium. This is the first report of a myocardial biopsy showing amyloid on electron microscopy.

Amyloidosis↗
PubMed1976

Ethanol metabolism by the rat heart and alcohol dehydrogenase activity.

Rat hearts perfused with oxygenated buffer containing [1-14C]ethanol metabolized small amounts of the ethanol to carbon dioxide. Very sensitive techniques are required to separate the resulting 14CO2 from the ethanol. This metabolism is not inhibited by levels of pyrazole which markedly inhibit NAD dependent liver alcohol dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.1). In vitro studies suggest that NADP functions as a cofactor for the rat heart alcohol dehydrogenase activity of crude heart homogenates. The kinetics parameters, the specific activity, and the pH dependence of the enzyme activity measured in these experiments suggest that it may have a minor role in ethanol metabolism by the rat.

Acetaldehyde↗