Love is what we need most.
Older people are subjected to increased amounts of stress and isolation as the losses that accompany old age occur. Love is a human need that is especially important for the elderly.
Aged↗
Biomedical subjects
R Davidhizar
Publications and source records attributed to R Davidhizar.
It can never be the way it was: helping elderly women adjust to change and loss.
This article was written to help nurses assist elderly women adjusting to change and loss. It describes dynamics that may be present, such as loneliness and powerlessness.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Educating the culturally diverse healthcare student.
Diversity among healthcare students is increasing as the population of the United States changes in composition. Preparation of the culturally diverse healthcare student presents a challenge for recruitment, education, and retention. The problems of education can be ameliorated by a thorough assessment of the culturally diverse student using the Giger and Davidhizar model. The student should be assessed for differences by considering six interrelated factors: communication, space, time, social organization, environmental control, and biological variations. Understanding the differences that exist in these areas is a first step toward appreciating the diversity among people of varied cultures.
Attitude to Health↗
An innovative education strategy in a migrant farm community.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Agricultural Workers' Diseases↗
Using case studies to teach clinical problem-solving.
The case study method is a useful student-centered learning strategy that allows students to solve real-world problems in the safe environment of the classroom. The authors discuss the strengths and limitations of this method and strategies for developing and using case studies in the classroom.
Clinical Competence↗
Self-reported sexual behaviors of schizophrenic clients and noninstitutionalized adults.
In this descriptive study the authors compare self-reported sexual behaviors of a group of hospitalized psychiatric clients with a group of noninstitutionalized adults. An interview method was used to obtain information about interest in sex, frequency of intercourse, and sexual satisfaction. Control group members and clients reported about the same interest in sex, frequency of intercourse, and satisfaction in their younger years. In their current lives, however, clients reported slightly less sexual feeling and a much lower frequency of intercourse. Nearly half of the clients were not having intercourse, with the majority of those attributing the reason as hospitalization. Concerns about normalizing the institutional environment for sexual expression for chronically mentally ill persons are discussed.
Adult↗
Referencing in transcultural nursing: an ethical analysis.
The increasing emphasis placed on transcultural care among clinicians and educators, coupled with the lack of original research in this field, has led to a number of articles in journals and books that are poorly researched and referenced. Authors have a responsibility to critically review primary sources rather than rely on secondary sources that can be erroneous. Having established a unique contribution to the transcultural literature, nurse authors and educators have a responsibility to maintain high professional and ethical standards when disseminating information to readers.
Bibliographies as Topic↗
Management of the patient with minor traumatic brain injury.
Staff in the accident and emergency department and critical care unit are often confronted with patients who have sustained life-threatening injuries. In such situations the symptoms of a minor traumatic brain injury (MTBI) may be missed. It is important that, when the physical symptoms begin to subside, nurses are aware of the symptoms of MTBI and respond accordingly. A post-concussion syndrome may develop 2 weeks to 2 months after a MTBI. This syndrome can affect the patient's ability to perform the usual activities of living. This article defines MTBI, describes the symptoms encountered in patients with MTBI, and outlines the pathophysiology, clinical findings, treatment and nursing interventions.
Activities of Daily Living↗
Euthanasia: a pragmatic view.
There will never be a simple resolution of the euthanasia debate, and perhaps there should not be. However, any policy in a pluralistic society should be based on the wishes of the individual so long as those wishes do not adversely affect others. Perhaps, as in the Netherlands, euthanasia needs to be decriminalised without being made legal, in a similar way to the decriminalisation of soft drugs such as marijuana (interestingly, the Dutch laws on drugs have also been held up as a possible standard for the USA as drug use in the Netherlands is much less problematic than in the USA (36). Individuals should be able to make difficult decisions regarding their own lives and healthcare workers should have the freedom, without fear of prosecution, to allow people in their care to pursue those options with dignity. This article has supported the proponent view of euthanasia--that it can be beneficial as it affirms individual autonomy. Compassionate carers must consider all the arguments in order to determine their own personal stand on the issue.
Attitude to Death↗
Surgeon--assistant communication.
Although conflict is often viewed negatively, in reality, patient care can be enhanced by a combination of conflict and collaborative techniques. Strategic timing, along with an appropriate location for the interaction, is important in resolving a disagreement. A defensive approach will only cause an interaction to escalate--use a calm, objective approach instead.
Anger↗
The educational role of the surgical nurse with the multicultural patient and family.
The role of the surgical nurse has expanded to include a more significant role in patient education. Many crosscultural differences exist among patients. Nurses must assess for those differences that will affect educational needs and strategies. Communication elements, touching, personal space requirements, time orientation, and compliance all vary within cultural groups.
Communication↗
Managing a multicultural radiology staff.
Opportunities for minorities in healthcare increased with the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. More recently, funds from the U.S. Public Health Service have been targeted toward disadvantaged minorities. The workforce in healthcare, and in business in general, has become increasingly multicultural. Much of the literature in healthcare management lacks practical guidelines for managing a diverse workforce. Communication, both verbal and nonverbal, and culture are closely intertwined. Managers, as they develop multicultural teams, will need to understand how culture influences communication in their organizations. Space, spatial behavior, and cultural attitudes influence people's behavior. This is a particularly important consideration for a radiology staff, which must often work in close quarters. For some cultural groups, the family as an organization has more significance than even personal, work-related or national causes. People's orientation to time, whether for the past, present or future, is usually related to the culture in which they grew up. Again, this may become an important issue for a radiology administrator whose organization must run punctually and time-efficiently. How patients feel about their environment, whether they believe they are in control or believe in an external locus of control, is of particular interest to those who attempt therapeutic changes in a patient's healthcare. Does the patient believe that illness is divine will or that suffering is intrinsic to the human condition? There is increasing research in the United States to show that people do differ biologically according to race. Such differences exist among patients as well as among staff members. It has been popular to assume that differences among races do not exist. Unfortunately such an attitude does not allow for different attributes and responses of individuals. Managing a multicultural staff presents a challenge to administrators who must be skilled in working with culturally diverse people and must help their staff members do the same.
Cultural Diversity↗
Should technologists tell everything they know?
Students and staff technologists used to be taught to give no information to patients, an easy stance but hardly justifiable. Today's technologists are professional practicing in advanced settings; today's patients want and often demand information. How do we ensure that the pendulum of providing healthcare information does not swing from telling patients nothing to telling patients everything? Only recently have patient-care texts begun to recognize this as a dilemma, with the unanswered question remaining: how much do we tell them when they ask? The desire to look like an expert may lead technologists, particularly those who are newly graduated and enthusiastic, into providing information to a patient before evaluating its appropriateness. Technologists working with anxious or worried patients may also give out information to ease both their own and the patient's feelings of anxiety. Many patients are really looking for reasonable reassurance about their tests and illness, not detailed information. There are three types of technologists: the revealer, the hider and the expert. The latter has learned to evaluate information for its appropriateness for patients to hear and their ability to receive it. As part of the ongoing learning process, technologists need to consider how to evaluate a patient's motive for asking a question, to decide the answer's effect on the patient, determining who is the most appropriate person to answer the question, and finally, judging how much information is best for the patient to hear. For the most apprehensive patient, distraction may be a useful technique.
Anxiety↗
Rumors and gossip in radiology.
Rumors and gossip have long been popular topics in literature. Social scientists have even studied the topic and defined four main types of rumor: wish rumors; fear or bogey rumors; wedge-driving or aggressive rumors; and anticipatory rumors. In general, people believe rumor and gossip are synonymous. Rumormongering--the spreading of rumors--occurs among all cultures and types of people. Both men and women gossip and women's gossip is not more vindicative than men's, as is often thought. With such new means of communication as the Internet, transmitting rumor is possible beyond the traditional oral and written forms. Rumor is spread in both the higher and lower levels of an organization. Typically, disproving a rumor is more difficult than proving a rumor. The financial impact of a rumor must be considered also. If people believe, for example, that a radiology department does not have its act together or offers poor customer service, the department may lose revenue because people have lost confidence in it. Originally, the word gossip had positive implications. It referred to a family friend or the woman who delivered a child and announced the event to the community. Because well-intentioned gossip often turns into a damaging story, various approaches for stopping rumors have been identified. They include analyzing the grapevine, identifying the habitual spreaders of rumor and keeping employees informed. In most cases, a person of authority who provides facts can stop or at least slow down rumors spreading at the employee level.
Communication↗
How to write your workable solution to a hospital problem--writing for publication.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Administrative Personnel↗
Rates of absence among nurses.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Absenteeism↗