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Biomedical subjects

R Vuorinen

Publications and source records attributed to R Vuorinen.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Peer evaluation in nurses' professional development: a pilot study to investigate the issues.

Peer evaluation in nursing is a method by which the nurse evaluates the work of a peer, according to set evaluation criteria. The aim of the study was to clarify the potential significance of peer evaluation with regard to nurses' career development and relates to the introduction of a career development programme for nurses in a Finnish University Hospital. The research concepts were created on the basis of literature analysis. The concepts served as a basis for data collection, and five open-ended questions were devised from them. Informants (n = 24) gave free-form essay-type answers to these questions. The material was analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results indicate that self-evaluation constitutes the basis for peer evaluation. Peer evaluation allows nurses to give and receive professional and personal support promoting professional development. Professional support offers possibilities for change and alternative action. Personal support requires respect for the peer's equality and individuality. Personal peer support can decrease feelings of uncertainty and insecurity caused by work. The conclusion is drawn that peer evaluation is a means of promoting nurses' professional development to further on-the-job learning in collaboration with peers.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Arthrogryposis multiplex congenita: perinatal and electromyographic findings, disability, and psychosocial outcome.

Fifty-two patients with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita were followed up for 1 to 36 years. There were six twin pregnancies, and delivery was complicated by breech position in 16 cases. In 19 cases the cause was atrophy of the alpha motoneurons of the spinal cord, detected by electromyography. Six patients did not achieve walking ability. Severe disability for other reasons was noted in two patients who had bilateral rigid extension contractures of the elbows and in six patients whose spinal deformities interfered with the balance of the trunk. Treatment of flexion contractures of the hips and knees seemed to be important in case it promotes the walking ability. Spinal deformities interfering with the balance of the trunk should be treated operatively. Restoration of elbow flexion was the main goal in operative treatment of the upper extremities. The intelligence of the patients was slightly above normal. The psychological analysis revealed significant diverging features compared with average population in testing situation. Socially the patients seemed to cope well.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Dark adaptation and short-wavelength backgrounds decrease perceived size.

The effects of background luminance, contrast, and background wavelength on the perceived size of small line figures were studied at mesopic levels of light adaptation. Perceived size diminished at low levels of background luminance. The effect disappeared at high levels of luminance. Perceived size of luminous circles increased as a logarithmic function of background luminance when the background intensity did not exceed 25 td(1). The strength of the size effect decreased as a function of circle diameter from 0-125 to 2 deg of visual angle(2). Perceived size of small luminous circles, subtending less than 0-5 deg, also increased as a function of contrast at low values of contrast but at very high values of contrast there was a decrease in perceived size. Background luminance had the same effect on the perceived size of circles as on the perceived size of spatial cycles in gratings. Control experiments led to the conclusion that dark adaptation is the primary source of the size effects. The main evidence for this conclusion was obtained from a demonstration that the same background luminance produced either an increase or a decrease in perceived size, depending on the adaptational state of the eye. It was also found that a shift from cone vision to rod vision contributes to the effects, for a stimulus looked smaller on a short-wavelength background than on a long-wavelength background. The size effects can be predicted from the changes of receptive-field properties of single neurones under corresponding conditions of stimulation, if it is assumed that the perception of size is mediated by size-specific channels formed of single neurones. Stimulation that leads to an activation of small receptive fields appears to indicate to the brain the presence of small retinal images. If small receptive fields are experimentally made responsive to larger retinal images, an underestimation of size results.

Dark Adaptation↗