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Biomedical subjects

V A Aita

Publications and source records attributed to V A Aita.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Historical reflections on current preventive practice.

BACKGROUND: Preventive care in medicine and public health has evolved through historical stages. Recently, developments within the contemporary health care environment have pressured primary care physicians to deliver more preventive care, but little was known about the actual delivery of such services. The Direct Observation of Primary Care study investigated the delivery of preventive services. METHODS: In the study's qualitative portion, research nurses observed 138 family physicians in northeast Ohio, dictating observational fieldnotes. After transcription, the fieldnotes were content analyzed to identify patterns and themes. Further consideration led to a secondary historical analysis of ideas influencing medicine and public health. Fieldnotes were then re-analyzed from a historical perspective. RESULTS: The primary analysis showed variations among physician's philosophies and styles of practice that influenced the delivery of preventive services. The secondary analysis highlighted competing historical ideas that have shaped medicine and public health. The authors argue that contemporary physician's philosophies and styles of practice have parallels in the history of ideas informing medical and public health practice. CONCLUSIONS: The implications of these findings, particularly a lost appreciation of ideas that continue to be operational in practice, may be important if there is to be improvement in the delivery of preventive services.

Family Practice↗
PubMed2000

Science and compassion: vacillation in nursing ideas 1940s-1960.

The author's thesis is that during the mid-20th century, an intellectual shift toward scientific notions of care challenged the nursing profession's oldest practice values grounded in religious ideas of suffering and compassion. The author uncovers the vacillation between the expression of dominant scientific and rival compassionate ideas in the published and unpublished nursing literature of the 1950s. The evidence is first placed in a historical context of 20th century nursing history, explaining why the profession emphasized scientific approaches to care following World War II. The evidence is then placed into two larger contexts: (a) that of the greater body of scientific and humanistic writing during the period showing concern about the applications of science and technology and its moral implications, and (b) the context of early to mid-20th century notions of "positivism," highlighting the relationship between empirical knowledge and moral ideas that orient human actions. The article concludes with an analysis of implications for nursing practice.

Empathy↗
PubMed1998

Primary care practice organization and preventive services delivery: a qualitative analysis.

BACKGROUND: Rapid developments within the health care environment have led to increased pressures for change among primary care physicians and their practices. Nevertheless, a lack of understanding of practice organization and function has limited the effectiveness of attempts to change practice behaviors. Recent attempts to increase the delivery of preventive health care services illustrate the limitations of current approaches. To assist physicians in their attempts at change, our study looked at the office as a whole system and at the competing demands within the primary care setting. METHODS: Qualitative fieldnotes were recorded by research nurses who observed 138 family physicians in 84 practices in northeast Ohio for 4 days each. These data were content-analyzed to identify features that are important for understanding how practices are organized. RESULTS: These data indicate that primary care practice is much more complex than research and transformation efforts generally acknowledge. The data identified a diverse set of features that describe how primary care practices are organized and function. These included cognitive and behavioral components of physician philosophy and style, and numerous features of the practice organization, such as office efficiency, clarity of staff roles, communication patterns among physicians and staff, and approaches to using office protocols. The data also suggest that some practices are more innovative than others and that some physicians or staff have special motivations that can support or inhibit a particular change. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians who want to change their practice, as well as those persons who want to stimulate change from the outside, need to have a more comprehensive approach than is now commonly used to assess practices that encompass a broad spectrum of variables.

Continuity of Patient Care↗
PubMed1994

New York State, the leader in nurse registration: 1898-1908.

This historical paper traces the development and implementation of New York state's nurse registration law from 1898 until 1908. It recounts the disorganization, conflict, and division within the nursing community during its early years of professionalization and the work that Lavinia Dock, Sophia Palmer, and others did to organize the nursing profession. Dock and Palmer, working through the Society of Superintendents of Training Schools, as well as Ethel Gordon Fenwick, who founded the International Council of Nurses, stimulated the development of state nursing associations within the U.S. Immediately after its organization, the New York State Nurses Association undertook the legislative process that led to what was considered a model registration law. The paper traces the political process that New York's nursing leaders pursued to develop the legislation, and the educational and practice reforms that evolved from their efforts.

Education, Nursing↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The art of nursing.

The author presents a framework for artistic nursing practice that fits within the nursing process and balances scientific principles with artistic concepts. The framework can be used by nurse educators to help them teach the qualitative aspects of nursing care. In addition, artistic concepts which relate to the nursing process, including vision, composition, theme, perspective, congruency, line, color, tone, style, technique, and intensity are discussed.

Art↗