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Biomedical subjects

A van Niekerk

Publications and source records attributed to A van Niekerk.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Evaluation of Allen's test in both arms and arteries of left and right-handed people.

The Allen's test as described in 1929 by Edgar V. Allen has been modified, adapted and complemented by other newer modalities but remains a first line standard test to evaluate the arterial supply of the hand. In this study an attempt has been made to add more information regarding the arterial supply of the hand, in left- and right-handed individuals, left and right hands and the ulnar and radial arteries, when doing the Allen's test. A modified Allen's test using an oxygen saturation monitor was used. The sample group consisted of 80 (30 left-handed and 50 right-handed) students. No significant differences between the Allen's test of the left and right hands in the left and right-handed individuals were found. There was a marginal but not significant difference between the two arteries. The ulnar artery took slightly longer to reach baseline values as compared to the radial artery. The results suggest that a positive Allen's test can be found in both left and right-handed people, with regard to the left and right hands and both radial and ulnar arteries may be implicated. This information should be kept in mind when selecting either the radial or ulnar artery for grafting purposes (e.g. coronary angiosurgery) and forearm artery cannulation.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Childhood unintentional injuries: the perceived impact of the environment, lack of supervision and child characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Investigations into the context and causation of injury, including injury risks, are an essential part of the injury prevention knowledge base. Caregiver perceptions of childhood injury risks may assist in the design of safety interventions and influence the way in which an intervention is received within a community. METHODS: Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted in two low-income neighbourhoods in South Africa to collect information on caregiver perceptions of injury risks. The data were analysed via thematic content analysis. RESULTS: The results revealed that injury risks are perceived as multifaceted and as contributing synergistically to an injury event. Parents of children also tended to attribute most risks to the environment instead of individual action. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions including passive strategies and less activity from the parent may be welcomed in communities. Attention should be given to child injury prevention methods specifically for low-income contexts.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed2005

The development of an instrument measuring unintentional injuries in young children in low-income settings to serve as an evaluation tool for a childhood home injury prevention program.

PROBLEM: Responding to the lack of standardized instrumentation, especially as applied in low-income contexts, the researchers decided that an instrument should be developed to serve as an evaluation tool for a childhood (unintentional) injury prevention program as well as a tool from which injury risks (poisonings, burns and falls) could be identified within households. METHODS: Cross-sectional samples of 521 households in four low-income sites in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa, participated in the three phases of the study. The generation of an item pool based on a table of specifications, subsequent scientific item reduction procedures, reviews from experts and pilot tests were used to develop the scales for measuring the injury risks. RESULTS: The developed instrument complies with all the requirements for a valid and reliable measurement instrument. CONCLUSION: The instrument allows valid comparison of risks between communities, as well as before and after comparisons for an intervention program. IMPACT: The provision of this instrument may bring enormous benefits to research studies. It can also provide proactive, rather than reactive, information about injury risks before they develop into injuries and thus allows focusing of safety efforts for improvement of problematic areas in the households.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed2000

Interpretations, perspectives and intentions in surrogate motherhood.

In this paper we examine the questions "What does it mean to be a surrogate mother?" and "What would be an appropriate perspective for a surrogate mother to have on her pregnancy?" In response to the objection that such contracts are alienating or dehumanising since they require women to suppress their evolving perspective on their pregnancies, liberal supporters of surrogate motherhood argue that the freedom to contract includes the freedom to enter a contract to bear a child for an infertile couple. After entering the contract the surrogate may not be free to interpret her pregnancy as that of a non-surrogate mother, but there is more than one appropriate way of interpreting one's pregnancy. To restrict or ban surrogacy contracts would be to prohibit women from making other particular interpretations of their pregnancies they may wish to make, requiring them to live up to a culturally constituted image of ideal motherhood. We examine three interpretations of a "surrogate pregnancy" that are implicit in the views and arguments put forward by ethicists, surrogacy agencies, and surrogate mothers themselves. We hope to show that our concern in this regard goes beyond the view that surrogacy contracts deny or suppress the natural, instinctive or conventional interpretation of pregnancy.

Adoption↗
PubMed1996

A formative model for student nurse development and evaluation--Part 1--Developing the model.

Preparing student nurses for the profession is a complex task for nurse educators; especially when dealing with the development of personal and interpersonal skills, qualities and values held in high esteem by the nursing profession and the community they serve. These researchers developed a model for formative evaluation of students by using the principles of inductive and deductive reasoning. This model was implemented in clinical practice situations and evaluated for its usefulness. It seems that the model enhanced the standards of nursing care because it had a positive effect on the behavior of students and they were better motivated; the model also improved interpersonal relationships and communication between practising nurses and students. The fact that students repeatedly use the model as a norm for self evaluation ensures that they are constantly reminded of the standards required of a professional nurse.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1995

The ethics of surrogacy: women's reproductive labour.

The aim of this article is to establish whether there is anything intrinsically immoral about surrogacy arrangements from the perspective of the surrogate mother herself. Specific attention is paid to the claim that surrogacy is similar to prostitution in that it reduces women's reproductive labour to a form of alienated and/or dehumanized labour.

Contracts↗
PubMed1995

Commercial surrogacy and the commodification of children: an ethical perspective.

The aim of this article is to establish whether there is anything intrinsically immoral about surrogacy arrangements from the perspective of the children born from such arrangements. We focus on the claim that surrogacy entails the wrongful commodification or transfer of children, thereby degrading them and disrespecting their inherent moral value as individual human beings.

Bioethics↗