Biomedical subjects

Camille Cronin

Publications and source records attributed to Camille Cronin.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Why does A&E attract newly qualified registered nurses?

Workforce planning is a particular buzzword that nurse managers must grapple with and now must understand. They must develop strategies to ensure the life and growth of a department while incorporating numerous government targets to ensure the service reaches quality, achieves and meets predetermined goals. To do all this that manager needs a workforce. The recruitment of nursing staff to a specialist area such as Accident & Emergency (A&E) requires a level of creativity and sustained effort. Newly qualified registered nurse working in A&E have, in the past, been considered to be an unusual group of staff to apply to work in A&E. However, many health service managers receive applications from staff in this category and are often encouraged to recruit newly qualified registered nurse's rather than pay for agency workers. Using a qualitative approach this paper explores the key reasons why newly qualified registered nurses choose to work in an Accident & Emergency environment. Data was collected from a sample of 25 newly qualified registered nurses and analysed thematically. Five themes are presented: challenge, teamwork, diversity, support, and learning. These themes have implications for Accident and Emergency units and human resource and workforce planning departments.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

First-time mothers - identifying their needs, perceptions and experiences.

The aim of this research was to identify needs, perceptions and experiences of first-time mothers in the postnatal period. Data were collected through focus groups and in-depth interviews from a sample of 13 women, 61% were aged 20 years or less, from an urban city area in Southern Ireland. Through content analysis, key themes were identified relating to birth and hospitalization, support, motherhood and psychological issues. Attendance at antenatal classes was variable and perceptions of being unprepared for birth and motherhood prevailed. Participants appeared shocked at the amount of pain experienced during birth and had little rest during hospitalization. They received physical and emotional support and preparation for childcare from midwives. Breastfeeding, while promoted, by midwives was not acceptable. The 'maternal mother' was key in providing direct childcare, advice and emotional help, support for attendance at school and 'time out' to socialize. Support was reciprocal if the maternal mother had young children. Professional support by public health nurses was well-established. However, emphasis was perceived to be on 'baby's development'. Maternal depression, loneliness, living in homes with limited space and difficulty in 'letting go' of baby care to return to school or work were reported. Implications for antenatal preparation, national policies, motherhood, and the need for further research are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2002

The relationship of bone density and fracture to incident and progressive radiographic osteoarthritis of the knee: the Chingford Study.

OBJECTIVE: Investigators performing cross-sectional studies have reported small increases in bone mineral density (BMD) in subjects with osteoarthritis (OA). This study was undertaken to examine the association of bone mass with incident and progressive disease and to determine whether prior fractures influence the development of OA. METHODS: Eight hundred thirty women had repeat knee radiographs 48 months from baseline. All radiographs were graded on the presence or absence of osteophytes and joint space narrowing (JSN). Incident knee OA was defined as new disease in the 715 women without knee OA at baseline. Progression was a change of at least one grade in the 115 women with baseline knee OA. All women underwent bone densitometry of the lumbar spine and hip. Rates of subsequent incident OA were compared between fracture groups. RESULTS: The 95 women with incident knee osteophytes had significantly higher baseline spine BMD (1.01 gm/cm2 versus 0.95 gm/cm2, or 6.3%; P = 0.002) and significantly higher hip BMD (0.79 gm/cm2 versus 0.76 gm/cm2, or 3.9%; P = 0.02) than those without incident disease. For the 33 women whose osteophytes progressed, no difference was seen compared with nonprogressors in spine BMD, but hip BMD was modestly reduced (-2.5%). The 81 women who had incident JSN had nonsignificantly higher baseline spine BMD (3.0%), while no difference was seen for the 30 women whose JSN had progressed. For hip BMD, a nonsignificant increase was seen in those with incident JSN (1.3%), and a nonsignificant reduction was seen in those whose JSN progressed (-2.7%). One hundred forty-five women sustained peripheral fractures, mainly in the distal forearm (27.6%) and vertebrae (28.3%). Women with a peripheral fracture had a reduced risk of subsequently developing incident knee OA (odds ratio [OR] 0.30, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.11-0.84). Although numbers were smaller, nonsignificant reductions in rates of incident OA were seen for those with distal forearm (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.11-1.49) and vertebral (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.07-1.61) fractures. CONCLUSION: These results confirm that for women who develop incident knee OA, defined by osteophytes, BMD is higher and of a magnitude similar to that shown in cross-sectional studies. Low BMD at the hip appears weakly related to progression. Women with previous fractures have less chance of developing OA, independent of BMD status. Although the mechanism for this action is unclear, these results suggest a possible common role of bone turnover and repair in the early manifestations of OA.

Bone Density↗