Biomedical subjects

Ella McLafferty

Publications and source records attributed to Ella McLafferty.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Do nurses promote urinary continence in hospitalized older people?: An exploratory study.

AIM: The aim of this paper is to explore whether nurses working in elderly medicine and in acute medical settings promote urinary continence in older people or in reality use containment strategies. BACKGROUND: Untreated urinary incontinence in older adults can result in prolonged hospital admission and increased risk of admission to long-term care. Urinary incontinence can also have severe psychosocial effects on older people. Most studies relating to this topic have relied on quantitative approaches to data collection with a seeming lack of qualitative investigation into how nursing staff promote urinary continence in hospitalized older people. METHOD: Focus groups and one-to-one semi-structured interviews were carried out in two NHS regions in Scotland. Registered and non-Registered Nurses were invited to participate. Five focus groups (n = 17) and four single interviews (n = 4) were conducted. Data generated were analysed thematically using QSR N-VIVO 2. FINDINGS: Some nurses believe that older people accept urinary incontinence as a consequence of ageing. Lack of assessment results in older people being labelled as incontinent of urine. Assessment strategies in medicine for the elderly tend to focus on product identification and management of incontinence. Although nurses from all clinical areas identify the importance of promoting continence, the problem continues to be contained rather than treated. Conflicting clinical priorities, varying staff approaches to urinary continence and deficits in education are cited among the barriers to promoting continence. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that nurses continue to contain urinary incontinence rather than promoting continence in older people. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nursing staff need to be aware of the impact of untreated urinary incontinence on older people. Practitioners should promote continence rather than employing containment strategies. A validated assessment tool for older people needs to be developed. Views of older people should be sought regarding their attitudes towards urinary incontinence.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2005

Graduate entrants into nursing - are we meeting their needs?

UNLABELLED: Changes to statutory requirements led to the need to redesign the current shortened programme for graduates (SPG) offered by the University of Dundee. A review of the literature revealed very little published material relating to this type of programme and that which did exist was predominantly American in origin. Prior to developing a new programme a study was carried out. The aim of the study was to explore the attitudes and opinions of non-nurse graduates currently undertaking the accelerated pre-registration programme of study offered by the University of Dundee. DESIGN: Purposive sampling was adopted and all students currently undertaking the programme were invited to participate. Data were collected using three focus group interviews with a minimum of five and a maximum of seven participants. All interviews were tape-recorded. The tapes were transcribed and data analysed using a content analysis approach. FINDINGS: Several important themes and sub-themes emerged from the interviews. These were consistent across all groups. The themes were: DISCUSSION: The data offered a rich insight into the attitudes and opinions of students undertaking the current SPG. The findings supported those of previous studies and have been used to inform curriculum development.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2005

A comparison of nurse teachers' and student nurses' attitudes toward hospitalised older adults.

Studies have demonstrated that gerontological content can have a positive effect on student nurses' attitudes toward older adults. However, few studies have attempted to investigate nurse teachers' attitudes toward older people. Yet authors acknowledge the importance of both clinical nurses and teachers in the socialisation process. The aim of this study is to compare the attitudes of student nurses with those of nurse teachers toward working with hospitalised older adults. A questionnaire was developed, piloted and refined until the final outcome was a 20 item questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to nurse teachers (n=59); first year student nurses who had completed their first term of theory (n=82); student nurses who had completed a theory and a clinical placement (n=80). Statistical analysis of the data included ANOVA with a post hoc comparison. Results indicated that nurse teachers were most positive for a number of items on the questionnaire. However, they were least positive about their role in promoting an interest in older people and keeping up to date about advances in the field of older people. It is the responsibility of both teachers and clinical staff to dispel stereotypes that student nurses bring in to nursing.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

An introduction to qualitative research concepts for nurses.

Qualitative methods are increasingly used to explain complex concepts within nursing practice. This paper defines qualitative research and offers practical advice for getting started and interpreting such research. Phenomenology, ethnography and grounded theory are explored briefly, with examples of research projects. Data collection and analysis are also discussed.

Anthropology, Cultural↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The physiological effects of ageing on the activities of living.

This article describes different theories of ageing. It examines the impact that physiological effects have on aspects of living for older people: eating and drinking, eliminating, mobilising, communicating and breathing.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Analysing qualitative research data using computer software.

An increasing number of clinical nurses are choosing to undertake qualitative research. A number of computer software packages are available designed for the management and analysis of qualitative data. However, while it is claimed that the use of these programs is also increasing, this claim is not supported by a search of recent publications. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using computer software packages to manage and analyse qualitative data.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗