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Biomedical subjects

G Elander

Publications and source records attributed to G Elander.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Professionals' perceptions of children's participation in decision making in healthcare.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors of importance for children's participation in medical and nursing care. A method close to the critical incident technique was used. A total of 92 stories told by staff and containing different levels of children's participation in decision making were analysed. The factors affecting children's participation in decision making were grouped into six categories: the child's protest, the child's age and maturity, the role of parents, attitudes of staff, the time factor and alternative solutions to the problem. This study shows that in certain cases children can affect their situation, bus also that violating actions are performed on children.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2001

A comparison of patient needs as ranked by patients and nurses.

A group of patients (n=69) were asked to arrange the three most important of 10 groups of needs, identified by patients in a previous study, in order of priority from one to three. A group of nurses (n=89) were asked to arrange same groups of needs in order of priority from one to three according to how they believed patients would rank them. No significant differences were found between patients cared for at medical and at surgical wards or between nurses working at different departments. However, differences were found between the rankings of patients and nurses.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Needs during hospitalization: definitions and descriptions made by patients.

Patients are supposed to be given care according to their needs. This concept is, however, difficult to define and patients and caregivers may have different opinions about a patient's needs. Twenty patients were interviewed and asked to give a definition of need, describe their needs while hospitalized and depict what they do to make sure their needs are fulfilled. Ten groups of needs were identified: communication, basic care, contact with other people, behaviour of staff, empathy, competent caregivers, continuity, integrity, participation in decision making, and pain relief. The descriptions patients gave of how they ensured their needs were met could be divided into two groups: openly seeking attention; or not wanting to disturb the staff. Interviews with patients emphasized the importance of recognizing that they have individual needs and varying abilities to see that their needs are fulfilled.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Pain and nutrition as experienced by patients with hip fracture.

The purpose of this study was to investigate patients' experiences of care in connection with hip fracture. The care process was examined through non-participant observation, informal field interviews and healthcare records. The findings showed that many factors in the healthcare services directly or indirectly influence patients' perceptions of the quality of care. Some of these factors may depend upon a varying knowledge and empathy, while others are due to a lack of agreed protocols/procedures. Patients' needs with respect to pain relief and nutrition are discussed.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Newborn infants' cry after heel-prick: analysis with sound spectrogram.

The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that a newborn infant's cry can be used in conjunction with an instrument to measure pain. Crying due to pain was analysed after a heel-prick stimulus. In a prospective, descriptive study, 50 healthy newborn infants were subjected to a heel-prick for phenylketonuria screening. Their cries of pain were recorded and analysed. Duration of the crying sound was analysed and, using a sound spectrogram, the fundamental frequency and the cry melody of the first five cry sounds were analysed. The analysis showed that the crying sound after the painful stimulus of the heel-prick had a significantly higher fundamental frequency and lasted longer at the first than at the fifth cry. The first cry had a more varied crying melody than the fifth. There were large differences between individual cries from a single infant, as well as in the duration of each cry, total crying time, and fundamental frequencies between infants. While the first cry was more like a cry of pain, the fifth cry more resembled crying for reasons other than pain. The results suggest that newborn infants react to pain in a recognizable way. However, other stimuli may cause a similar reaction. Crying can therefore be used to measure pain in newborn infants only when the cause of crying is known.

Blood Specimen Collection↗
PubMed1999

Patients' evaluation of pain and nurses' management of analgesics after surgery. The effect of a study day on the subject of pain for nurses working at the thorax surgery department.

The effect of a study day on the subject of pain for nurses working at the thorax surgery department The aims of this investigation were: to describe patients' evaluation of pain and the treatment of pain after thorax surgery via sternotomy; to repeat the evaluation with another group of patients following a study day for nurses, featuring pain and pain treatment; and to examine whether the study day influenced the nurses in their treatment of pain. The investigation included daily evaluation of pain using a visual analogue scale (VAS), and an interview with the patients before discharge, where they were asked to review their experience of pain and its treatment. The nurses on the thorax surgery ward and on the intensive care unit (ICU) completed a questionnaire before and after the study day. Finally, a retrospective study of the case notes of the patients taking part was carried out. The results of the investigation showed a low assessment of pain by most patients during the daily evaluation. Asked to recall their pain when interviewed, the rating was higher. A small group of patients had more evident pain than others. When administering opiates the ICU nurses often chose a lower dose than the standing order prescribed. After the study day the nurses gave larger doses of intravenous opioids and the patients experienced less pain.

Analgesics, Opioid↗
PubMed1999

The Swedish family: transition to parenthood.

Family interaction during pregnancy and the transition to parenthood creates the social environment in which the fetus becomes part of the family, family relationships and roles are reorganized, and the infant's temperament appears. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among family dynamics, parental-fetal attachment, and infant temperament across the transition to parenthood. A sample of 91 families in Helsingborg, Sweden completed the Family Dynamics Measure and the Maternal/Paternal Fetal Attachment Scale during the third trimester of pregnancy. When the infant was 8-9 months old, mothers (n = 62) and fathers (n = 54) again completed the Family Dynamics Measure. The mother completed the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire as well. Overall, we found small changes in family dynamics, with an increase in perceived role conflict and mutuality reported by mothers. Fathers reported greater fetal attachment than their partners. Greater paternal- and maternal fetal attachment was related to more positive family dynamics, and maternal-fetal attachment was positively related to infant mood at 8 months. The stability of family dynamics across the transition to parenthood is a sign that most families negotiate this transition without difficulty.

Demography↗
PubMed1997

Increased parental participation in a paediatric surgical day-care unit.

Day care is currently a common way of providing treatment for minor and average paediatric surgical procedures. The purpose of this study was to assess possible benefits of increasing parental involvement in the care of operated children in a day-care surgery unit. By giving parents information and education about post-operative care, the goal was to facilitate recovery and minimize time spent in hospital. Results show that parents in the intervention group were well prepared to assume a greater part of the care of their children. Children in the intervention group appeared to have less pain and fewer children vomited post-operatively than children in the control group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Placebo effect and randomized clinical trials.

The achievement of optimal therapeutic results presupposes the use of appropriate treatment combined with maximal utilization of placebo effects. These aims may sometimes be difficult to satisfy in randomized clinical trials (RCTs). The question thus arises whether there is a conflict between the goals of therapy and those of experimental research; and if so, to what extent, and how is it handled in practice by clinicians and researchers. Various ethical problems have been discussed in several reports connected with RCTs. But we have found no discussion concerning the conflict between obtaining informed consent and promoting optimal placebo effects. Information about RCTs can be given in various ways. Sometimes appropriate information about RCTs to patients involves non-optimal utilization of placebo effects. This gives rise to ethical and methodological problems, which are discussed in this article.

Conflict of Interest↗
PubMed1994

Parental participation in the care of hospitalized children.

The purpose of this study was to investigate those parts of the care of hospitalized children that their parents perform, the nursing tasks the parents themselves felt they could manage and whether parents' and staff members' opinions coincided. A questionnaire was given to parents of children between one week and five years of age who were hospitalized at a pediatric surgical department during a 6-week period (n = 40), a similar questionnaire being distributed to all the staff (n = 44). The results indicate that parents stay with their children during hospitalization and that they take responsibility for their children's basic care and needs. Parents and staff members believed that parents might be able to take on a greater share of caring activities if they were given instruction and support, though there was disagreement as to which nursing tasks are appropriate for parents to take on.

Child↗
PubMed1993

Ethical dilemmas in long-term care settings; interviews with nurses in Sweden and England.

With the aim of investigating ethical dilemmas arising in long-term care settings, nurses were interviewed at hospitals in southern Sweden and southern England. The interviews confirmed the occurrence of conflicts in caring for the elderly, and conflicts in the staff-patient-relative constellation. The content of the interviews was analysed with regard to prevailing principles of patient autonomy and the ranking order of preferences among those involved.

Conflict, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Analgesic administration in children and adults following open heart surgery.

In this study we investigated the administration of analgesics given to patients after open heart surgery (n = 100). The results show that children, especially infants, and elderly patients were given significantly fewer doses of analgesics during the five days after surgery than patients aged greater than 16-70 years. The pattern of pain relief also differed between children and adults, a peak in the number of doses of analgesics occurring on the first day after surgery among children and infants and on the second to third day among adults who continued to get higher numbers of doses than the children up to the fifth day.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Translation of an instrument. The US-Nordic Family Dynamics Nursing Research Project.

Translation of a research instrument questionnaire from English to another language is analyzed in relation to principles involved, procedures followed, and problems confronted by nurse researchers from the US-Nordic Family Dynamics Nursing Research Project. Of paramount importance in translation are translation equivalency, congruent value orientation, and careful use of colloquialisms. It is important to recognize that copyright guidelines apply in the translation of an instrument. Approaches to solving instrument translation problems are discussed.

Copyright↗
PubMed1991

Pain relief in infants after major surgery: a descriptive study.

Twenty subjects (nurses or parents) were interviewed concerning postoperative pain and pain relief in infants. Details of postoperative analgesics given were obtained from hospital records of 32 infants, aged 0 to 12 months, who had undergone major surgery, and routines for postoperative pain relief in infants were investigated at four Swedish hospitals where major surgery is performed on infants. Although both nurses and parents were found to be able to recognize postoperative pain reactions in infants, attitudes to pain relief were not uniform. In principle, postoperative pain relief is given "as required," although both dosage and intervals between doses are arbitrary.

Analgesics↗
PubMed1991

Ethical conflicts in placebo treatment.

In this paper the pros and cons of using placebo are discussed from the point of view of ethical theories and principles. The effects of placebo are exemplified by findings from previous studies, and an authentic case serves to illustrate ethical dilemmas arising both for the caregiver and the patient in conjunction with the use of placebo. Placebo treatment is discussed from deontological and utilitarianist points of view, and violation of the ethical principles, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, autonomy and truth-telling, are considered.

Aged↗