Biomedical subjects

Helga Jonsdottir

Publications and source records attributed to Helga Jonsdottir.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Prevalence study of primary dystonia in Iceland.

In Iceland, the crude prevalence for all types of primary dystonia was 37.1/10(5) (confidence interval, 30.4-44.9). Focal dystonia had the highest prevalence (31.2/10(5)), followed by segmental (3.1/10(5)), multifocal (2.4/10(5)) and generalized dystonia (0.3/10(5)). Cervical dystonia was the most common focal dystonia (11.5/10(5)), followed by limb dystonia (8.0/10(5)), laryngeal dystonia (5.9/10(5)), blepharospasm (3.1/10(5)), and oromandibular dystonia (2.8/10(5)). The male:female ratio for all patients was 1:1.9 (P=0.0007), and females outnumbered males in all subtypes except oromandibular dystonia. Mean age of onset for all patients was 42.7 years (range, 3-82 years). This prevalence of primary dystonia is higher than in most reported studies, possibly because of more complete ascertainment but the relative frequencies of dystonia subtypes is similar.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Technological dependency--the experience of using home ventilators and long-term oxygen therapy: patients' and families' perspective.

Technological dependency is defined as a short or long-term reliance on machines and techniques to evaluate, satisfy or resolve health problems. In nursing technological dependency has been explored in the context of caring. Hitherto it has been maintained that technology and caring are contradictory, but a more prominent view is that technology and caring can and must be reconciled to provide high-quality care. This study describes patients' and families' experience of long-term home treatment with noninvasive ventilation during sleep with or without additional oxygen therapy. Considering the potential burden of undergoing this treatment the research question is: What is patients' and families' experience of being dependent on technical breathing assistance during sleep? The methodological approach draws from interpretive phenomenology and narrative analysis. Participants were six patients aged 45-70, five spouses and one daughter. Data, generated through two 1-hour semi-structured interviews with each pair of participants, were analysed into themes. Results are presented by the following narratives: (i) mixed blessing: life-saving treatment - meaningless exertion; (ii) compassion and understanding central amid use of complex machines; (iii) listening to the body; (iv) wanting to be seen as healthy; (v) dominance of technological thinking; and (vi) sustained work in maintaining the treatment. It is concluded that being dependent on technical breathing assistance during sleep, with or without oxygen, was a major life event for participants. The treatment was experienced as constraining and intrusive, particularly at the beginning, but concurrently it dramatically relieved difficulties for most participants. Regardless of its usefulness it provoked questions on purpose, indicating that the way to implement the treatment is crucial. Professionals need to pay close attention to how they introduce noninvasive ventilation technique, putting caring concern and respect for unique needs of patients and their families at the forefront.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2004

The gene encoding 5-lipoxygenase activating protein confers risk of myocardial infarction and stroke.

We mapped a gene predisposing to myocardial infarction to a locus on chromosome 13q12-13. A four-marker single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) haplotype in this locus spanning the gene ALOX5AP encoding 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP) is associated with a two times greater risk of myocardial infarction in Iceland. This haplotype also confers almost two times greater risk of stroke. Another ALOX5AP haplotype is associated with myocardial infarction in individuals from the UK. Stimulated neutrophils from individuals with myocardial infarction produce more leukotriene B4, a key product in the 5-lipoxygenase pathway, than do neutrophils from controls, and this difference is largely attributed to cells from males who carry the at-risk haplotype. We conclude that variants of ALOX5AP are involved in the pathogenesis of both myocardial infarction and stroke by increasing leukotriene production and inflammation in the arterial wall.

5-Lipoxygenase-Activating Proteins↗

PubMed2004

The relational core of nursing practice as partnership.

BACKGROUND: Consideration of the relational core of nursing has gained significance in today's health systems, where the work of nurses is dominated by technologically-driven, prescriptive, and outcome-oriented approaches. This has led to disregard for individual experiences of living life with diverse health conditions. AIM: The aim of this paper is to articulate the relational core of nursing practice as partnership. DISCUSSION: The relational core of nursing practice is explicated as a process of professional partnership, focusing on the evolving dialogue between nurse and patient. In partnership, the dialogue is open, caring, mutually responsive and non-directive. The nurse attends to that which is of concern to patients in relation to their health predicaments and the meaning in the health experience unfolds. Nurse and patient reach insight that represents more useful ways of comprehending and acting on their health predicaments. CONCLUSIONS: Partnership represents theoretically-driven practice that invites nurses to meet patients where they are in understanding their health predicaments and what can be done about them. As such, partnership strengthens the resolve of nurses to resist the pressures of contemporary health service delivery to provide a technical form of practice and it protects the relational core of a fully professional practice.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed2004

Multicomponent individualized smoking cessation intervention for patients with lung disease.

AIMS: This paper reports a study examining the process and outcomes of a long-term, multicomponent smoking cessation intervention for patients with lung disease initiated while hospitalized and provided over 1-year postdischarge. BACKGROUND: Successful smoking cessation interventions are of primary importance for people with lung disease. Initiation of such an intervention in hospital settings is particularly important as patients may be especially motivated to quit as a result of strong perceptions of vulnerability while hospitalized for a smoking-related disease. Tailoring the intervention to each person's needs is a promising approach to practice. METHODS: All patients who smoked and were admitted to a pulmonary unit over 2 years were invited to participate in this quasi-experimental study (n = 85), and 69 continued beyond the first month. The intervention was shaped by the TransTheoretical Model and used nicotine replacement therapy, along with individual and group counselling and support grounded in the nurse-patient relationship. The intervention was provided during hospitalization and by telephone after discharge at 1 week, and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. RESULTS: At 12-months postdischarge, 39% of the patients reported continuous abstinence from smoking from the time they joined the programme and 52% were not smoking at that time. No relationship was found between abstinence and the number of quit attempts, readiness to quit, nicotine dependency and length of hospital stay. Readiness to quit had increased and nicotine dependency decreased significantly by the end of the programme. No gender differences were found for the main variables. CONCLUSIONS: Comprehensive, individualized smoking cessation interventions for hospitalized patients having lung disease, with a 1-year follow-up, was successful. Abstinence was high in comparison with other studies. This may in part be explained by significantly enhanced motivation to quit during the smoking cessation programme.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Partnership in practice.

Modern health care has increasingly focused on prescriptive, outcomes-oriented, and cost-effective practices concomitantly obscuring the humanness of the health experience. A reconsideration of partnership between nurse and client as the core of the discipline might call nurses back to what is essential to nursing: a caring relationship centered on that which is meaningful as health. This article points to the significance of the relational nature of partnership, differentiating its features and form from the prevalent understanding associated with prescriptive interventions to achieve predetermined goals and outcomes. The meaning of partnership is presented as nursing practice as it unfolds: a process of nurse and client relationship through which the caring presence of the nurse becomes integral to the health experience of the client as the potential for action. Exemplars provide illustration of this emerging view in practice and research. The article is intended to contribute to the expanding dialogue on nursing practice, inviting discussion of the relevance of partnership in different health systems.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Familial predisposition and cosegregation analysis of adult obstructive sleep apnea and the sudden infant death syndrome.

Previous studies suggest a familial link between adult obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). However, most of these studies were hampered by the availability of too few cases of SIDS to draw conclusions. To examine the familial nature of this association in Iceland, hospital-based lists of all patients who were diagnosed with OSAS (n = 2,350) and SIDS (n = 58) from 1979 to 1998 were used to separately determine the familial occurrence of OSAS and SIDS and to search for evidence of cosegregation of these conditions in Icelandic families, using a nationwide genealogy database. The risk ratio for a first-degree relative of a patient with OSAS was 2.0 (1.7-2.8, 95% confidence interval). The risk ratio of the more severely affected patients with OSAS was slightly higher (2.3). Likewise, the kinship coefficient (KC) for the OSAS patient group, which determines the relatedness of the patients, was significantly larger than the mean KC of 1,000 matched control groups. Estimation of the KC for the SIDS group showed a trend toward significance when compared with control groups, but after excluding one of the half-siblings in the SIDS group from the analysis, the difference did not show any trend toward significance. Although the results of the analysis of the relatedness between all patients with OSAS and infants who died of SIDS were not significant, a trend toward significance was evident when the data were separately analyzed for the more severely affected patients with OSAS. Collectively, these results demonstrate a strong familial component in OSAS and suggest that infants who died of SIDS may have shared some of the same susceptibility factors with OSAS.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The importance of nurse caring behaviors as perceived by patients receiving care at an emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Increased workload at the emergency department (ED) and the shortage of nurses may leave some patients without proper care. The importance of patients' perceptions of caring is vital when organizing nursing practice under such circumstances. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to identify which nurse caring behaviors are perceived by patients in an ED as important indicators of caring. The nurse caring behaviors were categorized in terms of relative importance with respect to demographic variables and perceived illness. Watson's theory of caring was used as a theoretic framework for this quantitative and descriptive study. METHOD: A 61-item questionnaire designed on the basis of Cronin and Harrison's Caring Behaviors Assessment tool, which reflected the 10 carative factors of Watson's theory, was mailed to 300 ED patients. The response rate was 60.7%. RESULTS: Results showed that subjects scored the items "Know what they are doing", "Know when it is necessary to call the doctor", "Know how to give shots, IVs, etc.", and "Know how to handle equipment" as the most important nurse caring behaviors. The subscale "human needs assistance" was ranked highest. CONCLUSION: In line with several previous studies, subjects considered clinical competence to be the most important nurse caring behavior, which further emphasizes the notion of caring as a moral stance integral to all interactions with patients.

Clinical Competence↗