Biomedical subjects

J Oldham

Publications and source records attributed to J Oldham.

40 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Measuring muscle tone and movement.

Abnormal or altered muscle tone in the neurologically damaged patient presents major problems for restoring motor function. Many nursing interventions, such as passive limb exercises and correct limb positioning, attempt to normalise muscle tone. The effect of abnormal tone on movement can be clearly seen, therefore it may be more appropriate to measure the 'quality' of movement. This article describes various methods of measuring muscle tone, such as video analysis, and examines the reliability of these techniques.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Rehabilitation of muscle function. Part 2.

This article describes the utilisation of a physiologically based research technique developed to facilitate the nursing care of patients with skeletal muscle wasting. The technique, which involved electrotherapeutic stimulation to the first dorsal interosseous muscle of a group of arthritic patients, demonstrates that patterned neuromuscular stimulation of skeletal muscle can have enormously beneficial effects in preserving and regenerating skeletal muscle. The reasons for the muscle wasting, and the subsequent vicious spiral of immobility, were reviewed in Part 1 (1), and both articles build on the concepts described in a previous paper published in Nursing Standard (2).

Electric Stimulation Therapy↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Rethinking incentives.

Financial incentives focused on individuals represent a naive understanding of the complexity of human motivation. This article recommends rethinking monetary incentives and moving toward the creation of workplaces that enable and allow the natural excellence that most individuals desire to achieve. Despite their wide use and superficial logic, monetary incentives have features that are toxic to systemic improvement and high performance. They often erode opportunities for true improvement, breed an atmosphere of expectation, decrease innovation, injure intrinsic motivation, and damage teamwork. When monetary "incentives" are used, we suggest directing them to a whole group or team of individuals to inspire teamwork, learning, and greater productivity.

Employee Incentive Plans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Clinical education. Relating practical experiments to theory.

Integrating theory into practice is not without its difficulties. Often concepts derived from the physical and behavioural sciences appear to be unrelated to nursing practice and although noted laboriously by student nurses no active learning occurs. As nurse education changes not only in curriculum content and teaching methodology but in who will do the teaching and in what venue, then the importance of ensuring the relevance of theoretical concepts to nursing practice will increase. This paper illustrates how physiological theory can be integrated into nursing practice by the use of ward-based practical experiments. Currently four such experiments have been introduced and are being evaluated. There is scope for developing further experiments and it is contended that this approach will enhance learning.

Clinical Nursing Research↗