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Jan Cooper

Publications and source records attributed to Jan Cooper.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Aspects of caring for dying patients which cause anxiety to first year student nurses.

AIM: To examine what aspects of caring for dying patients cause anxiety in student nurses during their first year of training. DESIGN: Qualitative descriptive study. SETTING: A university in the UK delivering preregistration nurse education. METHOD: A purposive sample of 38 student nurses who had just completed their first year of their programme consented to participate in the study. Data triangulation was employed, with data collected from students' reflective diaries and two focus group meetings. FINDINGS: Eight themes emerged relating to students' anxiety about caring for dying patients: coping with the physical suffering of patients: what to do or say; the severing of the relationship with the patient; the type of death; cardiopulmonary resuscitation; last offices; coping mechanisms; and interventions that would improve the student experience. CONCLUSION: Findings from the study suggest that it is aspects of the caring role, rather than personal fear of death, that form the source of much of students' anxiety.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Implementing audit in palliative care: an action research approach.

AIM: To investigate the factors that influence the successful implementation of audit in a palliative care setting. BACKGROUND: Quality assurance is a necessary component of contemporary health care. In the past, palliative care has not generally been subject to systems of audit and quality management. However in recent years the need for all health care organizations to have clear policies and procedures for maintaining quality has become more pressing. METHOD: An action research project was conducted to investigate the implementation of audit in a palliative care setting, which involved the application and modification of the Support Team Assessment Scale (STAS). FINDINGS: A collaborative approach was adopted and this facilitated the identification of factors vital to successful introduction of the audit methodology into the unit. These included effective teamwork, the input of an external facilitator, good relationships with management and prompt and relevant feedback on progress. The use of STAS was fully integrated into the work of the unit and a robust programme of audit has been established. CONCLUSIONS: Combining the cyclical nature of action research methodology and the audit process with Lewin's change theory provided a clear conceptual framework for the research. This approach would be applicable in a range of health care settings to bring about improvements in quality management.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Clinical audit in practice.

Clinical audit exists to improve the quality of patient care and clinical practice. The authors state that, given the necessary time and resources, nurses can confidently audit their practice. The article also discusses the differences between audit and research and outlines some of the steps to ensure a successful audit.

Clinical Nursing Research↗