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Biomedical subjects

K C Buckwalter

Publications and source records attributed to K C Buckwalter.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Human development in the context of aging and chronic illness: the role of attachment in Alzheimer's disease and stroke.

Does chronic illness in older people provide potentials for human development? To date, this question has not been adequately addressed by dynamic theorists of human development. In this article, two illness trajectories, Alzheimer's disease and stroke, are examined to illustrate emerging changes in human development over each course of illness and the increasing importance of attachment behavior among ill elders and their family members. It is argued that the phenomenon of attachment links ailing older people to their environment, and that attachment is vital if human development is to continue.

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PubMed1995

Unity in diversity: geropsychiatric nursing survey outcomes.

1. Most nurse respondents stated that increased education is of crucial importance in the care of geropsychiatric patients. This need for increased education covers a wide range of areas and includes the problems unique to elderly patients, medications in use, and ensuring that caregiving staff are adequately prepared to deal with geropsychiatric problems. 2. Of the 264 respondents to the survey, their degrees of education and certification and their employment settings represent a diversity of preparation and experience in their fields. This diversity allows them to incorporate a variety of skills in the care of geropsychiatric patients. 3. It is hoped that the survey information can aid in forming sound standards in geropsychiatric education and in the future, gaining certification in geropsychiatric nursing as a subspecialty.

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PubMed1995

Standardized care plan. Managing Alzheimer's patients at home.

1. Family-provided care of members with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD) is complicated by the presence of secondary behavioral symptoms, such as agitation, that lead to caregiver depression, burden, and breakdown. 2. Caregiver education to manage secondary symptoms in ADRD can be simplified by using a theoretical framework of person-environment fit, providing a selection of interventions to modify the environment to reduce demand on the dwindling resources of the demented person. 3. The Progressively Lowered Stress Threshold (PLST) model identifies six areas of stress for persons with ADRD fatigue, change of caregiver, environment or routine, demands to achieve beyond capability, multiple and competing stimuli, affective response to perceived losses, and physical stressors.

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PubMed1995

Shining through: the humor and individuality of persons with Alzheimer's disease.

1. Elders with diminished levels of cognitive functioning are capable of providing meaningful, consistent responses that illustrate individual expressions of self. 2. The demented elder's history and experiences may provide important clues to understanding his or her current behaviors, verbalizations, and perceptions. 3. Humor may be used as a therapeutic intervention for persons with dementia and as a coping strategy for caregivers.

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PubMed1995

Nurses helping nurses: development of internal specialists in long-term care.

1. Too often, expert assistance provided by psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse specialists to long-term care (LTC) providers of geriatric patients is short-lived and not effective in helping LTC staff deal with their patient's behavioral and psychological problems. 2. One of the main objectives of the study--and one that was found to have positive results--was to provide a mechanism by which LTC staff could develop their own expertise in the management of behaviorally difficult residents. 3. More collaborative efforts among nursing specialists, subspecialists, and generalists are needed to empower those who work in LTC to utilize the abilities and strengths inherent in their positions.

Humans↗
PubMed1995

Nurses helping nurses. Development of internal specialists in long-term care.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders and behavioral disturbances among nursing home residents, combined with observed deficits in geriatric mental health/illness expertise among LTC staff, supports the need for creative approaches to improve the knowledge, understanding, and management of such problems among LTC providers. The train-the-trainer model described in this article proved to be a viable method to providing geriatric mental health consultation and training that targets both improved quality of life for residents and quality of work life for the staff in charge of residents' care. More collaborative efforts among nursing specialists, subspecialists, and generalists are needed to empower those who work in LTC to utilize strengths and abilities inherent to their positions. Nursing homes nurses, who are all too familiar with the problems and challenges of their patient population, may act not only as mental health trainers but also as resource persons, role models, liaisons with geropsychiatric specialists, and leaders in the application of geropsychiatric care principles to residents within their facility, thus promoting improved resident and staff care alike.

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PubMed1994

Geropsychiatric nursing consultation: a valuable resource in rural long-term care.

Psychiatric and geropsychiatric nurse specialists have the potential to positively influence the day-to-day care provided in rural nursing homes by acting as teachers, resource persons, facilitators, and role models to long-term care (LTC) personnel. The combined approach of training LTC nurses to train their own staff while supporting the application of learning with consultee-focused nursing consultation proved to be an effective and time-efficient method of improving the geropsychiatric nursing care provided in rural nursing homes.

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PubMed1994

Alzheimer's residents' cognitive and functional measures: special and traditional care unit comparison.

The aim of this field experiment was to compare the effects of a special care unit (SCU) on residents with Alzheimer's disease (AD) who lived on the SCU and on traditional (integrated) nursing home units. Twenty-two subjects, 13 on the SCU and 9 on traditional integrated units were compared. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to assess differences between the two groups and within the groups over two bimonthly pretests and two bimonthly posttests. No significant differences on cognitive or functional abilities scores were evident for the groups and no significant differences were found over time. However, consistent with the prediction of the Progressively Lower Stress Threshold Model, the SCU subjects' function was better than subjects on traditional units when measured by socially accessible behaviors.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1994

A nursing challenge: Assessment and management of agitation in Alzheimer's patients.

1. Agitation in patients with Alzheimer's disease is a pervasive problem. The behaviors associated with agitation may have detrimental effects on the patient, health care providers, and other patients. 2. Management of these behaviors is particularly challenging and, at times, frustrating for nursing personnel. 3. Attempts to identify the causative factors are essential to the development of an individualized plan of care.

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PubMed1994

Geropsychiatric nursing: a clinical knowledge base in community and institutional settings.

1. The term clinical knowledge base refers to the foundations and areas of knowledge that are integral to an independent and interdependent clinical discipline. 2. The clinical content essential to establish a research base in geropsychiatric nursing includes normal and abnormal aging, nature and magnitude of geriatric mental health problems, diagnostic categories, caregiver and family roles, and cultural determinants of mental health problems and care. 3. The clinical knowledge base for geropsychiatric nursing care in both community and institutional settings consists of the components identified above and the logical integration of each. Integration can be achieved by including these themes in the theoretical and clinical training of nurses.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1994

Essential clinical experience for subspecialty development in geropsychiatric nursing.

1. Subspecialization in geropsychiatric nursing builds on the specialist preparation obtained in graduate level psychiatric/mental health or gerontologic nursing education. 2. Development of a subspecialty requires a base of substantive knowledge gained in the classroom, supplemented by a series of supervised clinical experiences. 3. Clinical practicum experiences with specific role options for the geropsychiatric clinical nurse specialist and experiences with special populations are essential to the further development of geropsychiatric nursing as a subspecialty.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1994

Unity in diversity. Outcomes of the Geropsychiatric Nursing Survey.

The 264 persons who responded to the geropsychiatric nursing survey were diverse in both preparation and practice arenas. They remained up-to-date in the field through journals, certification and professional memberships, and they supported clinical geropsychiatric nursing research and the need to develop standards in geropsychiatric nursing education. Finally, these nurse respondents expressed a wide variety of policy, practice and educational concerns, most related to improved care for geropsychiatric patients and their families. Obviously, limitations exist to the generalizability of these survey results. First, respondents to this survey, which appeared in two journals, may not be representative of the overall geropsychiatric nursing population. Additionally, the methods for summarizing the survey results are not scientific. However, these results enable us to develop a picture of the geropsychiatric nursing community and provide a foundation for understanding the population and its characteristics.

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PubMed1994

Nasogastric and nasointestinal feeding tube placement: an integrative review of research.

The authors present a review of the research on various methods for determining placement of nasogastric and nasointestinal feeding tubes. They also discuss research on associated risk factors, complications specific to critical care patient populations, and techniques for postpyloric placement. They present research consensus, recommendations for practice, and implementation strategies.

Clinical Nursing Research↗
PubMed1994

Ways to promote successful training.

With today's financial cutbacks, long-term care facilities are looking for low-cost ways to help nurses meet licensing requirements. In-house training can be one economical way, but getting employees involved is another challenge.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗