Biomedical subjects

K Hyrkäs

Publications and source records attributed to K Hyrkäs.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Teacher candidates' reflective teaching and learning in a hospital setting - changing the pattern of practical training: a challenge to growing into teacherhood.

UNLABELLED: AIMS OF THE PROJECT: The main goal of the 'teacher candidates' reflective teaching and learning' project was to integrate theories of reflection in education and nursing practice. This was realised through teacher candidates' practical training in a hospital setting providing them with personal experiences of reflection in different forms and contexts. In this paper one teacher candidate pair's experiences of developing documentation in one operating theatre are described. BACKGROUND: The power of reflection is acknowledged in health care education and, on the other hand, also in nursing practice. Reflection, however, is not spontaneous but it requires active contribution. The key persons in this respect seem to be healthcare teachers. The challenges for today are that, for example, the theoretical background of reflection is multi-fold and that the concept of reflection is popularised in common use. DESIGN OF THE PROJECT: The project (1995-1998) was accomplished in one of the biggest university hospitals in Finland. On the collaborating wards, systematic team supervision was in progress. Teacher candidates planned and implemented in-service-training modules for teams based on educational needs raised during team supervision sessions. FINDINGS: The contribution of the project can be assessed as important to health care teacher education, but also to nursing practice. Practical training in a hospital setting enhanced teacher candidates' ability to work as teachers in a hospital organisation as well as a nursing college/polytechnic by providing them with a new viewpoint. They learned valuable lessons from applying theory, as planning in-service-training required continuous reflective discussion with the nursing staff but also theoretical reflection. Improvements in nursing practice were also promoted as staff educational needs were met. CONCLUSIONS: Shifting the teacher candidates' practical training into a hospital setting and emphasising reflection seemed to promote their professional development towards teacherhood and improve nursing practice.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

The effects of clinical supervision on the quality of care: examining the results of team supervision.

AIM(S) OF THE STUDY: This study is part of a larger research project (1995-1998) aiming at quality improvement by means of clinical supervision (CS). The purpose of the study is to ascertain the conceptions of five ward teams having CS of its effects on the quality of care. BACKGROUND: The quality of nursing care has been debated since at least the 1980s. An extensive literature and research reports describe a variety of interventions and methods to improve the quality of care. One of the interventions is CS. However, the amount of empirical research exploring the effects of CS especially on the quality of care is limited. METHOD: Data were collected using group interviews and analysed using the method of phenomenography. FINDINGS: The following categories describing the conceptions related to CS and to the quality of care emerged: knowledge, change and 'I and we as providers of quality'. Conceptions of the effects varied between and within the teams and sometimes contradicted each other. The importance of knowledge was underlined on three of the five wards. The patient's point of view emerged only on one ward. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that CS has effects on the quality of care and it can be considered a quality improving intervention in nursing practice. However, the knowledge of the different conceptions produced in this study also gives proof that team supervision is a challenge for supervisors.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2001

Cost--benefit analysis of team supervision: the development of an innovative model and its application as a case study in one Finnish university hospital.

AIM: To develop a model of costs and benefits of team supervision and a formula, which are examined more closely by means of an example. BACKGROUND: The popularity of clinical supervision (CS) as one of the methods of supporting health care practitioners' professional development (formative function), coping (restorative function) and quality improvement (normative function) has increased in the 1990s. CS may take the form of one-to-one or group supervision. Team supervision is a special form of group supervision. It means a group that has an interrelated work life outside the group. A host of literature and articles is available on CS. However, the costs and benefits of CS are less examined even though these have given rise to discussion particularly among decision-makers, because the monetary benefit of CS remains unsolved. METHOD: A nominal group technique was used to develop a model of costs and benefits of team supervision and a formula was derived on the basis of the model. The existing statistical data, for example a hospital ward's annual reports, data on sick days and reports on indemnities were utilized in the application of the formula. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION: Team supervision was efficient in economic terms on the example ward. The model and the formula constitute a first attempt to ascertain the net present benefit of team supervision. Both the model and the formula need to be further tested, specified and refined.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗

PubMed2001

Family dynamics of child-bearing families in Athens, Greece: a pilot study.

The purpose of this pilot study was to describe family dynamics in Greek families during the third trimester of a low-risk pregnancy with a first or second child. The description is based on Barnhill's framework for healthy family systems. The sample consisted of families expecting their first or second child. Both mothers (n = 160) and fathers (n = 47) participated in the study. The Family Dynamics Measure and a sociodemographic questionnaire were used in data collection. Data on 160 mothers and 47 couples were analyzed. Fathers perceived their families as having greater stability and role reciprocity than mothers. Fathers also reported clearer communication than mothers. There were no statistically significant relationships among family dynamics dimensions, maternal age and parity. Delayed first-time expectant mothers reported greater flexibility than normative first-time expectant mothers. The results provide some useful clues for prenatal care and also for further family dynamics research in Greece.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Patient satisfaction and research-related problems (Part 2). Is triangulation the answer?

AIM: The article consists of two parts, the first of which examined the description of patient satisfaction by means of a questionnaire and the problems related to it. The aim of this second part is to complement the topic by explicating patient satisfaction research using a triangulative approach. BACKGROUND: Patient satisfaction has been the object of interest in health care for some time, and is now increasingly used as the basis for quality management and improvement. At the same time, the methods used have been criticised. As it was shown in the first part of this article, traditional questionnaires contain many problems which are difficult to solve in a satisfactory way, for example, by using different methods of analysis. METHODS: The data were collected from the patients of three different hospital wards using an interview (n = 30). The interview themes corresponded to the classification of a questionnaire employed at the same time. The interview material was analysed using content analysis, whereas satisfaction is investigated using a triangulative approach. FINDINGS: The findings confirm that the interview supplements the questionnaire as a data collection method, but that is also produces overlapping information. The interviews gave deeper information on the patients' experiences and feelings. Triangulative examination made it possible to show factors influencing the reliability of the study. CONCLUSIONS: The advantage of a triangulative approach seems to be that it provides a fairly accurate description of patient satisfaction. However, the problem of this method is that it doubles the amount of work needed and is slow to use which is worth considering as patient satisfaction should be followed on a regular basis and the results reported without delay. In spite of these problems, patient satisfaction surveys are important, since information provided by them is needed as basis for quality management, quality improvement and clinical supervision.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Patient satisfaction and research-related problems (Part 1). Problems while using a questionnaire and the possibility to solve them by using different methods of analysis.

INTRODUCTION: This article comprises two parts describing a research project for validating quality monitoring tools. This is part 1. AIM: To examine the problems of patient satisfaction inquiries by means of the literature, earlier research and an example. BACKGROUND: The topic is of current interest, since quality management by way of research-based knowledge has become an increasingly common demand. In this context, patient satisfaction inquiries are a central method of data collection. Although the problems relating to the reliability of the methods and results of these inquiries have been identified, their comprehensive examination is yet to be done. Quality management is none the less a challenge to nursing administrators requiring a broad-based utilization of feedback data, and this calls for a critical examination of the reliability of these results. METHODS: The exemplary material were collected using a questionnaire from patients (n = 282) on three different hospital wards. Different statistical methods and content analysis were used in the analysis. FINDINGS: The example used in the study indicates that the results of the inquiry were highly positive time after time. The reliability of the instrument presented a problem. The low amount of information collected in the open-ended question was another problem that can be criticised in relation to the amount of work required in the analysis. The results of the factor analysis showed that the questionnaire needs further development. CONCLUSIONS: To conclude, patient satisfaction inquiries yield a relatively small and limited amount of information on quality management and improvement, but this information is necessary specifically for ward sisters for the follow-up of long-term trends in patient satisfaction. The second part of this article (part 2) examines the description of patient satisfaction by means of triangulation.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Clinical supervision in nursing in the 1990s--current state of concepts, theory and research.

AIM: The aim of this article is to explore the current state and challenges of clinical supervision with regard to its research. BACKGROUND: Clinical supervision in nursing has been debated extensively, but also accepted officially as part of nursing practice. However, it has been claimed that the subject is conceptually vague, theoretically ambiguous and lacking in empirical research evidence. METHODS: A computer-based search was carried out in an international journal database of nursing. Of the published articles on effectiveness, 11 were chosen for a closer examination. FINDINGS: It can be argued that the present studies have failed to show actual effects of clinical supervision reliably and convincingly enough. CONCLUSION: Research into supervisory effectiveness is still in its infancy. To increase the scientific rigour of future research, it would be necessary to expand and clarify the scope of these studies as well as to diversify the range of research methods on the basis of ontological and epistemological analyses.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed1999

Finnish nurse teachers' perceptions of their 'scientific thinking' and its development during Master's-level teacher education at university.

There are very few studies on nurse teachers education, since the main interest has been on the demanding nature of a teacher's work. In Finland, the educational system of nursing care is developing rapidly and nurse teachers' education is changing as well. However, there is no research into academic nurse teacher education, even though this can be seen as important with regard to the educational system as well as to the nursing discipline. In this study, the objective was to describe 45 nurse teachers' perceptions of the development of their scientific thinking during Master's-level studies at the university. Open-ended questions were used in collecting the material with a questionnaire. The results of this phenomenographic research show that the need to increase one's scientific knowledge, as well as external demands, were the reasons for applying for admission to the university. Conceptions of the development of scientific thinking differed with regard to the processing of knowledge and to changes or developments in scientific thinking. The teachers' conceptions of the use of scientific nursing knowledge varied as well. The results challenge future teacher education and how it is arranged and developed. Further research, utilising different research methods, is needed into the development of scientific thinking.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Recovering from the death of a spouse.

Within the context of an international comparative grief project, the goal of this study has been to compare the grief reactions to grieving Finnish women and men who had lost their spouse within a period of either less than or more than 2 years prior the study. The sample consisted of women (n = 242) and men (n = 76) who had lost a spouse between the ages of 25 and 65 years at the time of their death. Two instruments were used in data collection: a sociodemographic instrument and the Hogan Grief Reactions Checklist, developed in the USA. In comparing the different dimensions of grief in the subgroups divided by the bereavement time, there were significant differences in the grief reactions. Despair and disorganization diminished over time. Panic behaviour and detachment dimensions also showed differences although they were not statistically significant. The widowers who lost their spouse more than 2 years prior to the study displayed their feelings of blame and anger more than the widows. Results showed that if the death had occurred less than 2 years prior to the study there were no differences between the groups.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1997

Can action research be applied in developing clinical teaching?

Nursing education has undergone significant changes during the last two decades in Finland. However, clinical teaching has remained unchanged even though it forms the most extensive part of nursing education. National and international research results have also exposed several problems for clinical teaching. In the Finnish nursing education system these problems have remained unsolved probably because many of the suggestions for development, based on research results, presuppose changes in both the college and health care systems. The whole system of clinical teaching was changed during the years 1992-1993 in one nursing college and in one hospital in Tampere, Finland. Action research as a research strategy was applied in this study. The purpose of this paper is to describe the solutions sought and to assess if action research can be applied to the development of clinical teaching.

Clinical Nursing Research↗