PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Lynn Clark Callister

Publications and source records attributed to Lynn Clark Callister.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Opening our hearts and minds: the meaning of international clinical nursing electives in the personal and professional lives of nurses.

Although international opportunities are the hallmark of nursing education at a large private university, the meaning of participating in such clinical nursing electives has not been described. The purpose of this phenomenological study of nurses was to examine the personal and professional meaning of participating in international clinical nursing electives during their undergraduate nursing studies. Audiotaped interviews were conducted with 20 former nursing students who had had this opportunity. "Opening our hearts and minds" was described by the study's participants, with the following themes: increasing understanding of other cultures and peoples, increasing understanding of global sociopolitical and health issues, increasing the commitment to make a difference, experiencing personal and professional growth, contributing to professional development in the host country, making interpersonal connexions, and developing cultural competence. This study makes an important contribution to the documentation of the meaning of participating in international nursing clinical experiences. Data are being used for long-term curricular planning in the development and refinement of future international clinical nursing electives and to provide outcomes data for professional accreditation. There are broader implications for the movement beyond individual cultural competence to increasing global consciousness and the improvement of global health care.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2006

Providing a "good death": critical care nurses' suggestions for improving end-of-life care.

BACKGROUND: Providing appropriate end-of-life care has become a primary concern of nurses and the public. The highly technological critical care environment may not facilitate such care. OBJECTIVE: To collect suggestions from critical care nurses for improving end-of-life care in intensive care units. METHODS: A geographically dispersed, random sample of 1409 members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses was sent a 72-item survey on perceptions of end-of life care. The survey included a request for suggestions on ways to improve end-of life care. RESULTS: Of the 861 critical care nurses who responded to the survey, 485 offered 530 suggestions for improving end-of-life care. Providing a "good death" was the major theme; specific suggestions included ways to help ensure death with dignity and peace. Barriers to providing good deaths included nursing time constraints, staffing patterns, communication challenges, and treatment decisions that were based on physicians' rather than patients' needs. Suggestions for providing a good death included facilitating dying with dignity; not allowing patients to be alone while dying; managing patients' pain and discomfort; knowing, and then following, patients' wishes for end-of-life care; promoting earlier cessation of treatment or not initiating aggressive treatment at all; and communicating effectively as a health-care team. Educational initiatives for professionals and the public were also suggested. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of specific suggestions provided by experienced critical care nurses might increase the quality of end-of-life care, facilitating a good death for intensive care patients.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Inquiry in baccalaureate nursing education: fostering evidence-based practice.

With the increasing emphasis on evidence-based nursing practice, nurse educators need to more fully implement teaching strategies that help students gain critical thinking skills related to inquiry and understand the importance of evidence-based nursing practice. Research and scholarship emphases in one baccalaureate nursing program, student-identified benefits, and challenges associated with incorporating inquiry across the curriculum are described in this article. In clinical journal entries, students described the following benefits associated with curricular emphasis on inquiry: increased interest in evidence-based nursing practice and participating in the generation of research; enhanced critical thinking skills through the development of knowledge, experience, and competencies; increased motivation to continue professional growth and development by participating in lifelong learning; the desire to become better consumers of research findings; better understanding of the "real world" of clinical research; and increased desire to pursue graduate studies in nursing. The challenge to promote student growth toward competence in the application of evidence-based principles in clinical practice is ongoing.

Communication↗
PubMed2003

The pain of childbirth: perceptions of culturally diverse women.

The pain experiences of culturally diverse childbearing women are described based on a secondary analysis of narrative data from phenomenologic studies of the meaning of childbirth. Study participants were interviewed in the hospital after giving birth or in their homes within the first weeks after having a baby. Transcripts of interviews with childbearing women who lived in North and Central America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, the People's Republic of China, and Tonga were analyzed. Participants described their attitudes toward, perceptions of, and the meaning of childbirth pain. Culturally bound behavior in response to childbirth pain was also articulated. A variety of coping mechanisms were used by women to deal with the pain. Understanding the meaning of pain, women's perceptions of pain, and culturally bound pain behaviors is fundamental in order for nurses to facilitate satisfying birth experiences for culturally diverse women.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Challenges and opportunities: the health of women and newborns in the Russian Federation.

Dramatic socio-political, economic, and health care changes are occurring in the Russian Federation. Over time they are projected to have a positive impact on the health and well-being of women and newborns. The key to health care reforms is the emergence of a strong nursing profession. Notably, international collaborative efforts are strengthening the work of Russian nurses in improving perinatal health. In this millennium of global migration, where the world is growing increasingly smaller, it is important to understand health care systems and the health concerns of women and newborns living in other countries. Celebrating cultural differences, while embracing global similarities, is essential in ensuring that culturally sensitive and competent care is provided to women and newborns.

Child Health Services↗
PubMed2002

Acculturation and perinatal outcomes in Mexican immigrant childbearing women: an integrative review.

Despite several sociocultural factors associated with increased risk for low birth weight and infant mortality, the rate for infants born to first-generation and less acculturated Mexican immigrant women is the same as that of non-Hispanic whites, and half that of African Americans with similar risks. It appears that sociocultural rather than genetic variables are the primary factors associated with this phenomenon. Higher levels of acculturation to North American values and lifestyle in Mexican American childbearing women have been correlated with poor perinatal outcomes, including low birth weight. Acculturation is emerging as an important variable that should be considered when providing health care to Mexican immigrant childbearing women and their families.

Acculturation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Making connections: linking generalist and specialist essentials in baccalaureate community/public health nursing education and practice.

Nurse educators and potential employers of baccalaureate nursing graduates are challenged by the constant change in health care today. This change mandates competencies for professional nursing practice that preserves the relevant and useful skills and knowledge of the past, yet incorporates skills and knowledge for practice today and in the future. As in previous eras of health system change, identifying essential knowledge and competencies for baccalaureate graduates must begin by collaboration between nursing education and nursing service. This article reports the work of a task force of nurse educators whose charge was to revise "The Essentials of Baccalaureate Nursing Education for Entry Level Community/Public Health Nursing". An overview of their experience is presented with the aim of contributing to current best thinking between one nursing specialty organization and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Threading spirituality throughout nursing education.

In a survey of 132 baccalaureate nursing programs in the United States, few had defined spirituality or spiritual nursing care. There is a paucity of literature on spirituality in nursing education. This article describes the integration of spirituality in a baccalaureate nursing program. Interventions such as establishing a trusting relationship, providing and facilitating a supportive spiritual environment, responding sensitively to the patient's spiritual and cultural belief systems, demonstrating caring, acknowledging the importance of "presence" during spiritual distress, and integrating spirituality into the plan of care are reflected in student clinical journal entries.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prevention of triplets and higher order multiples: trends in reproductive medicine.

In the United States and throughout the world, today's healthcare providers are challenged by the risks of multiple gestation pregnancy. Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) often used to treat infertility raise ethical issues including informed consent, veracity, and nonmalificence. In the United States, there is the need to improve maternal and fetal/neonatal mortality and morbidity by proposing legislation regulating ART and supporting single embryo transfers with no more than 2 such transfers. Beginning with the diagnosis of infertility, providers have a responsibility to educate, inform, and treat infertile couples. From the moment pregnancy with multiples is confirmed, these families are faced with incredible stressors including decision making on multifetal or selective reduction. Full disclosure of risks involved throughout the course of care should be discussed and documented in the record and plan of care. Currently in the United States, legislation does not regulate ART, including ovulation induction/enhancement and in vitro fertilization. Although the United States does have self-regulation via limited reporting through their professional organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an unlimited number of embryos may be transferred. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers have not recognized the responsibility and burden placed on families and society as a whole. Lack of regulation means women may become pregnant with high order multiples, which raises serious moral and ethical issues.

Beneficence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Decision making in laboring women: ethical issues for perinatal nurses.

The decision-making process in childbearing women regarding birth preferences raises ethical dilemmas related to caring for women during labor and birth. Giving birth is a powerful, life-changing event that leaves a lasting impact on the childbearing woman. The birth experience may be perceived positively or negatively or with feelings of ambivalence. This descriptive qualitative study asked what factors influence a woman's change in her stated birth preference from an unmedicated birth to a medicated birth. A purposive convenience sample of 33 primiparous and multiparous childbearing women who had changed their stated birth preference for pain management during labor participated in interviews conducted within a month of giving birth. Themes included wanting an unmedicated birth; changing to a medicated birth; feeling disappointed, ambivalent, or satisfied; and reflecting on the change. Changing birth preferences is a result of many complex factors, including the influence of professional support by nurses. Ethical principles such as autonomy, veracity, beneficence, informed consent, standard of best interest, and obligations should be applied when caring for laboring women, framed by the ethics of caring.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Perinatal loss: a family perspective.

Perinatal loss is a profound experience for childbearing families. Examples of perinatal loss include miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth, neonatal death, and other losses. Perinatal loss engenders a unique kind of mourning since the child is so much a part of the parental identity. Societal expectations for mourning associated with perinatal loss are noticeably absent. Gender differences in response to such loss, as well as sibling and grandparent grief have been identified in the literature. Descriptive studies provide information on cultural responses to perinatal loss. Nursing interventions have been refined over the past two decades as research studies have been performed, in order to more fully promote health and healing in the face of perinatal loss. These include helping to create meaning through the sharing of the story of parental loss, the facilitation of sociocultural rituals associated with loss, the provision of tangible mementos, sensitive presence, and the validation of the loss. Outcome evaluations of such interventions are recommended.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMedDate not supplied

First time mothers' views of breastfeeding support from nurses.

PURPOSE: To gain insights into the perceptions of first-time mothers regarding nurses' support of breastfeeding. STUDY DESIGN: Phenomenology. METHOD: Audiotaped interviews were conducted with 20 primiparous breastfeeding mothers within the first month after giving birth vaginally to healthy term infants. Data analysis was concurrent with data collection, and trustworthiness of the data was established. RESULTS: Nurses provided emotional, informational, and tangible support. Nonsupportive behaviors were also identified, including a sense that the nurse was in a hurry, failed to offer breastfeeding assistance, and was inflexible while working with the mother and infant. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Nurses can contribute significantly to the successful initiation of and continuation of breastfeeding, and provide new mothers with the confidence and reassurance critical for breastfeeding success.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Global maternal mortality: contributing factors and strategies for change.

As the 2004 Fulbright Scholar to the Russian Federation, Dr. Callister was asked to give this address at the Meetings of the International Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations, March 8, 2004, New York City. MCN is proud to be able to share this with its readers.

Cause of Death↗
PubMedDate not supplied

What has the literature taught us about culturally competent care of women and children.

This article describes what is currently in the literature about culturally competent care for women and children. With the population of the United States growing increasingly diverse, there is a developing need for cultural competency among nurses and throughout healthcare organizations. Cultural competence includes both culture-specific and culture-generic knowledge, attitudes, and skills. While databased literature on cultural competency still requires further development, we do have evidence of positive outcomes of culturally competent care. The end result of the provision of culturally competent care by culturally competent nurses and healthcare organizations can be significant improvements in the health and well-being of women and children.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗