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Biomedical subjects

M B Happ

Publications and source records attributed to M B Happ.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Treatment interference in acutely and critically ill adults.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the state of knowledge of treatment interference, the self-removal of technological devices, in acutely or critically ill adults and to propose a multidisciplinary research agenda to further understanding of this clinical problem. METHOD: A combined computerized and hand search of the nursing and medical literature (MEDLINE, 1966 to June 1996; Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, 1985 to June 1996; and holdings at the Center for the Study of Nursing History at the University of Pennsylvania) was conducted. Literature on specific technological devices and articles that contained the terms self-removal, withdrawal, devices, self-extubation, unplanned extubation, and involuntary treatment were searched. RESULTS: Literature on treatment interference was found in four main topic areas: (1) maintaining treatment, (2) unplanned extubation, (3) disruption or manipulation of a medical device, and (4) involuntary treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The results clearly establish the clinical importance of treatment interference and underscore the multidisciplinary and multifactorial nature of this perplexing, life-threatening clinical problem. Future research on treatment interference should emphasize systematically building an understanding of the processes involved, including patients' attributes, behavioral cues, and consequences, to develop appropriate multidisciplinary strategies to prevent patients' self-removal of technological devices.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Factors contributing to rehospitalization of elderly patients with heart failure.

This article describes factors contributing to rehospitalizations of elderly patients with heart failure. Advanced practice nurses' logs, study questionnaires, and medical record summaries from a recent clinical trial provided rich, descriptive information about a variety of social and behavioral factors surrounding rehospitalization in these medically fragile older people. Medication and dietary nonadherence were factors affecting symptom appearance and rehospitalization. Social and behavioral factors, such as the absence of strong social support or motivation, contributed to nonadherence. These results suggest that social and behavioral factors must be identified and addressed in an individualized manner to prevent recurrent hospitalizations for elderly patients with heart failure.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Individualized care for frail elders: theory and practice.

Individualized care for frail elders is defined as an interdisciplinary approach which acknowledges elders as unique persons and is practiced through consistent caring relationships. The four critical attributes of individualized care for frail elders are: 1) knowing the person, 2) relationship, 3) choice, and 4) participation in and direction of care. Cognitively impaired elders can direct their care through the staff's knowledge of individual past patterns and careful observation of behavior for what is pleasing and comfortable to each resident.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Sociotechnical systems theory. Analysis and application for nursing administration.

Work and system redesign are national trends in service organizations, especially healthcare. The sociotechnical systems theory of organizational design provides a framework for structure and evaluation of work redesign. Sociotechnical systems theory has recently been the framework for several innovations in the redesign of patient care. The author presents a description and analysis of sociotechnical systems theory for use in nursing administration with illustrations from research and practice.

Family↗
PubMed1991

Development of a special care unit for chronically critically ill patients.

Intensive care units (ICUs) are recognized as one of the most expensive services provided by hospitals. Within these ICUs are a growing population of patients whose stays are extensively prolonged because of complications or underlying chronic health conditions that are exacerbated by a critical illness. These patients can be described as "chronically critically ill" and are costly to hospitals both in terms of actual dollars and in terms of the burden of care to nurses and physicians. This article describes the creation of a special care unit (SCU) designed specifically to meet the needs of chronically critically ill patients. The SCU environment is composed of a physical design that accommodates limited technology and care aimed at family involvement and rehabilitation, a case management practice model, and a shared governance management model. This structure is in contrast to traditional ICU environments, which include physical layouts that allow for high technology and close monitoring of patients, a primary nursing delivery system, and a bureaucratic management model. A research project to compare the effects of the SCU with the effects of the traditional ICUs on nurse and patient outcomes is described.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nursing effort and the exchanging human response pattern.

This descriptive, comparative study was done to determine the nursing effort required to treat actual and potential nursing diagnoses from the Exchanging Human Response Pattern in two patient care specialties: acute medical-surgical and postpartum. Patterns of diagnosis identification are described for the two groups, and differences in allocation of nursing resources (nursing effort) are examined. The sample included 200 observations (hospital days) for 50 patients: 33 postpartum patients, and 17 medical-surgical patients. Data were collected daily during the study period by nurses who provided direct care to the selected patients using an investigator-developed version of the Nurse-Patient Summary (NPS) nursing information and patient classification tool (Halloran, 1985). Potential nursing diagnoses received most of the nursing effort in the postpartum area (mean effort = 5.28), whereas actual nursing diagnoses in the Exchanging Human Response Pattern received a higher priority in the medical-surgical area (mean effort = 12.03). Statistically significant differences existed between groups in total nursing effort (t = -4.73, p less than .0001) and in nursing effort required to treat actual (t = -7.42, p less than .0001) and potential diagnoses (t = 3.99, p less than .0001) in the Exchanging Human Response Pattern. This study provides unique information about how nurses allocate their time to patients for the treatment of actual and potential nursing diagnoses, and outlines areas for further development in diagnosis-based patient classification.

Clinical Nursing Research↗