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Biomedical subjects

R Spirig

Publications and source records attributed to R Spirig.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

[Developing and establishing an expanded and more comprehensive HIV/AIDS nursing practice].

Developing and establishing an advanced nursing practice is an essential step toward future-oriented nursing care. An action research process was initiated to establish advanced nursing practice at the HIV clinic of the outpatient department at the University Hospital Basel with the goal to offer advanced nursing care to patients. Participatory action research allows generating knowledge about a social system while at the same time tempts to promote social change. The most important goal is to constantly analyse, improve, and evaluate nursing care for patients and family caregivers. Advanced nursing practice in HIV/AIDS is based on solid knowledge regarding the illness and current therapies. Central concepts are caring, clinical experiences, evidence based practice, and patient preferences. Through a systematic step-by-step process, the nurses at the HIV clinic are being better educated and more experienced in these concepts. An essential aspect of advanced nursing practice is the specialization of each nurse in a self selected topic within HIV/AIDS care. These nurses now offer new services such as medication management and adherence support, health maintenance and prevention, and symptom management. This ongoing process of learning while establishing advanced nursing practice in HIV/AIDS, enables the nurses to face future changes in health care in a proactive way.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2001

[Visions for the future--nursing as a profession in German-speaking Swiss health care].

Social, scholarly, and technical changes and changes in health politics have a lasting influence on the nursing profession. The development of nursing science programs can be seen in this context and institutions, which offer educational programs for nurses, have to orient them toward the new demands of the profession. Up to now in the German-speaking realm, published data, which describe the changes the nursing profession can expect, have not been available, nor have possible future fields of activity of nursing been examined. In order to close this gap, a group of opinion leaders and experts in nursing in German-speaking Switzerland were studied. Eighty-one people were surveyed by means of a questionnaire, and ten people were interviewed in-depth. The results reflect the visions and perspectives of the nursing profession of the future in German-speaking Switzerland. The expectation is that nursing should deal increasingly with sociopolitical changes and that the main issues of nursing with regard to type of client and locations where care is given will change. A re-orientation toward strengthening professional identity is called for in the following areas: involvement in determining and shaping decisions in politics and health politics; taking entrepreneurial initiatives; building clinical practice on caring, patient preferences, and evidence; making professional training and continuing education clinically-oriented as well as the development and the establishment of nursing science. Through a re-orientation, nursing should be better able to meet the challenges, which it faces because of health and social problems in the population. A great discrepancy exists between the expectations for nursing in the future and present reality. The challenge will be to see whether it will be possible to close the gap between visions and reality by means of training, continuing education, and changes in clinical practice.

Career Choice↗
PubMed2000

[Families living with HIV and Aids--review of the literature].

This article presents the current state of the art regarding the concept of families living with HIV and Aids. The literature reflects a comprehensive view including families of origin, families of choice and partnerships. It is evident that family networks of homosexual men are most systematically described in the literature; to a lesser extent families with hemophilia and i.v. drug users and even fewer studies are found regarding families with a heterosexual transmission background and especially female family caregivers. This paper also focuses on the wide range of support offered by these family systems. The acute and mostly terminal infectious disease Aids, as observed in the 80 Dies, has now become a predominantly chronic-progressive illness. Since the mid 90 Dies, the new antiretroviral therapies have further decreased morbidity and mortality, leading to less personal care, high-tech nursing requirements and household support. This development places families in a position of providing more emotional and advocatory support and companionship over a considerably longer time span. The discussion identifies strengths and weaknesses of the current literature in order to define deficits in the Anglo-American as well as in the German speaking area. From a nursing science point of view, the characteristics of HIV/Aids care must be further acknowledged, described and systematically studied, and results must be made accessible. This is important because the knowledge acquired by studying families affected by HIV and Aids is of interest for other family systems dealing with chronically ill family members. Finally, research recommendations are listed regarding family-oriented care and future study designs.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1999

[Becoming partners: the meaning of caring for patients with HIV and AIDS].

The purpose of this study was to understand and describe what constitutes caring as experienced by persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLWAs) along their illness trajectory. Interpretative phenomenology was employed. Six men and one woman living with HIV or AIDS participated in open-ended interviews. Interviews were analyzed according to Benner (1994) through paradigm cases, thematic analyses, and analyses of examples. Convenience sampling was used to select participants. Two distinct categories were interpreted: Letting go step by step and becoming partners. Letting go step by step encompasses the entire time people are living with HIV/AIDS illness trajectory. Becoming partners describes the relationship and commitments between PLWAs and families, friends, and health care providers. These findings reinforce the need for families, friends, and health care providers to become partners with PLWASs and to work on this partnership along the entire illness trajectory.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1995

[Bibliographies on Dorothea Orem's nursing theory].

Bibliography on the subject of Dorothea Orem's nursing theory Dorothea Orem's theory is now well known in Switzerland. In many first level and continuing education courses it is taught, dealt with and critically examined. Various attempts are made to translate it into practice. This compilation shows, in the form of abstracts of various articles, how Orem's self-care-deficit theory is applied, discussed and reflected upon. Part of this paper compares Orem's theory with other nursing theories. This bibliography, like that already published in Pflege, Vol. 7, 1994, Nr. 3, was compiled in the context of the topic "Pain", as part of the Higher Professional Education Course, level 2, of the Advanced School of Nursing, Aarau.

Humans↗
PubMed1994

[Admission to a ward for terminal care as a status passage].

In the last few years clinics exclusively for patients suffering from AIDS have been developed in Switzerland, specialising in terminal care. The institution in which the research here reported was carried out, admitted drug-dependent patients with AIDS. Admission to the unit, henceforth referred to as unit for the dying, is a very special event, which triggers off a variety of behavioural manifestations. The research shows that it is a case of 'status passage' as described by Glaser and Strauss (1971), which is experienced differently by each individual. In spite of individual differences, similar conditions, similar factors, which influence patients, similar coping mechanisms were observed. To end the paper, concrete suggestions are offered for the care of drug dependent patients suffering from AIDS, suggestions at the level of individual nurses, of the nursing profession and of the structure of the organisation.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1994

[Bibliography on the topic of pain].

Many books and articles deal with sociological, psychological and other aspects of the subject of pain. They document a variety of approaches in dealing with people who suffer pain. This compilation is a synopsis of articles, almost exclusively related to nursing and nursing research. The articles illuminate a broad spectrum, covering the history of pain research, assessment of pain and the key issues in caring for and nursing patients in pain. The bibliography was produced as part of the course work of the Advanced Nursing Education Programme in Aarau. The purpose was to understand and learn about the largely English language literature on the subject and to prepare an education programme on the concept of pain. This bibliography only partially covers existing publications and consequently is not necessarily representative.

Education, Nursing, Graduate↗
PubMed1992

[Experiences with secondary implantation of anterior chamber lenses].

Between 1984-1990 80 secondary implantations of an anterior chamber lens in aphakic eyes have been completed. The average follow-up period was 3.1 years, some of the patients checked on during the last 6 years. The most relevant complications to mention being retinal detachment (2), as well as cystoid macular edema (1). These complications appeared in patients in whom a vitrectomy had to be performed simultaneously. Other complications like corneal dystrophy, glaucoma or lens dislocations were not observed. The risk is increased when there is the need to perform a vitrectomy simultaneously. In cases without vitrectomy the risk is slight.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

[Healed (?) amoebic keratitis].

Acanthamoeba keratitis was seen in two contact-lens wearers. In both cases, this finding was verified by microbiological examination of conjunctival swabs and of the lens solution. One patient had perforating keratoplasty. While neither vital amoebae nor cysts could be detected in the host corneal explant, immunohistochemical examination revealed fluorescence-positive fragments which probably correspond to incomplete cycstic walls.

Acanthamoeba Keratitis↗
PubMed1980

[Unusual course of Horton's arteritis (author's transl)].

It is generally accepted that the criteria for the diagnosis of temporal arteritis are increased blood sedimentation rate, advanced age and a generally poor state of health, accompanied by cephalalgia. However, as the case histories of three patients show, the absence of one or several of these criteria does not rule out the diagnosis.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Support groups for people living with HIV/AIDS: a review of literature.

For more than a decade, support groups have been proposed as a key intervention for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWAs). Despite this fact, there are still only a few articles that evaluate and compare outcomes of support groups so as to provide a scientific base for their usefulness and effectiveness. The purpose of this article is to critically review selected published literature on support groups and to assess gaps in research. In general, the reviewed literature evaluated support groups as an effective intervention, which is evident for this widespread support. However, because diverse populations of PLWAs have specific needs, the group and intervention should be designed to meet those needs. Specific recommendations for further research about support groups for PLWAs are offered.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗