What are nurses' attitudes, knowledge and practice of the universal precautions policy?
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Recently, the concept of mentoring, and the use of mentorship programs, is being touted as a strategic means within healthcare organizations to address the nursing shortage that promises to continue well into the future. Mentoring, on the surface, could also be considered as an excellent means of supporting the development and retention of intellectual capital and succession planning within nursing. However, without a better understanding of the concept of mentoring, nurse leaders can never really know the full impact of mentoring in order to achieve such goals within the organization. Several key results from a study of mentorship in nursing support the concept of ongoing knowledge sharing within the discipline, as seen through the eyes of the mentee. The implications for nurse leaders shift the focus from formal mentoring programs to the creation of practice settings that foster the development of mentoring relationships.
Collaborative problem-solving is an essential competency for nurses and all health professionals. This paper compares the design characteristics and educational benefits of three online-teaching strategies that nurse educators can use to build the critical thinking and social skills needed for effective collaboration: computer supported collaborative learning, case-based facilitated discussion, and cognitive flexibility hypermedia. These strategies support a critical instructional outcome required for effective collaboration: the ability to examine, assess, and synthesize multiple perspectives to resolve illstructured problems (i.e., problems for which there is no clear-cut solution). Descriptions, examples, and guidelines for implementing each strategy are provided. By integrating these strategies into their online courses, nurse educators can prepare nurses to work effectively with others to solve complex problems in clinical practice and the broader health-care system.
OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to determine if women realize the importance of optimizing their health prior to a pregnancy, whether the pregnancy is planned or not; and to evaluate their knowledge level and beliefs about preconception healthcare. Additionally, we sought to understand how and when women wanted to receive information on preconception health. METHODS: A survey study was performed using consecutive patients presenting to primary care practices for an annual well-woman exam. Patients were recruited based on appointment type and willingness to complete the survey at the time of their appointment, but prior to being seen by the physician. RESULTS: A total of 499 women completed the survey. Nearly all women (98.6%) realized the importance of optimizing their health prior to a pregnancy, and realized the best time to receive information about preconception health is before conception. The vast majority of patients surveyed (95.3%) preferred to receive information about preconception health from their primary care physician. Only 39% of women could recall their physician ever discussing this topic. The population studied revealed some significant knowledge deficiencies about factors that may threaten the health of mother or fetus. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of women do understand the importance of optimizing their health prior to conception, and look to their Primary care physician as their preferred source for such information. Study participants demonstrated deficiencies in their knowledge of risk factors that impact maternal and fetal health suggesting that physicians are not addressing preconception healthcare during routine care.
Departments of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) aim to deliver an efficient and effective service. Clear understanding of what the speciality offers is central to appropriate referrals. Studies published 10 years ago showed there was limited awareness of the specialty. We present the results of a simple questionnaire study and compare the results with those of a previous survey. There has been some improvement in the perception of the role of OMFS, but only 34/100 of the public had heard of OMFS and none expected OMFS to treat patients who were unhappy with their facial appearance.
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to explore the tacit knowledge of public health nurses in identifying community health problems and developing relevant new projects. Previous research only roughly showed those skills for creating new community health services, such as lobbying. METHOD: Nine Japanese public health nurses who had created new projects in their municipalities were selected by theoretical sampling and interviewed in 2002-2003. Yin's Case Study Method, especially the multiple-case study design, was used. RESULTS: All 9 public health nurses used similar approaches in identifying community health problems and the need for creating new services, even though their experiences differed and the kinds of projects varied. They identified the difficulties of clients, recognized clients who had the same problems, elucidated the limitations of existing services, and forecasted outcomes from the neglect of the clients' problems. Then they succeeded in creating a new project by examining individual health problems in the context of their community's characteristics, societal factors, and using existing policies to support their clients. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to explore the skills of public health nurses and their intention to use such skills in creating new projects as well as the exact process. They could identify community health problems that will be the basis for developing new services to provide care for individual clients. This is different from the traditional community assessment approach that requires the collection of a huge amount of information to clarify community health problems. The tacit knowledge of public health nurses will help to create needs-oriented new services more smoothly.
Health risks, defined in terms of the probability that an individual will suffer a particular type of adverse health event within a given time period, can be understood as referencing either natural entities or complex patterns of belief which incorporate the observer's values and knowledge, the position adopted in the present paper. The subjectivity inherent in judgements about adversity and time frames can be easily recognised, but social scientists have tended to accept uncritically the objectivity of probability. Most commonly in health risk analysis, the term probability refers to rates established by induction, and so requires the definition of a numerator and denominator. Depending upon their specification, many probabilities may be reasonably postulated for the same event, and individuals may change their risks by deciding to seek or avoid information. These apparent absurdities can be understood if probability is conceptualised as the projection of expectation onto the external world. Probabilities based on induction from observed frequencies provide glimpses of the future at the price of acceptance of the simplifying heuristic that statistics derived from aggregate groups can be validly attributed to individuals within them. The paper illustrates four implications of this conceptualisation of probability with qualitative data from a variety of sources, particularly a study of genetic counselling for pregnant women in a U.K. hospital. Firstly, the official selection of a specific probability heuristic reflects organisational constraints and values as well as predictive optimisation. Secondly, professionals and service users must work to maintain the facticity of an established heuristic in the face of alternatives. Thirdly, individuals, both lay and professional, manage probabilistic information in ways which support their strategic objectives. Fourthly, predictively sub-optimum schema, for example the idea of AIDS as a gay plague, may be selected because they match prevailing social value systems.
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We studied the perceptions of general practitioners (GPs) towards teledermatology, before and after its introduction into eight general practices for the purposes of a randomized controlled trial. A postal questionnaire was distributed before the trial and again one year later. Thirty-six of the 42 GPs responded on each occasion (a response rate of 86%). In the second survey, only 21% of respondents indicated that they were satisfied with teledermatology in their practice, while 47% said that they were dissatisfied. Thirty-one per cent said that they felt confident about diagnosis and management of care through teledermatology, and 28% reported that they were unconfident. Only 23% of respondents said that they would consider using a telemedicine system in the future, while 34% said they would not (43% were unsure). There were no significant findings to suggest that the GPs' perceptions changed over time. Less favourable responses to telemedicine were found than has been observed in previous studies, which suggests that the model of telemedicine described in this study would not be widely acceptable to GPs.
BACKGROUND: Our goals were to assess family physicians' spiritual well-being, identify their perceived barriers to discussing spiritual issues with patients, and determine how often they have these discussions. METHODS: We mailed a questionnaire to 231 Missouri family physicians (80 residents, 43 faculty, and 108 community physicians). The questionnaire included the Ellison Spiritual Well-being Scale (ESWS), as well as questions about physicians' attitudes toward spirituality and the barriers to and frequency of discussions of spiritual issues with patients. RESULTS: The response rate was 74%. The mean ESWS score indicated that the physician respondents had a high level of spiritual well-being. Nearly all respondents (96%) considered spiritual well-being an important health component, 86% supported referral of hospitalized patients with spiritual questions to chaplains, and 58% believed physicians should address patients' spiritual concerns. Fear of dying was the spiritual issue most commonly discussed, and less than 20% of physicians reported discussing other spiritual topics in more than 10% of patient encounters. Barriers to addressing spiritual issues included lack of time (71%), inadequate training for taking spiritual histories (59%), and difficulty identifying patients who want to discuss spiritual issues (56%). CONCLUSIONS: Family physicians in this survey had high spiritual well-being scores. Most believed spiritual well-being is an important factor in health. Despite this belief, however, most reported infrequent discussions of spiritual issues with patients and infrequent referrals of hospitalized patients to chaplains. Lack of time and training were key barriers to spiritual assessment.
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Surveys have shown that the overall prevalence of hearing problems in the adult population is approximately 20% with an increasing prevalence as a function of age, i.e. a prevalence of 40-70% in the population at an age of 70+ years. This survey describes the role of general practitioners (GP) in audiology based on questionnaire evaluations mailed to all GPs in the Copenhagen City and to GPs offering services to persons > or = 80 years of age in the Valby health authority subdistrict. Additionally, an evaluation of hearing-impaired persons referred to the Audiological Department has been performed. Only 10% of GPs indicated that they knew the structure and organization of the hearing health services, resulting in a delay in rehabilitation. Forty-five percent of GPs always refer their elderly patients > or = 80 years of age with hearing problems to otologists in the primary health care sector, which represents unnecessary and additional costs within the local health authority. Among the hearing-impaired only 29% had gone to their GP due to hearing problems. The attitude to hearing aids among the GPs is positive, and 95% consider a hearing aid capable of improving the quality of life. It is suggested that GPs receive training and education within the audiological field before entering general practice, and that postgraduate courses directed towards GPs are established.
PURPOSES: To assess the self-identified food security knowledge and practices of nurse practitioners (NPs) in Ohio and the relationships of food security knowledge and practices to NP characteristics. DATA SOURCES: This study utilized a survey approach for data collection. Participants were licensed NPs with prescriptive authority in Ohio who were randomly selected from the Ohio licensure list and responded to a questionnaire (n= 288) with demographic and food security-related questions. CONCLUSIONS: Less than one third of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were knowledgeable about the topic of food security. Education of NPs about food insecurity and about incorporation of food security principles into the healthcare process is needed. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Food insecurity can negatively impact compliance to prescribed treatments. NPs should address food security issues in order to provide specialized, individualized care to patients in order to achieve positive outcomes. Through evaluation of patients' food access, and factors that are related to food insecurity, this can be achieved.
The purpose of this article is to describe the theoretical models that underlie the book Cultural Diversity in Health and Illness. The book's internal structure; functional structure; conceptual relationships; scope; knowledge antecedents; applications to theory, research, and practice; and areas for further development are discussed.