Referral criteria: perceptions and experiences of district nursing students in Northern Ireland

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 532-538
Author(s):  
Charlene Young ◽  
Bernie Reid

An ever-ageing population and widening health inequalities intensify the complexity of care that is now delivered within community settings by district nurses. Appropriate referral criteria are required to facilitate the enhancement of efficient and equitable district nursing service provision. This study aimed to explore district nursing students' perceptions and experiences of district nursing referral criteria in Northern Ireland. A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted using a purposive convenience sample of 10 district nursing students. Data were collected during online focus group interviews and analysed using a thematic framework. Four themes emerged: referral criteria; insight and inconsistency; task versus patient-centred care; and misunderstanding the service and referral quality. The themes reflect a lack of consensus with respect to referral criteria, contributing to inappropriate and poor-quality referrals. Appropriate and quality referrals to district nursing services are key to assuring sustainable service provision. Suitable access to district nursing services may be enhanced by developing consensus referral criteria.

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Ambrosi ◽  
Federica Canzan ◽  
Alessandra Zenere ◽  
Mario Grassi ◽  
Stefano Tardivo ◽  
...  

Rationale, aims and objective: Measuring nurse caring may provide empirical evidence to assist clinicians and administrators in making decisions. The aim of the present study was to develop a new scale, called the CARE-Italy, grounded in the Italian culture, for measuring nurses’ caring behaviours.Methods: A mixed method approach was applied in developing the instrument. The item generation and scale development were performed through a qualitative phenomenological approach and a focus group with a panel of experts. The provisional instrument was then administered to a convenience sample of 439 nurses and then questionnaire scaling and association analysis were performed. A dual scaling analysis of successive categories was performed to identify preferences on the rating scale. An item selection based on item-scale correlations and item weights was performed. Subjects’ mean scores were computed and standardized in a 100-point scale.Results: The 20 caring behaviours perceived by nurses to be the most important ones constitute the final version of the CARE-Italy questionnaire. They concern patients’ surveillance, professional relationships with patients, satisfying patients’ and family members’ practical and psychological needs, team consultation and nurses’ emotions.Conclusions:  A relational and paternalistic caring approach by Italian nurses seems to be suggested. The next step of the research project will be the validation process of the CARE-Italy questionnaire with a Likert scale measuring the occurrence of the 20 caring behaviours in daily practice.


BMC Nursing ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Mitchell ◽  
Jessica Scott ◽  
Gillian Carter ◽  
Christine Brown Wilson

Abstract Background Delirium is a common disorder affecting several people in primary, secondary, and tertiary settings. The condition is frequently under-diagnosed leading to long-lasting physical and cognitive impairment or premature death. Despite this, there has been limited research on the impact of innovative approaches to delirium education amongst undergraduate nursing students. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a delirium awareness podcast on undergraduate nursing student knowledge and confidence related to the condition in Northern Ireland. Methods The intervention was a 60-min delirium awareness podcast, available throughout May 2020, to a convenience sample of year one undergraduate nursing students (n = 320) completing a BSc Honours Nursing degree programme in a Northern Ireland University. The podcast focused on how nursing students could effectively recognise, manage, and prevent delirium. Participants had a period of 4 weeks to listen to the podcast and complete the pre and post questionnaires. The questionnaires were comprised of a 35-item true-false Delirium Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ), a 3-item questionnaire about professional confidence and a 7-item questionnaire evaluating the use of podcasting as an approach to promote knowledge and confidence about delirium. Data were analysed using paired t-tests and descriptive statistics. Results Students improved across all three core areas in the post-test questionnaire, demonstrating improvements in knowledge about symptoms of delirium (7.78% increase), causes and risk factors of delirium (13.34% increase) and management of delirium (12.81% increase). In relation to perceived confidence, students reported a 46.50% increase in confidence related to recognition of delirium, a 48.32% increase in relation to delirium management and a 50.71% increase their ability to communicate about delirium. Both questionnaires were statistically significant (P < 0.001). The final questionnaire illustrated that nursing students positively evaluated the use of podcast for promoting their knowledge and confidence about delirium and 96.32% of nursing students believed that the podcast met their learning needs about delirium. Conclusions A 60-min podcast on delirium improved first year student nurse knowledge about delirium. Nursing students also expressed that this approach to delirium education was effective in their learning about the condition.


Author(s):  
Yolanda Raquel Lapeña-Moñux ◽  
Luis Cibanal-Juan ◽  
Mª Isabel Orts-Cortés ◽  
Mª Loreto Maciá-Soler ◽  
Domingo Palacios-Ceña

Abstract Objective: this paper explores the experiences of registered nurses working with Spanish nursing students within the hospital. Methods: a qualitative phenomenological approach was followed. Purposeful sampling was employed. Twenty-one registered nurses, from a public hospital located in Spain, were included in the study. Data were collected by means of unstructured and semi-structured interviews and were analysed using Giorgi's proposal. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research were followed. Results: three main themes described the experience of registered nurses: "The nurse's relationship with nursing students"; most nurses emphasized the importance of the first contact with students and they considered students' attitude to be key. "Defining the role of the student in clinical practice"; it is necessary to unify the nurse's role and interventions to avoid misleading students and establish priorities in clinical practice. "Building bridges between clinical settings and the University"; the need to establish a common ground and connection between the university and hospital clinical settings was emphasized. Nurses felt that the training program should also be designed by the clinical settings themselves. Conclusions: understanding the meaning of nursing students with registered nurses might gain a deeper insight into their expectations.


Author(s):  
Winnie Lai-Sheung Cheng

Due to the ageing population, nursing students will be more likely to work with older adults after graduation. It is important to assess whether Hong Kong nursing students are well prepared to care for older adults. A convenience sample of 139 nursing students was surveyed using questionnaires: Palmore’s Facts on Ageing Quiz (FAQ), Kogan’s Attitudes Toward Old People scale (KAOP), and the Willingness to Care for Older People (WCOP) scale to assess the knowledge of and attitudes toward older adult care, and willingness to care for older adults, respectively. The overall score in the FAQ was medium-low (mean = 15.1, SD = 2.8). The KAOP score was medium-high (mean = 121.6, SD = 12.0). The willingness score was slightly high (mean = 5.2, SD = 1.1). Positive attitudes and knowledge about ageing are the predictors of nursing students’ willingness to take care of older adults. The findings provide evidence to nurse educators and clinical mentors that (a) courses providing knowledge about ageing are valuable, and (b) elements that cultivate positive attitudes towards older adult care should be included in curricula. Nursing curricula that provide knowledge and experience about older adult care play a pivotal role in creating a workforce of nurses ready and willing to care for the ever growing number of ageing adults.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026921552110007
Author(s):  
Hannah Stott ◽  
Mary Cramp ◽  
Stuart McClean ◽  
Ailie Turton

Objective: This study explored stroke survivors’ experiences of altered body perception, whether these perceptions cause discomfort, and the need for clinical interventions to improve comfort. Design: A qualitative phenomenological study. Setting: Participants’ homes. Participants: A purposive sample of 16 stroke survivors were recruited from community support groups. Participants (median: age 59; time post stroke >2 years), were at least six-months post-stroke, experiencing motor or sensory impairments and able to communicate verbally. Interventions: Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were analysed using an interpretive phenomenological approach and presented thematically. Results: Four themes or experiences were identified: Participants described (1) a body that did not exist; (2) a body hindered by strange sensations and distorted perceptions; (3) an uncontrollable body; and (4) a body isolated from social and clinical support. Discomfort was apparent in a physical and psychological sense and body experiences were difficult to comprehend and communicate to healthcare staff. Participants wished for interventions to improve their comfort but were doubtful that such treatments existed. Conclusion: Indications are that altered body perceptions cause multifaceted physical and psychosocial discomfort for stroke survivors. Discussions with patients about their personal perceptions and experiences of the body may facilitate better understanding and management to improve comfort after stroke.


Author(s):  
Concepció Fuentes-Pumarola ◽  
Zaira Reyes-Amargant ◽  
Alba Berenguer-Simon ◽  
David Ballester-Ferrando ◽  
Maria Dolors Burjalés-Martí ◽  
...  

(1) Background: Sexual violence (SV) has become common in universities for reasons related to unwanted social/peer pressures regarding alcohol/drug use and sexual activities. Objectives: To identify perceptions of SV and alcohol use and estimate prevalence among nursing students in Catalonia, Spain. (2) Methods: Observational descriptive cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of nursing students attending public universities. (3) Results: We recruited 686 students (86.11% women), who reported as follows: 68.7% had consumed alcohol, 65.6% had been drunk at least once in the previous year, 62.65% had experienced blackouts and 25.55% had felt pressured to consume alcohol. Drunkenness and blackouts were related (p < 0.000). Of the 15.6% of respondents who had experienced SV, 47.7% experienced SV while under the influence of alcohol and were insufficiently alert to stop what was happening, while 3.06% reported rape. SV was more likely to be experienced by women (OR: 2.770; CI 95%: 1.229–6.242; p = 0.014), individuals reporting a drunk episode in the previous year (OR: 2.839; 95% CI: 1.551–5.197; p = 0.001) and individuals pressured to consume alcohol (OR: 2.091; 95% CI: 1.332–3.281; p = 0.001). (4) Conclusions: Nursing instructors need to raise student awareness of both the effects of alcohol use and SV, so as to equip these future health professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to deal with SV among young people.


SAGE Open ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824401243907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin A. Sitron ◽  
Donald A. Dyson

The authors originally posited that a new construct must be developed to measure the success of affective training for sexologists, particularly the Sexuality Attitudes Reassessment (SAR) modality. Couching their critique in studies that have been conducted to measure the SAR’s effectiveness as a method used to evoke perspective transformation and more sensitive and humanistic service provision, the authors argued that the development of a professional’s sexological worldview would be a more accurate construct than attitude change to measure when considering the outcomes of SAR training. This study in the United States used a two-phase qualitative approach to validate the proposed sexological worldview construct. In the first phase, they surveyed a panel of 16 sexologists regarding their original proposed definition of sexological worldview and refined it. In the second phase, they completed 30 one-on-one interviews with a convenience sample of sexologists and sexology students. Using an inductive content analysis of the interview transcripts, seven themes emerged in support of the proposed definition of sexological worldview, including its components and its developmental characteristics. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for the use of the construct for the training of sexologists.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gladys Kigozi

Background: Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) frequently occurs amongst patients with tuberculosis (TB) and contributes to poor quality of life and treatment outcomes. This study evaluated the construct validity and reliability of the GAD-7 scale in a sample of patients with TB in the Free State Province.Methods: A pilot study was conducted amongst a convenience sample of 208 adult patients newly diagnosed with drug-susceptible TB attending primary healthcare (PHC) facilities in the Lejweleputswa District in the Free State. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire comprising social demographic questions and the GAD-7 scale was used. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate the construct validity of the GAD-7 scale. The reliability of the scale was assessed by calculating Cronbach’s alpha.Results: The analysis showed that a modified two-factor (somatic symptoms and cognitive -emotional symptoms) model, in which the items ‘Not being able to stop or control worrying’ and ‘Worrying too much about different things’ were allowed to covary (Comparative Fit Index: 0.996, Tucker–Lewis Index: 0.993, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation: 0.070, 90% confidence interval: 0.032–0.089), fitted the data better than a unidimensional (generalised anxiety) or an unmodified two-factor model. The indicators all showed significant positive factor loadings, with standardised coefficients ranging from 0.719 to 0.873. The Cronbach’s alpha of the scale was 0.86.Conclusion: The modified two-factor structure and high internal consistency respectively provide evidence for construct validity and reliability of the GAD-7 scale for assessing GAD amongst patients with TB. Studies are necessary to assess the performance of this brief scale under routine TB programme conditions in the Free State.


Author(s):  
Jose Miguel Cachón-Pérez ◽  
Purificación Gonzalez-Villanueva ◽  
Marta Rodriguez-Garcia ◽  
Oscar Oliva-Fernandez ◽  
Esther Garcia-Garcia ◽  
...  

Background: Professional nursing organizations recommend the use of nursing diagnosis to enhance and facilitate the standardization of care and the development of a common language used by nursing practitioners. In the clinical reality of hospital emergency departments, however, its use is controversial. The objectives of the research are (a) to explore the use of nursing diagnosis in hospital emergency departments, and (b) to describe the meaning of nursing diagnosis for hospital emergency nurses. Methods: A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted. A purposeful sampling and snowball technique were used. Data were collected using in-depth interviews, researchers’ field notes, and documental analysis. An inductive analysis based on Giorgi´s proposal was used to identify significant emerging themes from interviews and field notes. Seventeen participants with a mean age of 40 were recruited. Results: Three themes were identified. The results showed how the use of nursing diagnosis in hospital emergency departments depends on nurses to apply a working methodology in their practice, along with other dimensions such as the characteristics of emergency care, the type of health problems, and the complexity of care. Conclusions: The use of standardized language in emergency departments is complex due to the overcrowded nature of care in these settings.


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