The silent demand in the diagnostic phase.

Patients' experience of going through the diagnostic phase in hospital is apt to be overlooked by nurses and physicians; most of their inner preparative work for receiving the diagnosis is hidden because of the vulnerability of the situation. This paper discusses findings from a grounded theory study, of 18 in-depth interviews of 15 patients going through medical investigation at a gastric ward in a Norwegian university hospital. The interviews were conducted in 2002-2003.

Patterns of 'balancing between hope and despair' in the diagnostic phase: a grounded theory study of patients on a gastroenterology ward.

Aim: The aim of the study was to learn how patients going through the diagnostic phase experienced and handled their situation.

Background: Many studies report about the stressful diagnostic phase; however, none has presented a conceptual theory where the concepts are sufficiently related to each other. The Theory of Preparative Waiting has previously been published as a descriptive grounded theory and describes the experience of a group of gastroenterology patients going through the diagnostic phase.

Justifying coercion.

A grounded theory study of psychiatric nurses' experiences of administering medication to involuntary psychiatric patients revealed a basic social process of justifying coercion. Although the 17 nurses interviewed all reported success at avoiding the use of coercion, each had an individual approach to using the nurse-patient relationship to do this. However, all the nurses used the same process to reconcile themselves to using coercion when it became necessary.

Seismophobia: there is no loss worse than the loss of faith in the ground under us!

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Salutogenic psychosocial nursing practice.

Public affirmation of core principles for relating with clients is needed in order to assure continued viability of quality nursing practice in this era of competition and managed health care. Practitioners of professional nursing can reassert their legitimate claim to quality nursing care through an emphasis on the practice of salutogenic psychosocial nursing. The presumption is that clients, families, and communities who benefit from salutogenic nursing care are more likely to heal and stay well because they have developed competencies for managing the details of their health situations.

Risking involvement with cancer patients.

The helping relationship has been identified by Brammer (1988) as central to the practice of nursing. This study explored the process of developing special relationships with cancer patients. Interviews were conducted with 32 nursing personnel.

Predictors of weaning after 6 weeks of mechanical ventilation.

Study Objective: To identify variables associated with weaning outcome in long-term ventilator-dependent patients. Using those variables, to construct models to predict weaning success and to test the accuracy of those models.

Design: Retrospective medical record review.

The Sessing scale for assessment of pressure ulcer healing.

Objective: To describe a new observational scale, the Sessing scale, for measuring the progression of pressure ulcers. CRITERION STANDARDS: Changes in Shea stage and the diameter of healing pressure ulcers.

Subjects: A cohort of 84 nursing home residents with pressure ulcers.

Weaning from prolonged mechanical ventilation. The experience at a regional weaning center.

Study Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the facility, patient population, outcome of treatment, and survival of patients transferred to a regional weaning center (RWC) after prolonged mechanical ventilation in the ICU setting.

Design: Retrospective record review.

Setting: Regional weaning center.

The development of the Intersystem Model.

A nursing model has been developed which guides curriculum development and nursing practice at Azusa Pacific University School of Nursing; the Intersystem Model. It is a model which focuses on the interaction between nurse and patient/client and requires that the nurse assess the knowledge base, the values and the behaviours that are brought to a specific patient situation by both the nurse and the patient/client. Using the system concepts of supra and subsystems, person can be defined as the individual, the family or the community.

Collaborative planning of patient care in the prenatal, labor and delivery, and neonatal settings.

Self-care consumer and nursing movements have emphasized the role of the patient as an active participant in the planning and implementation of care. A nursing model that focuses on the interaction that takes place between the nurse and patient as they develop and implement a collaborative plan of care is presented. Three examples of how the model has been used in maternal-child health settings are given.

Implementation of the intersystem patient-care model in clinical practice.

An intrasystem-intersystem model developed by Alfred Kuhn has been integrated into the nursing process model to serve as a model for patient-nurse interaction. In this conceptual model the patient and the nurse represent intrasystems with three components, the detector, selector and effector, which act to supply information about the environment, analyse internal values and preferences and initiate action. The intrasystems are connected through a specified set of relations as the patient and nurse interact to communicate information, transact values and organize a plan of care.