Use of person-centred music to manage wound dressing-related pain: a mixed method case study.

Objective: To determine whether person-centred music (PCMusic) contributes to reducing pain during painful leg ulcer dressing change procedures indicated by: decreased levels of indicators related to stress; decreased pain scores; and a more favourable treatment climate during the dressing change procedure.

Method: A case study of a 51-year-old female patient with chronic inherited disease weakening her connective tissues. Quantitative data entailed temporal measurements of stress indicators including: heart pulse rate; oxygen saturation (SpO); saliva cortisol; and a visual analogue scale (VAS).

Diagnosis and treatment impacts on wound care efficiency drivers: real-world analysis.

The prevalence and economic burden of wounds are growing. Any wound has the potential to become hard-to-heal and require frequent care. Clinicians need to find ways to absorb demand on services without compromising outcomes.

Wound management for the 21st century: combining effectiveness and efficiency.

Treatment of wounds of different aetiologies constitutes a major part of the total health care budget. It is estimated that 1·5-2 million people in Europe suffer from acute or chronic wounds. These wounds are managed both in hospitals and in community care.

Fighting Off Wound Pathogens in Horses with Honeybee Lactic Acid Bacteria.

In the global perspective of antibiotic resistance, it is urgent to find potent topical antibiotics for the use in human and animal infection. Healing of equine wounds, particularly in the limbs, is difficult due to hydrostatic factors and exposure to environmental contaminants, which can lead to heavy bio-burden/biofilm formation and sometimes to infection. Therefore, antibiotics are often prescribed.

Disaster nursing: Self-reported competence of nursing students and registered nurses, with focus on their readiness to manage violence, serious events and disasters.

The World Health Organization and the International Council of Nurses recognises the importance of nurses' involvement in disaster preparedness and response. The aim of this study was to describe and compare self-reported disaster nursing competence (DNC) among nursing students (NSs) and among registered nurses (RNs) with professional experience. Further to investigate possible associations between self-reported DNC and background factors.

Adjusting to future demands in healthcare: Curriculum changes and nursing students' self-reported professional competence.

Background: Nursing competence is of significant importance for patient care. Newly graduated nursing students rate their competence as high. However, the impact of different designs of nursing curricula on nursing students' self-reported nursing competence areas is seldom reported.

The Nurse Professional Competence (NPC) Scale: Self-reported competence among nursing students on the point of graduation.

Background: International organisations, e.g. WHO, stress the importance of competent registered nurses (RN) for the safety and quality of healthcare systems.

Promotion of wound healing by Plantago major L. leaf extracts--ex-vivo experiments confirm experiences from traditional medicine.

The wound-healing properties of Plantago major L. (plantain) were evaluated using an ex-vivo porcine wound-healing model. Ethanol- and water-based extracts were prepared from greenhouse-grown and freeze-dried leaves of P.

Diagnosis-specific disability pension and risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality--a cohort study of 4.9 million inhabitants in Sweden.

Background: The incidence of disability pension (DP) is high in several European countries. However, knowledge on associations of cause-specific DP and premature death is limited. The aims were to: 1) investigate the association between cause-specific DP and all-cause and cause-specific mortality among women and men and 2) examine period effects of this association.

A pilot study investigating lactic acid bacterial symbionts from the honeybee in inhibiting human chronic wound pathogens.

Treatment and management of chronic wounds is a large burden on the health sector and causes substantial suffering for the patients. We believe that 13 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) symbionts isolated from the honey crop of the honeybee are important players in the antimicrobial action of honey, by producing antimicrobial substances and can be used in combination with heather honey as an effective treatment in wound management. A total of 22 patients with chronic ulcers were included; culture-dependent and molecular-based (MALDI-MS and 16S rRNA gene sequencing) techniques were used to identify bacteria from chronic wounds.

Lactic acid bacterial symbionts in honeybees - an unknown key to honey's antimicrobial and therapeutic activities.

Could honeybees' most valuable contribution to mankind besides pollination services be alternative tools against infections? Today, due to the emerging antibiotic-resistant pathogens, we are facing a new era of searching for alternative tools against infections. Natural products such as honey have been applied against human's infections for millennia without sufficient scientific evidence. A unique lactic acid bacterial (LAB) microbiota was discovered by us, which is in symbiosis with honeybees and present in large amounts in fresh honey across the world.

Associations between number of sick-leave days and future all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a population-based cohort study.

Background: As the number of studies on the future situation of sickness absentees still is very limited, we aimed to investigate the association between number of sick-leave days and future all-cause and cause-specific mortality among women and men.

Methods: A cohort of 2 275 987 women and 2 393 248 men, aged 20-64 years in 1995 was followed 1996-2006 with regard to mortality. Data were obtained from linked authority-administered registers.

Development and validation of a new tool measuring nurses self-reported professional competence--the nurse professional competence (NPC) Scale.

Objectives: To develop and validate a new tool intended for measuring self-reported professional competence among both nurse students prior to graduation and among practicing nurses. The new tool is based on formal competence requirements from the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare, which in turn are based on WHO guidelines.

Design: A methodological study including construction of a new scale and evaluation of its psychometric properties.

Health care management of sickness certification tasks: results from two surveys to physicians.

Background: Health care in general and physicians in particular, play an important role in patients' sickness certification processes. However, a lack of management within health care regarding how sickness certification is carried out has been identified in Sweden. A variety of interventions to increase the quality of sickness certification were introduced by the government and County Councils.

Problems experienced by gynecologists/obstetricians in sickness certification consultations.

Objective: To explore frequencies and experiences with problems in sickness certification consultations among gynecologists and obstetricians in two different years.

Design: Cross-sectional surveys on two occasions; in 2004 and 2008.

Setting: Gynecological, obstetric and maternal health care.

Lack of adjustment latitude at work as a trigger of taking sick leave-a Swedish case-crossover study.

Objectives: Research has shown that individuals reporting a low level of adjustment latitude, defined as having few possibilities to temporarily adjust work demands to illness, have a higher risk of sick leave. To what extent lack of adjustment latitude influences the individual when making the decision to take sick leave is unknown. We hypothesize that ill individuals are more likely to take sick leave on days when they experience a lack of adjustment latitude at work than on days with access to adjustment latitude.

Objective evaluation by reflectance spectrophotometry can be of clinical value for the verification of blanching/non blanching erythema in the sacral area.

Early detection of non blanching erythema (pressure ulcer category I) is necessary to prevent any further skin damage. An objective method to discriminate between blanching/non blanching erythema is presently not available. The purpose of this investigation was to explore if a non invasive objective method could differentiate between blanching/non blanching erythema in the sacral area of patients undergoing hip fracture surgery.

Specialist prescribing of psychotropic drugs to older persons in Sweden--a register-based study of 188,024 older persons.

Background: The situation for older persons with mental disorders other than dementia disorders has scarcely been studied. The older population is increasing worldwide and along with this increase the prevalence of mental disorders will also rise. The treatment of older persons with mental disorders entails complex challenges, with drugs constituting the major medical treatment.

Psychiatrists' work with sickness certification: frequency, experiences and severity of the certification tasks in a national survey in Sweden.

Background: Many psychiatrists are involved in sickness certification of their patients; however, there is very limited knowledge about this aspect of their work. The objective of this study was to explore frequencies of problematic issues in the sickness certification tasks and experiences of severity regarding these problematic issues among psychiatrists.

Methods: A cross-sectional nationwide questionnaire study to all physicians in Sweden.

Short-term sick leave and future risk of sickness absence and unemployment - the impact of health status.

Background: In previous studies the authors have found sick leave to be a predictor of future sick leave, unemployment and disability pension. Although sick leave reflects underlying health problems, some studies have suggested that sick leave may have consequences beyond the consequences of the underlying illness. However, few studies have aimed at studying consequences of sick leave while adjusting for ill health.

Struggling for existence-Life situation experiences of older persons with mental disorders.

Older persons with mental disorders represent a vulnerable group of people with extensive and complex needs. The older population is rapidly increasing worldwide and, as a result of deinstitutionalization in mental health care, older persons are remaining at home to a greater extent. Although they constitute a large proportion of the population, older persons with mental disorders have been neglected in research as well as in care organizations.

Prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in residents of nursing homes in a Swedish municipality: healthcare staff knowledge of and adherence to principles of basic infection prevention.

Background: The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae in residents living in Swedish nursing homes, and if carriage of resistant bacteria was related to antibiotic treatment, other risk factors, and/or staff's adherence to guidelines for infection control.

Methods: Five hundred and sixty residents from 9 nursing homes on a total of 67 wards participated in the study and had microbiological cultures taken. Faecal samples were obtained from 495 residents (88.

Is there an association between long-term sick leave and disability pension and unemployment beyond the effect of health status?--a cohort study.

Background: Studies have shown that long-term sick leave is a strong predictor of disability pension. However, few have aimed to disentangle the effect of sick leave and of health status. The objective of this study was to investigate whether there is an association between long-term sick leave and disability pension and unemployment, when taking health status into account.

Physicians who experience sickness certification as a work environmental problem: where do they work and what specific problems do they have? A nationwide survey in Sweden.

Objectives: In a recent study, 11% of the Swedish physicians below 65 years dealing with sickness certification tasks (SCT) experienced SCT to a great extent as a work environment problem (WEP). This study aimed at exploring which SCT problems those physicians experienced and if these problems varied between general practitioners (GPs), psychiatrists, orthopaedists and physicians working at other types of clinics.

Design: A cross-sectional nationwide questionnaire study.

Low workload as a trigger of sick leave: results from a Swedish case-crossover study.

Objectives: To investigate if exposure to an unusually low workload when ill can trigger taking sick leave.

Methods: A case-crossover design was applied to 546 sick-leave spells obtained from a cohort of 1430 employees within six Swedish workplaces. New sick-leave spells were reported from the workplaces during 3 to 12 months follow-up.