Transcultural encounters in a medical ward in Sweden: experiences of health care practitioners.

The aim of this study was to explore the approach adopted by health care practitioners when handling transcultural encounters. The study was performed by means of action research, a reflective process led by practitioners and researchers working together to improve practice and solve problems. Data were collected through participant observations at a coronary unit in Sweden and group discussions with the health care professionals and were analyzed and interpreted using a hermeneutic approach.

The everyday work at a Swedish emergency department--the practitioners' perspective.

Unlabelled: In the everyday work at emergency departments (EDs), the patients being cared for have different needs and perceived symptoms. To meet their need for emergency care, knowledge of the work is important. The aim of this study is to explore the everyday work at a Swedish ED from a practitioner's perspective.

A critical analysis of health promotion and 'empowerment' in the context of palliative family care-giving.

Traditionally viewed as in opposition to palliative care, newer ideas about 'health-promoting palliative care' increasingly infuse the practices and philosophies of healthcare professionals, often invoking ideals of empowerment and participation in care and decision-making. The general tendency is to assume that empowerment, participation, and self-care are universally beneficial for and welcomed by all individuals. But does this assumption hold for everyone, and do we fully understand the implications of health-promoting palliative care for family caregivers in particular? In this study, we draw on existing literature to highlight potential challenges arising from the application of 'family empowerment' strategies in palliative home-care nursing practice.

Patients' experience of pain and pain relief following hip replacement surgery.

Aims: The aim of this study was to describe patients' experience of pain and pain relief following hip replacement surgery.

Background: Annually, many patients undergo hip replacement surgery. Previous research has focused largely on the long-term effects on pain for patients who undergo hip replacement surgery and to a lesser degree on their subjective, early postoperative pain experience.

Impact of the Bologna process in Bachelor nursing programmes: The Swedish case.

The higher education reform in Europe known as the "Bologna Process" implies further harmonisation and integration of nursing programmes into the higher education system. This study explores this process in Sweden, where the development of nursing education into an undergraduate programme started in 1977. The aim of this study was to analyse characteristics of the major subject and its relationship to other subject areas, such as medical sciences and social sciences, in Bachelor level nursing programmes in Sweden following initial implementation of the Bologna process.

Clinical problems at the end of life in a Swedish population, including the role of advancing age and physical and cognitive function.

Aims: To improve the understanding of specific clinical problems at the end of life, including the role of advancing age, physical function and cognitive function.

Methods: The study is part of an explorative survey of data relevant to end-of-life healthcare services during the last 3 months of life of a randomly selected sample of the population of a Swedish county. Data were selected through retrospective reviews of death certificates and medical records, and comprise information from 12 municipalities and 229 individuals.

The turning point: identifying end-of-life care in everyday health care practice.

There is a broad consensus among international policy statements that care provided at end-of-life should be different from care provided during other periods of life which assumes a turning point which reflects the onset of the dying process and the associated care reorientation. Few studies derived from empirical data have described this turning point from a clinical perspective. With the purpose to increase the clinical understanding about the nature of such turning points this study explores this phenomenon as determined from health-care records of a representative sample of adults who accessed the public health care system, and who died in the County of Västra Götaland, Sweden, during 2001 (n=229).

Worst experiences of pain and conceptions of worst pain imaginable among nursing students.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study to explore nursing students' own worst experiences of pain as well as their conceptions of the worst pain imaginable.

Background: Pain is a personal experience, often assessed using a visual analogue scale. The endpoints of this scale are labelled with the extremes for pain experience (e.

The turning point: Clinical identification of dying and reorientation of care.

Palliative care is increasingly organized within the setting of formal health care systems but the demarcation has become unclear between, on the one hand, care directed at cure and rehabilitation and palliative care aimed at relief of suffering on the other. With the purpose to increase the understanding about the turning point reflecting identification of dying and reorientation of care, this study explores this phenomenon as determined from health care records of a representative sample (n = 229). A turning point was identified in 160 records.

Utilization of health-care services at the end-of-life.

End-of-life care poses a growing clinical and policy concern since most people who are dying utilize health-care services during this period of life. Hence, end-of-life care is a common and integral part of the care provided by health-care systems. There is a growing call for the implementation of a palliative approach as an integral part of all end-of-life care.

Impaired behaviour, learning and memory, in adult mice neonatally exposed to hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD).

Brominated flame-retardants (BFRs) are a diverse group of global environmental pollutants. In the present study, we show that neonatal exposure to hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) can cause developmental behavioural defects that are similar to those recently reported for PBDEs and certain PCBs. Furthermore, HBCDD appears to be as potent as PBDEs in inducing developmental neurotoxic effects in mice.

End-of-life in a Swedish population: demographics, social conditions and characteristics of places of death.

The objectives of this study were to identify and describe the demographics and social conditions as well as characteristics of the places of death in a randomly selected sample that died in a county in Sweden during 2001. The present study reports part of the findings from a larger study undertaken during 2003 using a survey design of retrospective reviews of death certificates, medical records, and nursing records. Among several noteworthy findings are: first, an examination of these individuals' living arrangements reveal not only a large and vulnerable group that lives alone at the end-of-life but also a group living separated from their partners near end-of-life; second, individuals differ with respect to residence prior to death, that is private homes versus residential care facilities, imparting highly different contexts of care at the end-of-life; and third, a high prevalence of institutionalized deaths demonstrates that places of death other than hospitals and residential care facilities are uncommon, if not rare.

Ways of talking about experiences of pain among older patients following orthopaedic surgery.

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine how older patients who had undergone hip surgery described their experience of pain.

Background: A verbal report of pain is considered to be the single most reliable indicator of a person's pain experience. When assessing pain, healthcare professionals must be able to interpret the content of pain reports in order to understand older patient's pain experiences.

Molecular orbital studies on brominated diphenyl ethers. Part II--reactivity and quantitative structure-activity (property) relationships.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely used as flame retardants and are increasingly turning up in the environment. Their structural similarities to polychlorinated biphenyls and thyroid hormones suggest they may be a risk to human health. The present study examines the reactivity of brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs) on the basis of the electronic structures as calculated by semiempirical AM1 self-consistent field molecular orbital (SCF-MO) method.

Photochemical transformations of tetrabromobisphenol A and related phenols in water.

A method was developed for studies of the phototransformation at UV irradiation of aqueous solutions of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), tribromobisphenol A (TriBBPA), tetrachlorobisphenol A (TCBPA), 2,4-dichlorophenol at various pHs as well as 2-chlorophenol, 2-bromophenol, 3,4-dichlorophenol and bisphenol A at pH 11. The absorbance spectra of the compounds and the emission spectra of the light-source were determined and used to calculate disappearance quantum yields of the photochemical reactions that were taking place. No major differences between the disappearance quantum yields of TBBPA and TCBPA were observed at pH 10, while the disappearance quantum yield of TriBBPA was approximately two times higher.

Neurobehavioral derangements in adult mice receiving decabrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE 209) during a defined period of neonatal brain development.

Flame retardants are used to suppress or inhibit combustion processes in an effort to reduce the risk of fire. One class of flame retardants, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), has been found to be increasing in the environment and in human milk. Previous studies have shown that lower brominated PBDEs, tetra-, penta-, and hexabrominated diphenyl ethers, can cause developmental neurotoxic effects.