The experience of spouses as informal caregivers for recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplants.

Spouses often are the primary caregiver for the hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients and participate in the transplant recipients' care throughout the HSCT trajectory. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the experiences of spouses of HSCT recipients during the acute phase of the transplant trajectory. The participants were spousal caregivers (8 wives and 3 husbands) of transplant recipients.

Effect of Computerized Nursing Documentation on Clinical Care Activities in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

A point of care computerized nursing documentation system is being evaluated to determine if the implementation resulted in a timesaving for neonatal nurse practitioners (NNP) while preparing for patient rounds. A benefit of the hypothesized decreased work process is earlier initiation of care changes thus improving care quality. Observable activities within the work process were timed before and again 4 months after implementation of the computerized nursing documentation system.

Mothers in the NICU: outsider to partner.

The emerging care delivery model for Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) is family-focused, developmentally supportive care. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe mothers' experience of becoming a mother while their infants were receiving care in the NICU. A qualitative research design was used.

Independent nursing actions in cooperative care.

Purpose/objectives: To identify and describe independent nursing actions in cooperative care.

Design: Qualitative, descriptive, inductive study.

Setting: The Nebraska Medical Center's Lied Transplant Center in Omaha, where lay care partners assume responsibility for acute care of transplant recipients in partnership with nurses.

Identification and validation of competencies for use in objective structured clinical examinations for lay caregivers.

Cancer care has shifted from the traditional hospital to alternative settings, thus requiring lay individuals to assume increased direct care responsibility. Cooperative Care is an example of an alternative acute care delivery model where a family member or a friend is responsible for care previously provided by healthcare professionals. The success of alternative models is dependent on effective educational programs with clearly defined expectations and methods for evaluating caregiver competence.

Effect of an intimate partner violence educational program on the attitudes of nurses.

Objective: To examine the effect of an intimate partner violence (IPV) educational program on the attitudes of nurses toward victims.

Design: A quasi-experimental study utilizing a pretest and posttest.

Setting: An urban health care system.