Publications by authors named "Lars Westin"

Nursing education needs to prepare students for care of dying patients. The aim of this study was to describe the development of nursing students' attitudes toward caring for dying patients and their perceived preparedness to perform end-of-life care. A longitudinal study was performed with 117 nursing students at six universities in Sweden.

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Aim: To describe Swedish nursing students' perceptions of caring for dying people after the first year of a three year in a nursing programme at three university nursing schools in Sweden.

Methods: Interviews (n=17) were undertaken with nursing students at the end of their first year. A phenomenographic approach was used to design and structure the analysis of the nursing students' perceptions.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to investigate the attitudes of Swedish first-year nursing students towards caring for dying patients, examining factors such as age, prior experiences, education, encounters with dying patients, and birthplace.
  • Using the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD), data was collected from 371 students across six universities, revealing that 67.3% had a generally positive attitude towards this aspect of care.
  • Results indicated that older students and those with prior caregiving experiences or education, as well as those who had met dying individuals and were born in Sweden, exhibited the most positive attitudes, highlighting the need for nursing educators to consider these factors in their training.
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Background: In university undergraduate nursing programmes, didactic strategies that enable students to learn nursing skills, solve problems and develop reflective and critical thinking and practice are needed. The aim of this study was to explore how different didactic strategies support nursing students' experiences of learning during the first year of a reconstructed nursing curriculum.

Methods: This study employed a qualitative approach.

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Aim: To describe first-year nursing students' experiences of witnessing death and providing end-of-life care.

Methods: This study is part of a larger longitudinal project. Interviews (n=17) were conducted with nursing students at the end of their first year of education.

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Aim: To describe nursing students' reasoning about emotionally demanding questions concerning the care of dying patients.

Methods: The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) Scale was completed by students at the beginning of their education, and there was great variation in the responses to five items. At a follow-up measurement in the second year, an open-ended question, 'How did you reason when completing this question?', was added to each of the these five items.

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Background: Growing old involves many changes in life and implies an increased risks of illness and different forms of disabilities. Life may change in a radical way when a person gets a disease like dementia or moves to a nursing home due to disabilities or needs. In both cases, it often leads to an increased dependency on care where the patient becomes exposed and vulnerable and thereby at a higher risk for experiencing different forms of suffering.

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Suffering and well-being are significant aspects of human existence; in particular, suffering and well-being are important aspects of patients' experiences following diseases. Increased knowledge about existential dimensions of illness and healthcare experiences may be needed in order to improve care and reduce unnecessary suffering. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to illuminate the phenomenon of suffering experienced in relation to healthcare needs among patients in hospital settings in Sweden.

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The aim of this study was to explore and interpret the meaning of residents' experiences of encounters with their relatives and other significant persons in nursing homes. Twelve residents in three different nursing homes in a western Sweden municipality were interviewed. The method used was hermeneutical text analysis.

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Background: Work in the emergency department is characterized by fast and efficient medical efforts to save lives, but can also involve a long waiting time for patients. Patients are given a priority rating upon their arrival in the clinic based on the seriousness of their problem, and nursing care for lower priority patients is given a lower prioritization. Regardless of their medical prioritization, all patients have a right to expect good nursing care while they are waiting.

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The purpose of this study was to explore and interpret the meaning of relatives' experiences of encounters with nurses when visiting residents in nursing homes. Thirteen relatives of residents in three nursing homes in Sweden were interviewed. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim.

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Aim: This paper is a report of a study to illuminate and interpret the meaning of residents' experiences of encounters with nurses in nursing homes. BACKGROUND; A large number of older people suffer from illness and become dependent on other people in their daily living. These people are often in need of care in nursing homes.

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We respond to the comments provided on our paper 'Principles help to analyse but often give no solution-secondary prevention after a cardiac event' by Simon Waltho, and highlight points of clarification.

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The aim of this paper is to investigate whether or not ethical conflicts can be identified, analysed and solved using ethical principles. The relation between the physician and the patient with ischemic heart disease (IHD) as life style changes are recommended in a secondary prevention program is used as an example. The principal persons affected (the patient and his or her spouse) and the ethical principles (respect for autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice) are combined in a two dimensional model.

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Aim.  The aim of the study was to describe and interpret the meaning of nurses' experiences of caring encounters with residents in nursing homes. Background.

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