Implementation of Agile in healthcare: methodology for a multisite home hospital accelerator.

Background: The diffusion of innovation in healthcare is sluggish. Evidence-based care models and interventions take years to reach patients. We believe the healthcare community could deliver innovation to the bedside faster if it followed other sectors by employing an organisational framework for efficiently accomplishing work.

Qualitative analysis of a nurse's responses to stroke caregivers on a web-based supportive intervention.

Background: Approximately 800 000 people experience a stroke every year; most are cared for by unpaid family members in home settings. Web-based interventions provide 24/7 access to education/support services and have been explored in the literature with family caregivers dealing with chronic conditions. Current research into nurses' web-based interactions with caregivers in these interventions is lacking.

Caregivers' incongruence: emotional strain in caring for persons with stroke.

Purpose: Guided by Friedemann's framework, the purpose of this study was to examine the dimensions of new family caregivers' emotional strain in caring for persons with stroke.

Method: Seventy-three caregivers who were new to that role participated in an interview every 2 weeks for a year as part of a NIH project. Of these caregivers, 36 participants were randomly assigned and had access to a Web-based intervention and its e-mail discussion.

Reduction of post-surgical pericardial adhesions using a pig model.

Background: Post-surgical pericardial adhesions pose an increased risk of complications during redo sternotomies. Adhesive tissue formation is a normal response to tissue injury and involves complex patho-physiological processes including the actions of prostaglandins to cause plasma leakage and fibrin formation. The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (Indomethacin and Rofecoxib) and a barrier (Coseal, a polyethylene glycol) to limit adhesion formation following cardiac surgery in a pig model.

Two sides to the caregiving story.

Purpose: This descriptive study examined problems and successes that a sample of 73 adult caregivers new to the role expressed in the first year of caring for stroke survivors. Data were collected from May 2002 to December 2005.

Method: Bimonthly, trained telephone interviewers asked the participants open-ended questions to elicit their experience in caregiving.

Battered pets and domestic violence: animal abuse reported by women experiencing intimate violence and by nonabused women.

Women residing at domestic violence shelters (S group) were nearly 11 times more likely to report that their partner had hurt or killed pets than a comparison group of women who said they had not experienced intimate violence (NS group). Reports of threatened harm to pets were more than 4 times higher for the S group. Using the Conflict Tactics Scale, the authors demonstrated that severe physical violence was a significant predictor of pet abuse.

Family conversations about organ donation.

Objective: To describe family conversations about organ donation and to examine interrelationships among the content and outcomes of these conversations, and attitudes toward organ donation.

Design: Closed and open-ended survey questions.

Participants: 353 men and 488 women.

RehabNurse-L: an analysis of the rehabilitation nursing LISTSERV experience.

Computer-mediated discussion is a form of communication via the Internet through groups known as listservs, chatrooms, bulletin boards, newsgroups, or discussion forums. An increasing number of professionals are using these forums to ask and answer common concerns about their practices. Deeper meaning lies within messages that is broader than just an individual posting or a simple communication thread.

Caregivers dealing with stroke pull together and feel connected.

Changes that can accompany stroke may create considerable stress for individuals caring for the affected person. This study explored the coping process for nine rural-dwelling caregivers of persons with stroke and the responses of these caregivers to a Web-based support program. The qualitative data management program QSR N 5 was used to analyze quotes from telephone interviews and computer entries.

The location and incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Georgia: implications for placement of automated external defibrillators.

Objective: Prior studies of automated external defrillator placement strategies for public access defibrillation (PAD) have addressed only the venue of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) in large urban areas. This study evaluates the relationship between population density and the incidence and location of OOHCA.

Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of 624,199 Georgia state emergency medical services patient care reports (PCRs) in 2000.

Positive attitude. An essential element for effective care of people with mental illnesses.

It is well known that attitudes influence behavior, and attitudes toward people with mental illnesses have been described as negative, stigmatizing, uninformed, and fearful. The general public view people with mental illnesses as dangerous, prone to violence, unpredictable, and in some measure responsible for their illnesses. Health care professionals share these attitudes to a surprising extent, which compromises their ability to deliver competent, compassionate care.

The effect of curriculum on the attitudes of nursing students toward disability.

Societal attitudes toward people with differing abilities are often based on a lack of understanding, fear of the unkNown, and stereotypes learned from others. Nursing students enter their educational programs with similar attitudes and experiences. Attitudes of nurses are key to how they respond toward individuals with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

Communicative competence in the delivery of bad news.

Grounded in the Cegala and Waldron (Communication Studies 43 (1992) 105) model of communicative competence, the present study applied the McNeilis (Health Communication 13 (2001) 5) provider-patient coding scheme to video tapes of 3rd year medical students delivering bad news to a standardized patient. The goal of the study was to understand the specific communicative moves that are associated with perceptions of competence during bad news delivery. The coding scheme assesses Content, Acknowledgment Tokens, Interruptions, Alignment, and Function of the message.