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- Berg, Katarina, 1959-
(författare)
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Patients’ perspectives on recovery from day surgery
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A large number of elective surgical patients in Sweden and elsewhere have their surgical procedure performed in a day surgery context. The surgical care event, with its postoperative surveillance, is brief at the surgery unit and patients are discharged home with the intention that they should manage postoperative recovery mainly themselves. However, several patients attest to being in an exposed situation when assuming responsibility for recovery at home. The overall aim of this thesis was to attain comprehensive knowledge of postoperative recovery following day surgery from a patient perspective.A questionnaire, the Post-discharge Surgical Recovery scale, was translated into Swedish and evaluated regarding its psychometric properties in a Swedish context. A sample of 607 day surgery patients who had undergone orthopaedic, general or gynaecological surgery self-rated their recovery at postoperative Days 1, 7 and 14 using the Post-discharge Surgical Recovery scale and the Quality of Recovery-23. Health-related quality of life was assessed before and 30 days after the surgical procedure, using the EQ-5D. In a second sample, 31 patients were interviewed in their homes regarding their recovery after day surgery. The interviews were conducted on postoperative Days 11-37, and focused on the meaning of recovery, self-care and perceptions of recovery. Data were explored by means of a phenomenographic analysis.The Post-discharge Surgical Recovery scale showed satisfactory psychometric properties when used among Swedish day surgery patients. Following discharge, recovery included both physical and emotional perspectives. Recovery varied, and influencing factors were found to be type of surgery, age, perceived health and emotional status on the first postoperative day. Orthopaedic patients had a more protracted recovery process compared to general surgery and gynaecological patients, along with more postoperative pain and lower health-related quality of life. Patients perceived that postoperative recovery comprised different internal and external factors and a large amount of responsibility regarding their recovery and surgical outcome. To be prepared for recovery at home, patients wanted knowledge and understanding about the normal range of recovery following their specific surgical procedure, and needed support from different sources in their surroundings.This thesis provides insight into day surgery patients’ postoperative situation. Based on the studies, individualized and well thought-out support appears favourable in order to have confident and well prepared patients at home. In contrast to smooth and easy patient care at the surgery unit, the postoperative phase seems to be a weak link in the day surgical continuity of patient care. Postoperative care needs to be further improved to increase quality and patients’ overall satisfaction with the day surgical experience. Attention should be paid to patients’ physical and emotional resources and needs.
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- Bjurling-Sjöberg, Petronella, 1968-
(författare)
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Clinical Pathway Implementation and Teamwork in Swedish Intensive Care : Challenges in Evidence-Based Practice and Interprofessional Collaboration
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Suboptimal quality of care is an evident issue in current healthcare services. Clinical pathways (CPs) have the potential to facilitate evidence-based practice and interprofessional teamwork, and thereby improve patient safety and quality of care.The overall aim of the thesis was to develop comprehensive empirical knowledge and understanding of CP implementation and teamwork in Swedish intensive care units (ICUs). Four studies were included (I-IV).Study I was a survey including all Swedish ICUs (N84) and a document analysis of CP examples (n12). In total, 17 (20%) ICUs used CPs and many had implementation plans. The quality, extent and content of the CPs (n56) varied greatly, with sometimes insufficient interprofessionalism, evidence base and renewal.Study II was a mixed method including ICUs using CPs. The implementation processes were retrospectively explored through questionnaire data (n15) and qualitative content analysis of interviews with key informants (n10). The CP implementation was revealed as a process directed at realizing the usefulness and creating new habits, which requires enthusiasm, support and time.Studies III and IV were grounded theory studies in an action research project in an ICU. Study III explored everyday teamwork through focus group interviews with registered nurses, assistant nurses and anesthesiologists, as well as an individual interview with a physiotherapist (n38). Teamwork was revealed as an act of ‘balancing intertwined responsibilities.’ The type of teamwork fluctuated as the team processes were affected by circumstantial factors and involved individuals. Study IV prospectively explored the implementation process of a CP during a five-year period through repeated focus groups and individual interviews, questionnaires and logbooks/field notes, including the interprofessional project group, staff and managers (n71), and retrospective screening of health records (n136). ‘Struggling for a feasible tool’ was revealed as a central phenomenon. The implementation process included contextual and processual circumstances that enforced negotiations to achieve progress, which made the process tentative and prolonged and had consequences on the process output.In conclusion, CP implementation processes are affected by multiple interplaying factors. Although progress has been achieved in evidence-based practice and interprofessional collaboration there is still potential for substantial improvements, emphasizing a need for further facilitation.
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- Cronqvist, Agneta, 1953-
(författare)
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The moral enterprise in intensive care nursing
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aims of this thesis were to explore nurses' experiences of stress in the ICU (I), to analyze experiences of moral concerns in intensive care nursing from the perspective of relational ethics (II), to describe the synthesis of the concept of moral stress and to identify preconditions for moral stress (III) and to analyse and describe lived experiences of support in situations characterized by critical care situations and moral stress in intensive care (IV).The design was exploratory and descriptive. Material in studies I, II and IV consisted of interviews with intensive care nurses (10 head nurses and 26 staff nurses) employed in general, thoracic and neonatal intensive care units in five hospitals located in different parts of Sweden. The material in study III data from two studies of professional issues in nursing were used for the analysis: one concerned psychiatric nursing and the other was the previously referred study I.In study I qualitative content analysis and descriptive interpretation was used in the analysis. The main theme 'stress induced by dissonant imperatives' formulated in the analysis. Dissonant imperatives are composed of the four sub-themes: 1) controlled by the working situation - needing to be in control, 2) constrained by prioritisation - wanting to do more, 3) lacking authority to act - knowing that something should be done, and 4) professional distance - interpersonal involvement. In study II qualitative content analysis and descriptive interpretation were used in the analysis. A main theme was formulated, 'caring about-caring for: tensions between moral obligations and work responsibilities in intensive care nursing'. Five sub-themes were formulated 1) believing in a good death, 2) knowing the course of events, 3) feelings of distress, 4) reasoning about the physicians and 5) expressing moral awareness. In the study III a hypothetical-deductive method was used. The findings indicate that moral stress is independent of context-given specific pre-conditions: 1) nurses are morally sensitive to the patient's vulnerability, 2) nurses experience external factors preventing them from doing the best for the patient, and 3) nurses feel that they have no control over the situation. In the study IV an interpretive method was used. The first level of analysis of data identified contextual factors, such as type and purpose of support and working conditions. Thereafter five tentative interpretations were revealed: 1) receiving organised support is a matter of self-determination, 2) whether to participate or to be off duty is experienced mutually as exclusive, 3) dealing with moral stress is experienced as a private matter, 4) colleagues managing moral stress serve as models in stress support, and 5) not being able to deal with moral stress urges one to seek outside support. A comparison of these interpretations identified three major themes: availability, accessibility and receptivity of support. The main interpretation of data was: "lived experience of moral stress support involves an interconnectedness between structural and existential factors".A comprehensive understanding was formulated using the four studies (I, II, III and IV). Moral stress was found to be influential on the caring competence. Conflicts between different competences were found leading to a shift in focus away from the patients leading to a possible decrease in the caring competence. Moreover, the subtle resistance among nurses toward participation in organized moral stress support may obstruct the development of nurses' caring competence. Accordingly, imbalance, due to moral stress, between different competences hinders the development of collectively shared caring competence.
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- Knudsen, Kati
(författare)
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Airway management in anaesthesia care : – professional and patient perspectives
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Careful airway management, including tracheal intubation, is important when performing anaesthesia in order to achieve safe tracheal intubation. Aim: To study airway management in anaesthesia care from both the professional and patient perspectives. Methods: 11 RNAs performed three airway tests in 87 patients, monitored in a study-specific questionnaire. The tests usefulness for predicting an easy intubation was analysed (Study I). 68 of 74 anaesthesia departments in Sweden answered a self-reported questionnaire about the presence of airway guidelines (Study II). 20 anaesthesiologists were interviewed; a phenomenographic analysis was performed to describe how anaesthesiologists' understand algorithms for management of the difficult airway (Study III). 13 patients were interviewed; content analysis was performed to describe patients' experiences of being awake fiberoptic intubated (Study IV). Results: The Mallampati classification is a good screening test for predicting easy intubation and intubation can be safely performed by RNAs (Study I). The presence of airway guidelines in Swedish anaesthesia departments is poorly implemented (Study II). Algorithms can be understood as law-like rules, a succinct plan to follow in difficult airway situations, an action plan kept in the back of one's mind while creating flexible and versatile personal algorithms, or as consensus guidelines based on expert opinion in order to be followed in clinical practice (Study III). One theme emerged describing experiences of being awake intubated; feelings of being in a vulnerable situation but cared for in safe hands, described in five categories: a need for tailored information, distress and fear of the intubation, acceptance and trust of the staff's competence, professional caring and support, and no hesitation about new awake intubation (Study IV). Conclusions: The Mallampati classification is a good screening test for predicting easy intubation, when the airway assessment is performed in a structured manner by RNAs. The presence of airway guidelines in Swedish anaesthesia departments was poorly implemented and should receive higher priority. Algorithms need to be simple and easy to follow and based on the best available scientific evidence. Tailored information about what to expect, ensuring eye contact, and giving breathing instructions during the procedure may reduce patients' feeling distress.
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- Lindahl, Berit
(författare)
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Möten mellan människor och teknologi : berättelser från intensivvårdssjuksköterskor och personer som ventilatorbehandlas i hemmet
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this thesis is to illuminate meanings of the relation between human beings, technology and care, as narrated by critical care nurses and people in need of home mechanical ventilation (HMV). The data are based on narrative research interviews with six intensive care nurses (I), 13 people who were about to start HMV (II), these 13 people were interviewed for a second time six to eight months after HMV had started (III), and nine persons with more than two years HMV experience (IV). The text was analysed using a phenomenological-hermeneutic research method as described by Lindseth and Norberg. The method is developed from the writings of the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. The findings illuminate meanings of nursing care in an intensive care unit (I) as undertaking the role of advocacy as a caring response to another human being. The basic condition for this caring response depends on the nurses' openness and sensitivity to the needs of patients or patients' next of kin. The nurses were aware of the influence of technology and tried to modify its negative effects. Meanings of becoming dependent on HMV (II) are interpreted and metaphorically expressed as "to get one's breath" and "to hold one's breath" respectively. On the one hand, breathing ensures the cellular oxidation process within the body, but on the other hand there can be "shortness of breath" in "spiritual breathing", and starting HMV will influence patients' whole life situation, body and spirit. After using a ventilator six to eight months, meanings of a life dependent on a ventilator was interpretd as either a closure or an opening of the lived body to oneself, other people and the world. This interpretation is illustrated by two images. A life on a ventilator at home is not to be seen as static being. On the contrary, it is a being which moves and changes over time. Being dependent on a ventilator and living at home, as narrated by adults with more than two years of HMV experience (IV), was interpreted as being able to rise above yourself and your personal boundaries in order to live a good life. These meanings are bound up with experiencing a vital force and interdependency, and despite fragility being able to reach others and the outside world. Design and function of technology had an impact on the lived body. The comprehensive understanding of the four articles (I-IV) unfolded meanings of the relation between human beings, technology and care, as an interchange and a creation of physical and spiritual energy among humans and between human and technology. It could be an experience of the lived body being filled with as well as emptied of energy. This interpretation points at a call for the caring personnel to be attentive and to listen to the voices of the lived body in health and illness, and to bear witness to those who suffer. Technology acts between the person and the world and in order to be embodied, technology must be "transparent", i.e. beautiful and fit to its use.
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| 7. |
- Rahmqvist Linnarsson, Josefin
(författare)
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Forensic care for victims of violence and their family members in the emergency department
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Aim: To explore forensic care in EDs for victims of violence and their family members from the perspectives of ED department heads, ED nurses, and a family member of a victim of violence.Methods: Study I consisted of a questionnaire to all heads of EDs in Sweden, data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Study II consisted of a similar questionnaire which also included the instrument Families’ Importance in Nursing Care-Nurses’ Attitudes. It was sent to all nurses at 28 EDs and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple linear and ordinal regression analysis. Study III comprised of individual interviews with twelve nurses from seven EDs and data were analyzed with content analysis. Study IV was a single case study with two interviews with a family member of a victim of violence. Data were analyzed with a Gadamer-inspired hermeneutic approach.Results: ED preparedness for forensic care varied and was often limited to women and children. Nurses played a key role, but most of them had no training for this task and felt uncertain (I, II, III). Creating a caring encounter was the main challenge for providing forensic care and nurses perceived hindering factors to overcome this challenge (III). Family members were rarely included in forensic care and nurses perceived that family members were offered little help (I-III). Having ED documents that included family members, was associated with a more positive attitude to family members, which in turn was associated with involving them in care (II). For the family member, perfunctory encounters and caring alliances had a major impact and the experience reframed life (IV).Conclusion: Lack of preparedness in EDs to care for all types of victims of violence and differences between individual nurses may prohibit the provision of equal care. Hindering factors for a caring encounter can result in forensic care being unaddressed, which may limit possibilities for alleviated suffering and legal justice. Family members were rarely included in forensic care, but caring encounters can be crucial for the family member in the aftermath of violence.
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