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- Andreassen Devik, Siri
(author)
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Hjemmesykepleie til eldre som bor på bygda med uhelbredelig kreft
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The need to deliver high-quality palliative homecare has been underscored in current professional guidelines and demands for efficacy, as well as in the preferences of patients and their families. Indeed, demographic changes and an increased risk of cancer among older people pose challenges to the home healthcare settings in Norway and the rest of the world. Yet, little is known about how older persons experience living with incurable cancer and how palliative home nursing care may increase their quality of life. Moreover, few studies have focused on rural contexts or explored such settings can influence the delivery and outcome of care. In rural contexts, long distances and limited health-related human resources challenge the provision of specialised services, and palliative patients living in rural municipalities most often receive services from district nurses without special training in oncological or palliative care. The aim of this thesis was thus to explore experiences with, and meanings of, rural home nursing care among older persons living with incurable cancer. The thesis consists of five studies, all with qualitative designs, and performed in rural municipalities.Study I was designed as a case study involving individual interviews and observations to explore how older persons diagnosed with incurable cancer and living alone have experienced daily life while commuting for policlinic palliative chemotherapy. By extension, the aim of Study II, conducted as a secondary analysis of material collected in study I, was to illuminate and interpret the meanings of the lived experiences of the participants in that study. By contrast, Study III used individual interviews to illuminate and interpret the meaning of the lived experience of older persons with incurable cancer, yet who have received home nursing care. Meanwhile, Study IV entailed individual interviews with nurses working in home nursing care. Its aim was to illuminate and interpret the meaning of nurses' lived experiences among severely ill patients in their homes. Lastly, Study V involved individual interviews with bereaved family members; its aim was to explore their perceptions of suffering in older persons receiving palliative home nursing care during their final phase of life. The findings of Study I showed that older persons interviewed hovered between hope and fear, experienced stressful commutes, and were constantly exhausted. Experiences with long, tiring taxi trips, of having few supportive people nearby, and of being offered hardly any local healthcare services made these persons highly vulnerable. Nevertheless, their demands were few, and they rarely complained. The findings of Study II showed a complex, yet comprehensive situation in which physical symptoms and emotions had become entangled. Four themes were found: enduring by keeping hope alive, becoming aware of being one one's own, living up to expectations of being a good patient, and being at risk of losing identity and value. Suffering related to care, or the lack therefore, was the most striking discovery, and the older persons seemed to endure by keeping hope alive. Besides hoping for survival, their hopes also included a desire to be recognised and treated with respect, though such often seemed to go unnoticed. The findings of Study III revealed three themes: being content with what one gets, falling into place, and losing one's place. The phrase picking up the pieces was found useful for summing up the meaning of one's lived experience. In that sense, the three themes referred to how the pieces symbolized the remaining parts of life or services available in their environment and how the older persons might see themselves as pieces in a puzzle. Participants exhibited strong place attachment, involving physical insideness, social insideness, and autobiographical insideness, which suggested that the rural context might provide and advantageous healthcare environment. Interestingly, nurses' personal engagement and willingness to be involved in caring relationship appeared to be more important than any special competence or technical skills. The findings of Study IV showed that patients' expressions left impressions that caused emotional waves in the nurses. Four themes were found: being open for the presence of the Other, being satisfied, being frustrated, and being ambivalent. Understanding and balancing this emotional dimension in care seemed to cause confusion and distress for the nurses, and realizing how their feelings might prompt either generosity or aloofness towards the patient was upsetting. Thatinterpretation suggested confusion regarding what it means to be a professional nurse.Lastly, the findings of Study V showed that bereaved family members perceived suffering related to the illness, to the care, and to the life of their ill relatives during their final phase of life. Well-being emerged as having significant, contrasting elements. Well-being related to other people, to the home, and to activity, in all of which the essence referred to a state of dwelling-mobility. The findings suggested that nurses in this context need to seek out patients' and their families members' experiences with comfort and with disturbance. Nursing and palliative care that become purely disease- and symptom-focused can end with all parties' giving up and divert attention from social and cultural factors that may contribute to well-being when cure is not the goal.The findings of this thesis could alter some current knowledge in the field. From a patient perspective, the rural context is not necessarily disadvantaged, care is not necessarily caring, and the alleviation of suffering and cultivation of wellbeing are not necessarily two sides of the same coin. Home nursing care is often seen as a precondition for staying at home. Working in patients' homes allows nurses to witness and become involved in each patient's unique situation. However, impressions of patients' expressions awake feelings in nurses that have the power to bring about caring actions. At the same time, the fear of being unprofessional or unable to deliver proper care bothers nurses and might threaten the closeness that patients desire. Home nursing is care organized in a system in which services are predefined, apportioned, and bound to specific procedures, and the holistic ideals of the palliative care philosophy are often not within the framework of the system in which district nurses work.
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- Andreassen Devik, Siri, et al.
(author)
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"Picking up the pieces" - Meanings of receiving home nursing care when being old and living with advanced cancer in a rural area
- 2015
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In: International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being. - : Informa Healthcare. - 1748-2623 .- 1748-2631. ; 10:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rural home nursing care is a neglected area in the research of palliative care offered to older cancer patients. Because access to specialized services is hampered by long distances and fragmented infrastructure, palliative care is often provided through standard home nursing services and delivered by general district nurses. This study aimed to illuminate the lived experience and to interpret the meaning of receiving home nursing care when being old and living with advanced cancer in a rural area in Norway. Narrative interviews were conducted with nine older persons, and a phenomenological hermeneutic approach was used to interpret the meaning of the lived experience. The analysis revealed three themes, each with subthemes: being content with what one gets, falling into place, and losing one's place. The phrase picking up the pieces was found useful to sum up the meaning of this lived experience. The three respective themes refer to how the pieces symbolize the remaining parts of life or available services in their environment, and how the older persons may see themselves as pieces or bricks in a puzzle. A strong place attachment (physical insideness, social insideness, and autobiographical insideness) is demonstrated by the informants in this study and suggests that the rural context may provide an advantageous healthcare environment. Its potential to be a source of comfort, security, and identity concurs with cancer patients’ strong desire for being seen as unique persons. The study shows that district nurses play an essential role in the provision of palliative care for older rural patients. However, the therapeutic value of being in one's familiar landscape seems to depend on how homecare nurses manage to locate it and use it in a more or less person-centred manner. Communication skills and attentiveness to psychosocial aspects of patient care stand out as important attributes for nursing in this context.
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- Bell, Hege Therese, et al.
(author)
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Nurses' and pharmacists' learning experiences from participating in inter professional medication reviews in primary health care : a qualitative study.
- 2016
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background and Objective: Traditionally, drug prescription and follow up have been the sole responsibility of physicians. However, interprofessional medication reviews (IMRs) have been developed to prevent drug discrepancies and patient harm. What participating nurses and pharmacists learn from each other during IMR is poorly studied. The aim of this study was to investigate nurses’ and pharmacists’ perceived learning experience after participating in IMRs in primary health care for up to two years. Setting and Method: A qualitative study with semi-structured focus group interviews and telephone interviews with nurses and pharmacists with experience from IMRs in nursing homes and home based services. The data was analysed thematically by using systematic text condensation. Main outcome measures: A qualitative method is useful when looking at objects from the perspective of how they are experienced. Results: Sixteen nurses and four pharmacists were interviewed. The nurses’ perception of the pharmacist changed from being a controller of drug management routines towards being a source of pharmacotherapy knowledge and a discussant partner of appropriate drug therapy in the elderly. The pharmacists became more aware of the nurses’ crucial role of providing clinical information about the patient to enable individual advice. Increasingly the nurses learned to link the patient’s symptoms of effect and side effect to the drugs prescribed. With time both professions jointly spoke of an increased awareness of the benefit of working as a team and the perception of contributing to better and more individual care. Conclusion: IMRs in primary health care meet some challenges especially concerning how to ensure participation of all three professions and how to get thorough information about the patient. Possible solutions might be to use shared communication tools like Internet based communication programs and to introduce the patient as a participant at the IMRs.
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- Bell, Hege-Therese, et al.
(author)
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Nurses’ and pharmacists’ learning experiences from participating in interprofessional medication reviews for elderly in primary health care - a qualitative study
- 2017
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In: BMC Family Practice. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2296. ; 18
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Traditionally, drug prescription and follow up have been the sole responsibility of physicians. However, interprofessional medication reviews (IMRs) have been developed to prevent drug discrepancies and patient harmespecially for elderly patients with polypharmacy and multimorbidity. What participating nurses and pharmacists learn from each other during IMR is poorly studied. The aim of this study was to investigate nurses’ and pharmacists’ perceived learning experience after participating in IMRs in primary health care for up to two years.Methods: A qualitative study with semi-structured focus group interviews and telephone interviews with nurses and pharmacists with experience from IMRs in nursing homes and home based services. The data was analysed thematically by using systematic text condensation.Results: Thirteen nurses and four pharmacists were interviewed. They described some challenges concerning how to ensure participation of all three professions and how to get thorough information about the patient. As expected, both professions talked of an increased awareness with time of the benefit of working as a team and the perception of contributing to better and more individual care. The nurses’ perception of the pharmacist changed from being a controller of drug management routines towards being a source of pharmacotherapy knowledge and a discussant partner of appropriate drug therapy in the elderly. The pharmacists became more aware of the nurses’ crucial role of providing clinical information about the patient to enable individual advice. Increasingly the nurses learned to link the patient’s symptoms of effect and side effect to the drugs prescribed.Conclusions: Although experiencing challenges in conducting IMRs, the nurses and pharmacists had learning experiences they said improved both their own practice and the quality of drug management. There are some challenges concerning how to ensure participation of all three professions and how to get thorough information about the patient.
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- Devik A., Siri, et al.
(author)
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Variations in drug-related problems detected by multidisciplinary teams in Norwegian nursing homes and home nursing care
- 2018
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0281-3432 .- 1502-7724. ; 36:3, s. 291-299
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- OBJECTIVE:Traditionally, nursing homes have been associated with suboptimal drug therapy and drug-related problems (DRPs). In contrast, less is known about drug safety in homecare. The aim of this study was to describe and compare DRPs in older persons across two care settings: nursing homes and home nursing care.DESIGN:Cross-sectional study using descriptive and inferential statistics.SETTING:Nursing homes (n = 5) and home nursing care units (n = 8) across nine municipalities in the middle of Norway.PARTICIPANTS:Multidisciplinary medication reviews for 61 nursing home residents and 93 patients receiving home nursing care performed over the 2013-2014 period, were mapped and examined (N = 154).MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:DRPs classified by a Norwegian Classification Tool.RESULTS:In all, 740 DRPs were detected in the total sample, 227 in nursing homes and 513 in home nursing care. DRPs were significantly higher among patients receiving home-based care (Mean =5.5) compared to patients in nursing homes (Mean =3.7, p = 0.002). Among the problem categories, the need for additional drug was most frequent in nursing homes (p = 0.001), while documentation discrepancies reached the highest numbers in patients receiving home nursing care (p = 0.000). Additionally, patients in home nursing care had more problems concerning adverse reactions (p = 0.060); however, this was not statistically significant. Differences in DRP categories leading to changes in the patients' medication lists were also discovered.CONCLUSIONS:The frequency of unclear documentation and adverse reactions found in the homecare setting is alarming. This is an important issue given the trend in aged care towards caring people in their own homes. Further research is warranted to explore how different care settings may influence the safety of pharmacotherapy for older persons.Key PointsDrug related problems are a significant cause of concern among patients receiving home nursing care as well as for patients living in nursing homes. The findings of this study showed that:Significantly more DRPs were detected among patients receiving home nursing care than patients living in nursing homes.While patients living in nursing homes were often undermedicated, documentation discrepancies were more frequent in home nursing care.DRP categories leading to changes on the medication lists differed between the settings.
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- Devik Andreasen, Siri, et al.
(author)
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Bereaved family members' perspectives on suffering among older rural cancer patients in palliative home nursing care: A qualitative study
- 2017
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In: European Journal of Cancer Care. - : Hindawi Limited. - 0961-5423 .- 1365-2354. ; 26:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Little is known about experiences with receiving home nursing care when old, living in a rural area, and suffering from end-stage cancer. The aim of this study was thus to investigate bereaved family members' perceptions of suffering by their older relatives when receiving palliative home nursing care. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 family members, in Norway during autumn 2015, and directed content analysis guided by Katie Eriksson's theoretical framework on human suffering was performed upon the data. The two main categories identified reflected expressions of both suffering and well-being. Expressions of suffering were related to illness, to care and to life and supported the theory. Expressions of well-being were related to other people (e.g. familiar people and nurses), to home and to activity. The results indicate a need to review and possibly expand the perspective of what should motivate care. Nursing and palliative care that become purely disease and symptom-focused may end up with giving up and divert the attention to social and cultural factors that may contribute to well-being when cure is not the goal.
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- Eivergård, Kristina, et al.
(author)
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The Importance of Being Acceptable - Psychiatric Staffs' Talk about Women Patients in Forensic Care
- 2019
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In: Issues in Mental Health Nursing. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0161-2840 .- 1096-4673. ; 40:2, s. 124-132
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Currently, women comprise about ten percent of those sentenced to psychiatric forensic clinics in Sweden. Those who are sentenced to forensic care because of offending and violent behaviour have already taken a step away from the usually expected female behaviour. On the other hand, there are many women in forensic care who have not committed crimes, but who instead self-harm. Studies have identified a gender bias in diagnosing and care in psychiatric settings, but there are few studies conducted on women in forensic care. The present study therefore examined how the situation of women patients and female norms are expressed in the staff's talk about these women during verbal handovers and ward rounds at a forensic clinic in Sweden. The aim was to explore how psychiatric staff, in a context of verbal handovers and ward rounds, talk about women who have been committed to forensic psychiatric care, and what consequences this might have for the care of the patients. The content of speech was examined using audio recordings and a method of analysis that was inspired by thematic analysis. The analysis identified that the staff talked about the women in a way that indicates that they expected the women to follow the rules and take responsibility for their bodies in order to be regarded as acceptable patients.
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