Journal of advanced nursing
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This paper reports a review which draws together findings from studies targeting parents' temperature-taking, antipyretic administration, attitudes, practices and information-seeking behaviours. ⋯ Despite successful educational interventions, little has changed in parents' fever management knowledge, attitudes and practices. There is a need for interventions based on behaviour change theories to target the precursors of behaviour, namely knowledge, attitudes, normative influences and parents' perceptions of control.
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This paper presents an evaluation of a communication enhancement intervention on staff and patients in a complex continuing care facility. ⋯ Our results suggest that nursing staff can feel better about their job and about their patients as they enhance their communication skills. Understanding the barriers to finding time to talk with patients for a few minutes a day, outside of direct hands-on caregiving, requires further exploration.
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This paper reports the findings of a survey that investigated whether Flemish Catholic hospitals and nursing homes had developed written ethics policies on euthanasia and how the role of nurses was described in these policies. ⋯ The written ethics policies of most Catholic healthcare institutions give explicit attention to the role of nurses in the euthanasia process. However, the meaning and content of the role of nurses, as indicated in these ethics policies, continue to be an issue. Further research is needed to verify how these policies are actually implemented within the institutions and whether they contribute to better support for nurses and to ethical care for patients.
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The aim of this paper is to present the values and beliefs of clinicians and non-clinicians working in not-for-profit healthcare organizations, and the positive and negative outcomes of holding such values. ⋯ Findings show that healthcare clinicians and non-clinicians demonstrated a range of values in the delivery of health care, some of which have not been identified before. Should professionals now reconsider the values required in the delivery of health care? The most widely perceived values held by both groups were similar, although clinicians perceived that non-clinicians did not hold the same ethical values and beliefs as they did, and vice-versa, demonstrating a lack of trust in each other's moral and ethical value system.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Quality of life of cancer patients receiving inpatient and home-based palliative care.
This paper reports a comparative study of the symptom experience, physical and psychological health, perceived control of the effects of cancer and quality of life of terminally ill cancer patients receiving inpatient and home-based palliative care, and the factors that predict quality of life. ⋯ The main issues arising from the findings for nurses are the early detection and management of both physical and psychological symptoms, particularly fatigue, pain, anxiety and depression, and the need to use strategies that will empower patients to have a greater sense of control over their illness and treatment. Research is needed to identify other factors that may impact on quality of life, and to establish the extent to which inpatient and home-based care meets the needs of both the patient with terminal cancer and their family.