Journal of advanced nursing
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This paper highlights the lack of consideration that is given to power in the health and social sciences, which is a continuing problem with both single study research and more importantly for meta-analysis. ⋯ It is demonstrated that incorporating power analysis into this meta-analysis would have prevented misleading conclusions being reached. Some suggestions are made for changes in the protocol of meta-analytic studies, which highlight the importance of power analysis.
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The purpose of this paper is to assist advanced practice nurses to recognize, identify, and diagnose cognitive change in older adults. ⋯ It is essential to understand how the 4 'D's' are expressed and to recognize the potential contributing factors to an observable change in cognitive function for diagnosis and treatment. Recommendations for obtaining a person's history are included.
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The use of the randomized consent design (commonly known as the Zelen design) is a controversial issue in randomized controlled trials. In the Zelen design, participants are randomly allocated prior to seeking consent. Those participants allocated to the intervention group are then approached and offered the intervention, which they can decline or accept. Zelen first proposed the design in 1979. It has been used infrequently since this time, although there are some notable exceptions in nursing, midwifery and some medical specialities. ⋯ It is hoped that by presenting issues pertaining to the Zelen design, other nursing and midwifery researchers may be prompted to consider its use when designing clinical research. The Zelen design is controversial, and debate about its merits and shortcomings is useful. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate.
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Review
Critical care outreach services and early warning scoring systems: a review of the literature.
The aim of this paper is to explore the literature relating to critical care outreach services and the use of early warning scoring systems to detect developing critical illness. ⋯ The paper concludes that further study is required to evaluate the effectiveness of critical care outreach services and early warning scoring systems, and that ward staff need to be educated to identify those patients at risk of developing critical illness. Finally, it is suggested that nurses' decision-making in relation to calling the outreach team requires further investigation.
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Activity of living based nurse models such as that proposed by Roper, Logan and Tierney are utilized commonly to rationalize, structure and guide practice. This paper proposes that their use, in the context of chronic pain, should be extended to incorporate the assessment of coping and its effect on disability. ⋯ It is proposed that the innovative use of nursing activity of living models could provide the framework for a pain clinic based assessment of coping that has greater utility for professionals and patients alike.