Reports 2006

The aim of the study tour was to undertake qualitative research study into the attitudes to alcohol and smoking in young Polish men.
The tour was split into 4 areas:

1. Primeary care services

2. Education

3. Practice

4. Research by administration of a questionnaire

There are established benefits to caring for children with a long-term illness at home. Impacts on families have been examined mainly from a parent’s, rather than children’s perspective. The technological development of peripherally inserted central catheters mean that children with a short-term, acute illness requiring intravenous therapy are also being cared for at home, primarily by parents. There are reported concerns with community resources.

Cue Exposure Therapy (CET) has been described by a number of authors (Ehrman et al. 1991, Rohsenow et al. 2001 and Rohsenow and Monti 1999). Cue Exposure Therapy is used to aid individuals with substance misuse problem users to recognise cues and triggers to drug and alcohol use. Department of Health guidelines (2002) suggest that substance misuse skills should be adapted by mental health professionals in their work with clients with co-morbid mental health and substance misuse problems (dual diagnosis).

This study sought to give the author a perspective into the approaches to drug and alcohol dependency in both Australia and New Zealand both clinically and educationally.

The aims of the study were

1. To examine specific innovative practices in relation to substance misuse in Australia and New Zealand

2. To evaluate the potential of adapting these practices to address meet local need

Acute spinal cord injury is best delivered from within the confines of a spinal injuries centre. Yet what of those who are not able to gain immediate access to this sanctuary of specialist interventions?

Despite the progress made in treating the devastating injury of the spinal cord, navigating the way through the acute period following the initial injury can be a problematic time, especially if the individual requires intensive care support outside of a spinal injuries centre.

Many developed countries are planning for the predicted huge rise in numbers of older people living with long-term conditions. NHS Scotland has suggested case management should be explored as a means to protect health and coordinate care and that Scots need to take greater responsibility for their health.

The term dual diagnosis is in common use in psychiatric practice describing the combination of severe mental illness and substance misuse. The nature of the relationship is complex.

In 2001. Comfort Momoh journeyed to Somaliland to explore attitudes to Female Genital Mutilation (FMG), otherwise known as Female Circumcision (FC).   In 2007 Comfort returned to Africa, more specifically parts of Gambia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone with the initial  intention of trying to comprehend what it is that continues to induce mothers, grandmothers and other female relatives to inflict this harmful practice on these girls.   Comfort also wanted to see for herself what was being done at grass roots level to facilitate attitudinal change so that she might be able to pass findings on to individuals, NGOs and health and social care professionals in Britain.

The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of mothers expressing breast milk for their sick preterm babies whilst in hospital.

The term Advanced Nursing Practice (ANP) is a new healthcare phenomenon within the United Kingdom (UK) today.   It remains a term which authors and regulatory organisations find hard to define, implement and regulate, as it is not well documented.  Recent government strategies within the UK reinforce the need for nurses to extend their scope of practice and perform tasks that were previously the domain of physicians.

Each State across America provides differing forms of provision for people with a learning disability (or developmental disability as it is know there).

In the late 1960s in California State legislation known as the Lanterman Act was passed.   For almost forty years this piece of statute has placed ‘entitlement’ at the heart of its cause to ensure people with developmental disabilities receive the right services tailored to meet their needs.   The Lanterman Act continues to be reviewed annually to help guide and provide a variety of hospital and community based provision.

It has been advocated that skilled nursing care explains some of the benefits to patients seen in systematic reviews of stroke units.   Unfortunately observational studies of stroke nursing have been disappointing, with little application of the rehabilitative component of the role being evident.   The lack of either a strong empirical or theoretical basis to our understanding of the nursing role hampers research in this area, weakening attempts to develop the role in either policy or practice.   This study tour contributes to the growing literature on the nursing role in stroke car, not by studying ‘nursing interventions’ which shift between professions and within nursing over time, but rather by focusing on the  organisational culture and context that supports the delivery of effective and appropriate stroke nursing.

The incidence of cancer in the adolescent age group has increased significantly over the last thirty years.   However, despite this increase little research has been focused on the specific needs of adolescents with cancer, and in particular their informational requirements.   Research has demonstrated that there are major advantages in providing high quality information to patients with cancer, aiding decision making and improving psychological and physical well being.   Providing such information at this time is crucial for adolescents with cancer as it allows them to maintain some control and normality during this difficult period. 

Hyperglycaemia is common in critically ill patients, even those without diabetes mellitus.   Until recently, treatment of hyperglycaemia during critical illness was only considered necessary when blood glucose levels became excessively elevated, a strategy primarily based on anecdotal evidence.

Government policy directives have ensured a rapid increase in the number of nurse prescribers, but there is evidence from a number of studies that suggest prescribing by nurses is under utilised following completion of prescribing courses.   These studies conclude this may in part be related to a lack of peer supervision and support.

Preterm babies can experience a range of problems related to immaturity and to the unfavourable setting of the neonatal intensive care unit.   In an attempt to address this, a developmental care approach advocates a broad range of interventions designed to minimise the negative impact of such an environment.   This includes controlling external stimuli such as round light and activity, encouraging family involvement and considering appropriate comforting measures.   It also advocates an individual approach to care which is dictated by cues from the baby.

This study sets out to explore the experiences and thoughts of teenage mothers on post natal contraception services.   Prevention of subsequent pregnancies has become a focus for the current government’s Teenage Pregnancy Unit as it accelerates the strategy towards 2101 (2006), and services are being asked to prioritise this, with the aim of meeting the target set within the NHS Plan (2000) of halving the number of teenage pregnancies.

Findings from a recent study undertaken in North Glamorgan NHS Trust (Roberts 2007, unpublished) identified that families’ had evaluated their experiences of family work as a ‘positive and beneficial’ experience that not only promoted the recovery of the service user but led to a more effective family lifestyle for reasons that included:-

1. Families having a better understanding of the illness
2. Families feeling more involved and able to assist in the recovery of the service user
3. Families feeling supported and more able to address their own needs that led to a more qualitative family life

Patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are often prescribed either typical or atypical antipsychotic medication.

The older (typical) neuroleptics, however, have been shown to produce unpleasant side-effects that cause severe problems with everyday life functioning and thus affect their quality of life, and how patients actually live their lives.   Existing evidence relies strongly on rating scales to assess a patient’s quality of life, either from the patient’s or from a clinician’s viewpoint.  But there s no available evidence that has produced highly valid accounts of how patients themselves construct their lives to be meaningful, and in particular, how medication affects their lives.

The principle aim of the study was to uncover and produce a phenomenological description of the experiences involved when reading Michael Rosen’s SAD book (Rosen 2004).   The main data collection session took place on 17 December 2005.

The purpose of this research was to look at younger people with a high or complex care needs who are placed in nursing homes or care units.

Personal computers have become an integrated part of our lives both for educational and working environments, as a society we have been transformed by the computer.

This study provided and excellent opportunity to investigate the offloading techniques used to treat diabetic foot ulceration but this soon expanded into the preventative care being offered in both countries and the difficulties patients’ experience.   This included social and cultural disadvantages and inequities in each health care system. 

In Australia the Aboriginal population – which consists of 2.1% of the Australian population – are at up to four times the risk of diabetes when compared to the general population.    In Arizona where there are around 300,000 Native Americans, of which almost a third have diabetes.

Tissue donation is a subject misunderstood by many people explained perhaps by a stronger accent focused on organ donation where it has remained in the spotlight.   It has been found that the possibility of tissue donation may aid families to draw comfort from and help precipitate part of the grieving process.   The government has undertaken measures to increase the donor register by issuing realistic targets with the hope of achieving a positive outcome involving a variety of organisations.

Masters programmes provide nurses and midwives with invaluable opportunities to develop research competence, while undertaking research that can contribute to practice.

Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) occurs in approximately one in 500 people, and is caused by a gene change resulting in elevated cholesterol levels.   If a parent has FH each child has a 50:50 chance of inheriting it.   Many people in the UK are undiagnosed and if identified could be helped with lifestyle advice and medication to lower their cholesterol levels and reduce their risk of heart disease.   Affected relatives can usually be identified by their elevated cholesterol levels.