The aim of the study was to describe Registered Nurses' (RNs) experiences of their work environment in residential care homes for older persons. Twelve RNs were interviewed and latent content analysis was used for analysing the data. The data were collected in the spring of 2006. The findings revealed that these RNs experienced a paradoxical work environment: feeling appreciated and valuable, whilst at the same time feeling underestimated and frustrated. They felt appreciated and valuable when they provided nursing care and trust and support to others. The RNs experienced a positive work environment when the border between social and nursing care were clear. They also felt frustrated when they were expected to 'be everywhere and to know everything', but at the same time they felt invisible and underestimated. They experienced themselves as 'lonely fixers', having the ability to solve practical problems when the older persons were discharged from hospital and expected to be able to provide specialist nursing care without having specialised competence and specialist staff team members. In conclusion, it is important that the RNs can identify the border for nursing care. When these are clear, the nursing care objectives are apparent and the RNs become more autonomous, visible and listened to. The manager should listen to and support the RNs, with continuous supervision and competence development being mandatory elements. It is a difficult task for RNs working in residential care homes to meet all of the expectations placed on them, resulting in a risk of moral distress, making mistakes and developing illnesses caused by stress.

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The correlation between the vaginal smear and the calculated time of ovulation was studied in 22 bitches, during a total of 24 heat periods. Blood plasma was analysed for levels of oestradiol and progesterone from 6 days before to 6 days after the day of maximum keratinization of the vaginal smear. In all 24 heat periods (100 per cent) maximum keratinization of the vaginal epithelial cells was observed at least 3 days after peak oestradiol levels and in 17 of the heat periods (70.8 per cent) maximum keratinization was seen when the peripheral plasma level of progesterone had increased to >5.44 ± 0.93 ng/ml, which has been calculated as the ovulatory level.

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Abstract. SYNFACE is a telephone aid for hearing-impaired people that shows the lip movements of the speaker at the other telephone synchronised with the speech. The SYNFACE system consists of a speech recogniser that recognises the incoming speech and a synthetic talking head. The output from the recogniser is used to control the articulatory movements of the synthetic head. SYNFACE prototype systems exist for three languages: Dutch, English and Swedish and the first user trials have just started.

Aim.  To describe the expectations of and to illuminate the meaning of the Nurse Assistants' (NA) expectations of Registered Nurses (RN) who are responsible for the care of older people living in residential care homes in Sweden. Background.  Older people in Sweden who are provided with residential care are extremely frail and incapable of independent living. Therefore, when providing care, RN and NA encounter older people who require a great deal of care. An important precondition for the provision of satisfactory care is to have adequate collaboration between NAs and RNs and their expectations of each other. In this paper, the focus is on the NAs expectations of the RNs. Method.  The study is based on a qualitative approach and a phenomenological-hermeneutical method. Ten NAs were interviewed and asked to narrate as freely as possible, about their expectations of RNs. The narratives were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. The analytical process includes the following steps; naïve reading, structural analysis, comprehensive understanding and reflection. Results.  The RNs were expected to take responsibility for being fellow human beings and experts in providing care as well as always available to participate in caring. The RNs were expected to make stand-alone decisions and create a sense of safety for both older people and the NAs and have the courage to work alone and create a safe environment for both the older people and the NAs. The meaning of these expectations was that the RNs are like a captain in providing care, but at the same time, fellow workers. Conclusion.  When the RNs do not meet the NAs expectations, there is a risk of conflict and therefore also a risk that an unsafe environment being created when caring for older people.

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