The purpose of this existential‐phenomenological study was to investigate the experience of life after stroke rehabilitation, to provide a holistic view for nurses and others in providing care. Analysis involved apart‐to‐whole dialectic; selected transcripts, including the bracketing interview, were analyzed in an interpretive research group. There were 14 participants, with a 2‐year median length of time since stroke; participants exhibited various disabilities. The world of the stroke survivor is grounded in a life of loss and effort from which emerged interrelated themes: independence/dependence, in control/out of control, and connection/disconnection with others. A fundamental aspect of these themes is a sense of continuity that coexists with discontinuity in the experience of self. The findings have implications for how nurses interact with stroke survivors, for goal‐setting, and for specific strategies that focus on meanings for clients.
Nursing assistants provide most of the care to residents of long-term facilities. Understanding their perspective offers insight into nursing administrators in creating environments in which safe, compassionate and cost-effective care co-exist. Implications for clinical practice are framed within King's theory of goal attainment.
An important process in any profession is the development of professional identity. Understanding how students experience professionalism is important to provide appropriate educational experiences to foster this aspect of professional socialization. Therefore, this study investigated baccalaureate student nurses' perspectives of what it means to be professional. This qualitative study was based on Pollio, Henley, and Thompson's interpretive framework, an existential-phenomenological approach. The purpose of the interpretation was to recognize patterns or themes in an experience. Figurai experiences in one's life emerge against a backdrop, or ground. Sixtynine baccalaureate nursing students at different educational levels participated. They described specific experiences in which they felt professional. The student experience of being professional was one grounded in a world of self and others. Three interrelated themes emerged from this ground- belonging, knowing, and affirmation. The ground of self and others provides the backdrop of the experience. It is through self and others that the figurai themes are experienced. The themes are inherently interrelated. For example, the experiences of belonging and knowing were affirming to students, and affirmation enhanced their sense of knowing and belonging. Implications of the findings are explored.
UNPLANNED HYPOTHERMIA is commonly encountered in the perioperative period. Nursing has contributed to the literature on hypothermia with studies on shivering and treatment modalities; however, the direct physiological consequences of postoperative hypothermia have been reported mainly in the medical literature.
RESEARCH ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL effects of postoperative hypothermia offers nurses further evidence to support interventions for temperature correction in patients with hypothermia. Evidence indicates that forced‐air warming is the most effective method for warming hypothermic patients.
THE ROY ADAPTATION MODEL is explained as a framework for nursing care of patients with hypothermia. Clinical practice guidelines for unplanned perioperative hypothermia also are provided. AORN J 83 (May 2006) 1055–1066.
The primary support persons (PSPs) of stroke survivors are faced with many challenges as they help reintegrate the stroke survivor's life, as well as their own. Because it often is the PSP with whom nurses negotiate goals, teach, and counsel, it is important for nurses to understand the stroke experience from the PSP's perspective. The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality, or nature, of life as experienced by PSPs of stroke survivors. The qualitative design for this study was an existential‐phenomenological approach, focusing on meaning. This involved an analysis of in‐depth phenomenological interviews of 10 PSPs of stroke survivors. The experience of being a PSP of a stroke survivor is one grounded in the relationship in time. From this ground emerges themes of fragility, vigilance, and loss/responsibility. These themes help define the essence of the experience, which is a transformation of the relationship. The findings provide nurses with an understanding of the PSP's experience, and thus a foundation upon which to provide holistic care for the stroke survivor and family.
To increase use of foot care programs among homeless adults, services must be offered during the day time when they are not competing to secure nightly shelter. Foot care programs should be innovative and tailored to their unique needs and address concern for sensitivity to feet, sock, and shoe condition; cost; specific services provided; competing needs; source of care; and how to access these services.
Use of this instrument validated findings from a qualitative study, which showed that life following stroke was a paradoxical sense of both continuity and discontinuity in the experience of self. This instrument can be used to measure the effectiveness of nursing interventions aimed at increasing stroke survivors' sense of continuity.
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