Patient Turnover: A Concept Analysis

Patient turnover influences the quality and safety of patient care. However, variations in the conceptual underpinnings of patient turnover limit the understanding of the phenomenon. A concept analysis was completed to clarify the role of patient turnover in relation to outcomes in the acute care hospital setting. The defining attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents of patient turnover were proposed. Nursing leaders should account for patient turnover in workload and staffing calculations. Further research is needed to clarify the influence of patient turnover on the quality and safety of nursing care using a unified understanding of the phenomenon.

High-quality Health Information Provision for Stroke Patients

OBJECTIVE

High-quality information provision can allow stroke patients to effectively participate in healthcare decision-making, better manage the stroke, and make a good recovery. In this study, we reviewed information needs of stroke patients, methods for providing information to patients, and considerations needed by the information providers.

DATA SOURCES

The literature concerning or including information provision for patients with stroke in English was collected from PubMed published from 1990 to 2015.

STUDY SELECTION

We included all the relevant articles on information provision for stroke patients in English, with no limitation of study design.

RESULTS

Stroke is a major public health concern worldwide. High-quality and effective health information provision plays an essential role in helping patients to actively take part in decision-making and healthcare, and empowering them to effectively self-manage their long-standing chronic conditions. Different methods for providing information to patients have their relative merits and suitability, and as a result, the effective strategies taken by health professionals may include providing high-quality information, meeting patients' individual needs, using suitable methods in providing information, and maintaining active involvement of patients.

CONCLUSIONS

It is suggested that to enable stroke patients to access high-quality health information, greater efforts need to be made to ensure patients to receive accurate and current evidence-based information which meets their individual needs. Health professionals should use suitable information delivery methods, and actively involve stroke patients in information provision.

Suitability Assessment of Printed Dietary Guidelines for Pregnant Women and Parents of Infants and Toddlers From 7 European Countries

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate selected European printed dietary guidelines for pregnant women and parents of infants and toddlers using the suitability assessment of materials (SAM) method.

METHODS

A descriptive study to determine the suitability of 14 printed dietary guidelines from 7 European countries based on deductive quantitative analyses.

RESULTS

Materials varied greatly in format and content: 35.7% of materials were rated superior and 64.3% were rated adequate according to the overall SAM score for patient education material. None of the materials were scored not suitable. Among the categories, the highest average scores were for layout and typography and the lowest average scores were for cultural appropriateness and learning stimulation and motivation. Interrater reliability ranged from Cohen's kappa of 0.37 to 0.62 (mean, 0.41), indicating fair to moderate agreement among the 3 investigators.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Overall, the suitability of the assessed printed dietary guidelines was adequate. Based on the SAM methodology, printed dietary guidelines may increase in suitability by emphasizing aspects related to health literacy and accommodating the needs of different food cultures within a population.

An investigation into the information received by patients undergoing a gastroscopy in a large teaching hospital in Ireland

The purpose of this article is to examine the information received by patients undergoing a gastroscopy. The growing number and complexity of day-case endoscopy increases the need for quality patient information. Provision of patient information reduces anxiety, increases knowledge, improves cooperation during endoscopy and increases compliance with discharge instructions. The study used a descriptive survey with convenience sampling (response rate 66%, N = 137). Patients received most of the standard procedural information (how and why the procedure is carried out), but they received considerably less sensory information (information regarding what they would hear, feel, smell, etc.). In addition, age and gender appeared to affect the amount of information received. Older patients received more procedural information than younger patients, and male patients received more information than female patients. The nurse was the main source of information. The majority of patients (>80%) received adequate information and were satisfied with the information received. Patients also received most of the information verbally on the day of the procedure rather than before admission. This study identified the need for patient information leaflets. The role of the nurse and the effect of age and gender on information provision are important considerations for healthcare professionals.

The quality and suitability of written educational materials for patients*

AIM

In this study, the quality and suitability of written educational materials being used for the education of patients in surgical departments of hospitals were studied.

BACKGROUND

In the literature, it is stated that most of the educational materials for patients are not suitable from the aspects of contents, structure, design, composition and language.

METHOD

In this descriptive type study, which was carried out between March and May 2006, 59 examples of written educational material used for patient education at 138 surgical clinics were evaluated for quality and suitability. The written educational materials obtained were evaluated independently by researchers from the aspect of quality and suitability. The DISCERN measuring instrument was used in the evaluation of the reliability of the written educational materials and the Evaluation of the Suitability of Written Materials form was used in the evaluation of suitability.

RESULTS

It was determined that the educational materials received low scores for reliability and information quality. It was determined that the total scores for the written educational materials were average for suitability.

CONCLUSION

It was determined that there were no written educational materials in more than half of the surgical units included in the study. It was also found that the educational materials had serious deficiencies.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

This study showed that there was no adequate written patient educational material at the clinics. This deficiency in written educational materials could be eliminated by having them prepared by health professionals in accordance with guidebooks and taking the target group into account.

Ensuring quality information for patients: development and preliminary validation of a new instrument to improve the quality of written health care information

BACKGROUND

Despite the recent focus on improving the quality of patient information, there is no rigorous method of assessing quality of written patient information that is applicable to all information types and that prescribes the action that is required following evaluation.

OBJECTIVE

The aims of this project were to develop a practical measure of the presentation quality for all types of written health care information and to provide preliminary validity and reliability of the measure in a paediatric setting.

METHODS

The Ensuring Quality Information for Patients (EQIP) tool was developed through a process of item generation, testing for concurrent validity, inter-rater reliability and utility. Patient information managers and health care professionals tested EQIP in three annual audits of health care leaflets produced by a children's hospital.

RESULTS

The final tool comprised 20 items. Kendall's tau B rank correlation between EQIP and DISCERN was 0.56 (P = 0.001). There was strong agreement between intuitive rating and the EQIP score (Kendall's tau B = 0.78, P = 0.009). Internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha was 0.80. There was good agreement between pairs of raters (mean kappa = 0.60; SD = 0.18) with no differences based on types of leaflets. Audits showed significant improvement in the number of leaflets achieving a higher quality EQIP rating over a 3-year period.

CONCLUSIONS

EQIP demonstrated good preliminary validity, reliability and utility when used by patient information managers and healthcare professionals for a wide variety of written health care information. EQIP uniquely identifies actions to be taken as a result of the quality assessment. Use of EQIP improved the quality of written health care information in a children's hospital. Wider evaluation of EQIP with written information for other populations and settings is recommended.

"It's like an explosion in your life...": lay perspectives on stress and myocardial infarction

Psychological difficulties are common after myocardial infarction (MI). These difficulties are most often represented to patients through cardiac rehabilitation services and the literature offered to patients after MI as being related to "stress" and its management. However, no research has examined what MI patients understand by the term "stress" or how congruent lay views of stress are with those evident in the professional literature. The aim of the study reported here was to examine post-MI patients' views of stress, its functioning and relationship to their MI. As patients' views of stress were sought, qualitative interviews were used. A philosophical approach was taken (critical realism) that recognizes the legitimacy of both professional and lay perspectives. Data were generated in 44 semistructured interviews with 14 MI patients who were interviewed 48 hours, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after hospital admission. While participants described their experiences after MI as being difficult, to convey this they used everyday terms such as fear, fright and worry. Rather than viewing stress as being a consequence of their MI, they perceived it to be a common cause of heart problems. Many considered stress as having a more influential role than other risk factors, such as smoking and diet. They expressed a wide variety of sophisticated and diverse views of stress and its functioning. Each of these views placed different weighting on the roles of social, personal and situational factors in contributing to the stressful reaction. Parallels were apparent between these lay accounts and theories of stress developed in the professional literature.

The academic writing experiences of a group of student nurses: a phenomenological study

AIMS

To investigate the academic writing experiences of a group of preregistration nursing students. To explore issues surrounding how academic writing skills were developed, integrated and received into the student's educational programme and how these skills impacted on various aspects of their educational and clinical experience.

BACKGROUND

The development of an academic writing style is seen to be an integral skill that the student must be willing to learn and undertake within higher education settings. Academic styles of writing have been imported into nursing education as a consequence of its integration into higher education. I wanted to investigate the experiences of learning an academic style of writing for students early on in their nursing career. There is little, if any, research that seeks to investigate or measure these experiences of nursing students.

METHODS

A phenomenological approach to investigate the academic writing experiences of a group of preregistration students.

FINDINGS

There is an expectation that preregistration students will quickly acquire academic writing skills when most will have had little or no prior experience. There appeared to have been little emphasis placed on facilitating the development of these skills in the educational programme. The lack of emphasis and support proved to be problematical for these nursing students. The emergence of a theory-practice divide also figured strongly. Students were, however, able to appreciate the need and place for academic writing skills and most were able to identify the structural processes that were integral to acquiring such skills.

CONCLUSION

A plethora of anecdotal evidence, supported by the findings in this study, suggests that most nursing students' struggle with the demands placed upon them when writing academic assignments. The need for greater emphasis and support throughout the whole period of training are highlighted in the findings of this study. It is known that nursing loses large numbers of its students to the academic rigors of its educational programmes. Where this is the case, the findings of this study support the need for nurse educationalists and curriculum planners to revise and reform the way that they approach and deliver the demands of an academic style of writing with their students.