Experiences of suffering among elderly hip-fracture patients during the preoperative period: patients' and nurse's perspective

Older people's experiences of hospitalization for surgical intervention for hip fracture: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Hip fracture always requires hospitalization with high cost, which cause the complicated experiences and feelings.

OBJECTIVE

To inform pre- and in-hospital communication practices between healthcare professionals and patients through a systematic review and qualitative research that synthesizes the experiences and feelings of older patients with hip fracture during the perioperative period.

METHODS

We searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and three Chinese databases for relevant studies. Qualitative studies were included if they were related to the experiences and needs of hospitalization of older patients with hip fracture. Study quality was evaluated using the 2016 Joanna Briggs Institute quality evaluation criteria for qualitative research, and the results were consolidated using an thematic synthesis approach.

RESULTS

Sixteen studies were included in our meta-synthesis. We extracted 58 clear research topics. Eight new categories were formed after induction and integration, which were finally merged into three integrated results. Integration result 1: Patients suffered a large amount of physical and psychological trauma. Integration result 2: A balance of proper protection and independence for patients is required. Integration result 3: Adequate pre-discharge preparation is required.

CONCLUSIONS

Our review suggests that healthcare professionals should reduce pain catastrophizing and the fear of falling after surgery among older people with hip fracture. Furthermore, adequate pre-discharge preparation should be made jointly with patients. Meeting patients' diverse needs by various methods will promote active and healthy aging.

Perception of feeling safe perioperatively: a concept analysis

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of feeling safe, from the patient perspective, in a perioperative context.

METHOD

The eight-step concept analysis approach proposed by Walker and Avant was utilized to examine the attributes of feeling safe. Uses of the concept, defining attributes as well as antecedents, consequences and empirical referents are presented to describe the concept. Case examples are provided in order to assist the understanding of the defining attributes.

RESULTS

Feeling safe is defined as: a person that does not feel worried or threatened. Three attributes were identified: Participation, Control and Presence. Knowledge and Relationship are the antecedents of feeling safe, while Feeling Acknowledged and Trust are the consequences. Empirical referents are explored in order to find a way to measuring the perceived feeling of safety.

CONCLUSION

This concept analysis underscores the importance of including patients' perceptions in traditional patient safety work. Patients who feel safe perceive that they participate in their care, that they are in control, and that they feel the presence of both healthcare staff and relatives. The perceived feeling of security could, by extension, promote the postoperative recovery of patients undergoing surgery by positively affect the process of recovery.

Traditional compared to modified method of disinfection before hip fracture surgery - Experiences of nursing personnel

BACKGROUND

National guidelines in Sweden recommend preoperative full-body disinfection (FBD) with 4% chlorhexidine to prevent surgical-site infection (SSI) after hip fracture surgery, a method causing patients' severe pain. Although, due to little evidence in research, orthopedic clinics in Sweden are wavering in favor of simpler methods such as local disinfection (LD) of the surgical site.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of nursing personnel regarding the performance of preoperative LD on patients prior to hip fracture surgery after having switched from FBD.

METHODS

This study has a qualitative design where data were collected via focus-group discussions (FGDs) including in total 12 participants and analysed using content analysis.

RESULTS

Six categories were identified describing the aim: sparing the patients' physical harm, sparing the patients' psychological distress, involving the patients in the procedure, improving the working environment for personnel, preventing unethical situations and a more adequate utilization of resources.

CONCLUSIONS

All participants considered LD of the surgical site as a favorable method to FBD, witnessing of an increased wellbeing in patients and the method facilitating a better involvement of patients in the procedure, findings that are supported by other studies promoting person-centered care.

The Femoral Nerve Block Setting the Agenda for Nursing Care of Older Patients With hip Fractures-A Qualitative Study

Introduction

Hip fractures among older people are common worldwide, and it is often associated with preoperative pain. Due to increased comorbidity and high age, traditional pain relief can be a challenge. An alternative to traditional pain relief is a femoral nerve block, which is safe and suitable for anesthesia and analgesia for hip fractures among patients with or without dementia. It is essential to provide adequate pain management, and nurses report negative attitudes toward opioids and seem to prefer alternative pain management. To our knowledge, no study has focused on staff's experiences of nursing care for patients treated with femoral nerve block.

Aim

To describe staff's experiences providing nursing care in preoperative pain and pain management to older patients with a hip fracture who received a femoral nerve block.

Design

A qualitative exploratory design.

Method

Semistructured interviews with 19 nurses or assistant nurses in an orthopedic ward or emergency department. They were experienced in caring for patients with hip fractures who received treatment with a femoral nerve block. The interviews were subjected to qualitative content analysis.

Results

Staff described the femoral nerve block as setting the agenda when caring for older patients with hip fractures in the preoperative phase. The outcome of the femoral nerve block affected nursing care, depending on if the femoral nerve block was successful or not. Nursing care requires timing, with a need for staff orienting to time and customizing their communication. Further, staff faced ethical challenges regarding doing good and not harm, relieving pain, and avoiding side effects.

Conclusions

The femoral nerve block was an important issue for nursing staff in patients with hip fractures in the preoperative phase. Our results point toward the benefits of giving femoral nerve blocks as soon as possible to facilitate nursing care, however, this should be studied in future research.

A scoping review of Q-methodology in healthcare research

BACKGROUND

Q-methodology is an approach to studying complex issues of human 'subjectivity'. Although this approach was developed in the early twentieth century, the value of Q-methodology in healthcare was not recognised until relatively recently. The aim of this review was to scope the empirical healthcare literature to examine the extent to which Q-methodology has been utilised in healthcare over time, including how it has been used and for what purposes.

METHODS

A search of three electronic databases (Scopus, EBSCO-CINAHL Complete, Medline) was conducted. No date restriction was applied. A title and abstract review, followed by a full-text review, was conducted by a team of five reviewers. Included articles were English-language, peer-reviewed journal articles that used Q-methodology (both Q-sorting and inverted factor analysis) in healthcare settings. The following data items were extracted into a purpose-designed Excel spreadsheet: study details (e.g., setting, country, year), reasons for using Q-methodology, healthcare topic area, participants (type and number), materials (e.g., ranking anchors and Q-set), methods (e.g., development of the Q-set, analysis), study results, and study implications. Data synthesis was descriptive in nature and involved frequency counting, open coding and the organisation by data items.

RESULTS

Of the 2,302 articles identified by the search, 289 studies were included in this review. We found evidence of increased use of Q-methodology in healthcare, particularly over the last 5 years. However, this research remains diffuse, spread across a large number of journals and topic areas. In a number of studies, we identified limitations in the reporting of methods, such as insufficient information on how authors derived their Q-set, what types of analyses they performed, and the amount of variance explained.

CONCLUSIONS

Although Q-methodology is increasingly being adopted in healthcare research, it still appears to be relatively novel. This review highlight commonalities in how the method has been used, areas of application, and the potential value of the approach. To facilitate reporting of Q-methodological studies, we present a checklist of details that should be included for publication.