Research and Development Centre for Social Welfare and Health, Seinäjoki Polytechnic, Koskenalantie 16 Seinäjoki Fin-60220, Finland. merja.kuuppelomaki@seamk.fi
The purpose of the study was to describe the sense of coherence (SOC) of three groups of Finnish polytechnic students (n=287) at the beginning of their studies and to follow it during a period of 3 year amongst the health care students (n=63) of this group. The associations between SOC and smoking, drinking and physical exercise were also studied. The data were collected with a questionnaire which included Antonovsky's (Adv. Nurs. Sci. 1(1983)37) SOC scale. Data analysis was with SPSS statistical software. The students showed a strong sense of coherence at the beginning of their studies. Physical activity was related to the strength of SOC, but no association was found with smoking and drinking. Health care students showed a stronger SOC at the beginning of their studies than the two other groups. During the follow-up focused on the health care students, SOC weakened in 6%, remained unchanged in 65% and strengthened in 32% of the participants. Smoking, drinking and physical exercise showed no association with these changes. Future research should be focused on identifying factors that are related to SOC during education.
Abstract Many genetic/genomic educational opportunities are available to assist nursing faculty in their knowledge and understanding of genetic/genomics. This study was conducted to assess advance practice nursing faculty members' current knowledge of medical genetics/genomics, their integration of genetics/genomics content into advance practice nursing curricula, any prior formal training/education in genetics/genomics, and their comfort level in teaching genetics/genomic content. A secondary aim was to conduct a comparative analysis of the 2010 data to a previous study conducted in 2005, to determine changes that have taken place during that time period. During a national nurse practitioner faculty conference, 85 nurse practitioner faculty voluntarily completed surveys. Approximately 70% of the 2010 faculty felt comfortable teaching basic genetic/genomic concepts compared to 50% in 2005. However, there continue to be education gaps in the genetic/genomic content taught to advance practice nursing students. If nurses are going to be a crucial member of the health-care team, they must achieve the requisite competencies to deliver the increasingly complex care patients require.
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Erratum In: Int J Nurs Educ Scholarsh. 2013;10: doi/10.1515/ijnes-2013-0094
The effect of the total amount of work hours and the benefits of a shortening is frequently debated, but very little data is available. The present study compared a group (N = 41) that obtained a 9 h reduction of the working week (to a 6 h day) with a comparison group (N = 22) that retained normal work hours. Both groups were constituted of mainly female health care and day care nursery personnel. The experimental group retained full pay and extra personnel were employed to compensate for loss of hours. Questionnaire data were obtained before and 1 year after the change. The data were analyzed using a two-factor ANOVA with the interaction term year*group as the main focus. The results showed a significant interaction of year*group for social factors, sleep quality, mental fatigue, and heart/respiratory complaints, and attitude to work hours. In all cases the experimental group improved whereas the control group did not change. It was concluded that shortened work hours have clear social effects and moderate effects on well-being.
The prevalence of dementia is placing an increased burden on specialists.
Canadian neurologists responded to a structured questionnaire to assess reasons for referral and services provided as well as to compare the neurologists' perceptions of their practice characteristics against cases seen over a 3-month period.
The audit confirmed the participants' perception that family practitioners are the main referral source (358/453, 79%). Sixty-two percent of patients had undergone clinical investigation for dementia prior to being seen by the neurologist; 39% (177/453) were on pharmacotherapy at the time of referral, 68% were initiated on pharmacotherapy by the neurologist. A fifth of the referrals did not meet clinical criteria for dementia, which may be directly related to the prevalence of prior workup that did not include mental status testing.
Neurologists currently treat patients referred for dementia who may already have been adequately evaluated and treated by primary care providers.
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Comment In: Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2008 Dec-2009 Jan;23(6):513-519222144
Only 1 of the 229 passengers and crew members killed when Swissair Flight 111 crashed off Nova Scotia in September was visually identifiable. Identifying everyone else on board involved medical and dental detective work of the first order.
To collect national baseline information on asthma management practices by physicians, and to compare these practices with the recommendations of the Canadian Asthma Consensus Conference ('the guidelines').
Cross-sectional survey of representative samples of physicians in Canada in late 1996 and early 1997.
Five specialty types of physicians who manage asthma patients: respirology, pediatrics, internal medicine, allergy and clinical immunology, and general practice and family medicine. Stratified sampling by province and specialty was used to select physicians for the study. Weighting was used in the analysis to generalize the results to the national level for the five specialty groups of physicians.
Mailed questionnaire, self-administered by the respondent; three mailings of the questionnaires were used to increase the response rate.
The frequency with which each of the five specialty types chose specific asthma management choices was determined, using weighted percentages representative of the specialty groups on a national basis. ANOVA determined the statistically significant differences among the five specialties in choosing particular asthma management actions. Then, logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios showing an association between the characteristics of the physician respondents and specific asthma management choices that they made in the survey.
The data analysis demonstrated significant variations among physicians in asthma management practices, according to specialty type and other characteristics. The initial report was released in April 1998, and manuscripts for journal submissions are being prepared.
The 2009 H1N1 pandemic response in remote First Nation communities of Subarctic Ontario: barriers and improvements from a health care services perspective.
To retrospectively examine the barriers faced and opportunities for improvement during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic response experienced by participants responsible for the delivery of health care services in 3 remote and isolated Subarctic First Nation communities of northern Ontario, Canada.
A qualitative community-based participatory approach.
Semi-directed interviews were conducted with adult key informants (n=13) using purposive sampling of participants representing the 3 main sectors responsible for health care services (i.e., federal health centres, provincial hospitals and Band Councils). Data were manually transcribed and coded using deductive and inductive thematic analysis.
Primary barriers reported were issues with overcrowding in houses, insufficient human resources and inadequate community awareness. Main areas for improvement included increasing human resources (i.e., nurses and trained health care professionals), funding for supplies and general community awareness regarding disease processes and prevention.
Government bodies should consider focusing efforts to provide more support in terms of human resources, monies and education. In addition, various government organizations should collaborate to improve housing conditions and timely access to resources. These recommendations should be addressed in future pandemic plans, so that remote western James Bay First Nation communities of Subarctic Ontario and other similar communities can be better prepared for the next public health emergency.
