Month: September 2016

Caring compassionately for hospitalized patients: can nurse-delivered massage address compassion fatigue? ( International Journal for Human Caring: 2016, 20(3) p.146-154)

Compassion satisfaction is recognized as a potentially protective factor in reducing compassion fatigue or burnout among health care workers. This study examined whether nurses’ professional quality of life scores significantly improved after nurses learned and implemented massage techniques. Participating nurses in a U.S. hospital most often administered massage to relieve patients’ stress and pain. Nurses were able to incorporate massage into daily nursing care and perceived massage as relaxing for the patients and themselves. Burnout was significantly reduced over time for the study sample. Nurse-delivered massage should be further investigated for its ability to promote therapeutic nurse-patient relationships.

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Mathematical model for in-ward nursing staffing optimization based on patient classification system. (Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research, 37(2) p.75-83)

Nursing staffing is of major interest in hospital management, however, no practical method has been developed. The present study proposed a mathematical model based on the patient classification system for nursing staffing optimization. A few characteristic parameters possibly determined experimentally and/or empirically were introduced followed by systematic calculation of the required number of nurses. An essential concept of the model is the unit work load defined as the amount of nursing work performed on single patient per unit time, where the work load is defined as the number of nursing staffs multiplied by the working hours. The unit work load was considered to vary with the patient classification level as well as the working time during a day, both of which were represented by corresponding parameter values. The number of patients for each class and the number of working hours were multiplied to the unit work load, and added up to obtain the total required work load. As the next step, the averaged number of hours that a nurse could provide per day was formulated considering the degree of nursing practice experience into 3 levels. Finally, the appropriate number of nursing staffs was calculated as the total work load divided by the average working hours per nurse. The present technique has a great advantage that the number of nursing staffs to fulfill the required work load is systematically calculated once the characteristic parameters are appropriately determined, leading to instant and fast evaluation. A practical PC program was also developed to apply the present model to nursing practice.

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Emotional behavior in dementia patients and spousal caregivers: Relationship with caregiver depression. (Journal of Neurochemistry, August 2016, 138(257))

The associated burden of caring with a spouse with dementia has been linked to a number of mental health problems, such as depression. The existing literature has explored differences in caregiver depression from the qualities of both the caregiver and the patient, but rarely on the qualities of the relationship. The present study examined whether differences in the emotional quality of interactions between caregivers and patients were associated with differences in depressive symptoms of caregivers.

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Maximising retention of nurses. (Australian evidence. 2016)

The aim of this book is to explore the literature, investigate methods and analyse models and data to identify areas in which healthcare organisations can refocus their strategies so as to retain nurses in the workforce, and hopefully avert a global healthcare crisis.

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The socialization of new graduate nurses during a preceptorship program: Strategies for recruitment and support. (Journal of Clinical Nursing, 2016)

The purpose of this study is to gain greater understanding of new graduate nurses’ (NGN) organizational socialization and to help inform recruitment and support strategies for this population. To this end, it uses Van Maneen and Schein’s theory of organizational socialization to explore NGNs’ perceptions of role conflict, role ambiguity, job satisfaction, and turnover intent at the end of their preceptorship program. NGNs who reported a greater understanding of their work roles and less role conflict, and were working in their first job of choice were generally more satisfied with their job. Previous experience on the unit was not related to any of the socialization outcomes in this study. However, the transition experienced during clinical placements and early work experiences may be different.

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Psychological distress in informal caregivers of patients with dementia in primary care: Course and determinants. (Family Practice, August 2016, 33/4, p 374-381)

The course of psychological distress in informal caregivers of patients with dementia has been investigated in longitudinal studies with conflicting outcomes. We investigated the course and determinants of psychological distress in informal caregivers of patients with dementia in primary care.
GPs should focus on NPS (neuropsychiatric symptoms) in patients with dementia and on caregivers’ psychological distress and be aware of their risk for depression and mental problems, specifically to those who are spouse, female or between 50 and 70 years of age.

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Measuring burden in dementia caregivers: Confirmatory factor analysis for short forms of the Zarit Burden Interview. (Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, January 2017, 68/(8-13))

This study examines the psychometric properties of different short versions of the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), and aims to find an efficient and valid short version for clinical use among dementia caregivers.  A total of 270 Taiwanese dementia caregivers filled out the full form of the ZBI, which contains 22 items. They found the 12-item ZBI to be a promising measure for healthcare providers to assess the burden of dementia caregivers quickly and efficiently.

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The Impact of Dementia on Family Caregivers: What Is Research Teaching Us? (Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, October 2016, Vol 16(10))

Dementia family caregiving has been the focus of research for decades. Much has been learned about the negative impact of caregiving as well as characteristics that may be protective. This paper explores themes in caregiving pertinent to clinicians and researchers working with dementia family caregivers: the psychological, subjective, and physical outcomes of caregiving, ways in which dementia alters relationships between the patient and caregiver, and strategies for improving outcomes for caregivers. Suggestions for next steps in research and clinical care are made.

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RHAPSODY – Internet-based support for caregivers of people with young onset dementia: program design and methods of a pilot study. (International Psychogeriatrics, August 2016(1-9))

Young Onset Dementia (YOD), defined by first symptoms of cognitive or behavioral decline occurring before the age of 65 years, is relatively rare compared to dementia of later onset, but it is associated with diagnostic difficulty and heavy burden on affected individuals and their informal carers. Existing health and social care structures rarely meet the needs of YOD patients. Internet-based interventions are a novel format of delivering health-related education, counseling, and support to this vulnerable yet underserved group. The RHAPSODY project will add to the evidence on the potential and limitations of a conveniently accessible, user-friendly, and comprehensive internet-based intervention as an alternative for traditional forms of counseling and support in healthcare, aiming to optimize care and support for people with YOD and their informal caregivers.

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Peer support and reminiscence therapy for people with dementia and their family carers: A factorial pragmatic randomised trial. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, August 2016

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate peer support and reminiscence therapy, separately and together, in comparison with usual care for people with dementia and their family carers. Design Factorial pragmatic randomised trial, analysed by treatment allocated, was used for this study. The trial ran in Community settings in England and the participants were people with dementia and their family carers. However there is no evidence from the trial that either peer support or reminiscence is effective in improving the quality of life.

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