Nurses' attitudes about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome care: what research tells us

With the mounting incidence of human immunodeficiency virus infection not projected to peak until a decade into the next century, the question of nurses' willingness to engage in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) care remains important. Published data, however, do not support the frequently cited view that positive attitudes are exceptional. This analysis suggests reasons for misperceptions and also cautions that a continued focus on attitudes may not be useful unless we validate their influence on nursing action in clinical situations. Researchers must ask not only what differentiates the willing from the unwilling but also what alters the extent of nurses' willingness to engage. Even more important may be what influences how nurses engage, that is, what knowledge and skills they need to provide compassionate, effective care. The salience of these questions is especially apparent when we recognize how consistent the finding of positive AIDS-care attitudes has been through the last decade's plethora of studies. Without overlooking negative attitudes about, and some nurses' reluctance to participate in, AIDS care, research at this time should perhaps start with the premise that nurses want to nurse, and then focus on what they need to learn--cognitively, affectively, and technically--to do so competently and comfortably. In other words, the essential question is: What do nurses need to learn?     

A review and integration of knowledge about faculty research productivity

The nursing literature is replete with commentary and opinions about the research and scholarly productivity of nursing faculty. There are also a number of research studies on several aspects of faculty productivity. However, a scholarly critique and integration of research on this topic is lacking. This article reviews the literature on faculty research productivity and synthesizes the findings to present recommendations for promoting nursing faculty research and scholarship.     

Commentaries, opinions, and the growth of scientific knowledge.

Comments on J. J. Christensen-Szalanski and L. R. Beach's (see record 1984-21471-001) conclusion that the attention given to commentaries and replies to articles did not justify the extra space and indicates that less than 1% of all the articles that appeared in psychology journals had commentaries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patients'' and relatives'' opinion and knowledge about electroconvulsive therapy: implications for nursing

This study examines sources of motivation to seek treatment. Participants were 105 male alcoholics and their non-alcoholic female partners who participated in a study of three different approaches to the conjoint treatment of alcoholism. Participants' sources of motivation were coded from responses to questions at the initial clinical screening interview. Sources of motivation were classified as "internal" or "external." More participants had internal sources of motivation (74%) than external sources. Participants with internal sources of motivation scored higher on the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test than participants with external sources of motivation, but did not differ on other measures of pretreatment severity of alcohol problems. About half of the participants (53%) cited their partner as a primary source of motivation to seek treatment. Other sources of motivation cited were: increasing problems with alcohol, mental health problems, and physical health problems. There was greater variability among internal sources of motivation than among external sources of motivation. Participants' partners but not the male participants themselves, experienced an increase in marital satisfaction from pre- to within-treatment when the participant was motivated to come to treatment by his partner.     

Developing nursing knowledge and language

This article describes how Watson's theory of caring (1988) can be used to talk about nursing and to consolidate learning. The author shows how students can reflect on clinical experiences to create personal nursing knowledge which, in turn, can generate new knowledge which is grounded in practice. The article is based upon the content of a curriculum unit taught at the author's college.     

The opinions of district nurses regarding the knowledge, management and documentation of patients with chronic pain

In this paper, we outline three moments in the history of Western philosophy--Classical Greek, Modernity, Postmodernity--and the ways in which issues of truth, virtue and beauty have been understood within these philosophical formations. In particular, we investigate the ways in which notions of truth, virtue and beauty influenced the orthodoxy of birthing practices at these different moments. Finally, we examine current, critical reflections on the role of the intellectual in postmodern society and use these reflections as a heuristic for understanding the role of the contemporary midwife. We suggest that midwifery must reconcile two divergent demands. The first is to mobilise the positive, instrumental benefits of Western medical science to improve mortality and morbidity outcomes. The second is to remain sensitive to the cultural and social meanings attached to traditional birthing practices and to understand the roles these play in the well-being of mother and child.     

Survey and research (9). Steps in the survey research process for nursing practice: statistics (3)

Information on coronary heart disease (CHD) obtained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge and Cause-of-Death Registers was compared with that collected in the Helsinki Heart Study (HHS) during an 8.5-year follow-up. The purpose of the comparison was two-fold, firstly, to study the accuracy of registration of CHD and secondly, to find out what diagnostic codes to use for CHD in register-based follow-up studies. The HHS cases were used as the 'golden standard' and the CHD deaths and definite nonfatal acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs) (all diagnoses) were taken from the registers to establish the sensitivity of the Hospital Discharge and Cause-of-Death Registers combined. The sensitivity was 0.84 during the period 1980-86 and 0.87 during 1987-90, with the positive predictive values 0.94 and 0.92 respectively. The treatment effects seen in the HHS were compared with the effects that would have emerged, if register-based information only had been used with different definitions of CHD. Of the register-based calculations, the one with the definition 'all CHD deaths and hospitalizations with the ICD-8 code 410' came closest to the HHS result, with a 32% reduction (P=0.028 one-sided) of CHD incidence, while the original HHS result was a 34% reduction (P=0.008 one sided). However, when comparing Kaplan-Meier plots of cumulative hazards of CHD, the plot with a wider definition of CHD (ICD-8 and ICD-9 codes 410-414) came closest to the HHS experience, especially if revascularizations were included in the latter. Definite AMI as a single definition of CHD might thus not be sufficient when studying CHD risk, instead, at least two parallel definitions of CHD should be used.     

The use of poetry to test nursing knowledge

The biological compatibility of coatings of subcutaneous implants was studied in rat experiments. The implants were coated with hydroxyapatite and hydroxyapatite modified by chloromethylsilanthrane (silamine). The coatings were found to inhibit lipid peroxidation and form the optimal ratio of connective tissue biopolymers in capsules forming round the implants. Both types of hydroxyapatites used were characterized by high biological compatibility.     

Current opinions about the role of peptide C in the human organism

Focal cerebral ischemia in the rat has traditionally been studied by examining the consequences of middle-cerebral artery occlusion. However, the anteriorcerebral arteries of the rat may now also be bilaterally occluded by stereotaxic injection of the vasoconstrictor endothelin-1, resulting in ischemic damage to medial prefrontal cortex and the anteromedial basal forebrain. The behavioural consequences of anterior-cerebral artery occlusion (ACAo) were studied in two experiments using simple and choice reaction-time tasks designed to dissociate response impairments from dysfunction of motivation and attention, respectively. Following ACAo, reaction-time increased post-surgery in the choice, but not simple reaction-time task. There was also an increase in incorrect choices in the choice reaction-time task. However, the impairments were independent of motivational or attentional function, which remained intact. Although the ACAo-induced ischemic damage did not disrupt motivation or attention, the results suggest that the lesion results in an executive impairment in selecting and initiating responses.     

含钒磷铁提钒工艺研究综述

综述了含钒磷铁提钒工艺的研究现状,简述了高温冶炼工艺和低温焙烧工艺的基本原理及特点。对目前代表性工艺技术进行分析,指出了含钒磷铁综合回收利用过程中存在的问题。