Maternal health care professionals perspective on the provision and use of antenatal and delivery care : a qualitative descriptive study in rural Vietnam

Background. High quality maternal health care is an important tool to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality. Services offered should be evidence based and adapted to the local setting. This qualitative descriptive study explored the perspectives and experiences of midwives, assistant physicians and medical doctors on the content and quality of maternal health care in rural Vietnam. Method. The study was performed in a rural district in northern Vietnam. Four focus group discussions with health care professionals at primary health care level were conducted. The data was analysed using qualitative manifest and latent content analysis. Result. Two main themes emerged: "Contextual conditions for maternal health care" and "Balancing between possibilities and constraints". Contextual conditions influenced both pregnant women's use of maternal health care and health care professionals' performance. The study participants stated that women's uses of maternal health care were influenced by economical constraints and cultural norms that impeded their autonomy in relation to childbearing. Structural constraints within the health care system included inadequate financing of the primary health care, resulting in lack of human resources, professional re-training and adequate equipment. Conclusion. Contextual conditions strongly influenced the performance and interaction between pregnant women and health care professionals within antenatal care and delivery care in a rural district of Vietnam. Although Vietnam is performing comparatively well in terms of low maternal and child mortality figures, this study revealed midwives' and other health care professionals' perceived difficulties in their daily work. It seemed maternal health care was under-resourced in terms of staff, equipment and continuing education activities. The cultural setting in Vietnam constituting a strong patriarchal society and prevailing Confucian norms limits women's autonomy and reduce their possibility to make independent decisions about their own reproductive health. This issue should be further addressed by policy-makers. Strategies to reduce inequities in maternal health care for pregnant women are needed. The quality of client-provider interaction and management of pregnancy may be strengthened by education, human resources, re-training and provision of essential equipment.

Reactions of Persons with Dementia to Caregivers Singing in Morning Care Situations

Music therapeutic caregiving', when caregivers sing for or together with persons with severe dementia during care situations, has been suggested as a way to reduce problematic behaviors in dementia care. The present study implemented this technique as an intervention in dementia care. Six caregivers participated in group interviews about their experiences of morning care situations without and with'Music therapeutic caregiving'. Through a qualitative content analysis two themes emerged.'Being in a different reality' was based on'usual' morning care situations. The caregivers' experienced the persons with dementia as absent-minded; communication and cooperation were difficult. The second theme,'Being present', was based on morning care situations with the intervention. The caregivers described communication as enhanced; the persons with dementia expressed themselves more appropriately, making cooperation possible. The results indicate that'Music therapeutic caregiving' might lead to a more positive experience of the person with dementia and seems to increase receptivity to caregiving.  

Malnutritionsproblem vid cancersjukdom : En litteraturstudie

Det primära syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva hur cancerrelaterad malnutrition uppkom och hur kroppen påverkades. Vidare syftade studien till att beskriva hur patienterna upplevde nutritionsproblemen och dess konsekvenser. Studien syftade även till att beskriva hur patienternas livskvalitet påverkades av nutritionsproblemen, samt vilka åtgärder sjukvårdspersonalen kunde vidta för att förbättra nutritionen hos patienter med cancer. Artikelsökningen har skett via databaserna Elin@Dalarna, Blackwell Synergy och EBSCO Host. Sökorden som användes var cancer, healthcare, nutrition, malnutrition, nurse, nursing, quality of life och experiences. Resultatet visade att malnutrition ökade risken för komplikationer. Många av patienterna avled på grund av malnutrition och inte av cancern i sig. Malnutrition orsakades av att patienten inte kunde äta på grund av både cancern och dess behandling. Patienterna tyckte det var omöjligt att både äta, dricka och till och med svälja sin egen saliv på grund av rädsla för outhärdlig smärta. Konsekvensen av detta var att de inte hade styrka eller energi till att göra någonting. Nutritionsproblem ledde även till en känsla av brist på gemenskap och en försämrad livskvalitet. Nutritionsintaget var den viktigaste faktorn till en bra livskvalitet. Genom att ta nutritionsstatus tidigt och med jämna mellanrum följa upp nutritionsstatus på patienten så kunde sjuksköterskan motarbeta malnutrition.

Kvinnor och Mäns upplevelser av vardagslivet och sjuksköterskans roll efter en hjärtinfarkt.

Introduktion: De hjärtpatienter som lever hemma själva har en sämre livskvalitet både fysiskt och psykiskt oavsett ålder och kön. Att ha en anhörig eller nära vän som hjälp ökar livskvalitet och kortar återhämtningsperioden. Syfte: Syftet är att se hur män och kvinnor upplever livet efter hjärtinfarkt, samt hur sjuksköterskans roll upplevs i kontakten med dessa patienter? Metod: Systematisk litteraturstudie utifrån vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultat: Resultatet diskuteras utifrån fem huvudkategorier samt ur manligt och kvinnligt perspektiv. Dessa huvudrubriker är ”Hälsoproblem”, ”Livsstilsförändringar”, ”Emotionella reaktioner”, ”Arbets och socialt nätverk” och ”Hur upplevs sjuksköterskans roll i omvårdnaden”. Under dessa huvudrubriker har uppsatsförfattarna beskrivit vilket resultat vi funnit i artiklarna om patienters olika upplevelser av vardagslivet efter hjärtinfarkt. Diskussion: Resultatet liknar det som redan finns beskrivet i läroböckerna att män och kvinnor reagerar och upplever smärta på olika sätt. Vilket leder till att upplevelserna i vardagen också kommer att skilja sig åt mellan män och kvinnor. Att båda könen upplever smärta och obehag på olika sätt kan ha att göra med ideal, normer, livsvillkor och förväntningar på vad som är manligt och kvinnligt i samhället. Slutsats: Individen bakom sjukdomen får aldrig förbises vilket skulle kunna ge negativa konsekvenser i omvårdnaden. Det föreligger dessutom en informationsbrist. Denna bör utredas för att höja kvalitén rörande patientinformationen. Anhöriga bör dessutom involveras i vården mer.

Confidence in heuristic solutions?

Solutions to combinatorial optimization problems frequently rely on heuristics to minimize an objective function. The optimum is sought iteratively and pre-setting the number of iterations dominates in operations research applications, which implies that the quality of the solution cannot be ascertained. Deterministic bounds offer a mean of ascertaining the quality, but such bounds are available for only a limited number of heuristics and the length of the interval may be difficult to control in an application. A small, almost dormant, branch of the literature suggests using statistical principles to derive statistical bounds for the optimum. We discuss alternative approaches to derive statistical bounds. We also assess their performance by testing them on 40 test p-median problems on facility location, taken from Beasley’s OR-library, for which the optimum is known. We consider three popular heuristics for solving such location problems; simulated annealing, vertex substitution, and Lagrangian relaxation where only the last offers deterministic bounds. Moreover, we illustrate statistical bounds in the location of 71 regional delivery points of the Swedish Post. We find statistical bounds reliable and much more efficient than deterministic bounds provided that the heuristic solutions are sampled close to the optimum. Statistical bounds are also found computationally affordable.

Nurses’ and patients’ communication in smoking cessation at nurse-led COPD clinics in primary health care

Background: Smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have high nicotine dependence making it difficult to quit smoking. Motivational interviewing (MI) is a method that is used in stimulating motivation and behavioral changes. Objective: To describe smoking cessation communication between patients and registered nurses trained in MI in COPD nurse-led clinics in Swedish primary health care. Methods: A prospective observational study with structured quantitative content analyses of the communication between six nurses with basic education in MI and 13 patients in non-smoking consultations. Results: Only to a small extent did nurses’ evoke patients’ reasons for change, stimulate collaboration, and support patients’ autonomy. Nurses provided information, asked closed questions, and made simple reflections. Patients’ communicationwasmainly neutral and focusing on reasons for and against smoking. It was uncommon for patients to be committed and take steps toward smoking cessation. Conclusion: The nurses did not adhere to the principles of MI in smoking cessation, and the patients focused to a limited extent on how to quit smoking. Practice implications: To make patients more active, the nurses need more education and continuous training in motivational communication.

Life situations and the care burden for stroke pa­tients and their informal caregivers in a prospective cohort study

Background. The purpose of this study was to analyse whether the parallel life situation between stroke patients and their informal caregivers (dyads) shown in cross-sectional studies prevails also in a longitudinal perspective. Methods. A total of 377 Swedish stroke patients, aged ‡65 years, and their 268 informal caregivers were followed from hospital admission and one year on. Analyses were based on patient interviews, functional ability (MMSE) score, Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) score, Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) score, self-rated health score, and the Gothenburg Quality of Life (GQL) activity score. Similar information was obtained by postal questionnaires from informal caregivers, also including information on the nature and amount of assistance provided and on Caregiver Burden (CB) score. Results. Before index admission informal caregivers provided care on average 5 h per week and after discharge 11 h per week (P < 0.0001). Support volume was associated with patient sex (more for men), low patient’s functional ability, low received municipal social service support, closeness of patient–caregiver relation, and short distance to patient’s home. Significant positive associations within the dyads were found for HAD anxiety score (P < 0.0001), total NHP score (P < 0.0001), and GQL activity score (P < 0.0001) after adjustment for patient’s age, sex, functional ability, and patient–caregiver relationship. CB score increased with amount of informal caregiver support, patient’s age, and with low functional ability and low amount of municipal social service support. All these associations were constant across time. Conclusions. There was an association within the dyads regarding anxiety score, NHP score, and activity score. CB score was generally high.