Psychology in practice: Guidelines for the provision of psychological services for older adults

The practice of psychology covers the range of ages from conception through to the end of life and palliative care. Psychologists practice in a variety of roles, but the majority of these roles involve interactions with nonprofessionals of varying ages. These interactions are governed by codes of ethical practice, whether these are developed by the funding bodies for research activities, professional associations, or regulatory bodies. Ethical codes vary in their format and emphasis, but all have the protection of the public as a major purpose. Often there are special provisions in these codes for particular populations or circumstances. Here we describe the development of ethical guidelines for the practice of psychology with older adults in Australia and report on those guidelines and their supporting literature.

Measuring parent satisfaction with a neonatal hearing screening program

The primary aim of the present study was to investigate parent satisfaction with a neonatal hearing screening program through use of a valid and reliable questionnaire developed for this purpose (Parent Satisfaction Questionnaire with Neonatal Hearing Screening Program; PSQ-NHSP). Eighty parents whose children had received hearing screening participated in this study. High levels of satisfaction were reported with more than 90% of parents satisfied with all aspects of the program. The PSQ-NHSP was analyzed for validity and reliability and demonstrated excellent internal consistency reliability (sigma = 0.94) and excellent test-retest reliability (rho = 0.97). Content validity of the PSQ-NHSP was partially established by reviewing available literature on parent satisfaction studies in other pediatric health-care service programs. Construct validity of the PSQ-NHSP was indicated by a significant positive relationship between overall satisfaction and the three specific dimensions in the questionnaire. The satisfaction questionnaire was found to be a useful instrument for identifying service shortfalls, and routine use of the PSQ-NHSP in other neonatal hearing screening programs is recommended.

Heart failure management programmes in Europe

Background The ESC guidelines recommend that an organised system of specialist heart failure (HF) care should be established to improve outcomes of HF patients. The aim of this study was therefore to identify the number and the content of HF management programmes in Europe. Method A two-phase descriptive study was conducted: an initial screening to identify the existence of HF management programmes; and a survey to describe the content in countries where at least 30% of the hospitals had a programme. Results Of the 43 European countries approached, 26 (60%) estimated the percentage of HF management programmes. Seven countries reported that they had such programmes in more than 30% of their hospitals. Of the 673 hospitals responding to the questionnaire, 426 (63%) had a HF management programme. Half of the programmes (n = 205) were located in an outpatient clinic. In the UK a combination of hospital and home-based programmes was common (75%). The most programmes included physical examination, telephone consultation, patient education, drug titration and diagnostic testing. Most (89%) programmes involved nurses and physicians. Multi-disciplinary teams were active in 56% of the HF programmes. The most prominent differences between the 7 countries were the degree of collaboration with home care and GP's, the role in palliative care and the funding. Conclusion Only a few European countries have a large number of organised programmes for HF care and follow up. To improve outcomes of HF patients throughout Europe more effort should be taken to increase the number of these programmes in all countries.

Developing a protocol for the use of telenursing in community health in Australia

As the first step in developing a protocol for the use of video-phones in community health, we carried out a feasibility study among clients with a range of health needs. Clients were equipped with a commercially available video-phone connected using the client's home telephone line. A hands-free speaker-phone and a miniature video-camera (for close-up views) were connected to the video-phone. Ten clients participated: five required wound care, two palliative care, two long-term therapy monitoring and one was a rural client. All but two were aged 75 years or more. Each client had a video-phone for an average of two to three weeks. During the six months of the study, 43 client calls were made, of which 36 (84%) were converted to video-calls. The speaker-phone was used on 24 occasions (56%) and the close-up camera on 23 occasions (53%). Both clients and nurses rated the equipment as satisfactory or better in questionnaires. None of the nurses felt that the equipment was difficult to use, including unpacking it and setting it up; only one client found it difficult. Taking into account the clients' responses, including their free-text comments, a judgement was made as to whether the video-phone had been useful to their nursing care. In seven cases it was felt to be unhelpful and in three cases it was judged helpful. Although the study sample was small, the results suggest that home telenursing is likely to be useful for rural clients in Australia, unsurprisingly, because of the distances involved.

Assistência em cuidados paliativos a pessoa idosa na atenção primária a saúde

This study aims to understand the significance of palliative care for the elder health care professionals working in primary health care. Descriptive study of qualitative approach. Conducted in three health units of the Family and a core of support for Health, the Felipe Camarão neighborhood, District of Natal Health West, RN. Of the 25 participants, 19 are professionals of the Family Health Strategy and six of the Center for Support to Health, the majority being women, with minimal professional work experience, a year in primary health care. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, under CAAE no. 43895815.4.0000.5537. There were individual interviews between July and September 2015, with the use of questionnaire containing open and closed questions on the topic of study. Our results were recorded in MP4 and transcribed into written language, and analyzed using the open coding process medium in which the categories were interpreted and identified, followed by axial coding, where categories were developed and systematically related. Three categories emerged: enhancement of elder health professionals in palliative care, behavioral health professionals across care in palliative care in primary care and disjointed Meaning between palliative care and health professionals. The categories were interpreted and analyzed by the theoretical framework of social phenomenology of Alfred Schütz. Regarding the valuation of subjective perception of professionals, it is clear the issue of the complexity of multiple relationships through various aspects of his central task: focus a philosophy of the world's reality, namely a phenomenology of natural attitude; Before the professional behavior were identified: the discovery and depth of assumptions through the structure, and meaning in a common sense, and at the meaning of the disconnection between the health professionals-including that reality imminent can be represented by individuality special interest of the experience. It follows that health professionals understand there is a difficulty facing the assistance in palliative care to the elderly in primary care, and this difficulty, characterized by the complexity of social interactions across the joint teamwork. Although, I believe that the articulation between the teams, work and family, is essential for the subsequent improvement of care in palliative care favoring the health context surrounding the Elder.