Nurses’ lived experience of spirituality in relation to helping patients cope with loss in situations of chronic and terminal illness

This qualitative study explores spiritual issues in relation to coping with loss in situations of chronic and terminal illness. An Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological approach was chosen as the most appropriate methodology for exploring nurses’ lived experience of utilising spirituality as a means of helping patients cope with loss. My prior knowledge both brought me to the subject of study and influenced my interpretation of data. To ensure transparency of method this prior knowledge is outlined in my fore-structure of understanding. A purposive sample of 12 registered nurses, 5 from hospice, 4 from community practice and 3 from a nursing home setting participated in semi-structured interviews. A stepped process of analysis of interview texts produced overarching themes which are illustrated with excerpts that collectively produce a ‘thick enough description’ intended to facilitate understanding of my interpretation of data by those who chose to read this study. Findings were illuminated by drawing on existing theoretical knowledge and concepts. My research diary and notes at interview constituted a research journal that recorded how my knowledge and understanding developed through my reflection on, and reflexive response to interview data. In this way my research journal was used to illuminate the research process. There are an increasing number of studies that consider spirituality in healthcare and how patients’ spiritual needs can be recognised and fulfilled. However, this study provides a different perspective, in particular, examples of how nurses’ development as persons may render them not only a spiritual resource in themselves, but also, contribute to how they become proficient in spiritual care in situations of loss. There were four overriding ways in which the development of this aptitude was evident. Firstly, belief provided them with a means of coming to an understanding of why things happen and so helped them accommodate repeated exposure to patients’ grief. Secondly, being a spiritual carer involved establishing a relationship with patients through ‘connected’ communication. Thirdly, becoming proficient in spiritual care was reflected by an increasing maturity in engaging with patients’ real life and death issues, which was sustained by taking ‘time out’ to reconnect with the self. Finally, belonging to a team whose culture reflected a spirit of reciprocal support was crucial when patient care was emotionally demanding

Earning Support for Individual Events Programs

This paper is divided into four areas. The first provides suggestions for the general orientation of the individual events program. The remaining areas focus on the three major functions of colleges and universities in the U.S. today: instruction, scholarship, and service. (Scholarship is approached as undergraduate scholarship, as another conference group is focusing on in individual events.) In each area, I suggest steps directors of individual events programs may take to become a more integral part of the academic communities in which their programs are housed. Those steps take the form of recommendations. Only two of the recommendations in this document call for action on the part of college/university administrations. The remainder may be implemented by faculty directing individual events programs

Built Work with HGA Architects

In some schools, faculty, who have to meet the academic requirement of the institution to achieve tenure and promotion, can be effectively supplemented with highly skilled local practitioners who are dealing on a daily basis with design and construction issues. In some happy instances, there are individuals who can straddle the two worlds and bring a balanced view of design excellence. Such an individual is Jim Shields. His classes and studios are models of clarity and insight and are highly sought by his students. His undisputed role as one of the most talented architects in the Midwest, as evidenced by the rich array of work in this monograph, brings huge value to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning.https://dc.uwm.edu/sarup_facbooks/1001/thumbnail.jp

Aging and service wear of auxiliary feedwater pumps for PWR nuclear power plants

This paper describes investigations on auxiliary feedwater pumps being done under the Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Program. Objectives of these studies are: to identify and evaluate practical, cost-effective methods for detecting, monitoring, and assessing the severity of time-dependent degradation (aging and service wear); recommend inspection and maintenance practices; establish acceptance criteria; and help facilitate use of the results. Emphasis is given to identifying and assessing methods for detecting failure in the incipient stage and to developing degradation trends to allow timely maintenance, repair or replacement actions. 3 refs

Gender-based Experiences of Women in Intercollegiate Forensics

Higher Educatio

Low-flow operation and testing of pumps in nuclear plants

Low-flow operation of centrifugal pumps introduces hydraulic instability and other factors that can cause damage to these machines. The resulting degradation has been studied and recorded for pumps in electric power plants. The objectives of this paper are to (1) describe the damage-producing phenomena, including their sources and consequences; (2) relate these observations to expectations for damage caused by low-flow operation of pumps in nuclear power plants; and (3) assess the utility of low-flow testing. Hydraulic behavior during low-flow operation is reviewed for a typical centrifugal pump stage, and the damage-producing mechanisms are described. Pump monitoring practices, in conjunction with pump performance characteristics, are considered; experience data are reviewed; and the effectiveness of low-flow surveillance monitoring is examined. Degradation caused by low-flow operation is shown to be an important factor, and low-flow surveillance testing is shown to be inadequate. 18 refs., 5 figs., 4 tabs

An Investigation of the Structural Integrity of Selected Components of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor

An investigation was made to determine the structural behavior of selected components of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor for increased power level conditions. It was found that a reactor cooling water outlet temperature of 150 deg F will cause severe plastic strain cycling in the aluminum housings for the large test facilities. Increasing the reactor cooling water flow rate of 21,000 gpm will cause plastic deformations in certain reaons of the core box. These latter deformations can be tolerated, but the full implications asscciated with any change in pressure differential must be understood before adopting the above flow rate. (auth