Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers in the Home: Video Consultations as an Alternative to Outpatient Hospital Care

The aim of this study was to investigate whether video consultations in the home can support a viable alternative to visits to the hospital outpatient clinic for patients with diabetic foot ulcers. And furthermore whether patients, relatives, visiting nurses, and experts at the hospital will experience satisfaction and increased confidence with this new course of treatment. Participatory design methods were applied as well as field observations, semistructured interviews, focus groups, and qualitative analysis of transcriptions of telemedical consultations conducted during a pilot test. This study shows that it is possible for experts at the hospital to conduct clinical examinations and decision making at a distance, in close cooperation with the visiting nurse and the patient. The visiting nurse experienced increased confidence with the treatment of the foot ulcer and characterized the consultations as a learning situation. All patients expressed satisfaction and felt confidence with this new way of working

Nurses' experience of using an application to support new parents after early discharge:an intervention study

Background. A development towards earlier postnatal discharge presents a challenge to find new ways to provide information and support to families. A possibility is the use of telemedicine. Objective. To explore how using an app in nursing practice affects the nurses’ ability to offer support and information to postnatal mothers who are discharged early and their families. Design. Participatory design. An app with a chat, a knowledgebase, and automated messages was tried out between hospital and parents at home. Settings. The intervention took place on a postnatal ward with approximately 1,000 births a year. Participants. At the onset of the intervention, 17 nurses, all women, were working on the ward. At the end of the intervention, 16 nurses were employed, all women. Methods. Participant observation and two focus group interviews. The data analysis was inspired by systematic text condensation. Results. The nurses on the postnatal ward consider that the use of the app gives families easier access to timely information and support. Conclusions. The app gives the nurses the possibility to offer support and information to the parents being early discharged. The app is experienced as a lifeline that connects the homes of the new parents with the hospital

"If only had I known":a qualitative study investigating a treatment of patients with a hip fracture with short time stay in hospital

Hip fractures are amongst the leading causes of admission to an orthopaedic ward. Systematized pathways with reduced admission time have become increasingly common as an essential tool for quality development and to improve efficiency in the hospital setting.  The aim of this study was to clarify if the patients feel empowered and able to perform self-care after short time stay in hospital (STSH) due to a hip fracture. The study used descriptive phenomenology to describe experiences of the pathway. Field studies were conducted in hospitals and in the patients' homes.  Interviews were performed with 10 patients recruited from two wards at a Danish University hospital, 4 family members and 15 health professionals from three hospitals.  The open attitude of reflective lifeworld research guided the analysis. The findings revealed that patients felt unprepared and insecure about their future, but also had a strong desire to be in charge of their own lives.  Of all the patients interviewed, none had any recollection of the information given to them by health professionals during their hospital admission. This study demonstrates that empowerment of patients with hip fractures is not adequately achieved in the pathway with STSH

The Model for Assessment of Telemedicine (MAST): a scoping review of empirical studies

The evaluation of telemedicine can be achieved using different evaluation models or theoretical frameworks. This paper presents a scoping review of published studies which have applied the Model for Assessment of Telemedicine (MAST). MAST includes pre-implementation assessment (e.g. by use of participatory design), followed by multidisciplinary assessment, including description of the patients and the application and assessment of safety, clinical effectiveness, patient perspectives, economic aspects organisational aspects and socio-cultural, legal and ethical aspects. Twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. In this article, research design and methods used in the multidisciplinary assessment are described, strengths and weaknesses are analysed, and recommendations for future research are presented

Blogs - Læringsfællesskab med rum til refleksion

Anvendelse af blogs i læringssituationer kan give studerende mulighed for at reflektere i fællesskab. Derfor blev blogs afprøvet blandt universitetsstuderende med det formål at undersøge, hvordan studerende oplever anvendelsen af blogmediet, samt undersøge hvilke former for refleksion, som blogs kan understøtte. Undersøgelsen var baseret på en sociokulturel forståelse af læring, hvor læring ses som en proces, der konstrueres gennem interaktioner. Blogs blev afprøvet som en del af et undervisningsforløb for 24 studerende. Blogindlæggene blev analyseret mhp at identificere refleksionsniveauet, og der blev gennemført et fokusgruppeinterview med fem studerende for at afdække de studerendes oplevelser med at blogge. Konklusionen er at blogmediet tilbyder et læringsfælleskab, som giver de studerende mulighed for refleksion. Desuden tyder det på, at muligheden for refleksion forringes ved uklarhed over opgaven og usikkerhed på hvordan blogmediet anvendes. Endelig kan anvendelsen af blogs i læringssituationer udfordre de gængse opfattelser af læring, hvilket kan skabe forvirring hos de studerende