Student radiographers' attitudes towards the older patient: a longitudinal study

Purpose: To design, implement and evaluate the effect of an educational intervention on student radiographer attitudes across their educational tenure. Methods: In the first phase, an educational intervention that involved didactic lectures, reflective exercises and simulation suits, aimed at improving student radiographer attitudes towards the older person, was designed and implemented. Kogan’s attitudes towards older people (KoP) scale was administrated at five test points; pre-intervention; post-intervention; 6 months post intervention; 12 months post intervention and 24 months post intervention. At the final test point these quantitative data was supplemented with qualitative data for triangulation of the findings. Results: Students held positive attitudes towards older people pre intervention, these increased significantly post intervention (p=0.01). However, this increase in positive scores was not noted at 6 months and 12-months post intervention. At 24-months post intervention, although there was a slight increase in positive attitudes when compared to the 6 and 12 month scores, this increase was not found to be significant (p=.178) Conclusions: The results post-intervention suggested that an educational intervention can have a significant impact on student radiographer’s attitudes towards older people. However, the qualitative data suggests that experiences on initial clinical placement can be detrimental to attitudinal scores, particularly if the intervention does not include Dementia care strategies

Managing discomfort and developing participation in non-emergency MRI: children's coping strategies during their first procedure

Introduction: Building on existing work, this paper aims to develop a detailed analysis of the practical coping strategies developed by children who had not previously experienced an MRI, regarding a non-emergency examination of the brain. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 22 children, aged between eight and sixteen years, were conducted immediately post-procedure. Emergent data were thematically analysed in line with the core precepts of Grounded Theory, and triangulated against interview data with their parents where pertinent. Results: The primary concern among interviewees related to how they had coped with the discomfort of an unfamiliar medical procedure; this was recurrently managed through a process herein termed Participation Development. This comprised three phases. The first, preparative participation, describes the children’s reported attempts to ready themselves for the examination (with parents) ahead of arriving in hospital. The second, enabling participation, describes how the children (with input from parents and radiographers) endeavoured to understand what was to come, and select viable distraction techniques. Finally, sustaining participation describes the children’s reports of actualizing their preparations during the examination itself. Where the overall process of participation development was successful, the children reported a sense of mastery, growth and even joy. Conclusion: While much work in the domain portrays children as relatively ‘passive’ agents’ during an MRI procedure, the findings herein point to how they can (with varying degrees of success) actively and constructively work with others. This, it is contended, has direct import for the improvement of support, both prior to and within a procedure itself

Managing discomfort and involving participation in non-emergency MRI: children’s coping strategies during a first procedure

Purpose: Building on existing work, this paper aims to develop a detailed analysis of the practical coping strategies developed by children who had not previously experienced an MRI, regarding a non-emergency examination of the brain. Materials and Methods: Semi-structured interviews with N=22 children, aged between eight and sixteen years, were conducted immediately post-procedure. Emergent qualitative data were thematically analysed in line with the core precepts of Glaserian Grounded Theory. Results: The primary concern among interviewees related to how they had coped with the discomfort (prospective and extant) of an unfamiliar medical procedure; this was recurrently managed through a process herein termed Involving Participation. This comprised three phases. The first, participation preparation, describes the children’s reported attempts to ready themselves for the examination (with parents) ahead of arriving in hospital. The second, enabling participation, describes how the children (immediately before examination, with input from parents and radiographers) endeavored to understand what was to come, and select viable distraction techniques. Finally, sustaining participation describes the children’s reports of actualizing their preparations during the examination itself. Where the overall process of participation development was successful, the children reported a sense of mastery, growth and even joy. Conclusion: While much work in the domain portrays children as relatively ‘passive’ agents during an MRI procedure, the findings herein point to how they can (with varying degrees of success) actively and constructively work with others. This, it is contended, has direct import for the improvement of support, both prior to and within a procedure itself

Student radiographer attitudes towards the older patient: a longtitudinal study

Background: The ageing population is creating greater pressure on health care services; radiology is no exception. Care of the older population has been reported as inadequate and as a consequence of the Mid-Staffordshire enquiry, care of the older patient has become a central feature of education and training. However little evidence exists as to the effectiveness of this education in the radiography arena. Method: This longitudinal study evaluated student radiographer attitudes towards older people. In the first phase an educational intervention, aimed at improving student radiographer attitudes towards the older person was designed and implemented. Attitudes were measured pre and post intervention using Kogan's attitudes towards older people scale (KoP). Students were then followed throughout their training to determine any changes in attitudes. Results: Students held positive attitudes towards older people pre intervention, which increased significantly post intervention (p=0.01). This significance was not noted at 6 and 12 months' post intervention; here average scores reduced to an almost identical level to those found pre-intervention. At 24 months' post intervention attitudinal scores increased, though this was not found to be significant. Conclusion: The initial results suggested that an educational intervention can have a significant impact on student radiographer's attitudes towards older people. However, the six and twelve months' post intervention scores suggest that these positive attitudes do not endure. Though the 24 months' post intervention findings demonstrate an increase in positive attitudes, these were still lower than the immediate post-intervention

The species of the genus Mycodrosophila Oldenberg (Diptera: Drosophilidae) from India

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STUDY OF DRUG-DRUG INTERACTION IN THE INPATIENTS OF A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL AT CALICUT

Objective: The study was conducted to monitor the potential drug-drug interactions in the prescriptions of inpatients in a tertiary care hospital based on the mechanism and severity.Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted by collecting the prescriptions containing two or more drugs. The interactions were checked using an interaction checker and were categorized into pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions on the basis of mechanism of action and severity based on the risks or consequences of the interactions.Result: Among 150 randomly collected prescriptions, 123 (82%) prescriptions had 396 drug-drug interactions. The pharmacodynamic drug interactions (77.27%) were more common when compared to pharmacokinetic drug interactions (22.73%). There was high prevalence of drug-drug interactions among the patients above the age of 60 years (56.09%). The moderate drug-drug interactions (81.81%) were found to be more when compared to the major (10.61%) and minor (7.58%) interactions. The neurology department prescriptions were observed to have more number of drug-drug interactions (26.01%).Conclusion: A systematic approach and close monitoring of the medication chart is necessary to identify the potential drug-drug interactions. The clinicians and other health-care professionals at the study site require an awareness program in regard to identification and management of drug-drug interactions. Clinical pharmacist can play an important role in the monitoring and management of drug-drug interactions

Multi-layered InGaN/GaN structure versus single InGaN layer for solar cells applications: a comparative study

International audienceWe report a comparison of the morphological, structural and optical properties of both InGaN single-layer and multilayered structures, the latter consisting of periodic thin GaN interlayers inserted during InGaN growth. It is shown that such a structure suppresses the In concentration fluctuations and corresponding different states of strain relaxation with depth, both detrimental to solar cell applications. Measurements performed by X-ray diffraction, cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence demonstrate that this multilayer growth is a promising approach to increase both the InGaN layer total thickness and In content in InGaN epilayers. As an example, single-phase 120 nm thick InGaN with 14.3% In content is obtained and found to possess high structural quality