Ikäihmiset haavoittuvina kuluttajina : miten kuluttajansuojalaki vastaa ikäihmisten ongelmiin

Suomessa on käytetty ilmaisua haavoittuva kuluttaja, jollaisina ratkaisukäytännössä on nähty muun muassa ikääntyneet. Haavoittuvat kuluttajat ovat alttiimpia vaikutuksille, koska heillä voi olla vähäiset taloudelliset, tiedolliset tai taidolliset resurssit. Iäkkäillä kuluttajilla on samoja kuluttajaongelmia kuin muillakin, mutta niiden lisäksi erityisiä ongelmia voi aiheutua heikentyneestä toimintakyvystä ja tukiverkoston puutteesta. Kuluttajansuojasäännösten tavoite on luoda kuluttajille oikeusturvaa mahdollisiin ongelmatilanteisiin ja parantaa kuluttajien luottamusta siihen, että heitä suojellaan ongelmatilanteissa. Pelkkä oikeuksien olemassaolo ei kuitenkaan riitä, jos kuluttaja ei tiedä, miten hän voi käytännössä toteuttaa oikeuksiaan. Iäkkäät kuluttajat, joilla on heikommat mahdollisuudet selvittää oikeuksiaan, ovat huonommassa asemassa. Tutkimuskysymyksenä on selvittää, millaisia ratkaisuja kuluttajansuojalaki tarjoaa ikäihmisten kohtaamiin ongelmiin. Tutkielman teoreettinen viitekehys muodostuu lainsäädännöstä, lain esitöistä ja oikeuskirjallisuudesta. Tutkielma nojautuu erityisesti kuluttajansuojalakiin (38/1978). Keskeisen osan lähdeaineistosta muodostavat oikeustieteellinen kirjallisuus sekä aihetta käsittelevät selvitykset ja linjaukset. Tutkielmassa tärkeässä osassa ovat kuluttajariitalautakunnan ja kuluttaja-asiamiehen ratkaisut sekä oikeustapaukset. Kuluttajansuojalaki tarjoaa nykyisellään ratkaisuja esitettyihin ongelmiin, mutta haaste on kuitenkin se, että lain tarjoamat ratkaisut eivät sellaisenaan toimi iäkkäiden kuluttajien osalta. Iäkkään kuluttajan omalle aktiivisuudelle perustuva oikeussuoja on ongelmallinen ja vaikeasti toteutettavissa. Kollektiivisen suojan osalta heikkoutena voidaan sanoa olevan se, että iäkkäiden kuluttajien kuluttajaongelmat tulevat huonosti valvontaviranomaisen tietoon. Yhteenvetona on todettavissa, että iäkäs kuluttaja jää helposti kuluttajansuojan katvealueelle. Eniten ongelmia aiheuttavat harhaanjohtava, painostava ja aggressiivinen markkinointi ja erityisiä ongelmakohtia ovat koti- ja etämyynti, jossa erityisesti puhelinmyynti ja remonttipalvelut

Relationship of breast fillet deboning time to shear force, pH, cooking loss and color in broilers stunned by high electrical current

Experiments were conducted to determine the relationships between deboning time and broiler breast meat quality, as determined by objective meat tenderness, pH, color and cooking loss. All birds were processed in a European commercial processing plant using a high current, constant voltage stunning system and air chilling. According to a modified Mitscherlich response equation, pH values reached their ultimate value by 5.77 h post-mortem, with an asymptotic 95 % confidence interval of 5.72 h-5.81 h post-mortem. The shear force data, which were analyzed using a logistic model, suggested that broiler breast fillets should be aged intact on the carcass for 10.58 h, 5.94 h or 2.28 h to guarantee that over 95 % of the fillets reach Allo-Kramer shear forces of 8.0, 9.0 or 11.0 kg/g, respectively. Since acceptable meat tenderness values vary with country, geographical area, or consumer groups, acceptable ranges should be determined according to potential market demands. No relationships between deboning time and fresh meat color or cooking loss was found

Unprofessional conduct by nurses: A document analysis of disciplinary decisions

Background: A small minority of nurses are investigated when they fail to meet the required professional standards. Unprofessional conduct does not just affect the nurse but also patients, colleagues and managers. However, it has not been clearly defined.Objective: The objective was to identify unprofessional conduct by registered nurses by examining disciplinary decisions by a national regulator.Design: A retrospective document analysis.Data and research context: Disciplinary decisions delivered to 204 registered nurses by the Finnish national regulatory authority from 2007 to 2016. The data were analysed with quantitative statistics.Ethical consideration: The study received permission from the Finnish National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health and used confidential documents that were supplied on the basis of complete anonymity and confidentiality.Findings: The mean age of the registered nurses who were disciplined was 44 years and 81% were female. Two-thirds had worked for their employer for 5 years or less, 53% had two or more employers and 18% had a criminal history. All the decisions included a primary reason for why the nurses were investigated, but there were also 479 coexisting reasons. In most cases, unprofessional conduct was connected to substance abuse (96%). In addition, stealing of medicine, a decreased ability to work and neglect of nursing guidelines were reported.Discussion: We found that the nurses were investigated for unprofessional conduct for complex combinations of primary and coexisting reasons. Our study highlighted that more attention needs to be paid to the key markers for unprofessional conduct.Conclusion: Unprofessional conduct is a complex phenomenon that is connected to nurses' individual and working backgrounds and has an impact on their work performance. More research is needed to identify how nursing communities can detect, manage and limit the serious effects and consequences of unprofessional conduct.</p

Disciplinary processes for nurses, from organizational supervision to outcomes: A document analysis of a regulatory authority's decisions

Aim: This study aims to explore the disciplinary processes for nurses, from organizational supervision to final decisions by the Finnish regulatory authority.Background: Regulatory authorities are responsible for protecting the public, by ensuring that they receive safe, competent and ethical nursing care, but little is known about the disciplinary processes for nurses.Methods: This is a retrospective document analysis of 296 disciplinary decisions by the Finnish regulatory authority from 2007 to 2016. The data were analysed using a quantitative design with descriptive statistics.Results: We studied 204 disciplined nurses (81.4% female) with a mean age of 43.5 years. The disciplinary process comprised organizational supervision, complaints, investigations and decisions. Nurses with substance abuse issues were more likely to face criminal investigations and receive temporary decisions. The process lasted from under 1 month to years and could have profound effects on nurses, col-leagues and nurse managers and compromise patient safety.Conclusion: This study identified key factors that could inform the disciplinary processes for nurses. More knowledge is needed about how organisations ensure patient safety when unprofessional conduct is suspected.Implications for Nursing Management: Retaining nursing professionals is vital due to global shortages, and more attention should be paid to organizational supervision and support for nurses during disciplinary processes.</p

Integrative review of studies about nurses who have been disciplined by their professional regulatory bodies

Aim To synthesize knowledge in studies about nurses who had been disciplined by their professional regulatory bodies. Background Unprofessional conduct that violates patient safety, nursing standards or legislation can result in disciplinary action that affects nurse's professional rights to practice. However, research on disciplinary procedures in nursing is fragmented. Methods An integrative review was carried out with systematic searches between January 2006 and November 2018, using the CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases and manual searches. The quality of the 17 included studies was evaluated with the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. Results The evidence in the included studies focused on various databases. Disciplined nurses were described in relation to their characteristics and disciplined because of numerous patients, practice and behaviour related violations. Similar disciplinary actions against nurses were reported. Conclusion This review provides knowledge on contributory risk factors that can be used to develop professional standards and early interventions in nursing management. More systematic research is needed, together with clear definitions of disciplinary procedures. Implication for Nursing Management This knowledge could strengthen the abilities of nurse managers to recognize and prevent events that seldom occur but seriously threaten the safety of patients and nurses when they do

Older people’s perceived autonomy in residential care: an integrative review

Autonomy has been recognised as a key principle in healthcare, but we still need to develop a consistent understanding of older people’s perceived autonomy in residential care. This study aimed to identify, describe and synthesise previous studies on the perceived autonomy of older people in residential care. Ethical approval was not required, as this was a review of published literature. We carried out an integrative review to synthesise previous knowledge published in peer-review journals in English up to September 2019. Electronic and manual searches were conducted using the CINAHL, Philosopher’s Index, PubMed, SocINDEX, Scopus and Web of Science databases. The data were analysed using the constant comparison method. The review identified 46 studies. Perceived autonomy referred to the opportunities that older people had to make their own choices about their daily life in residential care, and achieving autonomy promoted both health and quality of life. Autonomy was linked to older people’s individual capacities, including their level of independence, physical and mental competence, personal characteristics, and whether relatives shared and supported their perceived autonomy. Professionals could facilitate or hinder older peoples’ autonomy in a number of ways, including providing opportunities for autonomy, how daily care needs and activities were managed, and controlling older people’s choices. Professionals’ characteristics, such as education and attitudes, and the older people’s living environments were also associated with their perceived autonomy and included organisational characteristics and physical and social care facilitators. Older people’s perceived autonomy promoted health and quality of life in residential care. However, their autonomy was associated with a number of protective and restrictive individual and environmental factors, which influenced whether autonomy was achieved.</p

Neglecting the care of older people in residential care settings: A national document analysis of complaints reported to the Finnish supervisory authority

Neglecting to provide older people with the care they need in residential care settings leads to human suffering and increased service needs. Research is lacking on neglect in older people's residential care and one way to assess the key issues is to study complaints. The aim of this study was to analyse official complaints related to allegations of neglect in residential care settings caring for older people in Finland. The data covered 317 complaints that were recorded in the national database in 2018 and 2019. The analysis of the complaints yielded 2,922 observations of neglect in older people's care in residential care settings. Based on our results, most of the complaints were made by family members when the patients were alive and their motivation was to improve the care their relative received, as well as the care of others, in the residential care home. The complaints focused on neglecting clinical care, including restricting older people's movements, not providing daily activities and not paying sufficient attention to their hygiene and secretions. Other complaints included issues relating to nutrition, medication, communication and issues that compromised their privacy, respect and dignity. Nearly three of four complaints identified staffing issues in relation to neglect and most of the complaints concerned private, rather than public, residential care homes. Although the complaints only concerned a small proportion of the annual care provided, more attention should be paid to care practices that prevent neglect in residential care and to multi-level monitoring for dignified care

Developing a Feasible and Credible Method for Analyzing Healthcare Documents as Written Data

Healthcare provides a rich, and constantly increasing, number of written documents, which are underutilized in research data for health and nursing sciences, but previous literature has only provided limited guidance on the process of document analysis. The aim of this paper is to provide a methodological framework for analyzing health care documents as written data, based on a systematic methodological review and the research team's experience of the method. Based on the results, the methods consist of seven phases: (i) identify the purpose, (ii) determine the document selection strategy, (iii) select or design an extraction matrix, (iv) carry out pilot testing, (v) collect and analyze the data, (vi) consider the credibility, and (vii) ethics of the study. The framework that has been developed can be used to carry out document analysis studies that are both feasible and credible

Jalostettujen puutuotteiden koemarkkinointi ja lanseeraus

Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli jalostettujen puutuotteiden lanseeraukseen ja koemarkkinointiin liittyvien ongelmien kartoitus ja niihin ratkaisujen löytäminen. Kohteena oli Metsäliitto Osuuskunta Finnforestin puutuoteteollisuuden Kesto Plus -tuotteet kotimaan markkinoilla. Opinnäytetyössä käsitellään koemarkkinointia ja lanseerausta eri näkökulmista ja pohditaan miten haastattelussa esille tulleisiin ongelmiin saataisiin ratkaisuja. Tarkoituksena on tuoda esille näkökulmia, joita hyödyntämällä yrityksellä on mahdollisuudet parantaa palvelujaan ja tehdä asiakassuhteista pidempiaikaisia. Tarkoituksena on, että yritys voi hyödyntää haastattelusta saamiaan tietoja tulevaisuudessa uusia tuotteita lanseerattaessa. Tutkimus menetelmänä käytettiin kvantitatiivista tutkimusta. Tutkimus toteutettiin haastattelututkimuksena. Tutkimustulokset analysoitiin ja niistä tehtiin yritykselle power point -esitykset sekä kirjalliset yhteenvedot. Finnforestin kannattaisi tuoda enemmän esille kilpailuetujaan tuotteiden markkinoinnissa sekä luoda enemmän mielikuvia potentiaalisten asiakkaiden mieliin. Uusia tuotteita markkinoille tuotaessa sisäinen markkinointi on tärkeää ja tässä asiassa yrityksellä oli huomattavia parannustarpeita. Yrityksen tulisi panostaa henkilöstönsä koulutukseen ja sisäiseen viestintään enemmän. Haastattelujen perusteella selvimpänä ongelmana havaittiin projektin onnistuminen ja siihen liittyvät toimet. Tutkittavalla KestoPlus – projektilla ei koettu olevan kunnollista projektin johtajaa ja tästä syystä tieto kulki kehnosti eivätkä kaikki projektin jäsenet tienneet omia toimiaan. Organisaation edustajat kokivat tiedotuksen puutteen ja sisäisen viestinnän heikkouden projektin onnistumisen kannalta haittaavaksi tekijäksi ja toivoivat näihin parannusta. Jälleenmyyjien haastatteluiden perusteella tuotetta jota lanseerattiin ja koemarkkinointiin oli kaivattu jo pitkään markkinoille ja sille oli tarvetta. Tuotteesta pidettiin pääsääntöisesti ja myyjän toimintaan oltiin tyytyväisiä.The main goal of the thesis was to map out the problems in marketing and launching processed wood products as well as to find the solutions for the problems. The target product was “Kesto-Plus” –products by Metsäliitto Osuuskunta Finnforest wood industries in the domestic Finnish market. The thesis discusses test marketing and product launching from different perspectives, helping the company to find opportunities to improve its services and make its customer relationships last longer. The main point is that the company can utilize the information from the interviews while launching new products in the future. The research method was a quantitative survey, which was carried out as interviews. The results of the survey were analysed and later presented to the company as a Power Point show and in a written report. Finnforest should bring forth their competitive advantage more and create more images in the minds of their potential clients while marketing their products. The company has a remarkable need of improvement in the internal marketing, which plays an important role while launching new products on the market. The company should focus more on training its personnel as well as on its internal communication. Based on the information of the interviews, the clearest problem was the execution of the project and the measures related to that. The “Kestoplus” –project that was surveyed did not really seem to have a project manager. Therefore the information flow was relatively weak and some members of the project were not aware of their tasks. The representatives of the organization felt that the lack of proper information and internal communication was a barrier for the success of the project and they hoped for improvement in that area. The interviews of the distributors showed that the launched target product was indeed wanted and there was a demand for it on the market. Generally speaking the customers gave positive feedback on the product and they were also satisfied with the work of sales representatives