Being a nurse leader in bedside nursing in hospital and community care contexts in Norway and Sweden

This is an open access article. You can find it online by following this link: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/jnep/article/view/3418The article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Background: The changes of health care that have been going on the latest decades have affected nurse leaders’ role in bedside nursing in hospitals and community care in Norway and Sweden as in many other countries. Aim: This study aimed at describing nurse leaders’ working situation, role experience and role performance in bedside nursing in hospital and community care contexts in Norway and Sweden. Methods: Twenty-four nurse leaders in three hospitals and ten nursing homes/sheltered accommodations in urban and rural areas in Norway and Sweden participated in qualitative interviews. Data was analyzed using inductive content analysis. In addition background information was used for providing deeper understanding of the leaders’ working situation. Findings: The leader responsibilities concerned safeguarding the quality in daily care, upholding a good workplace environment, developing nursing care, and keeping the budget in balance. Being in an ‘in-between’ position with more responsibility than authority in the role was common for all leaders. Four characteristic groups of leaders; ‘the patient guardian’, ‘the manager’, ‘the climber’, and ‘the unconscious’, illustrated different pattern found. Conclusion: Our study illuminates the necessity of improvement of competence requirements, authority-responsibility balance, administrative and emotional support, and competence development in regard to bedside nurse leaders

Beds in acute somatic wards. Patient and staff perspectives.A study of activities, functions, opinions, problems and requirements

Hospital beds have to fulfil many demands from both patients and staff. During the last decade, treatment of patients in hospitals has undergone great changes in technical, medical and nursing methods. However, the design and basic functions of the standard hospital beds have not been changed since the 1960s. The present studies, therefore, aimed to reveal whether the beds used in modern acute wards are appropriate for their purposes and whether and how their properties can be improved to further satisfy their users. An inventory of all the beds for adults was performed to find out what types of beds are used. Interviews were carried out with 49 head nurses and 60 patients to assess their opinions concerning hospital beds. An observation study at two wards was performed to assess how the beds are used. A questionnaire study with 74 nurses and an experimental study with 19 nurses were performed to assess the staff's opinions concerning the hos-pital beds and to explore the efforts and difficulties when transporting patients in beds.The head nurses put forward many complaints regarding the beds. They had little influ-ence with regard to the purchasing of new beds. The patients experienced that the bed and the bedside equipment were often not optimal for providing rest or for enabling them to perform activities when in bed. Different wards had similar types of beds, but the use of the beds differed between different wards. The personnel experienced unsatis-factory working postures when performing nursing tasks. Transportation was the most problematic task. The construction of the bed had a major influence on the perceived workload of the personnel.Conclusions: Hospital beds only partly fulfil the demands of patients and staff in modern medical and nursing care. Important findings are that the patients experienced the beds as being uncomfortable and not satisfying basic needs. The personnel descri-bed the beds as being unsatisfactory work tools. The thesis also presents the patients' and staff's assessment of important features of bed and bedside equipment, thereby pro-viding essential knowledge for the improvement of their functions

Being a nurse leader in bedside nursing in hospital and community care contexts in Norway and Sweden

Background: The changes of health care that have been going on the latest decades have affected nurse leaders’ role in bedside nursing in hospitals and community care in Norway and Sweden as in many other countries. Aim: This study aimed at describing nurse leaders’ working situation, role experience and role performance in bedside nursing in hospital and community care contexts in Norway and Sweden. Methods: Twenty-four nurse leaders in three hospitals and ten nursing homes/sheltered accommodations in urban and rural areas in Norway and Sweden participated in qualitative interviews. Data was analyzed using inductive content analysis. In addition background information was used for providing deeper understanding of the leaders’ working situation. Findings: The leader responsibilities concerned safeguarding the quality in daily care, upholding a good workplace environment, developing nursing care, and keeping the budget in balance. Being in an ‘in-between’ position with more responsibility than authority in the role was common for all leaders. Four characteristic groups of leaders; ‘the patient guardian’, ‘the manager’, ‘the climber’, and ‘the unconscious’, illustrated different pattern found. Conclusion: Our study illuminates the necessity of improvement of competence requirements, authority-responsibility balance, administrative and emotional support, and competence development in regard to bedside nurse leaders

Debriefing in simulation conducted in small and large groups : Nursing students’ experiences

The debriefing phase in human patient simulation is considered to be crucial for learning. To ensure good learning conditions, the use of small groups is recommended, which poses a major challenge when the student count is high. The use of large groups may provide an alternative for typical lecture-style education and contribute to a more frequently and repeated training which is considered to be important for achieving simulation competency. The purpose of the present study was to describe nursing students’ experiences obtained during the debriefing conducted in small and large groups with the use of a qualitative descriptive approach. The informants had participated in a human patient simulation situation either in large or small groups. Data was collected through the use of five focus-group interviews and analysed by content analysis. The findings showed that independent of group-size the informants experienced the learning strategies to be unfamiliar and intrusive, and in the large groups to such an extent that learning was hampered. Debriefing was perceived as offering excellent opportunities for transferable learning, and activity, predictability and preparedness were deemed essential. Small groups provided the best learning conditions in that safety and security were ensured, but were perceived as providing limited challenges to accommodate professional requirements as a nurse. Simulation competency as a prerequisite for learning was shown not to be developed isolated in conjunction with simulation, but depends on a systematic effort to build a learning community in the programme in general. The faculty needs to support the students to be conscious and accustomed to learning as a heightened experience of learning out of their comfort zone

Äldre i Värmland : Om hälsa, levnadsvanor och livssituation 2006

Landstinget har i samarbete med Karlstads universitet gjort flera befolkningsundersökningar i Värmland och publicerat rapporter om både den vuxna befolkningens och barns hälsa, senast med rapporten Värmlänningarnas Liv och Hälsa 2004. Någon befolkningsstudie av de äldres hälsa och livsvillkor har dock inte gjorts tidigare. Efter tre års förarbeten och samråd mellan landstinget, Värmlands kommuner och flera institutioner vid Karlstads universitet genomfördes den föreliggande studien av de äldres hälsa under senhösten 2006, i form av en omfattande postenkät. Urvalet utgjordes av 2500 slumpmässigt uttagna kvinnor och män som var 80 år eller äldre. Svarsfrekvensen var 60 procent, vilket får betraktas som mycket bra med tanke på att cirka 15 procent i denna åldersgrupp lever i särskilda boenden. Studien avspeglar således hälsan och livsvillkoren för de äldre. Överlag visar det sig att de äldre mår bra och har stor kapacitet att fungera som aktiva samhällsmedborgare. Samtidigt är det många som har kroniska besvär, med värk, syn- och hörselnedsättning, inkontinensbesvär etc. Det föreligger också en klar social gradient, där särskilt äldre kvinnor med arbetarbakgrund har både mer sjukdom och större ekonomiska problem än de övriga