Choice and perception of the nursing profession from the perspective of Polish nursing students: a focus group study.

BACKGROUND: Although previous quantitative studies provide important information on the factors which influence the choice of nursing as a career, qualitative analysis makes it possible to study the subject more thoroughly. The purpose of this study was to conduct an in-depth analysis of the reasons why Polish students choose nursing as a profession and their later perception of the job based on experiences acquired during the nursing course. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive study was designed. We organized 8 focus group discussions with third-year nursing students. A total of 76 students participated in the study. RESULTS: Several reasons why students had chosen the nursing profession were identified: desire to help others, family tradition, desire to work abroad, failure to get into another course, pure chance, and low admission requirements (relative to medical studies). The participants\u27 views of the nursing profession were based on their own personal experiences or observations of nurses at work. Often these observations were superficial, concerning only selected fragments of nursing work. The participants also identified reasons for there being low regard for the nursing profession. CONCLUSION: The decision about choosing nursing is mainly determined by practical aspects, e.g., the opportunity for employment. Although young people are aware of the low prestige of the nursing profession in Poland, they believe it is possible to improve its image and enhance its prestige

Przewlekła biegunka podczas leczenia lapatynibem w skojarzeniu z kapecytabiną u chorej leczonej z powodu rozsianego raka piersi z nadmierną ekspresją receptora HER2

Powikłania ze strony układu pokarmowego są częstym objawem niepożądanym leczenia przeciwnowotworowego [1, 2]. Biegunka występuje u około 65% chorych leczonych skojarzaniem lapatynibu z kapecytabiną [3, 4] i może być przyczyną wtórnych powikłań, konieczności zmniejszenia dawek leków, a także negatywnie wpływać na funkcjonowanie chorych [1]. Poniżej przedstawiono opis przypadku chorej z rozpoznaniem HER2-dodatniego raka piersi w stadium rozsiewu leczonej na Oddziale Onkologii Szpitala Specjalistycznego we Wrocławiu. Ze względu na nadmierną ekspresję receptora HER2 chora otrzymywała leki ukierunkowane molekularnie antagonizujące HER2.Podczas leczenia 3. linii lapatynibem w skojarzeniu z kapecytabiną wystąpiła biegunka. Po wprowadzeniu leków zapierających i zmianie diety jej nasilenie się zmniejszyło, pozwalając na kontynuację leczenia z dobrym efektem klinicznym

Performance of detection dogs and visual searches for scat detection and discrimination amongst related species with identical diets

Ecology often faces the problem that many threatened species are highly elusive but also conflict-laden. Thus, proper monitoring data are inevitable for their conservation and management. Indirect monitoring through scats is frequently used for such species, but scats of related species or species with similar diet are often visually indistinguishable. Since genetic methods for species identification are time-consuming and cost-intensive, a verification of the target species beforehand would be extremely beneficial in reducing effort to the analysis of the target species only. Such species discrimination could be provided through species-specific scat detection dogs. Therefore, we evaluated the reliability of species-specific scat detection dogs for two mustelid species feeding on identical diets: the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) and the American mink (Neovison vison), both of which are conflict-laden and increasing their populations and distribution ranges in central Europe. Their scats resemble each other in morphology and odour, exacerbating the differentiation even for experts. To evaluate whether detection dogs can reliably discriminate between related species feeding on similar diets and if their use would be beneficial, we tested their abilities against those of humans. We first proved that scat characteristics are not statistically different between species. Likewise, visual species identification through people with different experience levels was only partly successful. Experts showed higher average accuracy (0.89) than non-experts (0.72 and below), but detection dogs (4 dogs) were able to discriminate otter and mink scats under laboratory conditions with an accuracy of 0.95. Moreover, otter scat detection dogs found up to four times more scat samples in the field, were twice as fast as human searchers and found an almost equal number of scats with different characteristics, while humans mostly found older and larger scats placed on hotspots. We conclude that using detection dogs for species identity will allow subsequent laboratory analyses to be species-specific and avoid spending time and money on laboratory work of the wrong species. It also provides more precise and unbiased information about the target species

Additional file 1: of Choice and perception of the nursing profession from the perspective of Polish nursing students: a focus group study

The focus group guide. (DOC 42 kb