JOURNAL OF MEDICAL AND SURGICAL INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of stressors in the intensive care unit by patients and nurses. Material and Methods: The research was performed in the medical and surgical intensive care units in a university hospital. The sample consisted of 86 patients who stayed in the intensive care units for at least 24 h, who were conscious, and who had no communication difficulties and 52 nurses who were working in the same intensive care units. A Patient and Nurse Description Form and an Intensive Care Unit Sources of Environmental Stress Scale (ICUSESS) were used to gather data. Results: The patients' mean ICUSESS score was 80.65 +/- 18.46 and that of the nurses was 142.5 +/- 28.7. The nurses' mean ICUSESS score was higher than that of the patients (t = 15.063, p = 0.00). Having an oral or nasal tube was the number one stressor reported by both patients and nurses. The other top five stressors reported by the patients were lack of privacy, being in a very hot/cold room, men and women being in the same place, and hearing other patients cry and moan, whereas those of the nurses were feeling pain, fear of death, hearing the sound of a cardiac monitor which shows that there is a problem with the heart, and hearing other patients cry and moan. Conclusion: The level of perception of intensive care stressors by nurses was higher than that of the patients. The stressors perceived by the nurses and patients as the five most important were similar, and it can also be said that the nurses mostly named the stressors relating to diseases, whereas the patients named those concerning the physical condition of intensive care. (Yogun Bakim Derg 2015; 6: 4-9

Caregiver burden and perceived social support among caregivers of patients with cancer

PubMed ID: 25921137The purpose of this study is to describe the relationship between caregiver burden and perceived social support among caregivers of patients with cancer. The research was conducted in a university hospital in Izmir, Turkey. Eighty patient relatives who provided care service to patients with cancer who were admitted at hematology and oncology clinics participated in the study. The findings indicated that the care burden score was mild level. The mean of the perceived social support score was 58.4±21.0 supporting the conclusion that there is a weak and negative-direct relation between caregiver and perceived social support and that as the perceived social support increased, conversely, care burden decreased

Stressors in the intensive care unit: Perceptions of patients and nurses [Yoğun bakım Ünitesindeki stresörlerin hasta ve hemşireler tarafından algılanması]

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of stressors in the intensive care unit by patients and nurses. Material and Methods: The research was performed in the medical and surgical intensive care units in a university hospital. The sample consisted of 86 patients who stayed in the intensive care units for at least 24 h, who were conscious, and who had no communication difficulties and 52 nurses who were working in the same intensive care units. A Patient and Nurse Description Form and an Intensive Care Unit Sources of Environmental Stress Scale (ICUSESS) were used to gather data. Results: The patients’ mean ICUSESS score was 80.65±18.46 and that of the nurses was 142.5±28.7. The nurses’ mean ICUSESS score was higher than that of the patients (t=15.063, p=0.00). Having an oral or nasal tube was the number one stressor reported by both patients and nurses. The other top fve stressors reported by the patients were lack of privacy, being in a very hot/cold room, men and women being in the same place, and hearing other patients cry and moan, whereas those of the nurses were feeling pain, fear of death, hearing the sound of a cardiac monitor which shows that there is a problem with the heart, and hearing other patients cry and moan. Conclusion: The level of perception of intensive care stressors by nurses was higher than that of the patients. The stressors perceived by the nurses and patients as the fve most important were similar, and it can also be said that the nurses mostly named the stressors relating to diseases, whereas the patients named those concerning the physical condition of intensive care. © 2015 by Turkish Society of Medical and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine

Does the body temperature change in older people?

PubMed ID: 18705705Aim. The aim of this study was to determine the mean body temperatures in older people using mercury-in-glass thermometer. Background. Older people are unable to regulate their body temperatures to the same degree as young adults because their responses to changes in body temperature are altered. Several published reports suggest that body temperature decreases with advancing age and has a greater variability in older populations. The aim of this study was to determine the mean body temperatures in older people. Design. Non-experimental. Methods. Axillary body temperatures were taken in 133 older subjects in a nursing home for older people using mercury-in-glass thermometer. Temperatures were measured at 8 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m., over three consecutive days. Each subject had all three measurements taken on the same day. Results. The mean age of the subjects was 77.2, SD 7.3. In the 133 older subjects, the mean axillary temperatures ranged from 35.1 to 36.4°C (95.3-97.6°F). The mean temperatures for those aged 65-74 was higher than in those aged 75-84 (p < 0.001) and those aged 85 and older (p < 0.001) at 6 p.m. but not at 8 a.m. or 2 p.m. We concluded that older people have mean axillary body temperatures lower than the reference point of 36.5°C (97.7°F). Relevance to clinical practice. When assessing body temperature, it is important to take the age of the patient into consideration. Also, the reference point of 36.5°C is inappropriate in older people, especially when diagnosing a febrile illness. © 2008 The Authors

An Exploration of Nursing Students’ Clinical Decision-Making Process

PubMed ID: 29105357PURPOSE: This study was carried out descriptively and retrospectively with the purpose of determining nursing diagnoses used by intern students in their clinical practice. METHODS: The study data were obtained by checking the care plans of the internship files of 248 students studying at a nursing faculty. FINDINGS: The students determined 77 different nursing diagnoses in 13 domains of North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA)-I taxonomy II. The total number of nursing diagnosis used in the care plans was 1,469. CONCLUSION: Most of the diagnoses determined by the students were in the “safety/ protection” domain; however, they determined no diagnoses in the “life principles” domain. © 2017 NANDA International, Inc

Comparing mercury-in-glass, tympanic and disposable thermometers in measuring body temperature in healthy young people

WOS: 000227672700013PubMed ID: 15807757Aim and objectives. The aim of this study was to determine whether a disposable thermometer was at least as accurate as a tympanic thermometer when compared with a mercury-in-glass thermometer and to investigate the waiting periods of mercury-in-glass thermometers. Background. Although different methods of temperature measurement have been widely studied and described during the last decade, comparison between readings obtained when measuring body temperature using disposable, mercury-in-glass and tympanic thermometers is little documented and there is confusion about the waiting periods of mercury-in-glass thermometers. Methods. This research was descriptive and comparative. Temperature measurements included three sequential readings using first a tympanic thermometer in the left ear, then a disposable thermometer in the left axillary area and finally a mercury-in-glass thermometer in the right axillary area. All the temperatures were measured on the Celsius (degrees C) scale. To identify the stabilization periods of the mercury-in-glass thermometers, the temperature measurement was repeated until the reading stabilized. F-tests were used to compare readings of the mean temperatures. Results. It was found that body temperature readings measured by tympanic thermometer were higher than axillary mercury-in-glass thermometer by 0.12 degrees C, body temperature readings measured by tympanic thermometer were higher than axillary disposable thermometer readings by 0.65 degrees C and body temperature readings measured by axillary mercury-in-glass thermometer were higher by 0.53 degrees C than readings measured by axillary disposable thermometer. It was found that readings measured by mercury-in-glass thermometer stabilized in the eighth minute. Relevance to clinical practice. When assessing body temperature it is important to take the type of thermometer into consideration. In addition, axillary mercury-in-glass thermometers must be kept in place a minimum of eight minutes

Effects of thickness of muscle and subcutaneous fat on efficacy of gluteal intramuscular injection sites

Intramuscular injections given at the dorsogluteal and ventrogluteal sites are intended for the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles, respectively. However, little research has confirmed the reliability of these sites for the presence and thickness of the target and other muscles, and subcutaneous fat. This study characterised and compared these at the V-method and G-method ventrogluteal sites and dorsogluteal site (n=60). Gluteus maximus, medius and minimus were identified at each site, plus tensor fascia latae at ventrogluteal sites. Gluteus maximus and subcutaneous fat were significantly thicker and gluteus minimus significantly thinner at the dorsogluteal site than both ventrogluteal sites. Gluteus medius was the thickest muscle at each injection site, and thicker at the G-method than the V-method ventrogluteal site. Therefore, the dorsogluteal site reliably targets gluteus maximus, and the G-method ventrogluteal site was more reliable than the V-method ventrogluteal site to target gluteus medius in terms of presence and thickness