The Experiences of Birth Relatives who Engage in Person-Centred Counselling Following the Loss of their Children to Compulsory Adoption or Foster Care

This study was concerned with exploring the meaning birth relatives gave their experiences of counselling following the removal of their children from their care. An exploratory research question was formulated and addressed using a qualitative approach. The involvement of a service user as expert supervisor added an important element and certain validity to the design, analysis and findings. Interviews took place with five birth mothers who had received counselling from one birth relatives counselling service. Three master themes were constructed from the data: From feeling alone, judged and let down to feeling part of a special relationship; “The healing process”; and “My children are my world”

“My children are my world” : Raising the voices of birth mothers with substantial experience of counselling following the loss of their children to adoption or foster care

There is very little published literature on ‘what works’ in terms of support for birth mothers following the loss of their children to compulsory adoption or foster care. The aim of this article is to raise the voices of a group of birth mothers, a historically stigmatised, powerless and neglected group, with substantial experience of counselling following the loss of a child. A user of services and expert by experience was recruited to join the research team and was consulted at all stages of the research process. Five birth mothers were interviewed regarding their experiences of involvement with a counselling service for birth relatives post-child removal. These interviews were systematically analysed using an IPA methodology through the lens of the research question: What are the experiences of birth mothers who engage in person-centred counselling following the loss of a child or children to compulsory adoption or foster care? Three master themes were constructed from the data: ‘From feeling alone, judged and let down … to feeling part of a special relationship’, ‘The healing process’ and ‘My children are my world’. The clinical invitations extended by these findings are discussed.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Inferences on Criminality Based on Appearance

In our research study, we tested whether people can tell if someone is a criminal or not based on a photograph of their face. The importance of the subject lies in the fact that many people are unfairly judged as criminals based on stereotypes such as race. In this study, we wished to eliminate race and see if any purely facial characteristics are stereotypically defined as criminal or if a person’s initial judgment is an accurate predictor of someone’s character. Extensive research has been dedicated to finding if people have facial features that portray some characteristic about them and this study will focus on criminality. Through the use of a face modulating program, neutral faced photographs were shown to participants with a question that asked if the person in the photograph is a criminal or not. The data gathered will be beneficial in either identifying facial features that are associated with criminals or that show the interesting phenomena of gut instinct

AN OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED CLINICAL EXAMINATION FOR CENTRAL LINE PLACEMENT USING ULTRASOUND-GUIDED AND LANDMARK GUIDED TECHNIQUE

Central venous catheters (CVCs) are a vital part of the care and safety for critically ill patients requiring surgery. CVCs allow the anesthesia provider to administer medications that may be corrosive to smaller veins, monitor hemodynamic stability, and provide a way to swiftly treat hypovolemia and states of shock (Butterworth et al., 2018). CVCs also provide a route for access in patients with poor peripheral vasculature and a means for cardiac pacing (Butterworth et al., 2018). Placement of CVCs can be obtained through ultrasound-guided and landmark-guided methods. The major impediment of CVC placement is the lack of proper training in how to use the ultrasound and skills in using these techniques for placement. The goal of this doctoral project was to create an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) to aid in the education and evaluation of student registered nurse anesthetists (SRNAs) at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) on the correct placement of ultrasound-guided and landmark-guided CVCs. The evidence-based practice provided the basis for this doctoral project. The OSCE was evaluated by a panel of USM’s Nurse Anesthesia Program (NAP) faculty and fellow SRNAs. A survey was utilized to gain insight into ways to improve the OSCE to provide the most effective and accurate education tool for SRNAs

NEARING THE END: REEF BUILDING CORALS AND BIVALVES IN THE LATE TRIASSIC AND COMPARING CORALS AND BIVALVES BEFORE AND AFTER THE END-TRIASSIC MASS EXTINCTION USING A TAXONOMIC DATABASE

One of the most important tenants in geology is that the present is the key to the past, but it can also be said that the past is the key to the present. The five great extinction events are some of the key events that can help us to understand how changes in climate and sea chemistry can cause great changes in the ecology of our planet. Today the increase in atmospheric CO2 is causing ocean acidification, which has also been proposed as part of the system that caused the end-Triassic mass extinction. Ocean acidification can be greatly detrimental to the skeletal structures of marine invertebrate such as reef building corals and bivalves. During the Norian and Rhaetian (Late Triassic), corals and bivalves had high diversity and abundance, but like many organisms involved in the mass extinction, quickly disappeared at the end of the Triassic. In the early Jurassic, very few surviving species of corals can be found, and almost no reefs. If this ‘reef gap’ was caused by a change in ocean chemistry, then how did these few species of corals survive? Were bivalves also affected by the changes? On Vancouver Island, rock units containing corals and bivalves can be found that represent both Norian and Rhaetian time intervals, but early Jurassic sedimentary units are found rarely, if ever. This creates a difficulty in looking for patterns in changes that happened after the mass extinction, but does allow for analysis of what reef communities looked like shortly before the end of the Triassic. In addition, by building upon data from the Paleobiology Database, changes in the global reef communities after the end-Triassic mass extinction can be examined

The 340b Program, Contract Pharmacies, Hospitals, and Patients: An Evolving Relationship Impacting Health Care Delivery

The 340B Drug Pricing Program, created by Congress in 1992 through the Veterans Health Care Act, has provided discounted drug prices to hospitals and other health care organizations serving a wide population of low-income patients. Some 340B programs use contract pharmacies, an arrangement whereby the hospital or health care organization signs a contract directly with a pharmacy to provide covered pharmacy services at discounted prices. The federal 340B Drug Pricing Program has provided access to reduced price prescription drugs to more than 35 000 individual health care facilities and sites certified by the US Department of Health and Human Services, and clinics have served more than 10 million people in all 50 states, plus commonwealths and US territories. The 340B program has increased profits for hospitals through contract pharmacies because they have still received the same reimbursement but acquired drugs at a lower rate

Technology & Social Media during COVID-19 Pandemic

Society has witnessed a phenomenal and unprecedented change to its daily life, since March 2020. COVID-19 striking at the heart of the world bringing business, education, lifestyle, tourism, and citizen behaviour to a standstill. This change in various societal, business, education and individual ecosystems is likely to result in a myriad of consequences, some of which will be short-lived, while for others long-lasting. For many citizen​s,​ the new change in behaviour and identifying a new routine has and will continue to be difficult, this too is compounded with additional variables and activities such as home schooling, grocery shopping for vulnerable relatives, friends, and members of the community. For other citizens, categorized as keyworkers, from health practitioners, public sector (e.g. emergency service responders), stakeholders/charity workers who are answering the telephone to those citizens who are the most vulnerable in society; and are offering guidance and advice relating to their concerns will be witnessing at first hand the impact that this pandemic is having on our society. The aim of this position piece is to discuss the impact of COVID-19 in relation to isolation, social connectedness, and how technology can facilitate positive distractions from the day-to-day routines for citizens during this pandemic