SciCombinator

To identify nursing care most frequently missed in acute adult inpatient wards and determine evidence for the association of missed care with nurse staffing.

To examine the relationship between specific reasons for stopping breastfeeding and depressive symptoms in the postnatal period.

To report a descriptive study of fertility-awareness knowledge, attitudes, and practice of infertile women seeking fertility assistance.

To estimate the prevalence and co-occurrence of health-related behaviours among nurses in Scotland relative to other healthcare workers and those in non-healthcare occupations.

To report the results of a randomized controlled trial which explored the effectiveness of clinical simulation in improving the clinical performance of recognizing and managing an adult deteriorating patient in hospital.

To report a study of the lived experience of being a close relative to a patient with colon cancer participating in a fast-track programme.

This article is a report of a study aimed at obtaining an in-depth description of how experienced acute care staff nurses perceive and use reflection in clinical practice.

To synthesize outcomes from research on handoffs to guide future computerization of the process on medical and surgical units.

Aim.  The article is a report of a study to develop an evidence-based pre-consultation guide for young people to use prior to an asthma review with a practice nurse. Background.  The participation of young people aged 13-19 in consultations with health professionals can be limited by the lack of opportunity to learn the appropriate skills in triadic consultations. Evidence-based interventions to promote participation of adults in consultations have been developed but young people’s needs have not been specifically addressed. Design.  Multiple methods design informed by guidelines for the development of complex interventions. Methods.  A pre-consultation guide for young people was developed in 2007 by application of a model of health behaviour change, development of criteria by an expert panel and in consultation with young people using a nominal group technique. Results.  The concepts of the Health Action Process Approach model were applied to the development of criteria underpinning the pre-consultation guide. In the nominal groups young people agreed that they had different needs to other children and adults. The consensus was that the preconsultation guide should include disease-specific information, realistic photographs rather than Clip Art, consistent styles of fonts, bullet points and colours, short words and mature language. Statements and example questions written by young people were included in the evidence-based guide. Conclusion.  Young people’s views can contribute to the development of interventions designed to promote communication in consultations with nurses. There is potential for this approach to be used to develop interventions in primary and secondary care of a range of long-term conditions.

Aims.  To report a qualitative study of the experiences of nurse prescribers in managing patients with self-limiting respiratory tract infections. Background.  Patients frequently attend primary care with respiratory tract infections. Although a no-prescribing strategy is recommended for these consultations, general practitioners frequently prescribe antibiotics, citing non-clinical reasons such as patient pressure. Nurses increasingly manage people with respiratory tract infections, but research has not yet explored their experiences within such consultations. Design.  Semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Methods.  Fifteen semi-structured interviews and three focus groups (n = 5, n = 4, and n = 12) with a purposive sample of nurse prescribers (n = 34) and other non-medical prescribers (n = 2) were conducted between November 2009-November 2010. A qualitative approach was used to develop conceptual categories from the dataset, and emerging themes were explored in subsequent interviews/focus groups. Findings.  Although participants reported experiencing numerous challenges within these consultations, they believed that they possessed some of the communication skills to deal effectively with patients without prescribing antibiotics. Participants reported that protocols supported their decision-making and welcomed the benefits of peer support in dealing with ‘demanding’ patients. However, the newness of nurses and other non-medical prescribers to the prescribing role meant that some were cautious in dealing with patients with respiratory tract infections. Conclusion.  Training for nurses and other non-medical prescribers should focus on building their confidence and skills to manage people with respiratory tract infections without recourse to antibiotics. Further work should seek to explore which strategies are most effective in managing respiratory tract infections while maintaining patient satisfaction with care.