Nurse and patient

Using a purposive sample of older adults, a qualitative descriptive study was conducted to illuminate the influence of prayer on their well-being. Content analysis was the method used to discern this relationship. Through the analysis of eight stories two themes on the "notion" of prayer and a primary theme on the influence of prayer on the well-being of the older adult emerged. The themes of prayer that emerged were: prayer was a conversation with God and an intimate relationship with God that fostered trust and belief. The primary theme was that a relationship with God through prayer fosters a sense of well-being.

The present study is a replication of a study concerning physicians' attitudes toward advance directives originally studied in 1989. A cross-sectional design was employed to assess whether physicians' attitudes toward advance directives had changed substantially since the passing of the Patient Self-Determination Act in 1990. The sample was obtained by mailing questionnaires to 400 physicians on the East central coast of Florida, chosen according to specialty and presumed interaction with advance directives. Questions included demographics information about participants, usage and discussion of advance directives by physicians, and potential barriers to physician-initiated discussions. Results correlated with the original authors'. There were positive associations between attitude and year of graduation, gender, type of practice, size of town physician practiced in, and religion with chi-square testing. Overall results indicated a positive attitude, and a desire for patient autonomy.

Jean Watson's Theory of Human Caring and phenomenological methodology are the foundation of this descriptive study of four nurses' experiences of patient advocacy. The "meaning units" or constituents expressed by the participants were synthesized into an integrated whole to embody the experiences of patient advocacy and then objectively described by the researcher. Six components that embody the nurses' experiences are knowledge of self and others, caring commitment, expenditure of self, risks, emotional responses and psychological evolution and mutual affirmation. A better understanding of nurse's experiences of patient advocacy may provide more effective and satisfying nurse-client, nurse-as-person and nurse-as-professional relationships.

This qualitative study of the phenomenon of nurse providing care to a client that the nurse does not like or determines to be unpopular was conducted with five professional nurses, who had experienced the phenomenon. Phenomenological method guided the inquiry through the narrative descriptions, from which essential descriptive themes of secrecy, avoidance, internalized conflict, specialness, and unfinishedness were uncovered and revealed by dwelling with the material. The implications for nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research are discussed.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the work life of the nurse manager during the transition from primary care to patient-focused care. The sample population includes nurse managers who were in administrative roles at the time of transition from primary care to patient-focused care delivery model. Exploratory descriptive data were collected by an open-interview, semi-structured format utilizing focused questions with three nurse managers who participated in the study. The study adds significantly to the current debate on caring, nursing, nursing administration, patient-focused care, and nursing care delivery systems.

This research explored the patient in the intensive care units experience of care from a phenomenological perspective. The question guiding the study was: What is the meaning of care for patients in the intensive care unit? Using a phenomenological approach, six participants described their experiences of the phenomenon of care. The eight essential themes that emerged from the analysis of the descriptions of care for the patients in ICU are: (1) Being connected; (2) Feeling watched over; (3) Feeling the presence; (4) Feeling commitment; (5) Receiving Compassion; (6) Feeling valued as a person; (7) Receiving comfort; and (8) Experiencing Competence. Further analysis lead to the thematic phrase: The Essence of Isolation-Union while feeling the Presence and Competency of others. The unity of meaning was then discovered from analysis of the essential themes and thematic phrase. The unity of meaning which captures the experience of care for a person in the ICU setting is: The Illumination of the Human Spirit in the Celebration of Life.

This study presents the development and testing of a tool, the Nursing Comfort Measures Scale, to measure comfort delivered by nurses to patients. The tool was shown to have excellent reliability in the form of internal consistency and test-retest reliability and was also found by a panel of experts to have content validity. The Nursing Comfort Measures Scale was then tested among a group of 50 critical care nurses. Overall, they were found to be delivering comfort often to their patients. Nurses were also found to be delivering fewer comfort measures within the spiritual, environmental, and physical domains.

This study used the Colaizzi phenomenological, descriptive method to uncover what it was like for patients to be in a rehabilitation program. Ten rehabilitation patients were interviewed. They were asked, "What is it like for you to be in rehabilitation?" Significant statements were extracted from which meanings were formulated. Clusters of themes were developed from the meanings. Four themes were identified: dependence versus independence, rehabilitation is a miracle, rehabilitation is a struggle, and trust and trusting that working the plan will pay off. These themes are related to other care concepts in nursing and the other literature and film. Understanding what it is like for patients in a physical rehabilitation program will assist nurses to plan care to meet the patients' needs, will provide personal glimpses of patients' view of care for nursing, and will help nurses to further explore the world of the patients.

Patients and nurses have been found to perceive support differently. This exploratory study was undertaken to: (a) identify those nursing behaviors perceived by emergency department patients as supportive, and (b) to identify the importance emergency room patients give to various nursing behaviors on a checklist. A sample of 30 emergency department patients completed a guided interview and the Supportive Nursing Behavior Checklist. The perceived attitude of the nurse toward the patient and the availability of the nurse to the patient were the most important factors influencing patients' perceptions of support. The nurse being friendly and cheerful were the most important behaviors. The study has implications for nursing practice, nursing administration and nursing education. Suggestions are also given for further research.

This research study, utilizing Colaizzi's phenomenological method, examined the clients' perspective of a caring interaction between a nurse and client during cardiac catheterization. Eight participants described their experience of a caring interaction with a nurse during cardiac catheterization. Formulated meanings were derived from their significant statements and then grouped into themes. Three common themes emerged to form the essence of caring. The ingredients for a caring interaction included connecting through genuine presence, being there through technical competence, and caring as a way of seeing through verbal communication. By providing an understanding of the clients' perspective, this study will benefit the nursing profession and contribute to the foundation of a theory based practice for the care of the client who has experienced cardiac catheterization. This practice will be grounded in the caring philosophy.