The experiences of men in the immediate postoperative period following surgery for primary prostate cancer are well reported in the literature. Recognition of the unresolved morbidity encountered by ...men in the medium term suggests that a more complete understanding of how men cope in the long term is needed. Health professionals are deserving of a more complete literature for the purpose of providing holistic care for this group of men, providing informed advocacy and better support for men living with the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Emerging literature reveals that men's knowledge of the long term problems associated with prostatectomy was inadequate at the time they consented to treatment; the likely outcomes at all phases of recovery should be taken into account when deciding on choice of treatment or no treatment.
This qualitative study aims to describe men's long term recovery following prostatectomy for the purpose identifying the effects of unresolved post surgical morbidity. The content analysis of focus group interviews revealed that incontinence and impotence were a major source of emotional tension affecting the men's social interactions and sense of self-worth. The men expressed great regret over the lack of information accessible to them for evaluating the risk and nature of long term problems. The thick description provided in this study identifies the need for empathetic assessment of men with ongoing post surgical issues and alerts the reader to the inadequacies of information provided prior to consent to prostatectomy.
Adding to the call for a disaggregation of data relating to parental discourse is an understanding that mothers tend to be the nexus between their family and health professionals. ...women are more ...likely to be the brokers of health information and the key decision makers as to what information is selectively leaked to family members.
Men request to be screened for prostate cancer because they believe they are exhibiting responsible health promotion behaviour and there are definite benefits from the early detection of the disease. ...This belief about the benefits is in contrast to several national guidelines recommending that screening for prostate cancer not be done. Despite the guidelines men continue to request to be screened and doctors continue to supply screening tests to asymptomatic males. The lack of an appropriate screening test has been a key factor in supporting recommendations not to screen. However, recent studies show improved accuracy in the use of serum prostate specific antigens (PSA) as a screening tool. This implies that a revision of the guidelines might soon be appropriate. It is important that nurses and other health professionals are informed of current developments with regards to prostate screening in order to be in a position to assist men in making a fully informed consent regarding their screening options.
Seeking an explanation for the poor uptake of in-hospital AED programs Laws, Tom A; Zeitz, Kathryn; Fiedler, Brenton A
European journal of cardiovascular nursing : journal of the Working Group on Cardiovascular Nursing of the European Society of Cardiology
3, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The automated external defibrillator (AED) has been adopted by emergency service personnel as a first-line intervention in the management of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). AED leads to more ...successful Advanced Cardiac Life Support; consequently, national resuscitation organisations worldwide have recommended that nurses and doctors also integrate AEDs as a component of their basic life-support response to cardiac arrest. Despite these recommendations, the implementation of AED programs within hospitals has been generally sporadic and isolated. A continuation of this situation will most likely disturb and perplex nurses and patients, as they are key stakeholders with respect to upholding recommended BLS practices. In the absence of any explanation from change agents within hospitals, this paper seeks, by way of a pilot study and a review of the literature, to identify the extent of the problem and identify factors contributing to the relatively slow uptake of this device. We argue that nurses and other first responders to in-hospital cardiac arrest (CA) have much to gain, in the context of Occupational Health Safety and Welfare (OHS and W), from ready access to AEDs. Cost factors are also considered, with initial cost of AED purchase likely to be a major concern for managers of hospital budgets. The issues we discuss in this paper clearly support the need for further research to (a) explain the nature of public hospital resistance to AEDs and (b) to consider whether AEDs will provide practical advantages to public hospitals from an occupational, social and economic perspective.
The increase in the incidence of prostate cancer in Australia has been followed by an increase in prostate cancer awareness among Australian adults. However, men's level of knowledge on the subject ...has never been systematically assessed (Laws et al, 2000). It was postulated by Laws et al., (2000) that many men from Non English Speaking Cultures (NESC) experience language and cultural difficulties that would ultimately impinge on their ability to access information about prostate problems. In exploring 'The knowledge and attitudes of Italo-Australian men toward prostate cancer' the researchers became aware that the majority of interviewees (n=20) were reluctant to divulge information on all aspects of the topic (Drummond et al., 2001). This report highlights the importance of using a reflexive phase within the research process as a means of identifying factors that can, in part, explain the paucity of data and act a basis for developing strategies to overcome the problem. The research subsequently evolved to incorporate a secondary research question. 'Why were the men at interview so reluctant to speak of general health problems and health problems related to prostatic dysfunction?' A focus group comprised of Italo-Australian men was used to explore gender and cultural factors, perceived by the researchers as, restricting the flow of information. Several barriers thought to be limiting the release of information were confirmed. We conclude that our findings will have implications for other researchers wanting to maximise their chances of accessing information rich data from the experiences of men from NESCs.
Although men's health literature has developed rapidly over the last decade and covers a plethora of issues, almost no attention has been paid to understanding the transmission of health knowledge ...from men to boys in Australian society. This paper identifies a paucity of literature on the topic and offers explanations for this phenomenon. To raise awareness among health professionals of the need to explore the topic, the authors outline literature pertaining to men's role within the family and gender specific cultural practices.This information is combined with the authors' personal experiences with Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian men to provide a background to this emerging issue.
Children with terminal illness receive substantial amounts of care from their parents within their home, a palliative care facility or general hospital. Whilst there is a long history of research ...exploring child and family experiences and coping styles within these settings, the focus has not been on fathers' participation in care-giving. This phenomenon can be explained by traditional sex-role socialisations whereby men are ostensibly conditioned as breadwinners and mothers remain embedded as the primary carers for children, particularly when illness arises. Nevertheless, nurses report that men do provide direct caregiving or seek to be more involved in caring for their child. This literature review offers opportunities for health professionals to reflect on the significance of gender in parenting the terminally ill child and to develop empathy for men experiencing difficulties in their role as care-givers. As there is little literature available on this topic, this paper portrays men's experiences and importantly the barriers they encounter in meeting their desire to care. The approach provides a suitable basis for developing a research agenda to promote competencies and relevance for fathers in their role as care-giver.
Assessment guidelines for nurses on the subject of eating disorders (EDs) focus primarily on evaluating the severity and progress of the problem for females who have already received a formal ED ...diagnosis. We argue that, because there is scant research into men with eating disorders and men strive to conceal this health problem, nurses should be equipped with information that will support earlier detection of EDs among men and boys before they manifest as a serious health problem. We advocate the use of epidemiological data to identify groups of men most at risk and the use of qualitative interview data as a means of grounding the nurse on the issues these men face when seeking to modify their body image.
Children with terminal illness receive substantial amounts of care from their parents within their home, a palliative care facility or general hospital. Whilst there is a long history of research ...exploring child and family experiences and coping styles within these settings, the focus has not been on fathers' participation in caregiving. This phenomenon can be explained by traditional sex-role socialisations whereby men are ostensibly conditioned as breadwinners and mothers remain embedded as the primary carers for children, particularly when illness arises. Nevertheless, nurses report that men do provide direct caregiving or seek to be more involved in caring for their child. This literature review offers opportunities for health professionals to reflect on the significance of gender in parenting the terminally ill child and to develop empathy for men experiencing difficulties in their role as caregivers. As there is little literature available on this topic, this paper portrays men's experiences and importantly the barriers they encounter in meeting their desire to care. The approach provides a suitable basis for developing a research agenda to promote competencies and relevance for fathers in their role as caregiver. (author abstract)
The object of this study was to determine if critical care nurses' emotional responses to having performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation were indicative of critical incident stress. A descriptive ...approach was employed using a survey questionnaire of 31 critical care nurses, with supportive interview data from 18 of those participants. Analysis of the data generated from the questionnaire indicated that the respondents experienced thought intrusion and avoidance behaviour. A majority of those interviewed disclosed that they had experienced a wide range of emotional stressors and physical manifestations in response to having performed the procedure.
The findings from both questionnaire and interview data were congruent with signs of critical incident stress, as described in the literature. This has been found to be detrimental to employees' mental health status and, for this reason, employers have a duty of care to minimise the risk of its occurrence and to manage problems as they arise.
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