Repensar la formación y la práctica especializada de enfermería desde la óptica unitaria del ser humano / Rethinking specialized nursing training and practice from the unitary perspective of the human being

El propósito del presente texto es repensar la formación y la práctica especializada de enfermería desde la óptica de las ciencias humanas que estudian la subjetividad y que encuentran su sentido científico más allá del saber disciplinar. Se trata de distinguir con claridad entre las ciencias de la naturaleza y las ciencias del espíritu a partir de la óptica unitaria del ser humano. Esto debido a la creciente percepción de deshumanización y tecnificación de la práctica del cuidado de enfermería vinculada a la formación especializada para el manejo de determinados procedimientos y aparatos que parcelan el conocimiento y desvían la perspectiva y el enfoque disciplinar. Por lo tanto, pensar en cómo se puede comprender mejor el fenómeno de la salud y la enfermedad humanas desde la formación y la práctica de enfermería tiene la posibilidad de reconsiderar el perfil académico de formación básica y especializada de enfermería, congruentemente articulados los saberes de una enfermería contemporánea con los sentires y los saberes de las personas que cuidan con las otras personas a las que se cuida.

The purpose of this text is to rethink specialized nursing training and practice from the perspective of the human sciences that study subjectivity and find its scientific meaning beyond disciplinary knowledge. It is about clearly distinguishing between the sciences of nature and the sciences of the spirit from the unitary perspective of the human being. This is due to the growing perception of dehumanization and technification of nursing care practice linked to specialized training for the management of certain procedures and devices that fragment knowledge and divert the disciplinary perspective and approach. Thus, thinking about how the phenomenon of human health and disease can be better understood from nursing training and practice has the possibility of reconsidering the academic profile of basic and specialized nursing training, coherently articulated the knowledge of contemporary nursing with the feelings and knowledge of the people who care for with the other people who are cared for.

Including personal development in palliative care education to address death anxiety.

BACKGROUND: Death anxiety may interfere with health care workers' (HCW) relationship with patients and their families. AIMS: Evaluate an intervention to address death anxiety and improve HCW skills dealing with patients/families in palliative and end-of-life care. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental mixed methods approach with a pre-test/post-test design. PARTICIPANTS: 208 HCWs receiving the intervention and working in end-of-life care, in and out of palliative care units, were invited to answer quantitative and qualitative questionnaires. In the end, 150 returned with quantitative answers and of these, 94 with qualitative answers as well. Additionally, out of the 150 participants, 26 were recruited for interview. RESULTS: Pre-and post-test results revealed a significant reduction in levels of death anxiety, an increase in existential wellbeing, and a significant improvement in HCWs' perception of the quality of their helping relationship skills with patients/families. Content analysis provided an understanding of the difficulties experienced by the HCWs and the positive impact of the intervention. CONCLUSION: An intervention to address death anxiety and help relationship skills can reduce the use of avoidance mechanisms and improve HCW self-perceived psycho-existential support to patients/families.

Pediatric heart surgery in Ghana: three ethical questions.

When a group of doctors and nurses from Boston, Massachusetts, provided evaluation and heart surgery to children in Ghana, they encountered three rationing dilemmas: (1) What portion of surgery slots should they reserve for the simplest, most cost-effective surgeries? (2) How much time should be reserved for especially simple, nonsurgical interventions? (3) How much time should be reserved to training local staff to perform such surgeries? This article investigates these three dilemmas.