Temp nurses go digital: Examining gig care in US nursing homes.

Nursing homes in the United States have long struggled with a shortage of nurses, which has now been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. In response to the shortage, nursing homes have increasingly used temporary services to fill nursing vacancies. Existing studies have examined the care provided by temporary nurses from traditional staffing agencies; however, at the time of writing, no studies have examined care provided by their counterparts from digital gig platforms. This article reports the findings from 15 months of fieldwork (6/2019-8/2019; 6/2020-5/2021) at two US nursing homes, both characterised by high gig-nurse usage. I asked the following questions: how nurses engage in and perceive gig services, and how the use of gig services affects the work environment and everyday care. The findings indicate that gig services (1) offer gig nurses monetary incentives at the expense of exaggerating the budget deficit of nursing homes, (2) increase gig nurses' working autonomy while creating a loophole in managerial oversight, (3) lead to an uneven distribution of duties between gig nurses and nursing home staff, which demoralises the latter. Taken together, gig services, while empowering the gig nurses, have resulted in the precarisation of nursing home staffing and care environments.

Affective communication: a mixed method investigation into COVID-19 outbreak communication using the Taiwanese government Facebook page.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines a total of 1128 Facebook posts published by Taiwan's principal health authority from December 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020. METHODS: Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, this study investigates strategies used by the Taiwan government to communicate the COVID-19 outbreak and public responses toward these strategies. RESULT: Novel uses of Facebook posts on outbreak communication were identified, including solidarity, reviews of actions, press conferences, and the use of animal and cartoon images. Quantitative results showed that the public responded significantly more frequently to messages generating positive affects, such as posts that reviewed government actions and public efforts; posts that expressed thanks, approval, or comradeship; and posts that paired text with photographs of frontline workers or cute animals. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that, amid a disease outbreak, the public not only look for updated situations and guidelines but also for affective affirmation from government agencies.

Mini review of trace metal contamination status in East China Sea sediment.

This study reviewed the published papers and employed the guideline values of USEPA (ERL and ERM) and China (MSQ, Class I, II, III) to assess the contamination status of potential toxic metals in East China Sea sediment (ECS). The percentages of metal concentrations exceeding the ERL value follow the sequences: Ni (96%) > As(71%) > Cr(53%) > Cu (19%) > Zn (2.4%) > Hg (0.5%) > Pb (0.4%) > Cd (0%). The similar ranking is also seen for MSQ class I. All metal concentrations were less than the ERM value, except Ni of which value 10.3% exceeded the ERM value. The potentially ecological risk from these sedimentary metals could be reduced because they were mainly present in the residual fraction, which is not available for marine organisms. It seems that the Ni ERL value is too low (20.8. mg kg-1), close to the value (18.6 mg kg-1) of the upper continental crust, to obey.

[Emotional awareness and interpersonal adjustment in a manic patient].

This paper addresses nursing procedures related to helping a manic patient promote emotional awareness and interpersonal adjustment. The caring period ran from September 20 through October 11, 2007. Using weekly records of interviewing process, care plans, team meetings, and medical charts, we found the case to suffer from a vicious cycle of emotional disturbance, low self esteem, and interpersonal problems. Using a therapeutic relationship and interviews that adopted a genuine, accepting, concerned and empathetic caring attitude, the author applied the principal focus of an interpersonal psychotherapy method to help the case become aware of her emotions, analyze key emotional influencers, and develop effective emotional adjustment strategies to improve interpersonal interaction.