Communication between nurses and family caregivers of hospitalised older persons: a literature review.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To review the literature concerning the feelings, thoughts and behaviours of nurses and family caregivers of hospitalised older persons when they communicate with one another. BACKGROUND: Communication between nurses and family caregivers of hospitalised older persons is not always optimal. Improving the frequency and quality of this communication might be a way to make the most of available human capital in order to better care for hospitalised older people. DESIGN: A literature review was carried out of qualitative, quantitative and mixed-design studies relating to communication between nurses and family caregivers. Findings were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Family caregiver thoughts, feelings and behaviours relative to nurse control and authority, nurse recognition of their contribution, information received from and shared with nurses and care satisfaction could influence communication with nurses. Nurse thoughts regarding usefulness of family caregivers as care partners and their lack of availability to meet family caregiver demands could influence communication with family caregivers. CONCLUSIONS: The thoughts, feelings and behaviours of family caregivers and nurses that might create positive or negative circular patterns of communication are evidenced. Further research is required to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses must be trained in how to communicate with family caregivers in order to form a partnership geared to preventing complications in hospitalised older persons. Results could be used to inform policy regarding the care of hospitalised older persons.

[Overlapping, interdependence or complementarity, interprofessional collaboration between nurse practitioners and other health professionals in Ontario]. / Chevauchement, interdépendance ou complémentarité?, la collaboration interprofessionnelle entre l?infirmière praticienne et d?autres professionnels de santé en Ontario.

OBJECTIVE: The Naylor Report (2015) states that nurse practitioners (NP) are still underutilized in Canada despite positive evidence of their work and the benefits they provide to health systems and, more generally, the health of the population. METHODS: Why are nurse practitioners not more actively involved in the Canadian health care system? A socio-historical literature review showed that there is overlap, interdependence or complementarity between the role of NPs and that of other health professionals and that this concerns their status, training as well as the scope of their practice. The development of an interprofessional collaborative approach, although supported by most professional nursing associations in Canada, is difficult to establish in NP practice and training. RESULTS: This article describes the emergence of the role of NPs in Canada and provides an update on the current status of their integration in the health system with reference to the Ontario example. It provides insight into the overlap and zones of complementarity or interdependence between NPs and other health professionals. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the authors call for improved governance by the contribution of a new collaborative contract with other health professionals. This contract should be based on the interdependence of practices and the complementarity of roles between all health professionals including NPs.

[Relocation in a nursing home of a spouse with cognitive impairment: experience of wives]. / Le relogement en centre d'hébergement d'un conjoint atteint de problèmes cognitifs: l'expérience des epouses.

The goal of this phenomenological study was to describe the experience of wives during the relocation to a long-term care facility of their spouse with cognitive impairment. Four wives shared their experience four to six weeks after the relocation of their husband. The process involved four phases: decision making, a long waiting period before relocation, the adjustment to the living accommodation, and the new direction of their life. For the wives, the decision making was characterized by numerous disillusions involving a lack of support from their children and their social service providers. The waiting period to find a location is exhausting for the wives bringing them to intimidate the interveners ; hoping to accelerate the process of finding living accommodations. Once a location is found, the spouses are generally relieved and content with their new surroundings even though they remain concerned with the security of their spouse. In conclusion, the reorganization of their life is very difficult seeing as they experience a significant loss of revenue due to incurred living accommodation expenses and maintaining their responsibility for their husband.

[Sociology and nursing science: reflections on an interdisciplinary approach]. / La sociologie et les sciences infirmières: réflexions pour une approche interdisciplinaire.

The present text is not the result of a necessarily improved sociological theory. It acts rather like an exploratory questioning on the contribution of sociology to the formation and the practice of the nurses in the context of globalization. Our purpose is related more precisely to the "décloisonnement" of the disciplines and the contribution of the interdisciplinary studies. To do so, we put in perspective a new conceptual approach called the "socio-environmental approach for health" (Bouchard and his/her colleagues; 2002) which aloud to introduce and to question concepts like the governorship, globalization, the social capital, life quality and health care. This conceptual unit is not exhaustive nor even homogeneous. It only makes it possible to think of what is at stake in the development of nurses health care practice and shows the central contribution of an interdisciplinary approach.

[The vulnerability of women Francophone parent at risk of homelessness in a community in Northern Ontario]. / La vulnérabilité de femmes monoparentales francophones à risque de sans-abrisme dans une communauté du Nord de l'Ontario.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the vulnerability of Francophone single mothers at risk of homelessness in Northern Ontario. The project also endeavoured to document the quest for autonomy of these women in a minority context. METHOD: Employing a qualitative approach, eleven life stories were obtained from five women. Although none were homeless at the time of the interviews, in terms of living on the street, two were living with friends and the others were at risk of becoming homeless. All of the participants were between 20 and 59 years old and had completed their secondary education. RESULTS: Taking into account their economic and social situation, as well as the participants' health and cultural resources, vulnerabilities throughout the life course were analyzed. CONCLUSION: The life trajectory of these women showed us that their significant vulnerabilities are relative to the amount of autonomy they are able to secure through the services provided by supporting agencies, particularly in a linguistic minority context. In addition, the triple stigmatization (economic, linguistic and gender relations) requires a broader understanding of the resilience of these women in their journey from poverty (economic) to social (and linguistic) exclusion, and vulnerability. Despite these challenges, each of the individuals interviewed in this study, for whom the quest for autonomy is a continual struggle, demonstrated resilience.