Quality of life self-assessment of children living in a children's home, based on own research conducted in the Podlaskie Province.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to diagnose the quality of life (QoL) of children brought up in children's homes, to compare findings with results for peers living in complete families. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In the Stage I was to determine the usefulness of tools for QoL evaluation in a group of 120 children from children's homes in the Podlaskie Province and in a group of 120 children belonging to a control group, brought up in their own families, in the same places where the children's homes were located. Selected research tools were used in Stage II, and the study was carried out in a group of 180 children in the same children's homes and a control group. We used the following survey questionnaires: the standardised CHQ-CF87 survey, standardised KINDL survey and Children's Survey based on WHOQOL-BREF. RESULTS: Significant relationship between the quality of life self-assessment and the place of being brought up for all categories of quality of life was found. A relationship was indicated between the QoL self-assessment and the place of living, age, gender, and physical condition. The charges of a children's home assessed their QoL as significantly lower compared to children living in normal families, mostly in the following categories: health, physical domain and psychological domain, social relations and the ability to function in everyday life. In KINDL survey, strong relationships were found between assessments of QoL categories. CONCLUSIONS: Significant relation between QoL self-assessment and where children were brought up was found. Positive relationship between QoL self-assessment and the place of living, age, gender, and children's physical condition was found.

Strain on the spine--professional threat to nurses' health.

PURPOSE: The aim of the research was to investigate correlation between strain on the spine, work place and years spent in work. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Research was carried out on a group of 937 nurses working in health care units in the Warsaw district area. The study was conducted using the method of diagnostic survey and as a research tool a questionnaire sheet including 70 questions divided into 6 categories was used. Research was carried out voluntarily and anonymously. RESULTS: The case study confirmed earlier hypotheses that strain on skeleton and muscles, non psychological and constrained body positions in relation to years worked in profession have significantly statistical correlation on a level of 0.005, chi2 = 16.768. Strain on the spine is also dependent upon ward in which nurses work and upon characteristic of executed work. 79% of tested people fears of degenerative changes of the spinal column. Health problems that are connected to lower back pain are reported by 61% of nurses. 67% of ward nurses and 79% of scrub nurses, more often than departmental nurses and these working in other basic and specialised units, complain about pain symptoms after duty. The greatest strain placed on the spine affects tested nurses working in gastrology department (74%), department of internal medicine and neurology department (70%). CONCLUSION: Strain on the spine is a serious issue as it creates a vast number of health problems which results in decreasing the work quality.

A study to ascertain the patients' satisfaction of the quality of hospital care in Greece compared with the patients' satisfaction in Poland.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the satisfaction of elderly patients, of the hospital care's quality, based on the literature evidence on results of a qualitative research and on a previous developed conceptual frame. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We developed the Elderly Patient Satisfaction Scale (EPSS) by using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. In this study participated 320 elderly patients from Greece (182 male, 138 female) and 240 patients (136 male, 104 female) from Poland (mean age 74.16 +/- 6.14 years). Most of elderly patients were married. Inclusion criteria were: elderly patients over 65 years old, being able to be interviewed, hospitalized for at least three days and not to be suffering from severe mental disease. RESULTS: There was no correlation among age and global patients' satisfaction. Men in both of groups were expressed greater satisfaction with perceived quality of doctor care than women. Age positively correlated with question who estimate the satisfaction with the time that doctor spends for medical history taking. Patient's education correlated with question (satisfaction with availability of nurses night). Patient's depression found that affects the quality of hospital care and the satisfaction. Elderly patients were most satisfied with the technical care ability of nurse. The time period of hospital stay is correlated negatively with patient's global satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: No significant difference between the patients from Greece and Poland in majority of dimensions: the satisfaction of elderly patients, of the hospital care's quality was noted.

Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy microstructural investigation of high-speed tool steel after Nd:YAG pulsed laser melting.

This article presents the microstructure of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser-melted high-speed steel, namely HS6-5-2. The high chemical homogeneity and fine structure of the melted zone was attributed to high cooling rates due to the short duration of interaction with the Nd:YAG pulsed laser radiation and the relatively small volume of the melted material. The structure obtained in the surface layer after laser melting has a high level of hardness and shows improved wear resistance.

The attitude of nurses for the enhancement of palliative care in Greece.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to estimate the attitude and knowledge of nurses for the development of palliative care in Greece. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A certain questionnaire with closed questions was developed and was use as research method to collect all the necessary data to support or question the hypotheses. Eighty one nurses participated in this study. The data collected was analysed using the SPSS software. RESULTS: Of the 81 nurses questioned 22 (27.16%) were men and 59 (72.84%) were women. The average was 37.19 +/- 9.16 years of the working Experience was 14.83 +/- 9.02 years in different units, 34.3%. Answered that the palliative care must be specialty, 43.2% specialization and 23.5% course. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of nurses believe that if they had working experience in different units this won't give them the capacity to deal with patients who suffer from advanced disease.

Speech re-education in patient with motor aphasia in collaboration with family.

The presented paper is an example of family education in managing the patient with motor aphasia following the stroke. The neurological diagnosis confirmed a medium hemiparesis on the right side. During the third week following the stroke, the re-education of speech was taken up basing on the new style of working with patient, i.e. biopsychosocial model of illness and treatment. In this aspect patient is the subject and the therapy is addressed to the patient taking into account his system of values with reference to the illness. The aim of the study--speech therapy--was achieving a maximum integration with the society by solving the problem situation of a patient, i.e. the lack of verbal contact. Speech therapy was performed for 8 weeks and it applied pedagogic and neurolinguistic methods of therapy. The sessions were held every day of maximum 25 minutes. At the final stage of speech re-education the patient had a good verbal contact with the environment.

Education on rational nutrition of elementary school children in the city of Lublin.

The paper presents the stages of preparation of Nursing Faculty students of the Medical University in Lublin for realisation of lessons popularising the knowledge about rational nutrition. The analysis of school documents allowed for selecting a group of children aged 11-13. The subjects of the lessons were adapted to the age and demands of the audience. The realisation of the syllabus was made during four meetings in three schools in Lublin. The realisation of dietary education confirmed poor knowledge of nutrition, too little amount of fruit, vegetables and dairy products in everyday menu with big amounts of carbohydrates and animal fat, frequent lack of second breakfast at school. The school, besides the family, should realise the tasks connected with the popularisation of healthy diet and the deficit and excess of body weight). The evaluation of students' educational activities indicated that more time should be devoted to the methodology of health education with particular attention to activating methods within such subjects as public health, family medicine.

Aims and ethics of palliative care--the views of a selected group of Polish nursing students.

The purpose of this study was to describe the opinions of a group of Polish nursing students in 4-year university programmes on the aims of palliative care. A questionnaire was used to collect relevant data. Findings show that the students (n = 72) view palliative care as an area of nursing practice requiring a complex range of professional and non-professional skills, attitudes and predispositions. Findings also indicate the critical opinion of the students about the content of academic courses offered by Polish nursing schools and departments with respect to palliative care.