Stress and the caregiver.

What do we do with a stress level that is high in many areas of our life? How do nurses cope without becoming ill themselves? We look at the literature for documented causes of the stress that seems to pervade the workplace and for strategies that will help us to function as healthy human beings.

Psychiatric nursing interventions in managed care: is there time for caring?

Today's managed care affects how health care is provided: Caregivers focus on the needs of patients while struggling to fulfill the demands of the institutions for which they work. Presented here are some underlying concepts of patient care as well as some suggestions for further research which include the collaboration and consultation of nursing faculty with service. This article which is intended as a primer for the transition of novice psychiatric nurses to experts considers the effects of managed care.

Reliability and validity of American Medical Association's guide to ratings of permanent impairment.

We examined the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment rating schedule to determine whether this guide provided a reliable and valid assessment of hand impairment. A sample of 118 patients with permanent hand impairment was assessed using the guide. In addition, each patient underwent tests of finger dexterity, hand strength, hand-eye coordination, and the rate of manipulation. The reliability, based on the correlation between the two raters, was 0.75. For the injured hand, psychomotor test scores were highly correlated with the rating of permanent impairment in all cases. These differences were statistically significant for approximately two thirds of the cases. The guide's ratings showed both substantial reliability and accuracy with the various tests of hand function.

Use of the Minnesota Rate of Manipulation Test for disability evaluation.

This study involved the validation of the Minnesota Rate of Manipulation Test in assessing permanent disability of the hand. 118 persons with permanent impairments of the hand were given four subtests of the Minnesota Rate of Manipulation Test. The impaired hand was assessed with the traditional measure for permanent impairment and a rating obtained. Scores for the impaired hand on each of four subtests were strongly correlated with the rating of disability.

Use of a text of psychomotor ability in an expanded role.

To examine the use of a test of psychomotor ability of disabled persons, a group of 118 persons with permanent impairment of one hand were given the disability rating together with the O'Connor Finger Dexterity Test. Scores showed a substantial correlation of .69 between these two instruments. Scores on the Finger Dexterity Test were strongly correlated to the activities of daily living subscale of the Hand Disability Rating Scale (.88), while rating of disability was not. Age appeared unrelated to either test or disability scores.

Women's capacities to perform strenuous work.

The literature was reviewed in an attempt to determine women's capacity to perform work. Although the review uncovered a relatively small amount of work devoted to this topic, the published studies suggest that women have both the physiological capacity to perform hard work and the endurance to complete a full day of hard work. However, the studies also suggest that women have limited capabilities to perform tasks requiring lifting, pushing, and pulling. In studies involving climbing and gripping, occupational comparisons were not available. On anthropometric measures the data will not be comparable with work data until occupational information is developed.