Global Nursing-a literature review in the field of education and practice.

AIM: To describe key findings of Global Nursing in empirical nursing studies. DESIGN: A literature review using descriptive data synthesis of peer-reviewed articles in the field of nursing education and practice. METHODS: This review of Cinahl Complete, PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus was undertaken using the search strategy "global nursing". Independent title/abstract and full-text screening was undertaken, identifying original articles written in English. RESULTS: A total of 472 titles and 170 abstracts were read through. Seventy-three articles were included for full-text review. Twenty published studies of Global Nursing with multiple research methodologies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Findings were described with five categories. Global Nursing Arena, Global Nursing Working Environments, Global Nursing Workforce Management, Global Nursing Competencies and Global Nursing Networking were shown to be crucial when Global Nursing was addressed in the literature.

The health care professionals' perspectives of collaboration in rehabilitation - an interview study.

BACKGROUND: In previous literature, it has been recognised that the extent to which different healthcare professionals collaborate may affect both the quality and safety of care, and patient outcomes. Collaboration appears to be an essential part of professional practice, yet there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of collaboration in the context of short-term care units. Therefore, this study was undertaken to better understand how professionals in this context view collaboration. AIM: To describe collaboration in rehabilitation from the perspective of healthcare professionals. METHODS: Qualitative interviews were conducted with ten healthcare professionals, including: occupational therapists, physiotherapists and nurses, who worked in three different short-term care settings. The interviews were transcribed, and qualitative content analysis was used. FINDINGS: Four categories, all of which included both positive and negative descriptions of collaboration, were identified: (i) Crossing professional and organisational boundaries (ii) Awareness of own professional identity (iii) Information and knowledge transfer and (iv) Balancing between patient, system and process. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate the importance of leadership and organisational structures for stimulating communication, and promoting collaboration between team members. In addition, working as a professional in short-term care requires individual skills in collaboration efforts, including awareness of one's own professional identity. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Opportunities for supervision could be one way to increase individuals' awareness of their own role in the team.

Older people living at home: associations between falls and health complaints in men and women.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate the associations between self-reported falls and health complaints, among persons aged 75 years and older living at home, and to investigate gender differences in the associations. BACKGROUND: There are several studies concerned with risk factors for falling, and others related to health complaints, but not many with associations between falls and health complaints. There are some inconsistent data of incidence and gender-related differences in falling. DESIGN: Case-control community-based study. METHODS: In total, 1243 persons living in two municipal districts in Sweden answered a questionnaire. Odds ratios (OR) and regression models with 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to determine the associations between self-reported falls and different health complaints. RESULTS: The adjusted (multivariate) linear regression showed that urinary incontinence, self-rated health and tiredness were significantly associated with falls for both men and women living at home. The gender-related differences in falling were associated with the variables such as self-rated health for men and tiredness and pain in the hands, elbows, legs or knees for women. CONCLUSION: An association is evident between falls and urinary incontinence, poor self-rated health and tiredness for older persons living at home. Gender differences in falls show an association with poor self-rated health, tiredness and pain in the hands, elbows, legs or knees. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: As older people are expected to live in their own homes as long as possible, more knowledge is required about what determines the risk of falling. Nurses in community care are recommended to use assessment tools that include urinary incontinence in order to detect the risk of falling.

Hip fracture patients' cognitive state affects family members' experiences - a diary study of the hip fracture recovery.

BACKGROUND: Many patients with hip fractures suffer from dementia disease, which has shown to affect the outcome of recovery strongly, as well as care and treatment. As most hip fracture patients are discharged home early after surgery, caregiving often falls on family members - spouses, daughters, sons, or even neighbours become informal carers. AIM: To explore how hip fracture patients' cognitive state affect family members' experiences during the recovery period. METHODS: Eleven diaries written by family members' of hip fracture patients were analysed by means of qualitative content analysis. FINDINGS: The analysis generated two main categories with four categories. The first main category was; 'Being a family member of a cognitively impaired patient' with the categories 'Dissatisfaction with lack of support' and 'Emotional distress due to the patient's suffering'. The second main category was 'Being a family member of a cognitively intact patient' with the categories 'Satisfaction with a relative's successful recovery' and 'Strain due to their caring responsibilities'. Being a family member of a patient with cognitive impairment and a hip fracture meant being solely responsible for protecting the interests of the patient; in regard to care, rehabilitation and resources. The family members were also burdened with feelings of powerlessness and sadness due to the patients' suffering. On the contrary, family members of cognitively intact hip fracture patients had positive experiences. The family members expressed pleasure from seeing their close ones make progress. However, when the healing process was delayed this led to strain on the family members. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest the hip fracture patient's cognitive state is more decisive than the hip fracture itself for the family members' experiences.