Mothers'' Perceptions of Their Neonates'' In-hospital Transfers from a Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit

This study explored mothers' perceptions of their neonates' in-hospital transfers from a neonatal intensive-care unit. A convenience sample of 15 mothers was selected, and the researchers interviewed each mother once within a week after her neonate's transfer. Three themes emerged from the data: (1) the mothers expressed feelings of relief accompanied by concern, fear of the unknown, and feelings of alienation; (2) the mothers depended on familiar things and people; and (3) the mothers experienced feelings of helplessness. The mothers' perceptions of their preparation for transfer and continuity of care were mainly negative.     

Evaluation of teaching: a review of the literature

Although most faculty members would agree that teaching is a vital component of their role, the evaluation of teaching continues to receive less attention than the evaluation of other academic pursuits. This paper reviews the nursing and education literature related to the evaluation of teaching. The bulk of the literature reviewed focused on the following: current issues of faculty evaluation, appraisal criteria of effective teaching, and evaluators of teaching effectiveness. The paucity of literature related to the process of faculty evaluation provides further evidence that there is a gap between what institutions say is important and what is actually practised. The implementation of faculty evaluation models may be one remedy to this current problem.     

The Ethic of Care: A Comparison of Nursing and Medical Students

The purpose of this research was to examine whether "caring" uniquely reflects the moral orientation of nursing students. Gilligan's theory of moral development and Kolhberg's theory of moral development structured this study of 119 nursing and medical students who described a real-life moral dilemma and responded to a hypothetical clinical moral dilemma. The findings suggest that nursing students use care more than justice considerations, but their moral orientation could best be described as mixed. Differences were found between nursing and medical students, but these differences appeared to be related to gender, not professional role. Therefore, it was concluded that a caring moral orientation is not unique to nursing .     

A concept analysis of empowerment

In this paper, an objective concept analysis was undertaken to examine the attributes, characteristics and uses of the concept of empowerment. A review of the literature and selected empirical referents indicated that empowerment is a complex and multi-dimensional concept. Within a nursing context, empowerment can be conceptualized as a composite of (a) attributes that relate to the client, (b) attributes that relate to the nurse, and (c) attributes that belong to both the client and the nurse. In a broad sense, empowerment is a process of helping people to assert control over the factors which affect their lives. This process encompasses both the individual responsibility in health care and the broader institutional, organizational or societal responsibilities in enabling people to assume responsibility for their own health. Antecedents to and consequences of empowerment, from a nursing perspective, are presented. To adopt truly an empowerment model in nursing, a radical paradigm shift is needed. The final conclusion is that this concept has great utility for nursing practice, education, administration and research.     

Spiritual care: an element in nursing care planning

Nursing has recognized spirituality as an aspect of holistic patient care but little has been written on the understanding of this concept within the holistic approach. In a discussion of this issue, three basic questions are addressed. Thesequestions include‘What is spirituality?’,‘How do patients express their spirituality?’, and‘How can spiritual care be incorporated into a plan of care?’Drawing upon nursing and health-related literature, an outline of the concept of spirituality is drawn and five broad areas of expression are described. The nursing process is used to demonstrate how spirituality can be incorporated into the patient's plan of care.