A Clinical Validation Study of Impaired Physical Mobility of Patients Submitted to Cardiac Catheterization

PURPOSE: To conduct a Fehring model‐based clinical validation of the defining characteristics of the nursing diagnosis of impaired physical mobility in a sample of 250 patients. METHOD: Cross‐sectional study. FINDINGS: Three of the 11 NANDA‐International defining characteristics assessed in this study were validated: limited range of motion, limited ability to perform gross motor skills, and difficulty turning. Although discomfort was not validated due to the rarity of occurrence, there was excellent interrater agreement as to its relevance (kappa coefficient). CONCLUSIONS: In this setting, three characteristics were validated. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Validation studies are important for advancing evidence‐based practice.     

Exercise in neuromuscular disease

In this review, we present an overview of the role of exercise in neuromuscular disease (NMD). We demonstrate that despite the different pathologies in NMDs, exercise is beneficial, whether aerobic/endurance or strength/resistive training, and we explore whether this benefit has a similar mechanism to that of healthy subjects. We discuss further areas for study, incorporating imaginative and novel approaches to training and its assessment in NMD. We conclude by suggesting ways to improve future trials by avoiding previous methodological flaws and drawbacks in this field. Muscle Nerve, 2013     

Long-term effects of ethics education on the quality of care for patients who have do-not-resuscitate orders

Objective: To assess the long-term clinical impact of a broad-based ethics education program for medical houseofficers with specific emphasis on appropriate care for patients who have do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders. Design: Prospective, with an initial randomized phase. Setting: The medical service of a university teaching hospital. Participants: Medical houseofficers and their inpatients. Interventions: A pilot program in 1988, and a full program with a two-year curricular cycle from 1989 to 1991. Measurements and main results: The authors measured compliance with specific standards of care by reviewing charts of patients who had DNR orders at baseline (n=39, 1988), after the pilot phase (n=57, 1989), and at the end of the first curricular cycle (n=56, 1991), noticing who wrote the DNR order, whether the reasons for the order and appropriate consent were documented, and whether there was documented attention to any of 11 concurrent care concerns (CCCs), such as spiritual needs, the appropriateness of tube feedings or pressors, and adjustment of analgesic dose. The percentage of DNR orders written by houseofficers increased from 26% in 1988 to 67% in 1991 (p<0.01). The percentage of charts documenting the rationale and consent for the DNR order was consistently high. The percentage of charts documenting attention to any CCC increased from 68% in 1988 to 86% in 1991 (p<0.01). The mean number of CCCs addressed per DNR order increased from 1.34 in 1988 to 2.14 in 1991. The mean number of CCCs addressed per DNR order for patients who had AIDS increased from 0.89 in 1988 to 2.25 in 1991 (p=0.03). Conclusions: The quality of care for patients who had DNR orders, both overall and for those who had AIDS, improved over long-term observation in the setting of an ethics education program for medical houseofficers. The results suggest that ethics education may alter physician practices and improve patient care. Presented in part at the annual meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine, Arlington, Virginia, April 29, 1993. Supported by a Charles E. Culpeper Foundation Medical Humanities Award to Dr. Sulmasy. Computational assistance was provided by CLINFO system of the National Institutes of Health (RR00035).     

Assessing the needs of women and clinicians for the management of menopause in an HMO

Objective: To determine the perceived needs of perimenopausal women regarding the management of menopause and the resource needs of the clinicians who treat them. Setting: A large staff and group network model health maintenance organization (HMO) in New England. Participants: A random sample of 790 perimenopausal women aged 45–60 years who were members of the HMO in 1991, and a random sample of 180 clinicians in internal medicine, family practice, and obstetrics/gynecology practicing in the HMO during 1991. Method: Mailed surveys of women and clinicians were designed to assess possible needs and attitudes that could lead to the improvement of care for menopausal women. The chi-square test was used to determine differences in perceived needs and satisfaction levels among women with differences in self-reported menopausal status. The Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance and the Mann-Whitney U test were used in the clinician survey to test for differences among specialties and between genders. Results: The key findings include that: 1) most (81%) of the women wanted to see a woman clinician, 2) many (50%) were interested in a menopause support group, 3) 30% reported that their care for menopause had been fair to poor, 4) only 55% of the primary care specialists (including internal medicine and family practice) reported high confidence in their abilities to treat menopause, compared with 68% of the obstetric/gynecology clinicians, and 5) 56% of the clinicians surveyed said that support from the HMO to their practices for the treatment of menopause was fair to poor. Conclusions: There is an opportunity for better care for perimenopausal women as reported by two sources, HMO clinicians and members. To provide this care, clinicians may need explicit guidelines as well as administrative supports such as educational materials and specialty access. Since the capability for menopausal care from clinicians in obstetrics/gynecology is perceived to be higher than that from primary care clinicians, an opportunity for cross-specialty collaboration and training may exist.     

Work satisfaction and career aspirations of internists working in teaching hospital group practices

This paper presents data on the characteristics, work activities, job-related stress, work satisfaction, and career aspirations of 150 faculty and 595 housestaff physicians who regularly provide continuous primary care in 15 teaching hospital-based group practices. The faculty were young, board-certified generalists; they had been recruited from local training programs and spent the majority of their time seeing patients and supervising housestaff. Job satisfaction among faculty and housestaff was generally high. Dissatisfaction occurred most often with aspects of work over which physicians had little control. Although work-related stress was common, it was not related to job satisfaction. Compared with housestaff in traditional residency programs, housestaff enrolled in special Primary Care Training Programs reported significantly greater job satisfaction. For all housestaff, satisfaction with work in the group practice was consistently associated with decreased interest in subspecialty training. assisted in preparing this report. Received from the Department of Medicine and the School of Public Health, UCLA Center for the Health Sciences. Los Angeles. California. Supported by Grant #59082 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.