Illicit drug use as a challenge to the delivery of end-of-life care services to homeless persons: perceptions of health and social services professionals

Homeless persons tend to die younger than the housed population and have complex, often unmet, end-of-life care needs. High levels of illicit drug use among this population are a particular challenge for health and social services professionals involved in end-of-life care services delivery. This article explores the challenges of end-of-life care services to homeless illicit drug users based on data collected during a national study on end-of-life care services delivery to homeless persons in Canada. The authors conducted qualitative interviews with 50 health and social services professionals involved in health services delivery to homeless persons in five cities. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Themes were organised into two domains. First, barriers preventing homeless illicit drug users from accessing end-of-life care services, such as competing priorities (e.g. withdrawal management), lack of trust in healthcare providers and discrimination. Second, challenges to end-of-life care services delivery to this population in health and social care settings, including non-disclosure of illicit drug use, pain and symptom management, interruptions in care, and lack of experience with addictions. The authors identify a need for increased research on the role of harm reduction in end-of-life care settings to address these challenges.     

Supporting parents who have a child referred for genetic investigation: the contribution of health visitors

AIM: This paper reports a study of the views of health visitors in relation to their role in supporting parents of children referred for genetic investigations. BACKGROUND: An increasing number of children are likely to be referred for genetic investigations as our understanding of genetic inheritance develops and a wider range of tests becomes available. Internationally, there are growing expectations that nurses will be able to discuss the referral and testing processes with parents, as well as facilitate informed decision-making. However, previous studies have highlighted the limited support received from staff in primary care services by parents of children referred for genetic investigation. METHODS: A questionnaire survey of 345 health visitors was undertaken in 11 community health and social services trusts in Northern Ireland. Questionnaires were distributed at health visitor team meetings and returned in prepaid envelopes. Data collection occurred in 2003. FINDINGS: Completed questionnaires were returned by 194 health visitors (56.2% response rate). Many were unsure of the location of their Regional Clinical Genetics Service and reported limited contact with these services. The majority of health visitors were not informed that children on their caseload had a forthcoming appointment, or that they had attended an appointment with a geneticist. Health visitors did not routinely visit parents of children referred for genetic investigation to discuss the appointment, and they reported limited confidence in supporting parents in relation to genetic investigations. CONCLUSION: Improved communication links are needed with Regional Clinical Genetics Services and to ensure that health visitors are informed when children on their caseload have been referred for genetic investigation. In addition, steps need to be taken to increase the coordination of support to parents provided by health visitors and staff within regional genetic services.     

Increasing the delivery of health care services to migrant farm worker families through a community partnership model

The Farm Worker Family Health Program (FWFHP) is a 13-year community partnership model designed to increase delivery of health care services for migrant farm worker families. During a yearly 2-week immersion experience, 90 students and faculty members provide health care services, including physical examinations, health screenings, health education, physical therapy, and dental care for 1,000 migrant farm workers and migrant children. Students and faculty members gain a deeper appreciation of the health and social issues that migrant farm worker families face by providing health care services in the places where migrant families live, work, and are educated. Although the model is not unique, it is significant because of its sustained history, interdisciplinary collaboration among community and academic partners, mutual trust and connections among the partners, and the way the program is tailored to meet the needs of the population served. The principles of social responsibility and leadership frame the FWFHP experience. This community partnership model can be replicated by others working with at-risk populations in low-resource settings.     

Interdisciplinary teamwork in a school-based health center

The goal of school-based health centers (SBHCs) is to provide culturally competent primary, preventive, and mental health care services for students who otherwise may not have access to care. Often, an SBHC is the primary health care provider for students because many adolescents are uninsured or lack access to other health care service providers. At other times, the SBHC works in collaboration with primary care providers and other health professionals to provide health care services for students and their families. Complex health and social problems and changes in professional practice make it impossible to serve clients effectively without collaborating with professionals from other disciplines. One process used in SBHCs to assure that students' needs and concerns are addressed is an interdisciplinary case review (ICR). The ICR is a method of evaluating complex cases with members of the health care team to ensure that the physical and mental health and social needs of students are meeting or exceeding the standard of care.     

Models of care for persons with progressive cancer

A need exists for a living-dying model that encompasses hospice care and alternative programs of care for the terminally ill. The existing medical and rehabilitative models are focused in directions that do not allow implementation of continuity of care directed toward supporting patients during the plateaus of their illnesses. Today, society has evolved to value the patient as a consumer of health care who can participate through making informed choices among the rich alternatives of care available. Yet the knowledge and technology base of health care delivery today increases at such a rapid rate that it almost seems out of control. This paradox makes it difficult for the patient-consumer to have access to information necessary for involvement in informed decision making. Greater numbers of consumers of health care are active in assuming responsibility for maintaining wellness. At the same time, they are seeking health care programs outside the medical model, as well as within the medical model. The "high-tech" atmosphere has been tempered with an emphasis on humanism, perhaps as a response to the infusion of machinery into our lives. As health care costs have escalated, concern has mounted that health care costs be contained, and that the poor and the elderly not be further curtailed in access to health care resources. There is tremendous potential among nurses for leadership in the creation of services that support quality of life for cancer patients and families. Nurses, as a collective, must be willing to engage in the politics of negotiation for reallocation of health care resources toward person-centered services and to establish a power base for influencing these decisions at the local, state, and national level of government and within various organizations offering health care services. As person-centered services are established, nurses must also move toward formalizing emergent practices into standards of care. Consumers deserve the protection of practice standards that are developed and sanctioned by the profession. It is also critical to test practice, both as it emerges, and after it has been formalized into standards. Nurses must continue to question the tenets of their practice. For example, what are the outcome effects of monitoring and supporting patients during the chronic phase of the living-dying interval? Is either the severity or the number of problems in the terminal phase reduced by these interventions? Changes in the provision of health services in this past decade have been extensive and broadly based.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

The sexual health needs of people with learning disabilities

The sexual health of people with learning disabilities raises important management and practice issues for health services, and should be examined in the context of the current policy emphasis on advocacy, person-centred services and social inclusion (Department of Health, 2001). People with learning disabilities may have limited access to mainstream health services, and sexual health and genitourinary medicine (GUM) services are no exception (DoH, 2001; 1998). They are often excluded from society, either because they are 'segregated' within specialist support services in the community or because they live in isolation with carers, and health and social care models do not always join up locally to meet their needs.     

Genetics in the OR—Implications for Perioperative Nursing Practice

New developments in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology are increasing understanding of the role of genetics in health and disease. This kind of health information requires that perioperative nurses develop new skills and roles that will enhance the quality of genetic health care they provide to patients, particularly with regard to managing genetic information. Perioperative nurses expand their scope of practice to incorporate a genetic focus into health assessment, patient education, and patient support as they assimilate new genetic information into their daily lives. Perioperative nurses familiar with genetic counseling services—and how and when to refer patients for such services—will ensure that all patients have access to the most current and appropriate genetic information with which to make informed health choices. AORN J 67 (June 1998) 1175–1191.     

Social support and risk-adjusted mortality in a frail older population

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that social support is an important predictor of mortality in a frail older population receiving formal long-term care services. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The analysis is based on 3138 individuals enrolled in 28 Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Information about the enrollees is obtained from dataPACE. Semiparametric Cox proportional hazards models are estimated to assess the importance of individual risk factors, program effect, and social support. RESULTS: The introduction of the social support variables into the mortality model containing the sociodemographic, health needs, and the PACE-site indicator variables results in a significant improvement of the overall model fit. Several social support variables are statistically significant predictors of mortality. Controlling for all participant and caregiver characteristics, participants whose caregiver is a spouse have a significantly lower risk of mortality (hazard ratio = 0.63) compared with those whose caregiver is not a spouse. Furthermore, caregivers' assistance with meals confers a significantly lower risk of morality (hazard ratio = 0.66) compared with no assistance with meals. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that certain aspects of informal caregiving are important factors enhancing survival in a population of frail, nursing home-certifiable individuals enrolled in a health program that already provides extensive services, including personal care, chores, and meals. Further research to better differentiate between the affective versus the instrumental dimensions of social support is needed to guide programs on how to balance the use of resources to provide both the necessary formal services and the support for the informal caregivers.     

Health policy and the private sector. New vistas for nursing

During the past two decades, the drive to rein in rising health care costs has shifted some of the power in health care policy making from professional groups, government agencies, and not-for-profit health care organizations to large for-profit corporations (1-4). This has been a world-wide phenomenon, as the provision and financing of health care services is shifted from governments to private health care organizations (5,6). In the United States, the shift in power is manifested in profound ways. Market competition and bottom-line economics have permeated the health care system, creating powerful new incentives for mergers, other corporate restructuring, and the shift to for-profit status by formerly not-for-profit insurance companies and providers. Private sector health care is now increasingly influenced by for-profit organizations (3). Moreover, the health insurance industry has been transformed as traditional indemnity insurance is replaced by versions of managed care. The role of government, or the public sector, in setting parameters for health care financing and standards for the delivery of health care services is increasingly outpaced in cost cutting by organizations that directly face the bottom line. In addition, private foundations, many of which are under the auspices of managed care organizations, now fund a large proportion of health care research and demonstration projects, a task once largely within the realm of the government. Through education and experience, nurses have developed political sophistication and understanding of policy making in the public sector (7). The challenge now is to educate nurses to adapt their political and policy strategies to the new health care milieu. This challenge is particularly crucial for advanced practice nurses, who must survive in a managed care environment.     

Improving the health and well-being of adolescent boys

Adolescent men are at risk of having significant unmet health care needs. Like adolescent girls, they have complex health care needs and are more likely than younger children to be to be uninsured. They are less likely than women and other age groups to seek medical attention from traditional sources of care. Because of inadequate youth-oriented services, as well as teens' developmental stage, they have a tendency to receive care that is brief and problem oriented [20]. Such care is not likely to address complex problems that may be related to risk behaviors. Adolescent boys are also more concerned with the skills of the provider offering services than with the system in which the provider functions. Opportunities for outreach to adolescent men exist within many institutions. Nurses as advocates, educators, counselors, and providers of preventive health care have a creative opportunity for enhancing services to the teenage boy. The school is a natural place to begin as adolescents spend a significant part of each day there. Family planning and STI clinics are a source of care that are not well used by adolescent males, but when they do attend it is an opportunity to identify problems, provide counseling and referrals, and offer continuity. These health care institutions are not often welcoming or comfortable for the male youth. Use of these clinics will be enhanced by providers demonstrating increased acceptance of the adolescent when he attends as well as actively requesting that he attend with his partner. The most unusual but sorely needed outreach must be made to incarcerated and delinquent adolescent male. Residential facilities for delinquent youth need to be encouraged to provide a multidisciplinary comprehensive medical, mental health, and social services model. This approach will not only benefit the adolescent but the youth's community as well. Emergency rooms represent another crucial, missed opportunity to connect with young men. With some forethought and follow-up, emergency departments must become connected to appropriate and accessible adolescent primary care resources in the community. Finally, adolescent men are an underinsured population. Nurses can be important advocates of available state insurance funds, sliding scale or free services to youth, and must be a voice in youth policy-making.     

A socio-ecological approach to understanding barriers to prenatal care for women of low income

This paper critically examines the notion of barriers as conceptualized in the literature and suggests an expanded orientation to more fully appreciate its complexity. This alternative approach not only takes into account factors and processes relevant to the individual that create constraints to utilization, but also acknowledges influences on the design and delivery of health care. These latter considerations determine the availability and characteristics of programmes and services that may or may not encourage or enable participation by persons of low income. A socio-ecological model is proposed that compels health care practitioners and researchers to acknowledge the many influences on utilization behaviour. The literature on barriers to prenatal care is subsequently reviewed and evaluated, with consideration given to the range of behavioural determinants suggested by the model. Finally, a case is made for qualitative methods for inquiry to further enhance knowledge about factors and processes influencing use of the health care system, including prenatal care. It is argued that these approaches lead to enhanced appreciation of behaviour as a social product and are consistent with the ideology of health promotion.     

Ethics, Policy, and Educational Issues in Genetic Testing

PURPOSE: Analyze ethics, public policy, and education issues that arise in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) when genomic information acquired as a result of genetic testing is introduced into healthcare services. ORGANIZING CONSTRUCT: Priorities in the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues Research Program include privacy, integration of genetic services into clinical health care, and educational preparation of the nursing workforce. These constructs are used to examine health policies in the US and UK, and professional interactions of individuals and families with healthcare providers. FINDINGS: Individual, family, and societal goals may conflict with current healthcare practices and policies when genetic testing is done. Current health policies do not fully address these concerns. Unresolved issues include protection of privacy of individuals while considering genetic information needs of family members, determination of appropriate monitoring of genetic tests, addressing genetic healthcare discrepancies, and assuring appropriate nursing workforce preparation. CONCLUSIONS: Introduction of genetic testing into health care requires that providers are knowledgeable regarding ethical, policy, and practice issues in order to minimize risk for harm, protect the rights of individuals and families, and consider societal context in the management of genetic test results. Understanding of these issues is a component of genetic nursing competency that must be addressed at all levels of nursing education.     

Complex palliative care and transition: a case review

This case study assesses the effect that health and social care had on the chronic life-limiting condition of a young man going through transition from children's to adult services. He was taken into foster care at 16 years old and placed with his maternal uncle and aunt. Relevant literature is introduced to consider the impact that placement had on the foster family and the young person as he was transitioned over a two-year period to adult services, not only in terms of their adaptations, but also on his health and prognosis. Close liaison between social services and hospital and community teams meant that medical and social outcomes were markedly improved for this young man.     

Mental health policy and integrated care: global perspectives

Although omitted from the World Health Organization's eight Millennium Development Goals, mental illness ranks fourth of the 10 leading causes of disability in the world and is expected to approach second place by 2020. Scarce resources challenge responses to mental health needs. Effective approaches must consider existing healthcare delivery networks, nurses as care providers, as well as social, cultural, political and historical contexts. This paper reviews policy development and care approaches to address mental health needs around the world. Challenges, successes and further needs are discussed. Selected articles were reviewed to represent varied approaches to address mental health needs in countries with diverse resources and infrastructures. Integrated systems offer one model for addressing mental health needs along with physical health needs within a population. While potentially an efficient strategy, caution is advised to ensure services are integrated and not merely added on top of an already overburdened system. As the largest group of healthcare professionals worldwide, nurses play a key role in the delivery of mental health services. Nurses have an opportunity, if not a responsibility, to collaborate across borders sharing education and innovative approaches to care delivery.     

Promoting quality of care for older people: developing positive attitudes to working with older people

AIMS: Managers and administrators have a key strategic role and responsibility for the way the care of older people is delivered within health and social care services, since the decisions made and directions taken at this level have a direct influence on services delivered. This article provides an outline of the context in which the services provided for older people have emerged, especially within health care, and offers strategies for the way forward. BACKGROUND: The standard of care received by older people is high on the agenda in contemporary health care. Frequent reports have questioned this quality over the years, yet concerns still remain. A key factor influencing quality of care received by older people, can be attributed to the persistence and perpetuation of ageist attitudes held by society and those working within health and social care settings at all levels. METHODS: Drawing upon a range of literature, an overview of those factors that seem to be attributable to the development of contemporary attitudes and perceptions about older people and their care are reviewed, focusing particularly upon health and social care workers, especially nurses. FINDINGS: The role of education in particular is explored as this has a key role in influencing attitudes towards caring for older people and will impact directly on the way in which all care and services develop. CONCLUSION: A number of areas are outlined for future development and research that aim to address and serve the needs of older people, and which could be supported at a managerial and administrative level to promote positive attitudes.     

Elder Abuse

The detection, treatment and prevention of elder abuse, although of concern to health care professionals, has not received over the past several years the attention it merits. While social service and health care dollars for elders decline or are redistributed, elder abuse may be on the upswing. As physical and occupational therapists move into home health care settings they are in opportune positions to detect instances of elder abuse and facilitate remedial or preventive services. This article reviews the current problem of elder abuse and describes some roles for the allied health professional in addressing the need.     

Interdisciplinary collaboration between primary care, social insurance and social services in the rehabilitation of people with musculoskeletal disorder: effects on self-rated health and physical performance

Previous research shows there can be good results from co-financing between welfare sectors on the perceived quality of interprofessional collaboration. However, little is known about the impact on patient outcome of such schemes. This study aimed to assess whether co-financed teams with personnel from primary care, social insurance and social services have any effect on patients' health status. A comparative study of patients attending health care centres with and without a co-financed collaboration model was carried out. Although research has shown positive results from co-financed collaboration on staff and organization, we could not find that this new interdisciplinary team structure gave a better patient health outcome than conventional care.     

Interdisciplinary collaboration between primary care,social insurance and social services in the rehabilitation of people with musculoskeletal disorder: Effects on self-rated health and physical performance

Previous research shows there can be good results from co-financing between welfare sectors on the perceived quality of interprofessional collaboration. However, little is known about the impact on patient outcome of such schemes. This study aimed to assess whether co-financed teams with personnel from primary care, social insurance and social services have any effect on patients' health status. A comparative study of patients attending health care centres with and without a co-financed collaboration model was carried out. Although research has shown positive results from co-financed collaboration on staff and organization, we could not find that this new interdisciplinary team structure gave a better patient health outcome than conventional care.     

Feasibility and Acceptability of Providing Nurse Counsellor Genetics Clinics in Primary Care

An increasing number of children are likely to be referred for genetic investigations as a wider range of tests becomes available. Despite the growing expectation that nurses in primary care will provide support to parents of children referred for genetic investigation, previous studies have highlighted the limited support from staff in these services. The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of health visitors (public health nurses) to supporting parents of children referred for genetic investigation.
A questionnaire based survey of 345 health visitors was undertaken across Northern Ireland during Nov–December 2003 wit ha response rate of 56.2% ( n  = 194). Many health visitors were unsure of the location of the regional clinical genetics service and overall respondents reported limited contact with staff from these services. The majority of health visitors were not informed that children on their caseload had an appointment. It was found that health visitors did not routinely visit parents of children referred for genetic investigation and viewed this as the responsibility of the regional genetics services. Furthermore their confidence in supporting parents was significantly related to their previous contact with genetic services and knowledge of genetics in relation to their role as health visitors.