Men making sense of their chest pain--niggles, doubts and denials

Participant observation was undertaken of the early admission period of 25 men admitted to hospital with acute chest pain, followed by in-depth interviews of 10 of the men after discharge. Grounded theory methods were used in the analysis to develop a model of how the men came to interpret their experiences. An emerging feature of the men's experiences was that, although they had suffered intense pain prior to admission, there had been a series of delays whilst they tried to rationalize their symptoms. We relate our discussion to literature on men and masculinity and the notion of Foucault (1975) of self-surveillance, to offer an insight into the men's self concept and social situation. Our conclusions suggest that men's self concept as 'healthy' may inhibit a speedy response to the signs and symptoms of acute coronary occlusion, increasing the risk of cardiac arrest without nearby life support.     

'I feel a fraud': men and their experiences of acute admission following chest pain.

The meaning of acute chest pain to men and how their masculinity affects the way that men respond to the care provided have received little attention in nursing research or nursing literature. The data for this paper were collected through participant observation whilst clinically working with men who had been admitted with acute chest pain. This paper will present a key theme that emerged from this study, relating to the dissonance that the men experienced when the initial pain that brought them to the hospital was quickly removed leaving them no longer feeling 'ill'. This paper will also argue that there is a need to consider the theories on masculinity to help in interpreting the reactions of the male patient to their condition and also to help direct the care that is being provided.     

Sexualizing men's touch: male nurses and the use of intimate touch in clinical practice

Drawn from a larger study, this article reports the experiences of a group of male nurses regarding the use of intimate physical touch. Using discourse analysis, interview data from 18 male nurses were analyzed and related to existing text on men as nurses. The analysis reveals that although touch is important in nursing care, it is problematic for men because discourses have normalized women's use of touch as a caring behavior and have sexualized men's touch. Participants described their vulnerability, how they protected themselves from risk, and the resulting stress. The complicity of nurses in sexualizing men's touch and the neglect of educators in preparing men for providing intimate care are revealed. A paradox emerged whereby the very measures employed to protect both patients and men as nurses exacerbate the perceived risk posed by men carrying out intimate care. Deconstructing and reframing prevailing discourses around nursing, gender, and caring involving touch can help to legitimize men's involvement in physical caring.     

Improving performance and self-efficacy of novice nurses using hybrid simulation-based mastery learning

Aim

Acute chest pain is a commonly encountered symptom in hospital medical/surgical units; however, almost half of nurses in their second year of clinical experience in our facility have reported struggling to care for acute chest pain patients. We developed, implemented, and examined the effectiveness of a simulation-based, mastery learning clinical nursing educational program to improve self-efficacy and performance in caring for patients with acute chest pain.

Methods

The study adopted a single-site, single-cohort design using simulation-based performance assessment and self-efficacy surveys on a convenience sample of 37 second-year clinical nurse participants in multi-stage hybrid mastery learning educational intervention using asynchronous e-learning, and hands-on simulation training and assessment with feedback on caring for chest pain patients. Performance assessments and self-efficacy surveys were administered pre-, post-, and 5 months post-intervention.

Results

Clinical performance on the post- and 5 months follow-up assessments were significantly higher than those for the pre-test (P < .0001). The self-efficacy scores for the post- and the 5 months follow-up assessments were significantly higher than the pre-course scores (P < .0001). Participants' self-efficacy perceptions were positively correlated with their performances at 5 months post-intervention.

Conclusion

Performance and self-efficacy of novice nurses in caring for acute chest pain patients improved significantly with the multi-stage hybrid mastery learning educational intervention, with improvements retained 5 months post-intervention. The results suggest the applicability of simulation-based mastery learning in a clinical setting for novice nurses to attain specific skills, and raise their self-perception of competence to care for patients in acute settings.     

"Pain talk" in hospice and palliative care team meetings: an ethnography

BACKGROUND: Specialist palliative care nurses have considerable expertise in pain management and this expertise can contribute to tension in the boundary between specialist nurses and non-specialist doctors. OBJECTIVES: This article reports on how specialist palliative care nurses contribute to team talk about pain and the rhetorical strategies they use to develop their reputation and credibility in pain management. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: This is an ethnographic study involving the collection of naturally occurring data from eight palliative care team meetings. The study is concerned with team meetings in hospice, community and hospital palliative care settings. METHODS: Data was collected by audio recording eight team meetings in hospice, hospital and community palliative care settings. The data were analysed using a grounded theory approach followed by application of the tools of discourse and conversation analysis. RESULTS: The findings indicate that specialist palliative care nurses use rhetorical strategies such as contrastive rhetoric, telling atrocity stories, veiled criticism and neutralism as a platform for building a reputation in managing pain. Furthermore they situate their expertise in pain management by direct contrast with problems related to non-specialist practice in pain management. CONCLUSIONS: The team meetings are a safe place, a collegial setting for specialist nurses to challenge non-specialist medical practice and to manage the specialist/non-specialist boundary. The findings have implications for further research related to the specialist nurse/non-specialist doctor boundary and for education of specialist nurses and GPs.     

The need for nurses to have in service education to provide the best care for clients with chest drains

Chest drains are a widespread intervention for patients admitted to acute respiratory or cardiothoracic surgery care areas. These are either inserted intraoperatively or as part of the conservative management of a respiratory illness or thoracic injury. Anecdotally there appears to be a lack of consensus among nurses on the major principles of chest drain management. Many decisions tend to be based on personal factors rather than sound clinical evidence. This inconsistency of treatment regimes, together with the lack of evidence-based nursing care, creates a general uncertainty regarding the care of patients with chest drains. This study aimed to identify the nurses' levels of knowledge with regard to chest drain management and identify and to ascertain how nurses keep informed about the developments related to the care of patients with chest drains. The data were collected using survey method. The results of the study revealed deficits in knowledge in a selected group of nurses and a paucity of resources. Nurse managers are encouraged to identify educational needs in this area, improve resources and the delivery of in service and web-based education and to encourage nurses to reflect upon their own knowledge deficits through portfolio use and ongoing professional development.     

The Accuracy and Completeness of Data Collected by Prospective and Retrospective Methods

Objectives: To describe and test a model that compares the accuracy of data gathered prospectively versus retrospectively among adult emergency department patients admitted with chest pain. Methods: The authors developed a model of information flow from subject to medical record to the clinical study case report form, based on a literature review. To test this model, a bidirectional (prospective and retrospective) study was conducted, enrolling all eligible adult patients who were admitted with a chief complaint of chest pain. The authors interviewed patients in the emergency department to determine their chest pain history and established a prospective database; this was considered the criterion standard. Then, patient medical records were reviewed to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information available through a retrospective medical record review. Results: The model described applies the concepts of reliability and validity to information passed on by the study subject, the clinician, and the medical record abstractor. This study was comprised of 104 subjects, of which 63% were men and the median age was 63 years. Subjects were uncertain of responses for 0–8% of questions and responded differently upon reinterview for subsets of questions 0–30% of the time. The sensitivity of the medical record for risk factors for coronary artery disease was 0.77 to 0.93. Among the 88 subjects (85%) who indicated that their chest pain was substernal or left chest, the medical record described this location in 44%. Timing of the chest pain was the most difficult item to accurately capture from the medical record. Conclusions: Information obtained retrospectively from the abstraction of medical records is measurably less accurate than information obtained prospectively from research subjects. For certain items, more than half of the information is not available. This loss of information is related to the data types included in the study and by the assumptions that a researcher performing a retrospective study makes about implied versus explicitly stated responses. A model of information flow that incorporates the concepts of reliability and validity can be used to measure some of the loss of information that occurs at each step along the way from subject to clinician to medical record abstractor.     

Gender differences in the perception of chest pain

This study investigated gender differences in pain perception as characterized by pain symptoms in patients diagnosed with unstable angina pectoris. Twenty-nine women and 32 men were asked to characterize their chest pain using a semi-open questionnaire assessing pain intensity (by numerical rating), pain location, pain characteristics, complaints following chest pain, factors that evoked or reduced chest pain, and whether the chest pain was related to heart disease. Significant gender differences were found. Women scored the intensity of their chest pain significantly higher than men (Chi-square 14.8, P < 0.0001), and related their chest pain less to heart disease (Chi-square 24.6, P < 0.0001). The women described an atypical clinical picture of chest pain that was significantly different from men's. The results are discussed in light of pschological theories regarding gender differences in pain perception. These findings imply the need for special attention to the unique clinical pictures that appear for women and men.     

The Influence of Race and Gender on Time to Initial Electrocardiogram for Patients with Chest Pain

Objectives: To determine whether race or gender affected time to initial electrocardiogram (ECG) for patients who presented to an emergency department with chest pain.
Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of patients with chest pain. Patients were divided into three groups based on final diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina and all others with noncardiac chest pain. Data were analyzed using ranks in a two-way analysis of covariance adjusted for age.
Results: A total of 4,358 patients were studied; 58.6% were women and 41.4% men, and 70.3% were African American, 26.0% white, and 3.6% other. Overall, nonwhite patients had longer times to initial ECG compared with white patients. These effects were consistent regardless of ultimate diagnosis. Overall, women had longer times to initial ECG than men. However, ECG time differed by final diagnosis. There were no differences in time to ECG for women compared with men with acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina, but women received an ECG significantly slower than men for noncardiac chest pain.
Conclusions: The first screening test for acute coronary syndrome, the ECG, took longer to obtain for nonwhite patients, regardless of final diagnosis. This was unfortunately consistent with the literature that shows racial disparities in all aspects of emergent cardiac care. For women, the overall delay in ECG time can be explained by delays for those women with noncardiac chest pain.     

Experiences of patients with acute abdominal pain in the ED or acute surgical ward – A qualitative comparative study

The Danish health care system is currently establishing emergency departments (EDs) with an observation unit nationwide. The aim of the study was to investigate patients with acute abdominal pain and their experiences upon arrival and stay in an acute surgical ward (ASW) versus an ED with an observation unit. A phenomenological-hermeneutic comparative field study with participant observation and interviews was performed. The analysis showed five themes: Waiting, being placed on the edge, taking or not taking initiative, being the object of attention and being taken seriously. The conclusion was that the ED included a multidisciplinary team with nurses, who mainly had interactions with the patients before surgical assessment. In all, it resulted in fragmentation of care and a patient experience of repetition. In ASW, focus was on assessment by a senior physician, only, and the nurses’ interaction with the patients took place after surgical assessment. In all, patients experienced long waiting times. The study shows a need to define the roles of the professionals in units receiving patients with acute abdominal pain in order to fulfil the medical as well as the experienced needs of the acute patient.     

Prevalence of Aspirin Use among Patients Calling 9-1-1 for Chest Pain

Abstract. Objective: Early aspirin administration during an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) decreases morbidity and mortality. This investigation examined the extent to which patients with a complaint of chest pain, the symptom most identified with AMI by the general population, self-administer aspirin before the arrival of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel.
Methods: In this prospective, cross-sectional prevalence study, data were derived through the analysis of EMS incident reports for patients with a complaint of chest pain from June 1, 1997, to August 31,1997.
Results: The study included 694 subjects. One hundred two (15%) took aspirin for their chest pain before the arrival of EMS personnel. Of the 322 subjects who reported taking aspirin on a regular basis, 82 (26%) took additional aspirin for their acute chest pain. Only 20 (5%) of the 370 patients who were not using regular aspirin therapy self-administered aspirin acutely (p < 0.001). In addition, patients with lower intensity of chest pain (p = 0.03) were more likely to take aspirin for their chest pain.
Conclusion: Only a relatively small fraction of individuals calling 9-1-1 with acute chest pain take aspirin prior to the arrival of EMS personnel. These individuals are more likely to self-administer aspirin if they are already taking it on a regular basis. It is also possible that they are less likely to take aspirin if their chest pain is more severe.     

Exploring how Bedside Nurses Care for Patients with Chronic Pain: A Grounded Theory Study

In the United States it is estimated that over 30% of the population suffers from some form of chronic pain (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Report, 2011). Therefore, it is likely that 30% of patients who are admitted to the hospital for acute care needs also have an underlying chronic pain issue. When patients are admitted for concerns that are not related to their chronic pain, the chronic pain may be overlooked in deference to acute medical issues. Nurses dealing with pain in the acute care setting may limit their assessment and management of pain to acute pain. Although there is a significant body of research related to the management of acute pain (Bell & Duffy, 2009; Brennen, Obs, Carr, & Cousins, 2007; Dihle, Bjolseth, & Helseth, 2006; McDonnell, Nicholl, & Read, 2003; Wang & Tsai, 2010) and the management of chronic pain (Bruckenthal, 2010; Clarke & Iphofen, 2005; Kaasalainen et al., 2011; Matthews & Malcom, 2007; Papaleontiou et al., 2010, Reid et al., 2008), few studies were found that explained how nurses care for patients with pre-existing chronic pain in the acute care setting. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical understanding of nurses' assessment and decision-making behaviors related to the care of patients with chronic pain in the acute care setting.     

Outcomes of acutely ill older hospitalized patients following implementation of tailored models of care: a repeated measures (pre- and post-intervention) design

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of research investigating models of nursing care for older hospitalised patients that address the nursing needs of this group. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of models of care for acutely older patients tailored to two contexts: an aged care specific ward and a medical ward. DESIGN: This is a repeated measures design. Efficacy of the models was evaluated in terms of: patient and nurses' satisfaction with care provided; increased activities of daily living; reduced unplanned hospital readmissions; and medication knowledge. SETTINGS: An aged care specific ward and a medical ward in two Sydney teaching hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: There were two groups of patients aged 65 years or older who were admitted to hospital for an acute illness: those admitted prior to model implementation (n=232) and those admitted during model implementation (n=116). Patients with moderate or severe dementia were excluded. The two groups of nurses were the pre-model group (n=90) who were working on the medical and aged care wards for the study prior to model implementation, and the post-model group (n=22), who were the nurses working on the wards during model implementation. METHODS: Action research was used to develop the models of care in two wards: one for an aged care specific ward and another for a general medical ward where older patients were admitted. The models developed were based on empirical data gathered in an earlier phase of this study. RESULTS: The models were successful in both wards in terms of increasing satisfaction levels in patients and nurses (p<0.001), increasing functional independence as measured by activities of daily living (p<0.01), and increasing medication knowledge (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that models of care developed by nurses using an evidence-based action research strategy can enhance both satisfaction and health outcomes in older patients.     

Is there a gender difference in aetiology of chest pain and symptoms associated with acute myocardial infarction?

Many previous studies have shown that there is a gender difference in terms of the use of diagnostic procedures and the treatment of patients with chest pain. The mechanisms behind these observations are less well described. This survey describes gender differences in the aetiology of chest pain and symptoms associated with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Among the patients with symptoms of acute chest pain, in the emergency medical department women less frequently develop an AMI and are less frequently given a diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease. Among patients developing an AMI, women differ from men by less frequently reporting chest pain, more frequently reporting nausea, vomiting, abdominal complaints, fatigue and dyspnoea and less frequently reporting sweating. With regard to the localization of pain in AMI, women differ from men by more frequently reporting pain in the back, neck and jaw. In terms of electrocardiographic changes, women seem to have less marked ST deviations than men. However, we do not believe that these differences between women and men are substantial enough and, as a result, we do not recommend that the initial medical care of patients seeking medical attention with chest pain or other symptoms raising a suspicion of AMI should be differentiated with regard to gender. The differences described here might partly explain the prolonged delay until hospital admission in women suffering from AMI.     

Gender differences in reported symptoms for acute myocardial infarction: Impact on prehospital delay time interval

A retrospective observational study using database registry of consecutive patients admitted to 16 King County hospital Coronary Care Units (CCU) was conducted to assess gender differences in symptom presentation for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and investigate how symptom presentation relates to prehospital delay time interval from acute symptom onset to emergency department (ED) presentation. Between January 1991 and February 1993, 4,497 patients were admitted to the CCUs with diagnosed AMI. Accredited record technicians abstracted age, gender, race, transport method, symptom presentation (chest pain, sweating, nausea, shortness of breath, epigastric pain, and fainting), delay time interval between acute symptom onset and presentation to hospital ED, and discharge diagnosis from the patients' medical records. After adjusting for age and history of diabetes, no gender differences remained for frequencies of chest pain, fainting, or epigastric pain. Women reported more nausea and shortness of breath but less sweating than men as symptoms of AMI. Chest pain, sweating, and fainting were associated with decreasing delay time intervals. Age, gender, histories of AMI and diabetes, and transport choice were also significantly related to delay time interval. These results show that gender differences occur in AMI symptom experience. However, how symptoms relate to the gender gap in delay time interval is not clear. These findings suggest that health care professionals need to tailor information about possible symptoms of AMI to the patient's gender, age, and medical history.     

Response to signs and symptoms of acute coronary syndrome: differences between Lebanese men and women.

Background: Signs and symptoms of acute coronary syndromes differ between men and women, but whether men and women respond differently to these indications is not well understood. Such responses influence health outcomes because success of treatment depends on how quickly healthcare is sought. OBJECTIVE: To explore differences between Lebanese men and women in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to signs and symptoms of acute coronary syndromes. METHODS: A convenience sample of 149 men and 63 women with unstable angina or acute myocardial infarction were interviewed within 72 hours of admission to coronary care in a tertiary center by using the Response to Symptoms Questionnaire. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from medical records. RESULTS: Women were older, less educated, and more often widowed than men. More women had hypertension but more men were current smokers. Women had shoulder pain, dyspnea, nausea and vomiting, and palpitations more often than men did. Women's signs and symptoms were rated more severe by the women than men's were by the men. Women were less likely to know signs and symptoms of myocardial infarction than were men and delayed coming to the hospital longer than men did. Delay correlated with the characteristics of the signs and symptoms and not realizing their importance in men and with dyspnea and taking the "wait and see" approach in women. CONCLUSION: Factors related to promptness in seeking care for acute coronary syndromes differ between Lebanese men and women.     

It is safe to manage selected patients with acute coronary syndromes in unmonitored beds

This prospective, observational study evaluated the safety of the Western Hospital admission protocol for patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes. The study included all patients admitted from the Emergency Department with an admission diagnosis of unstable angina, post infarct angina, atypical chest pain, or chest pain for evaluation. Data collected included demographic data, admission diagnosis, location of admission (bed with or without cardiac monitoring), past medical history and presenting chest pain history to determine Agency for Health Care Policy (AHCPR) and Western Hospital (WH) protocol classifications, cardiac enzyme assays, electrocardiogram analysis, adverse outcomes [death, myocardial infarction (MI), dysrhythmia, acute pulmonary edema, recurrent pain], diagnosis at hospital discharge, and length of stay-(LOS). There were 508 patients with a mean age of 63.7 years enrolled in the study. Three hundred nineteen (62.8%) were admitted to beds without any cardiac monitoring. There was one unexpected death in the unmonitored group, an 85 year-old patient who suffered a presumed dysrhythmia and whom the treating physician had decided was not for resuscitation. Twelve patients suffered nonfatal MI, and none suffered pulmonary edema. All MI patients made an uneventful recovery, and none required thrombolysis. If all patients had been admitted to an area of care based on AHCPR guidelines, an additional 310 admissions to monitored beds would have been required. The results of this study suggest that selected patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes can be safely managed in beds without continuous cardiac monitoring.