A holiday break for adolescents provided by the Malcolm Sargent cancer fund for children

The paper describes a holiday for a group of adolescents with cancer (from the Young Oncology Unit at the Christie Hospital, Manchester, UK) at Malcolm Sargent House, Prestwick, Scotland. The aim was to provide an opportunity for young people with cancer to build and to develop therapeutic relationships away from the pressures of hospital, home and treatment. The nature and range of care given by the nurses and social worker who accompanied them is described and includes accounts of individual progress which are demonstrated by brief case studies.     

Parental participation in care: a critical review of the literature

The literature reviewed demonstrates that parental participation is a complex issue which has been viewed mainly in a fragmented manner which does not recognize the integrated holistic nature of parent-nurse partnership There is a dearth of research which focuses upon parents' perspectives and expectations of participation Furthermore, there is an assumption that parental participation is unproblematic which precludes the identification of social and environmental constraints The current level of knowledge about nurses' attitudes regarding parental participation is limited There is an absence of clear indicators of how parental participation may be facilitated and supported in the institutional setting It is proposed that further research is required which determines the extent of parental participation and which considers the lived experiences of both the parents and nurses of parental participation Improved care for children and families could result fromefforts directed to those endeavours     

Postoperative morbidity following Caesarean delivery

The current study was designed to determine the postoperative morbidity associated with Caesarean section and to compare the morbidity with the timing of the operation elective versus emergency Caesarean section, subgroups of women delivered by emergency Caesarean section, women delivered during the first stage of labour versus those delivered during the course of the second stage A retrospective review was conducted of the obstetric case record and the midwifery notes of all women delivered by Caesarean section over a 1-year period in a university teaching hospital ( n = 619) The variables used to measure postoperative morbidity included wound infection, intrauterine infection, urinary tract infection, chest infection, pyrexia, urinary catheterization and postnatal blood transfusion Only 9 5% of the women had no recorded morbidity in the postnatal period Women delivered by emergency Caesarean section experienced a greater number of postnatal problems, an increased incidence of febrile morbidity, more blood transfusions in the postnatal period and a higher proportion had a urinary catheter left in situ after surgery The incidence of wound infection, intrauterine infection and chest infection was higher in the emergency group and this resulted in an increased proportion of the women requiring antibiotic therapy in the postnatal period The study found that there was considerable postoperative morbidity associated with Caesarean delivery, particularly if the operation was carried out as an emergency procedure     

Improving the quality of health information: the contribution of C-H-i-Q

The quality of information should be the key driver in communicating health messages to the public. Staff at The Centre for Health Information Quality (C‐H‐i‐Q) have worked with an extensive list of partner organizations from a range of disciplines. These stakeholders express a desire to see improvement in the standards of patient information, and display a willingness to embrace new approaches in order to achieve change. The result is an increasingly significant contribution in the development of the information‐exchange model of health‐care, where the aim is to maximize public confidence in health information. Key activities include defining principles of quality assurance, engaging with stakeholders, and developing tools and training for producers and providers of health information.     

Early patterns of maternal attachment

The relationship between maternal‐fetal attachment and maternal‐child interaction was examined. The Maternal Fetal Attachment Scale (Cranley, 1981) was administered to 32 women between their 35th and 40th weeks of pregnancy. These mothers were observed again while they fed their infants once on the second and once on the third postpartum days. Their interactive behaviors were then rated on the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale (University of Washington) and the Funke Mother‐Infant Interaction Assessment. The findings indicated a positive and significant relationship between maternal fetal attachment behaviors and mother‐infant interaction. Qualitative data collected during the research process gave meaning and interpretation to observed behaviors. Implications for nursing practice are discussed.