The processes of case management: a review of the evaluation of a pilot study for elderly people in Hong Kong

Aim This paper is based on research into case management that aimed to evaluate the processes of the introduction of case management for elderly people into the community nursing services in Hong Kong.
Background The Hospital Authority in Hong Kong introduced a pilot Case Management scheme into the Community Nursing Services. A research project was therefore developed to evaluate this case management model.
Method The processes were measured through information gained from group interviews, daily diaries and weekly activity sheets.
Findings The roles and work practices of the Care Co-ordinators and Case Managers are described and the benefits of case management to patients, carers and nurses are highlighted. Difficulties are also discussed and good practices are identified.
Conclusion Staff in the hospital and community need time to get used to the model of case management and to the accompanying documentation. The role of the case manager needs to be clearly dilineated.     

The establishment of an integrated skills training centre for undergraduate nursing education

LEE L.Y.K., LEE J.K.L., WONG K.F., TSANG A.Y.K. & LI M.K. (2010) The establishment of an integrated skills training centre for undergraduate nursing education. International Nursing Review 57 , 359–364 Aim: This paper details the experience of establishing an integrated skills training centre for use in undergraduate nursing education in The Open University of Hong Kong. Background: Skills training is an essential element in undergraduate nursing education. Owing to the increasing complexity of the health‐care system and patient health needs, undergraduate nursing students should be well prepared for integrated skills competency, critical thinking and rapid decision‐making. To achieve this goal, the use of simulation as a skills training tool is being recommended. Conclusion: The Clinical Nursing Education Centre is established. It adopts simulation as a teaching and learning tool. It has four specific education units, namely: (1) clinical simulation education unit, (2) virtual reality education unit, (3) nursing skills education unit, and (4) Chinese medicinal education unit. These units are specifically designed for the teaching and learning of nursing skills related to general, mental and Chinese medicinal nursing from elementary to advanced level. Experiences pertaining to the conceptualization, exploration and actualization phases of the establishment are presented. Details of the structure and specific functions of the centre are also illustrated. Finally, there is discussion on the challenges encountered during the establishment process and how they were overcome.     

Adsorption of bromide ions on bismuth single crystal planes from solutions in ethanol

The adsorption of Br^? ions on the (111), (001) and ($\text{01}\text{1}\text{?}$) planes of the bismuth single crystal from solutions in ethanol has been investigated by differential capacity and electrode charge measurement methods. The ionic charge due to the specific adsorption has been obtained using the mixed-electrolyte method for both electrode charge and electrode potential as the independent electrical variables. The Gibbs energy of adsorption of halide ions has been calculated using the simple virial adsorption isotherm. It was found that under comparable conditions the results obtained at constant electrode potential and at constant electrode charge are coincident and the adsorption of Br^? anions increases in the sequence of Bi single crystal planes (111)<(001)<($\text{01}\text{1}\text{?}$) and solvents methanol<ethanol<2-propanol. The electrosorption valency and the dipole moment of the dipole formed by an adsorbed halide ion and its image charge in the Bi plane have been calculated. It was found that on the Bi(111) plane, where the chemical bonds are all saturated, the electrosorption valency has a constant value, while on the more active planes it depends on electrode charge. It was concluded that the surface dipole formed is screened significantly by the solvent molecules and the metal electron gas. The surface dipole value diminishes when changing from negative to positive electrode charge and from the (111) plane to more active planes. The complicated dependence of the dipole value on the electrode charge at the Bi(111) plane was attributed to the change in solvent structure on the electrode surface.     

Adsorption of Cl− and Br− ions on the (001) plane of a bismuth single crystal from solutions in 2-propanol

The adsorption of Cl^? and Br^? ions on the (001) plane of a bismuth single crystal electrode from solutions in 2-propanol has been investigated using differential capacity measurements. The ionic charge due to the specific adsorption has been calculated by the Hurwitz-Parsons-Dutkiewicz method. The results have been analysed on the basis of the virial adsorption isotherm. It has been found that the adsorption parameters for the (001) plane and the polycrystalline electrode do not differ significantly.     

Calculation of thermodynamic and inner layer characteristics of halide ions adsorbed on bismuth single crystal planes from solutions in methanol

The values of the surface excess and the Gibbs energy of adsorption of halide ions on the (111), (001) and ($\text{01}\text{1}\text{?}$) Bi single crystal planes in methanolic solutions have been calculated from the previously obtained experimental data using electrode potential as the independent electrical variable. It was found that under comparable conditions the results obtained at constant electrode potential and at constant electrode charge are coincident. The electrosorption valency and the dipole moment of the dipole formed by an adsorbed halide ion and its image charge in the Bi plane have been calculated. It was found that on the Bi(111) plane, where the chemical bonds are all saturated, the electrosorption valency does not depend on electrode charge and in the measured range of potentials a weak dependence of the dipole value formed by an adsorbed halide ion and its image charge in Bi on the electrode charge was found. In contrast, on the more active Bi planes there is noticeable dependence of both characteristics on electrode charge and at higher positive charges, covalent bonding between Bi($\text{01}\text{1}\text{?}$) surface atoms and I^? anions is probable. It was concluded that the dipole formed is screened significantly by the solvent molecules and the metal electron gas.     

Amorphous form in pharmaceutical technological research

Detecting and analysing of the amorphous phase are increasingly important in pharmaceutical technology. The amorphous or glassy state has a several advantages and disadvantages. The amorphous form can be applied in deliberate amorphization, when active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is formulated in glassy state, or this form can appear accidentally during formulation or storage. The aim of this study was to characterize glass-forming properties of 13 different materials. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was used as an analytical technique and T(g) and T(m) values were determined. The equation of T(g)/T(m) (K/K) was applied to determine the glass-forming tendencies. We made 2 groups of investigated substances. The first group was that we could not amorphized: tenoxicam, mannitol, niflumic acid, theophyllin and lidocain. The second group contains materials, which could be prepared in glassy form. This group can be divided into 2 sub-groups: poor-glass formers and good-glass formers. Poor-glass formers are following: meloxicam, ibuprofen and piroxicam. Good-glass formers are lacidipine, gemfibrosil, sorbitol, loratadine, chlorhexidine and clopidogrel hydrogensulfate.