BakgrundHemförlossningar är fortfarande vanligt förekommande internationellt och ofta enda alternativet för många kvinnor i låginkomstländer. Nederländerna är ett av få industrialiserade länder där planerade hemförlossningar fortfarande är norm för friska, gravida kvinnor. Forskning har visat att det är lika säkert för kvinnor med lågriskgraviditeter i Nederländerna att föda hemma som att föda på sjukhus. I dag är hemförlossningar i Sverige inte ett alternativ inom det officiella hälso- och sjukvårdssystemet. Om svenska kvinnor erbjuds fritt att välja var de skulle kunna tänkas föda, skulle hemförlossningarna vara 10 gånger fler. Kvinnor som väljer att föda hemma har en inställning till födandet som en naturlig process och att den kvinnliga kroppen har skapats för att kunna föda.SyfteSyftet med denna studie är att beskriva hur kvinnor hanterar värkarbetet vid en planerad förlossning i hemmet.MetodEn kvalitativ innehållsanalys av 118 slumpmässigt utvalda enkätsvar. Studien grundar sig på svaren på en öppen fråga, ur ett frågeformulär, riktad till kvinnor som fött eller planerade att föda i hemmet.ResultatI kvinnornas beskrivning av sin hemförlossning identifierades fyra huvudkategorier som beskriver hur kvinnorna hanterar värkarbetet vid planerad hemförlossning; Att vara kvar i vardagen och utföra vardagssysslor, genom fysisk och mental aktivitet, naturlig smärtlindring samt genom omgivande stöd. SlutsatsSlutsatsen är att kvinnorna stannar kvar i vardagen samtidigt som det sker ett mirakel och detta underlättar hanteringen av värkarbetet. Det finns ingen skiljelinje mellan graviditet och förlossning som det annars gör när kvinnorna föder på sjukhus.

This qualitative study describes the experience of eight men with fibromyalgia (FM). Data from repeated semi-structured interviews was analysed using the constant comparative method, in order to generate a grounded theory. The specific aims were to explore how individuals perceived and made sense of their condition, and to discover the impact of FM upon their sense of identity and intimate relationships. Two core categories emerged from data analysis - loss and limited understanding. Losses pertained to the men's capabilities and activities; role and identity; work; and relationships. Limited understanding was described in relation to three levels of experience: limited understanding by the individual sufferer; by other people; and by health care professionals. Various intervening and contextual variables were identified for each phenomenon. Analysis suggested that loss is more likely to be pronounced where pain is severe and constant; the degree of incapacity is high; and there is a complete cessation of work. Intervening conditions likely to reduce the sense of loss included role expectations consistent with capabilities; absence of young dependants; a flexible work environment; living with a partner; favourable social comparisons; high self-efficacy and accepting attitude towards illness. Limited understanding was likely to be more pronounced where the individual perceived no rational link between the triggering event and symptoms of FM, and where new difficulties were encountered. The individual was more likely to perceive that others misunderstood their situation if they were not using a mobility aid themselves. Individuals were more likely to perceive limited understanding by the medical profession where the GP had not been especially supportive, and where contact with the specialist was unsatisfactory. Limited understanding was exacerbated by intervening variables including lack of contact with other FM sufferers and a treatment history focusing on 'fixing' the problem. Men with FM struggled to find meaning in their experience. Some individuals were able to locate possible causes, but all the men were unable to fully understand their condition. The analysis suggested that the experience of FM varies for different men. The study reveals that FM is a complex experience characterised by loss, which sufferers and health care professionals struggle to understand. Implications for health care practice and further research are discussed. This study will help FM sufferers understand their condition more fully. Moreover, it should enrich the understanding of health care professionals - thereby facilitating encounters characterised by greater support and empathy for men with FM.

published_or_final_version / Medicine / Master / Doctor of Medicine

Background: Opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD) is a life-threatening complication of opioid analgesia. Failure to recognize and respond to OIRD may result in respiratory arrest, anoxic brain injury, and death. Measuring end-tidal carbon dioxide through the use of capnography has been shown to detect early signs of OIRD. Early detection of OIRD facilitates the timely rescue of patients on medical-surgical units where critical patient events are less likely to be witnessed. Purpose: The goal of this quality improvement project was to enhance patient safety by decreasing the incidence of OIRD. The aim was to design, implement, and evaluate a multifaceted intervention to improve patient monitoring for OIRD on medical-surgical units through the use of capnography. The intervention included an updated nursing protocol, an electronic order trigger, improved access to capnography monitors, and education to nurses about OIRD and the use of capnography. Methods: The project was conducted over twelve months on ten medical-surgical units at a 489-bed academic medical center in Southern Arizona. Outcomes were measured using pre- and post-intervention point prevalence surveys. Indicators included the number of patients being monitored with capnography and the number of cases of OIRD. A survey of medical-surgical RNs was also conducted to gather their perceptions on the ease of use and effectiveness of capnography. Results: Twelve months after introducing the intervention, there was a statistically significant increase in monitoring frequency, with 2.56 times more patients at high risk for OIRD being monitored with capnography than at baseline (p = .006). Of the 167 RNs surveyed during this project, 99% perceived the portable capnography monitors as easy to use and interpret. However, 71% reported systems issues in obtaining the monitoring equipment, and 65% reported problems with patient adherence. Preliminary data suggest that the incidence of OIRD decreased after one year, although not by a statistically significant amount (p = .876). Implications for Practice: The intervention succeeded in increasing the number of high-risk patients being monitored with capnography, though the increased monitoring did not improve patient outcomes. The RN survey highlighted areas in need of further improvement, such as the supply of monitors and patient education.

No description available.

A persistent difficulty in the field of psychology is identifying which individuals are at the greatest risk for suicide. Veterans of the US Military are at elevated risk for suicide as compared to the general population. One approach for designating tiers of risk is applying the “Suicide Index Score” to discriminate individuals based upon their reported wish to live (WTL) and wish to die (WTD; Kovacs & Beck, 1977). Brown, Steer, Henriques, and Beck (2005) demonstrated those who indicated a complete WTD and no WTL were at greatest risk to die. The current study expanded on previous research by using this approach with a highly elevated at-risk population of suicidal veterans. Participants for this study included 93 suicidal veterans hospitalized at the Robley Rex Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The WTL and WTD items from the Scale for Suicidal Ideation-Current were used to create two quasi-independent groups: WTL/Ambivalent and WTD. The following outcome measures were included as dependent variables: Acquired Capability for Suicide Scale, Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire, Outcome Questionnaire-45.2, Suicide Attempt and Self-Injury Count, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Drug Abuse Screening Test, and the Stages of Change Questionnaire, as well as the Suicidal Ideation, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Insomnia items on the Common Data Elements. T-tests were used to examine patient characteristics for continuous outcomes and chi-square analyses were used for nominal outcomes; however, no group differences were found. T-tests were then used to measure between-group differences on the dependent variables. Individuals classified in the WTD group reported significantly higher levels of thwarted belongingness t(91) = 2.89, p = .00, acquired capability t(91) = 2.64, p = .01, suicidal ideation, t(91) = 3.51, p < .001, and posttraumatic stress t(91) = 2.53, p = .01. Furthermore, a negative binomial regression was used for count outcomes and results revealed that those in the WTD group also reported significantly greater accounts of suicide attempts (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 2.08; standard error [SE] = 0.63; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14-3.77; p = .02) and non-suicidal self-injury (IRR = 3.49; SE = 0.69; 95% CI 2.36-5.16; p < .001).

This thesis describes applications of mathematical modelling to systems of demand analgesia for the relief of acute postoperative pain. It builds upon work described in the D.Phil. thesis of M.P. Reasbeck. Following major surgery, patients are given a hand-held button which they press when in need of pain relief. The relief is afforded by automatic intravenous infusion of opiates. New clinical demand analgesia hardware, PRODAC, has been developed and data have been collected with it in two major trials involving a total of 80 patients. Patients' drug requirements have been found not to be correlated with body weight, contrary to conventional teaching. The type of operation was also found to have no significant influence upon drug requirements. The performance of transcutaneous nerve stimulation (TNS) as a method of analgesia for acute postoperative pain has been studied and found to be poor. Reasbeck's mathematical model of patients in pain has been corrected and extended. The representation of pharmacokinetics has been enhanced by modelling the transfer of drug between blood plasma and analgesic receptor sites as a first-order process. The time constant of this process has been calculated for morphine using a novel method and found to be 12 minutes. On line estimation of 2nd order pharmacokinetic time constants has been found in simulation not to be feasible. New software has been used to tune the revised model to the clinical data collected with PRODAC. Model behaviour is now demonstrably life-like, which was not previously the case. Blood samples taken during demand analgesia have permitted a comparison between measured and estimated drug concentrations, with good results.

The present study examined the nature of and relationship between attributions, just world beliefs (JWB) and adjustment in a sample of 62 community pain sufferers. This was exploratory because it accounted for shortcomings of these concepts, meaning they have not been investigated like this in pain. Specifically, it accounted for the scarcity of research distinguishing between cause, responsibility and blame; allowing the self-definition of responsibility, blame and adjustment; examining changes in attributions and adjustment, and considering just world beliefs. The importance of investigating these issues in pain was detailed. The research was conducted in two phases. The first, brief phase piloted a measure to account for these shortcomings. The second phase used the piloted measure to investigate the shortcomings in a series of five aims. Descriptive analyses indicated that most participants made causal attributions for their pain, with around half attributing responsibility and blame. Although similar in the types of attributions made, cause was distinguished from responsibility and blame, which were indistinguishable from each other. Attributions did not change. Additionally, JWB were weakly correlated with pain intensity, and analyses of variance techniques found JWB to interact with pain duration, such that those with 1 month-2.5 years' duration had stronger JWB than those in the 3-9 years' duration. JWB did not interact with attributions or adjustment, but chi-square analyses found attributions interacted with adjustment, such that attributions to the self were adaptive, while attributions to others resulted in poor adjustment to pain. Stepwise multiple regression analyses suggested that these latter attributions predicted pain intensity, as did pain treatments. Additionally, individual differences in attributions, adjustment and pain intensity emerged in chi-square analyses, although none were found on JWB. Full interpretations were made of these findings, and their implications for future research discussed.

Bibliographische Beschreibung: Sontowski, Thomas Analyse der intra- und postoperativen Schmerztherapie bei Kindern mit leichten bis mittelstarken postoperativen Schmerzen an der Universität Leipzig im Zeitraum von 2005 bis 2007 Universität Leipzig, Dissertation 106 Seiten, 120 Literaturangaben, 10 Abb., 41 Tab., 9 Anlagen Kurzreferat: In der vorliegenden Arbeit erfolgte die Analyse der intra- und postoperativen Schmerztherapie sowie die nachfolgende Schmerzsituation im Aufwachraum des Fachbereichs Kinderanästhesiologie der Klinik und Poliklinik für Anästhesiologie und Intensivtherapie an der Universität Leipzig bei Operationen mit leichten bis mittelstarken postoperativ zu erwartenden Schmerzen. Ziel war es, einen Beitrag zur Weiterentwicklung des internen Qualitätsmanagements in der Kinderschmerztherapie zu erarbeiten, da externe Studien zeigten, dass dies oftmals erhebliche Mängel aufweist, und nicht die Standard- und Qualitätskriterien erfüllt, wie sie bei Erwachsenen vorhanden sind. Insgesamt wurden 420 kinderchirurgische Patienten im Zeitraum von Juni 2005 bis Juli 2007 ausgewertet, wobei sich die Untersuchung in einen prospektiven und in einen retrospektiven Teil untergliederte. Es zeigte sich, dass intraoperativ ein Großteil der Kinder (89,3%) ein Opioid erhielt (am häufigsten Alfentanil) und ebenso ein hoher Anteil der Kinder intraoperativ ein Nichtopioid erhielt (am häufigsten Metamizol (94%)). Techniken der Regionalanästhesie fanden innerhalb des Untersuchungszeitraumes selten Anwendung (2,9%). Die intraoperative Standardschmerztherapie, welche die Kombination eines Opioids mit einem Nichtopioid im Sinne einer multimodalen Analgesie vorsah, wurde in 66,4% der Fälle durchgeführt. Postoperativ erhielt ein Großteil der kinderchirurgischen Patienten (75,0%) eine medikamentöse Schmerztherapie. 71,0% der Kinder bekamen nach der Operation ein Opioid verabreicht. Der klinikeigene postoperative Schmerztherapiestandard, der eine zeitnahe gewichtsadaptierte intravenöse Gabe von Piritramid im Sinne einer präventiven Analgesie vorsah, wurde bei 66,9% der behandelten Kinder angewandt. Weiterhin wurden verschiedene Gruppenvergleiche vorgenommen (ambulant vs. stationär, leichte vs. mittelstark zu erwartende postoperative Schmerzen und pro- vs. retrospektiv). So bekamen stationär aufgenommene Kinder im Vergleich zu ambulanten Patienten intraoperativ signifikant häufiger Opioide und größere Mengen an Alfentanil appliziert. Im Aufwachraum erhielten die stationären Patienten signifikant häufiger eine Schmerztherapie, die Standardschmerztherapie sowie höhere Dosen an Piritramid. Bei Operationen mit mittelstarken zu erwartenden Schmerzen im Vergleich zu Eingriffen mit leichter Schmerzintensität erfolgte intraoperativ signifikant häufiger die Verabreichung von Opioiden und postoperativ eine signifikant häufigere Applikation der Standardschmerztherapie sowie höhere Dosen von Piritramid. Die prospektive Gruppe erhielt während der Operation signifikant häufiger die Standardschmerztherapie im Vergleich zur retrospektiven Patientengruppe. Analog erfolgte postoperativ signifikant häufiger die Applikation der Standardschmerztherapie sowie höhere Dosen an Piritramid. Erstmalig wurde im prospektiven Teil dieser Studie die Schmerzsituation im Aufwachraum mittels eines speziell entwickelten Schmerzerfassungsbogen untersucht. Die Schmerzerfassung erfolgte hierbei mithilfe der Kindlichen Unbehagen- und Schmerzskala (KUSS) nach Büttner, der Smiley-Analog-Skala sowie der Schulnotenskala, wobei die Beurteilung präoperativ, direkt bei Ankunft im Aufwachraum sowie nach ein und zwei Stunden postoperativ stattfand. Ein zentrales Untersuchungsergebnis dieser Studie zeigt, dass für durchschnittlich 84,8% der Kinder die Schmerzsituation während des Aufenthaltes im Aufwachraum ausreichend gut war. Ein Vergleich zwischen Patienten mit ausreichender und noch verbesserungswürdiger Schmerztherapie - vorgenommen innerhalb der prospektiven Studiengruppe - zeigte, dass die intraoperative Verabreichung von Opioid- und Nichtopioidanalgetika den Zufriedenheitsgrad in der Schmerzsituation tendentiell optimierte bzw. bei der Durchführung der intraoperativen Standardschmerztherapie das Schmerzoutcome signifikant verbesserte. Weiterhin war die Schmerzsituation bei Patienten im Aufwachraum, denen Piritramid nach postoperativem Schmerztherapiestandard verabreicht wurde, signifikant besser. Anhand dieser Arbeit wird die Bedeutung der Anwendung einer multimodalen Analgesie und präventiven Schmerztherapie sowie der hohe Stellenwert der Einführung bzw. Realisierung von Therapie- und Überwachungsstandards, Schmerzerfassung und -dokumentation für eine qualitativ ausreichende, gute intra- und postoperative Schmerztherapie bei Kindern deutlich.

Introdução: A dor é o principal motivo de procura ao atendimento médico. Organizações internacionais de saúde indicam o alívio da dor como um direito humano básico. A literatura indica subutilização de opioides devido ao conhecimento insuficiente, o receio quanto ao potencial de adição, efeitos adversos e mitos persistentes sobre estes analgésicos por parte dos profissionais de saúde. Objetivo: Avaliar grau de conhecimento de profissionais de saúde no manejo da dor e no uso de opioides em três unidades pediátricas (Pediatria, UTI e Oncologia). Metodologia: Estudo transversal realizado em um hospital universitário do Sul do Brasil. Um questionário autoaplicável foi entregue para 182 profissionais (médicos, enfermeiros, farmacêuticos, técnicos e auxiliares de enfermagem), entre dezembro de 2011 e março de 2012. Resultados: A taxa de retorno foi de 67% (122). O percentual médio de acertos foi de 63,2 ± 1,4%. Os erros mais frequentes foram: um opioide não deve ser utilizado sem se saber a causa da dor (47%; 54/115); pacientes desenvolvem depressão respiratória frequentemente (42,3%; 22/52) e confusão entre os sintomas da síndrome de abstinência, tolerância e dependência (81,9%; 95/116). Apenas 8,8% (10/114) relataram o uso de escalas de dor para reconhecer a dor em crianças. A barreira para o controle da dor mais citada foi a dificuldade de medir e localizar a dor em pacientes pediátricos. Finalmente, 50,8% (62/122) não receberam nenhum treinamento sobre dor. Conclusões: Foram identificados problemas nos processos de identificação, mensuração e tratamento da dor. Os resultados sugerem a necessidade de investimento na formação continuada dos profissionais e no desenvolvimento de protocolos que busquem aperfeiçoar a terapia analgésica, impedindo um aumento desnecessário do sofrimento da criança. / Introduction: Pain is the main reason to seek medical care. Health international organizations indicate pain relief as a basic human right. The literature indicates underuse of opioids due to insufficient knowledge, fears about the potential for addiction, side effects and persistent myths about these analgesics by health professionals. Objective: To assess degree of knowledge and attitudes of health professionals about management of pain in three pediatric units (Pediatric, ICU and Oncology). Methods: Cross-sectional study in a teaching hospital in southern Brazil. A self-administered questionnaire was delivered to 182 professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians and nursing assistants), between December 2011 and March 2012. Results: The rate of return was 67% (122). The average percentage of correct responses was 63.2 ± 1.4%. The most frequent errors were: an opioid should not be used without knowing the cause of pain (47%, 54/115); patients often develop respiratory depression (42.3%, 22/52); and confusion between symptoms of the syndrome withdrawal, tolerance and dependence (81.9%, 95/116). Only 8.8% (10/114) reported using pain scales to recognize pain in children. The barrier to pain control most cited was the difficulty to measure and locate the pain in pediatric patients. Finally, 50.8% (62/122) received no training on pain. Conclusions: The study identified problems in the process of recognizing, measuring and treating pain. The results suggest the need for investment in training to health care team and development of protocols that seek to optimize analgesic therapy, preventing an unnecessary increase the suffering of the child.