NSG 389 Annotated Bibliography Collection



O'Brien, M.E. (1990,June). The lady wore red. Senior Patient, 49-50.
Dr. O'Brien is the director of geriatric services at the Wilmington AHEC and at NHRMC. She tells a refreshing and personal story from her own practice. A story about wellness in the aging. It was about a new patient she was meeting for the first time. She was seventy-six years old. Dr. O'Brien describes her as looking twenty years younger than her stated age. She found herself ashamed for wanting to categorize her with " little old lady" types. There was something that made this lady remarkable. The elder patient arrived with perfect make-up, fashion jewerly and a RED sweater. The physician almost drilled her to get to the bottom of her youthful appearance. She found that she did a number of things that contributed to her youth. She still worked as a legal assistant, hardly ever went out in the sun, avoided alcohol and tobacco products. Most of all, she exercised daily. When the time came for the physical exam, the physician was shocked to see how the women had aged. When the lady was dressed for discharge, she looked young again. The doctor says she has learned something form this lady. Attitude and appearance are really important. She said that the next time she is about to write a prescription for an antidepressant, she might remember that the $50.00 for drugs might be better spent on a RED sweater.
Reviewer: Sheila Jensen, RN
October 30, 1996


Wilhide Tanner, E.K. (1991). Assessment of a Health-Promotive Lifestyle. Nursing Clinics of North America, 26(4), 845-854.
Health promotion is an imperative goal for our nation. One needs only to look at the major causes of morbidity and mortality to know that lifestyle factors are major contributors. Nurses are in a unique position that allows them to assist people in examining their lifestyle behaviors. The nursing role in health promotion centers around assessment of behaviors that promote, protect, and maintain health status. A health-promotion assessment should include the following components: nutrition, exercise and fitness, stress management, family planning, sexual history, tobacco abuse, alcohol and chemical substance abuse, exposure to environmental hazards and injury, as well as the psychological, spiritual, and social resources that enhance a person's ability to engage in behaviors that promote health. Information gained from assessment guide the nurse and client in making personal decisions for changing behavior and using inner resources to enhance the existing level of health and well-being.
Reviewer: Bill Mercer, RN
November 7, 1996


Bigbee, J.L., & Jansa, N. (1991). Strategies for Promoting Health Protection. Nursing Clinics of North America, 26(4), 895-913.
As stated in Heathy People 2000, one of the primary health goals for the nation is to achieve access to preventive services for all Americans. This article explores strategies for promoting health protection, which is used synonymously with prevention. A general background is provided followed by specific examples of health protection strategies at the individual, family, and community levels. At the individual level, the health protection involves two main activities: the implementation of risk-reduction behaviors and the alteration of threatening or limiting environmental and social conditions. Incorporating the family in any health protection strategy is essential for success because the family is the primary social structure for health promotion within society. The level of protection with community strategies must be carefully planned and well coordinated since the approach is usually population-based and involving many community-wide structures as possible. With each level, the nursing process used.
Reviewer: Bill Mercer, RN
November 7, 1996


Eells, M.A., (1991). Strategies for Promotion of Avoiding Harmful Substances. Nursing Clinics of North America, 26(4), 915-927.
Avoiding harmful substances and addictions to them and intervening later once an addiction is established are complex tasks. All the aspects of primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions can be used in a given family with addiction, for there may be late-stage, chronic addiction, early addiction that can be interrupted, and youngsters who are prone to addiction. Family patterns accompanying addiction may be intense and well established, more moderate, or in a formative stage. Harmful substances include alcohol and other mood-altering drugs, nicotine, and caffeine. Individuals may also become addicted to food, their work, and even other people. This article takes a comprehensive approach, traces the historic roots of addiction, notes what our nation is doing to overcome these diseases, and explains how addiction develops. The primary focus of this article is intervention and prevention strategies.
Reviewer: Bill Mercer, RN
November 7, 1996


Igoe, J.B., (1994). School Nursing. The Nursing Clinics of North America, 29(3), 443-457.
This article deals with the issues of school nursing. It gave a good history of why school nursing was started at the turn of the twentieth century. It identified Lillian Wald, founder of Henry Street Settlement House and a major contributor to the nursing profession as the driving force behind the idea of sending nurses to schools to assist students in following the doctors advice and for following up at home with the children to ensure return to school. Her efforts were so successful that school nursing was started. The role of the school nurse has seen many changes. It's growth parallels with the growing complexity of the healthcare, educational and social needs of the youth today. The school nurse role is still ill-defined somewhat due to health and education administrators differing views as to the role they should pay in the school system. The government in the early 1990's issued a statement called Healthy People 2000. In this were specific objectives related to school health. The author points out that a few school systems in our country have shifted to support an integrated service approach joining nursing in an interdisciplinary team rather that binding them to the old boundaries of containment. This shift in the way the role of school nurse is viewed is necessary in order to meet the needs of school age children who are the health consumers of the future. This change as any change will be difficult but necessary to ensure a better educated healthier generation. The school nurse will and should play a major role in the shift from outdated nursing functions to the clinical preventive services of the future. The author ended the article with a quote from Niccolo' Machiavelli, which not only relates to this article by also to the changing of our entire health care environment. "It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely the lukewarm defenders of those who would gain by the new one."
Reviewer: Sherri Hayes, RN
November 9, 1996


McClanahan, P.,(1992). Improving Access to and use of Prenatal Care. Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing, 21(4), 280-283.
This article identified inadequate prenatal care as one of the most prevalent problems in obstetrics. Prenatal care should begin in the first trimester but it was identified that most prenatal care was not started until the third trimester if then. The author identified numerous factors that relate to inadequate prenatal care but put them into three main categories. These are sociodemographic, system related and attitude related. Each area was exported and ideas to alter these barriers were identified. The main idea was more access to care for the low income and rural women. The author encouraged nurses to change their attitudes regarding the care of the poor. Push for legislation to provide funds for more education and rural clinics. The use of nurse practitioners, OB nurses, and social workers as primary health providers in a collaborative practice with physicians. This article was published in 1992. Since that time nursing has accomplished some of the ideas set forth in this article. As the author said nurses have a lot of expertise and can work well with the MD in collaborative practice. With health care reform, we are seeing more support of nurse practitioners, government looking at third party reimbursements, and nursing is finally coming to a point that their knowledge will well serve our new health care system. Health promotion, disease prevention and ability to access a care delivery system gives nurses their opportunity to spread their wings and fly.
Reviewer: Sherri Hayes, RN
November 9, 1996


Covington, C. & Collins, J.E. (1994). Back to the future of women's health and perinatal nursing in the 21st century. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, 23(2), 183-192.
This article looked at the trends in women's health and perinatal nursing development by taking the reader from its inception to a look at the future. Florence Nightingale said, "in seeking to prevent disasters in the future, it is wise to be guided by as many as possible lessons of the past." The article looked at nursing's influence on maternal-infant care from the 1900's to the present. It stressed the high maternal-infant mortality and nursing's driving force behind public and government awareness of women's health and perinatal nursing practice. The authors highlighted nursing's future by looking at societies influences to promote the essence of professional practice. These influences will guide our educational processes and research. The most important influence will be nurses' ability to rid themselves of the walls in which they practice, let go of the old ways. Nursing research will provide the groundwork for change. We as nurses need to rally together in order to boost our profession to new heights. This can be done by putting society's need and ethics up front.
Reviewer: Sherri Hayes, RN
November 9, 1996


Doolittle, N., & Sauve M. (1995). Impact of aborted sudden cardiac death on survivors and their spouses: The phenomenon of different reference points. American Journal of Critical Care, 4(5), 389-396.
This article makes the reader aware that in the past the spouse of the cardiac victim has not been fully aided and considered in the recovery of the patient, whereas his/her outlook and views of the situation have a lot to do with the victims recovery. This article tells of a survey that was performed including the victim and the spouse and how they both reacted to the situation of cardiac arrest. The victim talked more about himself prior to the arrest, while the spouse talked more about the actual arrest. The spouse became more protective and in most cases was afraid to leave the victim alone, afraid to let the victim do certain activities, and afraid to participate in social events in fear of victim having another attack. This isolation resulted in additional problems and delays in recovery. This study made the surveyors aware that in the future to prevent additional problems or delays in recovery, this population should be encouraged to express their questions, concerns, and fears early. Nurses and physicians need to encourage open expression of concerns to avoid impaired communication and conflicts.
Reviewer: Donna B. Kinlaw, RN
October 1996


Brown Morrison, B. (1995). Home Health care staying safe in dangerous times. Nursing ’95, 25(10), 48-51.
This article dealt with safety for the home health care provider. It brought out how naïvely we assume everyone is cooperative in the community when they need home health care. It gave valid suggestions of how to stay safe then used interesting examples to demonstrate these points. I found it eye opening and informative especially since I’ve recently left the “comfort of the hospital setting” to go into home health nursing. I’d recommend this article to be read for discussins about potential dangers in home health nursing and how to handle them.
Reviewer: Brenda C. Lange, RN, C
October 10, 1996


Hall, J. (1995). Simply supporting Sarah. Nursing ’95, 25(09), 48-53.
This article is about and Amish family dealing with modern medicine. The article recounted the stay of an Amish teenager on an oncology unit (it was court ordered admission). The article is a Nursing Grand Rounds formate this gives the insight of several professional. Throughout the article it is brought out how the nurses put the client first providing respect, advocacy, simplicity in care, the use of creativity in giving quality care. Ideally the client would have had home health care or hospice involved but not for this Amish family. This made for the need of creativity on the part of the nurses. I found this article to be informative on presenting a positive approach to dealing with religious differences that shun modern medicine. This information is useful no matter the clinical setting.
Reviewer: Brenda C. Lange, RN, C
October 18, 1996


Weiler, K. & Buckwalter, K. (1992). Abuse among rural mentally ill. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 30(9), 32-36.
This research article addresses the plight of the elderly mentally ill in rural areas. This segment of the population is not routinely served by the traditional health-care delivery system and are home-bound with limited personal or community support services. The statistics are enlightening: the most frequent abuser of clients in the study were the individual clients themselves (49%); for married clients, 22% were abused by their spouses. Other likely abusers were children (15%), grandchildren (4%), and caregivers (3%). Three tables outlined demographic characteristics, types and frequency of abuse, and perpetrators of abuse and their relationships to the victims. Throughout the article emphasis is placed on the role of nurses and how they can intervene in four primary areas: personally, with the elderly victims, with their caregiver and family members, and with society at large. As mandatory reporters, all nurses who treat, counsel, examine, or attend dependent adults must observe the physical status and interpersonal relationships of their clients and significant others to identify potential conflict or injury. I thought this was a very good article, and it addresses a problem very few people are willing to face. The statistical tables were excellent.
Reviewer: Susan Odom, RN,C,CD
October 24, 1996


Ferris, M. (1992). Nursing Interventions for Families of Nursing-Home Residents. Geriatric Nursing, 13(1), 37-38.
Admission to a nursing home is a traumatic event for the patient as well as the family. There is often a lot of guilt associated with putting a family member in a home and because the staff is more directly involved with the patient, the family often does not receive any attention. Ideally, it is the community's responsibility to assist the family. Grom a theoretical view, it's the social worker's responsibility. However, in practice, it's the nurses and the nurses assistants that end up with the majority of the responsibility. As a result, nursing home staff members should be aware of families and be able to recognize when help is needed. This article described three stereotypical families: 1) White Knight, 2) Staffers, and 3) Retreaters. The White Knights are very critical of the care and constantly find something to complain about. The staffers act like employees and provide direct patient care which is sometimes appropriate and sometimes inappropriate. Finally, the retreaters steadily decrease their visits, but tend to "check-in" on a regular basis. They may be feeling guilty about placing their loved one in a nursing home. Each type of family needs attention to help them cope with what they feel is a crisis situation. Nurses can help them by being empathetic, asking the family questions about the patient's personal habits and quirks, introducing families to other families, informing them of planned social events, and always following up on their concerns. By being more aware of and receptive to the families, we can help their adjustment to go as smoothly as possible. This article brings up an important issue that is often overlooked, the importance of the whole family unit--not just the patient. If all nurses would practice the above mentioned interventions, there would probably be a lot more happier families and the patient would benefit in the end.
Reviewer: Lisa Aiken, RN
November 1996


McLeod, E. & Schwartz, F. (1992). Working Together: Collaboration among health-care workers and families in long-term care. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 18(8), 26-29.
All healthcare workers need to work with families as well as patients while planning care. This is especially important in the long-term care setting. Family members have often been the primary caregivers of a patient long before institutionalization occurs and therefore, it makes sense that they would be helpful in planning care for their family member once he/she is placed into a long-term care facility. A problem arises from the different priorities of the family and the healthcare workers. The family's priority is "protective care," protecting the individual from the knowledge that they require care. This also helps to maintain the elder's identity and his/her relationship with the family. Healthcare workers consider "preventative and instrumental" caregiving as the priority. This has to do with altering the physical environment to increase safety and doing for the providing for and assisting the patient. Resulting from this conflict, the staff will struggle to have their priorities accepted as the right ones. This often results in a lack of adequate understanding of the family caregiver and poses a threat to effective intervention. Ideally, staff and family will work together to plan care for the patient resulting in more competent and effective patent care and a better relationship between the staff members and the family members. Nurses need to realize that family care is necessary to provide effective patient care. Families are the best way to learn about patients, and what type of care works with each individual patient. Nurses and families should accept and learn from each other. this type of relationship will yield the best results for the patient in the long run.
Reviewer: Lisa Aiken, RN
November 1996


Last updated November 10, 1996