Maija Hentinen

Diabetic adolescents' compliance with health regimens and associated factors.

Fifty-one young diabetics responded to a questionnaire concerning compliance and were interviewed on two topics: the meaning of care to the subjects and the nature of their support system. Diabetes control was measured by glycosylated haemoglobin (GHB). Interview data were analysed by continuous comparative analyses. The categories obtained were quantified and the relationship between variables analysed by cross tabulation, chi-square test and discriminant analysis. Those who responded with a good compliance showed good control of diabetes as indicated by GHB values and reported sufficient energy and will-power to implement the health regimens. Those young people who reported that they had sufficient energy and will-power considered care important, received encouragement, felt that care brings well-being and had no fears of complications.

The health behaviour of Northern Finnish men in adolescence and adulthood

The aim of the study was to produce data about health behaviour among men born in Northern Finland in 1966. A particular concern was to find out how well health behaviour in adolescence predicts health behaviour in adulthood. The family questionnaire on health and development was submitted in 1980 when the subjects were 14 years of age. The response rate was 97%. The second questionnaire survey was carried out 10 years later with 2500 respondents. The final response rate was 60%. The results indicated that health behaviour in adolescence predicted health behaviour in adulthood as far as smoking and physical exercise were concerned. Over half (65%) of those who were non-smokers in their youth did not smoke as adults. Similarly the majority (71%) of those who had taken physical exercise at least once a week in their youth continued to do so in adulthood. Most of the subjects (85%) used alcohol in adulthood. A good family situation was connected with healthy habits. In the case of drinking, however, the subjects whose fathers belonged to social classes I-II used alcohol to a somewhat greater extent than others. It is important to conceive of health behaviour as an element connected with a persons life situation. Health research should be incorporated into cultural research and should have closer co-operation with other disciplines.

Primary nursing: opinions of nursing staff before and during implementation

The aim of this investigation was to consider the opinions of the nursing staff concerning the effects of primary nursing before and after the transition to this mode. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire which was answered by 62 registered nurses and practical nurses before the introduction of primary nursing and 58 such nurses five months after its introduction. The nursing staff reported both more favourable and detrimental effects during primary nursing than beforehand, the former including the improved opportunities for nurses to get to know their patients and to provide individual care, and the latter the increase in paperwork. The role of the primary nurse was mainly felt to be positive, but sometimes difficult and laborious.

Validation of the new Intensive Care Nursing Scoring System (ICNSS)

ObjectivesTo validate a new Intensive Care Nursing Scoring System (ICNSS).DesignRetrospective data collection.SettingAdult 19-bed intensive care unit (ICU) in a tertiary care university hospital.PatientsA total of 1,538 patient records of which 30 documents were included in the validation.Measurements and resultsData included admission scores of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) and the Simplified Acute Physiology Scores II (SAPS II), daily Therapeutic Intervention Scores (TISS) and ICNSS scores. Data were compared using Spearman’s correlation, t-test and chi-square test. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess the ability of ICNSS and TISS to predict mortality. Intra-class correlation, percentage agreement and kappa statistics were used to test the validity of given scores. Nursing workload assessment using ICNSS showed that medical and emergency-operated patients caused a greater nursing workload than electively operated patients (p<0.001). Six variables of the sub-scale that described vital function nursing accounted for 27.4% of the variation of SAPS II and for 37% of the variation of APACHE II. The ICNSS sub-scale of vital function nursing accounted for a ROC area of 0.91. In the validity of the given ICNSS scores, kappa was 0.81 and weighted kappa 0.82.ConclusionsNursing workload varied between the different admission types. ICNSS explained a similar percentage of the variation of the admission scores of APACHE II and SAPSS II as TISS and discriminated between non-survivors and survivors. ICNSS is a suitable nursing workload instrument to be used with the TISS score.

Nursing staff resources in direct patient care: comparison of TISS and ICNSS

Background:  The aim was to study the variation in the nursing workload and nursing staff resources in direct patient care.