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Notes: Adults’ recollections of their experiences as young caregivers of family members with chronic physical illnesses Aims of the study.  The aims of this study were to describe the number, kind, and intensity of caregiving activities performed by individuals who assumed caregiving responsibilities, as youngsters, for adults with chronic physical illnesses; to explore the meaning and effects of the caregiving experience on those individuals; and to examine positive and negative effects of caregiving then and now. Background/Rationale.  Family mobility, demographic changes, and health care system changes in the United States of America (USA) have contributed to an increasing number of youngsters under the age of 18 caring for adults with chronic physical illnesses in the home. The effects of such caregiving on youngsters and the long-term effects on them as adults require study. Design/Methods.  This descriptive, retrospective study had a convenience sample of 51 adults (age range 19–68 years now, 3–19 years then) who cared for their family members diagnosed with cancer, stroke, cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, respiratory disease, diabetes, or arthritis. Demographic data and caregiving data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The semistructured interview data were analysed using content analysis. Results/Findings.  Of the caregiving care tasks most frequently performed, personal care was most difficult and household tasks were most time consuming. Family life, school, and time with friends were areas most likely to be affected by caregiving. Most subjects indicated they would permit their own children to assist with care as long as the youngster was not the sole caregiver. Youngsters need to be informed about the illness and caregiving tasks, have adequate support systems, and have some time to ‘still be a child’. Conclusions.  Professional caregivers should raise questions in their practice regarding involvement in caregiving by both adults and youngsters. If youngsters participate in caregiving in the home, they need to receive adequate information regarding care and the illness trajectory. Family-related research including the long-term effects of such experiences on the youngsters and their families is recommended.

Notes: Triage nurses’ clinical decision making. An observational study of urgency assessment Background. Researchers have described both the various decision tasks performed by triage nurses using self-report methods and identified time as a factor influencing the quality of triage decisions. However, little is known about the decision tasks performed by triage nurses when making acuity assessments, or the factors influencing triage duration in the real world. Aims. The aims of this study were to: describe the data triage nurses collect from patients in order to allocate a triage priority using the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS); describe the duration of nurses’ decision making for ATS categories 2–5; and to explore the impact of patient and nurse variables on the duration of the triage nurses’ decision making in the clinical setting. Design. A structured observational study was employed to address the research aims. Observational data was collected in one adult emergency department located in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. A total of 26 triage nurses consented and were observed performing 404 occasions of triage. Data was collected by a single observer using a 20-item instrument that recorded the performance frequencies of a range of decision tasks and a number of observable patient, nurse and environmental variables. Additionally, the nurse–patient interaction was recorded as time in minutes. Results. It was found that there was limited use of objective physiological data collected by the nurses’ in order to decide patient acuity, and large variability in the duration of triage decisions observed. In addition, analysis of variance indicated strong evidence of a true difference between triage duration and a range of nurse, patient and environmental variables. Conclusion. These findings have implications for the development of practice standards and triage education. In particular, it is argued that practice standards should include routine measurement of physiological parameters in all but the collapsed or obviously unwell patient, where further delay may impede the delivery oftime-critical intervention. Furthermore, the inclusion of arbitrary time frames for triage assessment in practice standards are not an appropriate method of evaluating triage decision making in the real world.