BACKGROUND The advanced practice role of the Nurse Consultant is unique in its capacity to provide clinical leadership across a range of contexts. However, the Nurse Consultant role has been plagued with confusion due to lack of clarity over function and appropriateness for purpose within health organisations across contexts. Changing health service delivery models are driving the emergence of ...

Patients are more likely to develop psychological problems if their concerns are unresolved and their information needs unmet. However, many health professionals are uncertain how to elicit patients' concerns or tailor information appropriately. These difficulties may also lead to psychological problems for the health professional. Feeling inadequately trained in communication skills has been l...

The Medical Informatics Network Tool (MINT) is a software system that supports the management of care for chronic illness. It is designed to improve clinical information, facilitate teamwork, and allow management of health care quality. MINT includes a browser interface for entry and organization of data and preparation of real-time reports. It includes personal computer-based applications that...

As the evidence for oncology nursing practice expands exponentially, nurse clinicians, including oncology nurses, are faced with a growing demand to integrate evolving contemporary evidence into practice. Models such as the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Framework (University of Pennsylvania Health System [UPHS] Nursing Research Committee, 1999) (see Figure 1), as well as the Oncology Nursing So...

At times a clinician must describe the size of a lesion when measurement presents difficulties. A 'guestimate' may then be recorded. We tested the accuracy of forensic clinicians (10 physicians and 1 nurse) in guestimating the sizes of ten test objects, comparing their performance with 13 individuals from other professions. The participants were permitted to handle the objects but not to use a ...

A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual study using an 'interpretive descriptive approach' was undertaken in order to develop a practice-level model for the facilitation of mental health of patients diagnosed as having Borderline Personality Disorder by the community psychiatric nurse. The context of the study was the in the Psychiatric Community Services in the greater Johannesb...

In the United States, one-third of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients are also coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Of 228 coinfected patients whose charts were reviewed in our 2000 study, only 2 had received therapy with interferon. To address low rates of treatment, in 2001 we implemented a program to shift the primary responsibility for oversight of care for HCV-infecte...

ARACELIS D. FERNANDEZ, MD (bottom right), is a third-year fellow in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at The New York Hospital – Cornell University. She did her pediatric residency at The Children’s Hospital at Albany Medical Center. Emerging bacterial resistance patterns suggest that clinicians should use restraint in prescribing antibiotics for various infections. We used pharyngitis as the model...

INTRODUCTION Paediatric respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are common reasons for primary care consultations and antibiotic prescribing. Locally relevant syndromic and microbiological surveillance information has the potential to improve the care of children with RTIs by normalising illness (parents) and reducing uncertainty (clinicians). Currently, most RTI studies are conducted at the point ...

Clinicians who care for children with asthma have an obligation to coordinate asthma care with the schools. Aside from routine clinical care of asthmatic children, providers must educate the family and child about the need for an asthma treatment plan in school and support the school nurse meeting the needs of the student requiring school-based asthma care. The following article was developed b...