Peter Griffiths

..To evaluate the outcome and cost of transfer to a nursing-led inpatient unit for 'intermediate care'. The unit was designed to replace a period of care in acute hospital wards and promote recovery before discharge to the community...

..Reduced skill mix may be a causal factor leading to extended stays and increased total care costs. This caution should be extended to other models of intermediate care, whether or not they are nursing-led...

..This paper presents the findings of a scoping review of 'learning disability nursing research'. The review aimed to determine whether there is a research base sufficient to support learning disability nursing practice...

..In order to determine whether post-acute intermediate care in nursing-led inpatient units (NLUs) is effective in preparing patients for discharge from hospital we conducted a systematic review of the evidence...

..The review illustrates that evidence for practice can be found rapidly with access to limited facilities by an appropriately skilled practitioner...

..There is evidence to support the use of cranberry to prevent UTI in some populations but none to support its use as a treatment...

..However, a recent review of the topic (Griffiths et al, 2005) revealed the complexity of the topic and the pitfalls of a simplistic approach to self-assessment, which those engaged in developing the process should bear in mind...

..However, the core features of the units that provided the evidence must be considered in order to maximize the potential for delivering quality care...

..Despite considerable literature identifying large numbers of post-acute patients in acute medical wards, their needs have not been clearly described. Such information is required to plan alternative services...

..This is the ground upon which fruitful argument can be had about the significance of evidence without undermining the requirement that there be evidence and standards to judge such evidence...

..They cannot always be eliminated or avoided completely, but appropriate assessment will enable targeted action to protect patients...

..In many UK general practices, nurses have been used to deliver results against the indicators of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), a 'pay for performance' scheme...

..Reduction in the staffing levels on the NLIU and a change in patient population may well explain the findings...

..The aim of this study was to examine whether practice nurse staffing level is similarly associated with non-elective hospital admissions in three clinical areas: asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and diabetes...

..More emphasis should be placed on 'evidence-based' resources, such as the Cochrane library, as sources of information for practice...

..Many widely used approaches for reliability assessment can fail to consider the agreement between measures at all and can give an entirely misleading impression of an instrument's suitability for use in research or practice...

..The changes in the context of service provision within which the nursing-led inpatient unit operated as a result of substantial investment in intermediate care did have a major impact...

..To explore the interrelationship between a number of common multiple sclerosis-related problems and health-related quality of life independent of the effect of physical disease impact...

..Specialist nurses are being promoted as a means of improving the health care provided to people with multiple sclerosis (MS)...

..While SCPHNs understood some aspects of South Asian culture, service improvements must be made to ensure better care provision...

..This Policy+ article refers to systematically reviewed, international evidence in considering the implications for UK nursing of the inclusion of a second-level qualified nurse in the skill mix of the nursing workforce...

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..The PSS has already been translated into several languages, but there is no validated Japanese version...

..However, the existence of reservoirs of colonization in the community now creates ambiguity about sources, which may undermine preventative strategies...

..Lessons are drawn from the implementation of The Productive Ward: Releasing Time to Care programme in English hospitals...

..To provide an overview of current research and development on the organization and delivery of diabetes education and self-care support, incorporating stakeholder perspectives...

..Factor analysis revealed that the PSS and PSSJ showed an almost identical factor structure. Therefore, the equivalence between the PSS and PSSJ and the validity for each scale was underpinned...

..New pre- and post-registration nursing competencies are being developed, yet there is much debate about how to define and assess competence. This article outlines some of the features of the current debate...

..To develop an early career job satisfaction instrument that is valid and reliable across the four UK nursing branches...

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..A Japanese version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was developed through the forward-backward translation procedure...

..The trials demonstrated that statins had a clear and consistent effect in significantly reducing the risk of MI. Overall an approximate decline of 30% in MI was produced from the three trials...

..However, previous surveys suggest that this is not necessarily the case. Therefore, we designed a controlled study to generate evidence in support of these findings...

..To explore the relationship between young people's use of psychoactive substances, perceived functions for using, the experience of negative effects, and the influences of these variables on their intention to use substances again...

..The utility of this method and how the results should be interpreted is discussed, as are the data's implications for harm and risk reduction activities...

..Effective transition to adult services is required by an increasing number of children with ongoing needs...

..Results are discussed in terms of experiential factors and consistency theories of attitude formation and change...

..Healthcare professionals who use such approaches need to know their relative utility and benefits to inform clinical decisions, so as to ensure that best practice is observed...

..Discharge from critical care to a general care unit is a difficult period, and more effective information is needed to support patients and their families at this time...

..Multiple sclerosis is a chronic neurological condition demanding a broad range of interventions and support. Multiple sclerosis nurse specialists are emerging as a leading force in providing care to this group of patients...

..To explore why innovations in service and delivery are adopted and how they are then successfully implemented and eventually assimilated into routine nursing practice...

..Community nurses are in an ideal position to be instrumental in identifying such vulnerable patients and ensuring that appropriate interventions are available...

..The results are not the same in each case, particularly with regard to length of stay, and the authors discuss the possible reasons for this. Further work is needed to develop NLIUs and identify cost savings...

..The intervention is described in detail and the chosen research methods are discussed...

..In this article, the evidence is examined to establish what is known and, crucially, what is not known about this relationship...

..The possibilities of the model in assisting in the measurement of social capital specifically in assessing formal networks are explored...

..Specific aims ascertained: regional variation in retention of locally trained nurses; associations between nurses' profile and retention in training region; and impact on each region of inter-regional movement of nurses...

..However, due to the paucity of studies assessing problematic opioid drug use in this population, evidence for such is inconclusive, and this issue remains controversial. This survey assessed problematic drug use among CNCP patients...

..This paper is a report of a study to determine whether individualized performance feedback improved nurses' and physiotherapists' knowledge and practice of tracheal suctioning...

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..However, patients' preference and costs remain unclear. Therefore, further well-designed studies are needed to identify the comprehensive effectiveness of early postoperative feeding protocol...

..A summary of the project's findings is presented, and the relevance of qualitative research for policy-making is discussed. Finally, the methodology used to collect data for the project is described...

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..Heroin chasers display distinctly different personal and drug-taking characteristics and will need to be the subject of separate research studies and clinical programs...

..In doing so, we demonstrate that questions of clinical effectiveness are but one application for systematic review...

..It is also important to note that the most frequently recommended solution for cleansing pin sites in UK protocols (0.9% normal saline) had the worst outcome, therefore its efficacy in this population may need to be challenged...

..To review the accuracy of brief screening tools for autism in pre-school children...

..Although broadly supportive of interprofessional education, the evidence is not helpful in determining the best way of improving pain management in the community...

..As the evidence is weak, practitioners should consider the use of citric acid maintenance solution as non-routine and only following formal evaluation in a one-off trial on appropriate patients...

..Further research into catheter valves is needed, with larger study groups, which include housebound male and female patients, and longer follow-up period...

..The results suggest that chronic non-cancer pain patients can be maintained on opioids with few problems, and likewise can withdraw with minimal adverse effects, other than a return of pain...

..Further research in this area is needed. However it does appear that compliance is a problem in this patient group...

..The significance of a delay of this magnitude is however unclear. Further work is required to determine whether walkers are an independent causal factor in accidents...

..Aim. To investigate the impact of foot massage and guided relaxation on the wellbeing of patients who had undergone CABG surgery...

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..There is evidence to support advice to parents of bottle-fed infants with colic to consider changing to such formulas...

..Clinical protocols that make recommendations for glucose monitoring strategies for people with type 2 diabetes should acknowledge that the evidence is weak. There is no basis to recommend one method above another...

..001). Currently there is insufficient evidence to support the routine use of tea tree oil in clinical practice for eradication of MRSA colonization...