Lower Standard Of Care Research Articles

Staff suspended over low standards of care at scandal-hit trust.

A HOSPITAL where hundreds of people died as a result of poor practice has suspended 'up to' 15 nurses for failing to raise standards.

Supporting older people with acute confusion: the contribution of mental health nurses

Contemporary services have become organised in ways that reduce the opportunity for the sharing of skills and expertise between nurses of different disciplines (UKCC 2000). Since the publicity of the Dignity on the Ward campaign (Help the Aged 1999) in The Observer newspaper and the resulting commission of an independent enquiry into the general low standards of care for older people on acute wards (HAS 200

THE PREPARTICIPATION SPORTS EXAMINATION

Although not a comprehensive health evaluation, the PSE is viewed as such by many parents and adolescents. In this regard, these athletes are getting a lower standard of care than recommended; however, the mechanism wherein the PSE can become a cost-effective comprehensive examination has not been established. The PSE is one method of injury prevention in that it is designed to identify medical conditions that would be worsened by participation in exercise and sports. Pediatricians should use this examination as a quality control point during the year to assess how medical conditions and musculoskeletal injuries have been diagnosed and managed in the context of sports.

Danger of car accidents due to overworking.

Midwives have been involved in car crashes and mothers have received lower standards of care because many midwives are expected to work excessive hours, the conference heard.

Pink accuses RCN of lack of support.

Whistleblower Graham Pink has criticised nursing and the Royal College Nursing for 'standing by' when he was sacked for publicising low standards of care.

Pediatric nursing homes. Implications of the Massachusetts experience for residential care of multiply handicapped children.

Pediatric nursing homes were established in Massachusetts in 1971, in response to the crisis created by the deinstitutionalization of children with multiple severe handicaps for whom care in the community was unrealistic. Although these residential beds provided short-term relief for the system, failure both to plan for the improved long-term survival of the children and to develop alternative community services for those whose functional and medical status changed has left fundamental problems unresolved. A review of the 421 residents of pediatric nursing homes since 1972 shows that most have been bedridden and nonverbal, requiring provision of basic care: feeding, dressing, maintaining hygiene, and sensory and motor stimulation. Three quarters of the residents were severely or profoundly retarded and had seizures. About 4 per cent died each year, and another 5 per cent were discharged; few beds were available for new admissions. Low standards of care and financial disincentives have resulted in less than optimal educational and rehabilitative services. Other states are facing similar problems, which can be resolved only through better funding and coordination of the relevant state agencies.

Aniseikonia:A Survey of Literature 1963‐64*

Summary Contributions to the study of aniseikonia are discussed from a clinical, frankly partisan, point of view. The surveyed material includes textbooks on refraction and contact lens practice, research papers special reports and higher degree theses. The approach of conventional textbooks to aniseikonia is shown to lack vigour in physiological optics. Therapeutic aims are limited to standard visual acuity and a semblance of binocular vision, ignoring space perception almost completely. The orthodox approach to aniseikonia devised by Ogle and others, was an attempt to reorganise visual perception on the basis of the innate system of retinal correspondence. This aim conflicts with clinical experience, which shows that patients are able to acquire correct spatial orientation through experience. As an alternative the Optometrie Extension Programme endeavoured to apply the learning theory of behaviour to the care of visual space perception. So far this approach has not recognised the importance of safeguarding the established visual orientation with properly designed spectacle lenses. Present trends in aniseikonia show a differentiation into specialised applications. In strabismus, it is being gradually recognised that full correction of aniseikonia is desirable. Here the orthodox method of Ogle would be eminently suitable. However, the Space Eikonometer is often useless in cases of strabismus, owing to low stereoscopic acuity. Research is in progress with the aim of developing new methods for the measurement of aniseikonia. Anisometropia is another well defined field of specialised application. The source of the disturbance is the aniseikonia induced by spectacle lenses. Contact lenses and special spectacle lenses are being used successfully to correct the induced aniseikonia, while leaving the inherent aniseikonia unchanged. For the application of these lenses there is no need to measure the aniseikonia. It would seem that even in routine practice, by using relatively simple techniques and readily available materials, the care devoted to aniseikonic problems could be greatly improved. However, the long neglect of aniseikonia may be seen as being only one aspect of the general low standard of care devoted to the visual space sense. There are obvious implications in this for academic, clinical and professional training, especially in optometry.