To Örebro University

Background: The structure and organisation of Swedish municipal healthcare has been criticised for being fragmented and inefficient. Municipal chief nurses hold overall responsibility for patient safety within municipal healthcare, yet they lack authority over finances and staffing. Their role and responsibilities have not been examined in previous studies. The aim of this study was therefore to explore municipal chief nurses' experiences of obstacles and possibilities in decision-making to ensure patient safety in municipal healthcare.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used. Data were collected through 15 individual semi-structured interviews with municipal chief nurses, and the results were analysed via qualitative content analysis.

Results: The data analysis yielded an overall theme: Navigating decision-making to ensure patient safety. This overall theme comprised three underlying categories: Unclear role and understanding of the assignment; Impact of organisational level on decision-making mandate; and Knowledge, competence, and experience in patient safety work.

Conclusion: There was a lack of clarity regarding the municipal chief nurses' assignments in the municipal healthcare organisation. The participants felt that their organisations had insufficient knowledge of healthcare, and it became evident that organisational placement and their own competence affected their decision-making regarding healthcare and patient safety. Some noted that the organisation's shortcomings could be advantageous, providing them with a scope for action. Consequently, the informants had to navigate in the system and find alternative ways to ensure patient safety.

Clinical trial registration: Not applicable.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of missed dental appointments among 16–19-year-old adolescents in a Swedish county. A second aim was to explore associations between background and concomitant factors and missed appointments and to investigate if these associations differed between areas with different sociodemographic profiles.

Materials and methods: A list of booked, and missed, appointments for 10,158 individuals during 2012 was used for assessments. Based on the total sample, 522 cases with, and 522 matched controls without, dental avoidance behavior in 2012 were identified. Data on previous missed and cancelled appointments, oral health status, dental treatment, fear or behavior problems, and medical, and, where available, psychosocial or lifestyle factors were extracted from the dental records using a preset protocol covering the period 2009–2012.

Results: In 2012, 13.1% of 23,522 booked appointments were missed, with a higher proportion of missed appointments among boys than girls. Cases with avoidance behavior more often had a record of sociodemographic load and dental fear or behavior management problems. They also had more oral health problems, more invasive dental treatments, and, in the past, more missed and canceled appointments.

Conclusion: To enable good oral health and continued regular dental care, we need to pay more attention to adolescents’ individual situation and be observant of early signs of avoidance.

BACKGROUND: The importance of the clinical learning environment in nurse education has gained increasing attention over the last decades. However, there is a lack of research on the learning environment, its significance and meaning in specialist nurse education.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of the study were to investigate specialised nursing students' experiences of supervision during clinical practice and to compare students who were satisfied with the supervision with those who were dissatisfied with respect to a) organisation of supervision and number of preceptors, as well as time allocated by preceptors for b) supervision, c) reflection, d) discussion of intended learning outcomes, and e) assessments of students' performance by preceptors.

DESIGN: This study used a cross-sectional design.

SAMPLE AND SETTINGS: A convenience sample of specialised nursing students was derived from five Swedish universities in the years 2016 and 2017.

METHODS: Data were collected using a questionnaire. Statistical analyses and a qualitative conventional content analysis were performed.

RESULTS: While almost all specialised nursing students reported that there had been time for discussion on their performance assessment, almost half of the students reported not getting time for supervision, or time for reflections and discussions on intended learning outcomes with the preceptor. Students reporting having time allocated for supervision by preceptors were found to be more satisfied with supervision. It was described as important that the preceptor(s) acknowledged the students previous work experiences. Even though being a registered nurse, reflections and feedback were described as valuable for the students learning. Several preceptors were described as positive allowing a broader picture and different views regarding working as a specialist nurse.

CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that supervision, in terms of discussions and reflections, of specialised nursing students is significant for learning experiences and satisfaction during clinical placement.

Healthcare-associated infections are the most frequent adverse event in healthcare delivery worldwide. The theory of planned behavior has proven helpful in hospital hygiene interventions andmight be useful in community care. This study explored howmedically-responsible nurses in Swedish community care perceived and ranked the impact of factors related to the theory of planned behavior, the factors“ probability to change, enhancing the healthcare staff’s adherence to infection control guidelines, and identified which theory of planned behavior subquestions should be focused on to enhance adherence to infection control. Medically-responsible nurses (n = 268) in Swedish communities answered a Web-based questionnaire regarding impact and probability to change theory of planned behavior factors in relation to infection control. Four theory of planned behavior factor constructs were found: (i) knowledge and encouragement from management; (ii) access and availability to materials and equipment, and interest among staff; (iii) influence by colleagues; and (iv) workload, and influence by patients and significant others. The theory of planned behavior factors are relevant for infection control in a home-like environment, and findings could be used as a basis for interventions enhancing hygiene in community care.

Objective: To review articles exploring manifestations of avoidance of or non-attendance to dental care, to identify background and concomitant factors specifically associated with dental avoidance among adolescents.

Methods: PubMed, CINAHL and PsychINFO were searched using MeSH terms and keywords covering dental avoidance, non-attendance and non-utilization. Searches were limited to peer-reviewed studies in English, published in 1994– 2014. Twenty-one research articles were included. Data were extracted, ordered, coded, categorized, and summarized according to the integrative review method.

Results: The identified factors formed three common major themes: Environmental, Individual and Situational factors. Only seven studies, all from Sweden or Norway, investigated factors associated with dental avoidance. The remaining 14 studies were geographically widespread. Regarding avoidance, the main focus was found to be on individual and situational factors, while environmental factors were more often investigated for the outcome non-attendance.

Conclusions: Although a wide variety of environmental, individual and situational factors could be summarized in this review, factors specifically associated with dental avoidance in a context of free dental care still need to be investigated. The possible impacts of cultural background, of tobacco, alcohol or drug use and of psycho-social circumstances deserve further research. Clinical implications of today’s knowledge may be to pay attention to the adolescents’ individual background and everyday life situation, to offer agreed and individualized treatment, taking fears and attitudes into consideration, to avoid painful treatments, and to be alert for early signs of avoidance.

Aim and Objectives: To increase the understanding of next of kin’s life situation in the context of supporting persons who are long term ill, disabled and/or older by describing their experienced burden and quality of life and also the relationship between QoL, burden and socioeconomic variables.

Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive and correlative design. Eighty-four next of kin answered two questionnaires: the Caregiver Burden Scale and the Subjective Quality of Life.

Results: Next of kin experienced a high burden in their life situation although they, at the same time, experienced a good quality of life. In the results gender differences were found. Females next of kin to a higher extent were disappointed, more emotionally involved, and they also estimated their economic situation as more unsatisfactory than the males next of kin.

Conclusion: Healthcare personnel meet next of kin, persons in need of care, within all healthcare and social care in society.Therefore it is important to have a general knowledge and ability to understand the next of kin’s life situation, thus making it possible to focus the nursing interventions on individual support regardless of the care receiver’s diagnosis.

In Sweden, national guidelines have been introduced to ensure that older persons in need of health care and social services enjoy a meaningful daily life. When new guidelines are introduced in elderly care, the experience of the older persons or their relatives are seldom taken into account as the guidelines often are formulated from using a top-down approach. Therefore the aim was to describe relatives experience about obstacles and opportunities for a meaningful daily life for their older family member. The analysis was based on a qualitative content analysis. Five themes describe how a meaningful daily life can be created and one overall theme emerged that describe a meaningful daily life as “In partnership to maintain the family member’s routines and habits in an everyday rhythm filled with meaning, in a home like environment and in community with others”.

The experience of their life situation of next of kin in informal caregiving needs to be followed as they may need support to maintain their own health and cope with continuing in their caregiving role. Many of these individuals, often the older person’s spouse, are elderly themselves. The aim of this study was to increase the understanding of the next of kin’s experience of their life situation in connection with their informal caregiving of older persons. The study had a qualitative approach, with an inductive explorative design. Informal conversational interviews were conducted. Twelve next of kin were interviewed, nine of them twice. In all, 21 interviews were performed, and subsequently subjected to latent content analysis. The theme that emerged from the data was “A balance or imbalance in next of kin’s daily life.” The three subthemes were: (1) Balance and imbalance in the relationship with the older person, other family members, and friends; (2) Balance and imbalance in the relationship with the staff from municipal care; and (3) Balance and imbalance in demands, affecting the caregiver’s own health. Communication with mutual respect was described as a tool for creating good relations. The results of this study highlight the strained life experiences of next of kin while caring for older persons. There is a need to give more attention to the next of kin’s life situation and to find the means to support them. To reduce worry and stress, health care staff need to understand the next of kin’s experience of their life situation, and good relations need to be created among all involved in the care.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study comparing eating difficulties among patients 3 months after stroke in relation to the acute phase.

Background: There is limited knowledge of patients with eating problems early after stroke, hence the progress of eating abilities needs to be further explored.

Method: From March 2007 to June 2008 36 stroke patients with 2-7 eating difficulties or problems with reduced alertness or swallowing in the acute phase were included. Eating difficulties were detected using a structured protocol of observation of meals. In addition, stroke severity (National Institute of Health Stroke Scale), functional status (Barthel Index), unilateral neglect (Line Bisection test and Letter Cancellation test), psychological well-being (The Well-being Questionnaire-12), nutritional status (Mini Nutritional Assessment) and oral status (Revised Oral Assessment Guide) were assessed.

Results: There were 36 participants (58% female) with a median age of 74·5 years. The proportion of eating difficulties decreased significantly from the acute phase to the 3-month follow-up in 'sitting position', 'managing food on the plate' and 'manipulating food in the mouth' and increased regarding inadequate food consumption. Improvements were shown at 3 months in stroke severity, functional status, nutritional status and neglect. Oral status and psychological well-being remained unchanged.

CONCLUSION: The majority of eating problems persisted 3 months after stroke despite a marked improvement in most of the physical functions. The unchanged psychological well-being and sustained problems with food consumption indicate that factors other than physical function should be taken into account regarding eating difficulties poststroke.