Abstract
Approximately 30,000 older adults live in residential aged care (nursing homes) in New Zealand, but little has been known of life in these homes, except for occasional and often sensational news reports. Advertisements for nursing homes however portray a world that is a ‘home away from home’, promising prospective residents individualised care and comfort. The reality is somewhat different, as the stories of residents who participated in a recent critical ethnography of three New Zealand nursing homes demonstrate. In this research report, one of those residents reveals the challenges associated with firstly becoming a nursing home resident, and then trying to establish a new sense of ‘home’. The story supports a conclusion that nurses’ knowledge of the unique ‘admission story’ of each resident, and their individual understandings of home, is essential in promoting their ongoing comfort.
Key Words:
Nursing homes, resident experience, critical ethnography, New Zealand.
Article Order No: 213A
A CLINICAL AUDIT OF A NURSE COLPOSCOPIST.
COLPOSCOPY: CYTOLOGY: HISTOLOGY
CORRELATION
Georgina McPherson, RN, PG Dip (Adv Nursing), MN (Hons)
Colposcopy Nurse Specialist, National Women’s Hospital, Auckland District
Health Board
Margaret Horsburgh, RN, EdD, MA (Hons), Dip Ed, Associate Professor of
Nursing, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland
Catherine Tracy, RN, BN, PG Dip (Nursing), MHSc (Hons)
Programme Advisor, Auckland District Health Board
Abstract
The role of the nurse colposcopist has been established in some countries for a number of years. At National Women’s Health the first New Zealand nurse colposcopist training programme was developed in 2000. A clinical audit was undertaken to assess the diagnostic skills of the nurse colposcopist measuring colposcopy: histology: cytology correlation. A retrospective audit of the colposcopy clinical records was performed during the nurse’s training programme between July 2000 and March 2002. An 82% (82/100) histology: cytology: colposcopy correlation was achieved by the nurse in the third phase of her training programme. The results are comparable with other reported studies involving medical and nurse colposcopists. Expertise in colposcopy examination can be incorporated into the broader role of a Nurse Practitioner working in the area of women’s health.
Key words:
Nurse colposcopist, colposcopy, advanced nursing practice.
Article Order No: 213B
WOMEN MAINTAINING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AT
MIDLIFE: CONTEXTUAL COMPLEXITIES
Judy Yarwood, RN, BHlthSc (Nursing), MA (Hons), MCNA(NZ), PrincipalLecturer, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, New Zealand
Jenny Carryer, RN, PhD, FCNA(NZ), MNZM
Professor of Nursing, Massey University, New Zealand
Mary Jo Gagan, PhD, FNP, FAANP, Family Nurse Practitioner, Tucson, USA.
Abstract
Health benefits associated with being active are well recognised and yet for many, particularly women at midlife, how this activity is maintained is both complex and poorly understood. This paper describes a qualitative feminist study in which 10 midlife women participated in two semi-structured interviews to explore factors influencing their ability to maintain physical activity over time. A thematic analysis uncovered participants’ beliefs and behaviours regarding their experience of, and strategies used to maintain, regular activity. Four core themes emerged; ‘exercise is part of me, part of my life’, ‘the importance of being fit and healthy’, ‘exercise interweaves and changes with life situations’, and ‘constraints and conflicts’. Encompassed within these four was a desire for life long good health and physical fitness. Maintaining regular physical activity was intrinsically connected to family, relationships and work. Findings from this study indicate how important it is for nurses to consider contextual realities when encouraging and supporting midlife women to maintain physical activity.
Key Words:
Midlife women, physical activity, feminist, contextual realities.
Article Order No: 213C
