A concept analysis on the process of empowerment.

Definitions of empowerment abound in contemporary literature of many disciplines. The purpose of this article is to apply strategies by Walker and Avant to analyze the concept of empowerment from the nursing discipline. Definitions of empowerment and contextual applications are examined using dictionaries and professional literature. Defining attributes are identified and listed in order of importance. Antecedents and consequences of empowerment are discussed, and model, borderline, and contrary cases also are presented. A summation of the analysis along with directions for further research are presented. Clients are limited to and defined for this article as patients and families.

Effect of continuously warmed i.v. fluids on intraoperative hypothermia.

The investigators examined the effect of infusing continuously warmed (ie, 37.0 degrees C [98.6 degrees F]) i.v. fluids in two groups of middle-aged female patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedures. They hypothesized that increasing i.v. fluid temperature during surgery would decrease patients' risk for hypothermia. One group of patients received prewarmed i.v. fluids that cooled to room temperature during surgery. The second group received i.v. fluids that were warmed continuously by a fluid warmer during the surgical procedures. Analyses of covariance, with the first intraoperative temperature measurement treated as the covariate, revealed nonsignificant results at the P < .05 level. The results suggest that administering continuously warmed i.v. fluids intraoperatively has no significant effect on maintaining patients' body temperatures during short laparoscopic surgical procedures.