ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Acne is a common skin disorder with a significant psychological and social impact for some people. Little is known about how personality and emotional traits affect acne and its impact on quality of life and treatment. Trait anger (TA), which is related to heart disease and other morbidities, may also affect acne and patients' adjustment to it. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the relationship between TA and acne severity, skin-related quality of life, satisfaction with treatment, and adherence to treatment. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A sample of 479 individuals with acne completed a survey instrument to assess acne severity, skin care practices, skin-related quality of life, satisfaction with treatment, adherence, TA and demographic variables. Respondents who reported high TA were compared with individuals with low TA on outcome variables. Regression analyses adjusted for covariates and identified the significant predictors of quality of life, satisfaction and adherence. RESULTS: High TA was unrelated to acne severity (P = 0.2) or frequency of face washing (P = 0.9). Anger was significantly related to both global quality of life (P < 0.001) and skin-related quality of life (P = 0.002) as well as to satisfaction with treatment (P = 0.001) and adherence to treatment advice (P = 0.05) in bivariate analyses. Regression analyses revealed that high TA remained a significant predictor of global (P < 0.001) and skin-related quality of life (P = 0.003) and satisfaction with treatment (P = 0.04), but not adherence to treatment advice (P = 0.8) after controlling for covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Anger is associated with the quality of patients' lives and with their satisfaction with treatment. Care of acne patients should include attention to anger and other chronic emotional states, quality of life, as well as to clinical severity. Simple guidelines are suggested for how clinicians might approach this important aspect of care.
Subject(s)
Acne Vulgaris/psychology , Anger , Patient Satisfaction , Quality of Life , Acne Vulgaris/drug therapy , Acne Vulgaris/therapy , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Patient Compliance , Psychotherapy , Regression AnalysisABSTRACT
Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) and Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) are recognized examples of standardized nursing languages used to describe the contribution nursing makes to patient care. Columbus Regional Hospital nursing leadership recognized the need to use standardized nursing interventions and nursing-sensitive patient outcomes to describe the unique contribution nursing makes to patient education. In collaboration with the University of Iowa, NIC/NOC languages were implemented in the development of a patient education plan for a clinical pathway population.
Subject(s)
Critical Pathways/standards , Nursing Service, Hospital/classification , Nursing Service, Hospital/standards , Outcome Assessment, Health Care/classification , Patient Education as Topic/standards , Terminology as Topic , Vocabulary, Controlled , Humans , Indiana , Nursing Evaluation Research , Program Development , Program Evaluation , Referral and Consultation , Respiration Disorders/nursingABSTRACT
The accuracy of five gravity-feed infusion-control devices was compared using a gravimetric method. Two nonvolumetric drop-counting devices (IVAC 230 and, IMED 350) and three volumetric devices (Quest/Cutter Infusor, Anatros Rateminder, and IVAC 260) were compared at four different flow rates (10, 40, 125, 250 ml/hr) using four different solutions and two head heights (30 and 100 cm). The mean error rates for the IVAC 230 and the IVAC 260 devices were consistently high and negative (-6.32 and -12.60%, respectively). The mean error rates for the IMED, Anatros, and Quest/Cutter devices were 2.2, 1.8, and 0.7%, respectively. Conversion charts must be used to account for variation in drop size when different solutions and flow rates are used in the IVAC 230 and IMED 350 devices. At the low flow rates, the 60-drop/ml sets were more accurate than the 20-drop/ml sets. Of the volumetric devices, the Quest/Cutter Infusor and the Anatros Rateminder were more accurate than the IVAC 260. The Quest/Cutter Infusor was the most accurate of all controllers tested. For volumetric devices that use drop-counting technology, selecting an internal fluid code on the basis of solution ingredients is still necessary. For the new volumetric devices, conversion charts and fluid code selection are not necessary to achieve a high level of accuracy.
