TV nurses: promoting a positive image of nursing?

It's understood that medical dramas are meant to entertain, not serve as documentaries. Nevertheless, media-driven messages are powerful, influencing the culture and collective mindset. This article evaluates current images of nurses in the media and challenges nurses to engage in professional and public service designed to promote a positive media and public image of nursing.

School nurses and teachers: attitudes regarding inclusion of breastfeeding education in school curricula.

School nurses and middle and high school teachers (N = 107) participated in a survey that explored their attitudes and behaviors related to the inclusion of breastfeeding content to highlight the scientific and exceptional health advantages of breastfeeding and to promote a breastfeeding culture. Although some participants believed that breastfeeding content should not be part of school curriculum, the vast majority (86.9%) agreed that the benefits of breastfeeding should be taught to high school students; and over half (57.9%) supported teaching about the value of breastfeeding to middle school children. School nurses are well positioned to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors among student populations and play a pivotal and important role in the promotion of a breastfeeding culture and related positive behaviors.

Child visitation policy and practice for maternity units.

PURPOSE: : To examine policies and practices related to sibling and child visitation within southeastern U.S. hospital-based maternity units. METHODS: : This descriptive telephone survey includes data from 69 hospitals about their intrapartum and postpartum sibling and child visitation policies. Data were collected from nurse representatives from each of these institutions. Frequency distributions were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: : Visitation during labor was restricted to siblings only in 62.3% of the hospitals; in this sample, only 28.9% allowed open visitation by children during labor and four hospitals prohibited all children from visiting during labor. Postpartum visitation was less restrictive: The majority (82.6%) of the hospitals had open child visitation policies; only four hospitals physically assessed or observed children for signs of illness prior to visiting on the postpartum unit. In most cases, even if restrictive child visitation policies were in place, they were not routinely enforced. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: : Nurses should examine current sibling and child visitation policies in their institutions to determine the need for revision, elimination, or creation of new policies. Moreover, continued research study on child and sibling visitation and related issues is warranted to generate updated evidence to support policies.

College students' experiences and attitudes regarding middle and high school-based breastfeeding education.

This study examined the attitudes and experiences of male and female college students relative to breastfeeding education within middle and high school programs of study. Findings revealed that 36.7% of the participants were taught about breastfeeding while enrolled in a specific course in high school; 11.3% received information about breastfeeding in middle school. Overall, participants expressed positive attitudes toward breastfeeding and were supportive of the promotion of breastfeeding within a formal educational setting. However, 54% disagreed with offering information about breastfeeding to middle school students. Furthermore, most (67.8%) participants found public breastfeeding to be unacceptable; 77.7% indicated that breastfeeding is an intimate behavior that should be kept private. School nurses are in a unique position to influence school health and science-related curricula designed to promote the health benefits of breastfeeding. More education is needed to teach young people about the advantages of breastfeeding and to make breastfeeding a socially and culturally acceptable lifestyle behavior.

Nursing theory and knowledge development: a descriptive review of doctoral dissertations, 2000-2004.

Within the profession of nursing, nursing theory, conceptual models, and knowledge development continue to be points of discussion and debate. Some suggest that nursing research must either test or develop nursing theory, whereas others believe that research germane to practice can legitimately incorporate what is commonly referred to as borrowed theory. This descriptive analysis of nursing doctoral dissertations (N = 207) conducted from 2000 to 2004 focused primarily on the inclusion or exclusion of nursing theories. Almost half (45.4%) of the dissertations studied theories from fields other than nursing, 27.1% of the researchers studied nursing theories, and 27.5% of the dissertation studies engaged in theory generation. Implications for nursing knowledge development and research specific to practice are discussed.

Policies and practices for maternal support options during childbirth and breastfeeding initiation after cesarean in southeastern hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: To describe policies, practices, and associated rationales of hospital obstetric units regarding mothers' support person options during childbirth and to explore practices concerning support of breastfeeding initiation after cesarean delivery. DESIGN: Descriptive telephone survey. SETTING: Hospitals in the southeastern region of the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 154 obstetric nurse manager and nurse representatives employed by the participating hospitals. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Types of policies regarding mothers' support person options during childbirth and immediate postpartum stage, initiation of breastfeeding after cesarean birth, and attitudes about policies. RESULTS: All hospitals allowed two or more support persons during vaginal births, 89% permitted only one support person during nonemergent cesareans, and 58.0% of the nurse representatives believed that mothers should be allowed a second support person. Less than one third (31.2%) of the hospitals considered a mother's request to breastfeed in the operating room, and most (78.6%) allowed mothers to breastfeed in the recovery room. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, maternal support policies, practices, and nurse representatives' attitudes were mother and family friendly, particularly related to vaginal births. Though breastfeeding initiation after cesarean birth was encouraging, support person options during nonemergent cesarean births and related rationales warrant further examination.

Breastfeeding behaviors and experiences of adolescent mothers.

PURPOSE: : To examine the breastfeeding experiences and related behaviors of adolescent mothers after discharge from the hospital. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: : Descriptive telephone survey with both open-and closed-ended questions. Outcome variables included breastfeeding experiences and infant feeding practices. A convenience sample of mothers (N = 53), ranging in age from 14 to 19 years, were interviewed by telephone 5 months to 2 years postdelivery. RESULTS: : Over one half (60.3%) of the adolescent mothers breastfed for 2 months or longer (average 3.15 months), only 22.6% breastfed for 6 months or more, and 39.6% breastfed for 1 month or less. Friends, families, and healthcare professionals were supportive of breastfeeding, but participants found prenatal and postpartum education about breastfeeding to be limited. Many indicated that they were not plainly informed about the superiority of breast milk and the health advantages of breastfeeding. One mother stated, "They just asked if I wanted to bottle or breastfeed and didn't tell me about the benefits of breastfeeding." CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: : Nurses and physicians who provide care for childbearing women need to promote breastfeeding among adolescents in a better way. Prenatal anticipatory guidance related to the physical aspects of breastfeeding, support after adolescent mothers are discharged from the hospital, and advocacy for breastfeeding in the school and workplace setting are warranted. Nurses should consider establishing postpartum education programs for breastfeeding adolescents, for almost all of the participants in this study expressed the need for more postnatal breastfeeding support as indicated by this representative statement:"I think that it would help you to be able to breastfeed if nurses could phone call you more than just once; my baby latched on good in the hospital; I had trouble later after we went home."

Baccalaureate nursing students' breastfeeding knowledge: a descriptive survey.

This descriptive survey study assessed the breastfeeding knowledge of junior and senior baccalaureate nursing students (N=80) who had successfully completed their obstetric nursing course. With a possible perfect knowledge score of 100, participants' scores ranged from 35 to 85 with a sample mean score of 60. Surprisingly, most (85%) did not know that breastfeeding is recommended for the first year of an infant's life, and only five participants knew the proper management of mastitis. Well over one third (41.3%) of the participants opposed breastfeeding in public. Findings reveal the need to strengthen both the didactic and clinical components of the obstetric course curriculum. The acquisition of breastfeeding knowledge at the student level will better equip novice nurses to provide more effective breastfeeding counsel and support for childbearing women and to promote the achievement of the breastfeeding objectives of both the United States and the World Health Organization.

Bereavement & grief related to the loss of a parent.

The death of my mother taught me valuable lessons about life and death (Spear, 2002), and the years since have provided me with a first-hand understanding of the grieving process. These personal experiences have allowed me to develop insight about and sensitivity to the experiences of others who are faced with death and dying, and the resultant psychoemotional feelings associated with permanent loss. It is important for nurses and others to be responsive to the complex and individualized grieving process of those who live through the death of a loved one.