End-of-life issues experienced by the nurse-led rapid response team: An analysis of extent and experiences.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the frequency, clinical characteristics and nurse-led rapid response team experiences of calls that involve end-of-life issues. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN: The study consisted of two parts: 1) a retrospective journal audit of registered rapid response team calls for 2011-2019 that involved end-of-life issues, and 2) interviews with intensive care rapid response team nurses. The quantitative data were analysed with descriptive statistics and the qualitative data with content analysis. SETTING: The study was conducted at a Danish university hospital. RESULTS: Twelve percent (269/2,319) of the rapid response team calls involved end-of-life issues. "No indication for intensive care therapy" and "Do not resuscitate" were the main medical end-of-life orders. The patients had a mean age of 80 years, and the main reason for the calls was a respiratory problem. Ten rapid response team nurses were interviewed, and four themes evolved from the analysis: "Uncertain roles for the rapid response team nurses", "Solidarity with ward nurses", "Lack of information" and "Timing of decision-making". CONCLUSION: Twelve percent of the rapid response team calls involved end-of-life issues. The main reason for these calls was a respiratory problem, and the rapid response team nurses often found their role uncertain and experienced lack of information and sub-optimal timing of decision-making. IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE: Intensive care nurses working in a rapid response team often face end-of-life issues during calls. Therefore, end-of-life care should be included in training for rapid response team nurses. Furthermore, advanced care planning is recommended to secure high-quality end-of-life care and to decrease uncertainty in acute medical situations.

Correction to: Quality assessment of home births in Denmark.

Correction per 30 April 2018. In a letter from Ole Olsen et al [1] it was disclosed, that there were mathematical errors in the incidences of complications among nulliparous women with hospital births presented in Table 2. Incidences and p-values have been recalculated, and the errors in Table 2 have been corrected. We apologise for this. The corrections did not lead to any other changes in the manuscript [1].

The effect of peer support in adults with insulin pump-treated type 1 diabetes: a pilot study of a flexible and participatory intervention.

AIM: The aim of this study was to explore the effects of a flexible and participatory peer support intervention in a clinical setting for adults with type 1 diabetes treated with an insulin pump, focusing on enhancing diabetes-specific social capital. The key questions were as follows: 1) what effects are appropriate to expect, according to participants? and 2) to what extent did these effects occur? METHODS: Two peer support intervention programs were conducted in a diabetes specialist clinic (N=30). A participatory and adaptable approach allowed flexibility in the content of peer support meetings, which were facilitated by a diabetes nurse. Individual interviews explored participants' perception of effects of the intervention. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively. Participants (n=27) completed a baseline and postintervention questionnaire that included items assessing diabetes empowerment, diabetes distress, diabetes-specific social support, and diabetes loneliness. HbA1c levels were compared before and after the intervention. RESULTS: Participants experienced enhanced diabetes-specific social capital, diabetes motivation, awareness of personal diabetes practices, and serenity and openness in life with diabetes. They also became more aware of treatment and support possibilities. Negative effects included feeling sad or upset after the meetings or feeling different than and not as well-controlled as other participants. Quantitative analyses showed enhanced social support, decreased eating distress and trends toward enhanced diabetes empowerment, decreased diabetes loneliness, and decreased diabetes distress (powerlessness). We found fewer positive and/or negative outcomes among participants who felt no need for peer support or felt that the group was not a unit or that important issues were not addressed. CONCLUSION: The study indicated that flexible and participatory peer support can strengthen diabetes-specific social capital and improve participants' well-being and diabetes empowerment. Awareness of participants' incentives for attending peer support, as well as the risk of people feeling isolated within peer support groups, is essential to creating effective diabetes-specific social support.

Quality assessment of home births in Denmark.

INTRODUCTION: The safety of home births has been widely debated. Observational studies examining maternal and neonatal outcomes of home births have become more frequent, and the quality of these studies has improved. The aim of the present study was to describe neonatal outcomes of home births compared with hospital births and to discuss which data are needed to evaluate the safety of home births. METHODS: This was a register-based cohort study. Data on all births in Denmark (2003-2013) were collected from the Danish Medical Birth Registry (DMBR). The cohort included healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies and no medical interventions during delivery. A total of 6,395 home births and 266,604 hospital births were eligible for analysis. Comparative analyses were performed separately in nulliparous and multiparous women. The outcome measures were neonatal mortality and morbidity. RESULTS: Frequencies of admission to a neonatal intensive care unit and treatment with continuous positive airway pressure were significantly lower in infants born at home than in infants born at a hospital. A slightly, but significantly increased rate of early neonatal death was found among infants delivered by nulliparous at home. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that home births in Denmark are characterized by a high level of safety owing to low rates of perinatal mortality and morbidity. Missing registration on intrapartum transfers and planned versus unplanned home births in the DMBR are, however, major limitations to the validity and utility of the reported results. Registration of these items of information is necessary to make reasonable assessments of home births in the future. FUNDING: none. TRIAL REGISTRATION: not relevant.

[Challenges for health-care professionals in the treatment of ethnic minorities with type 2 diabetes].

This literature review describes health-care professionals' perspective on roles and approaches in encounters with ethnic minorities with type 2 diabetes, including perceived barriers and potentials. They shift between roles in encounters with ethnic minority patients and they consider language and cultural barriers to have an impact on roles, communication as well as time consumption. They emphasise the importance of patient-centeredness and insight into patients' cultural background; however, they report lack of competences to provide good quality in diabetes care to ethnic minority patients.