No abstract

Clinical reasoning and subsequent nursing practice are influenced by how nurses explain patients'/families' behaviour. Exploration of this issue with the support of social cognition literature suggests a need for further research with significant implications for nursing education and practice to improve family/psychosocial interventions.

The concept of work engagement has existed in business and psychology literature for some time. There is a significant body of research that positively correlates work engagement with organizational outcomes. To date, the interest in the work engagement of nurses has primarily been related to these organizational outcomes. However, the value of work engagement in nursing practice is not only an issue of organizational interest, but of ethical interest. The dialogue on work engagement in nursing must expand to include the ethical importance of engagement. The relational nature of work engagement and the multiple levels of influence on nurses' work engagement make a relational ethics approach to work engagement in nursing appropriate and necessary. Within a relational ethics perspective, it is evident that work engagement enables nurses to have meaningful relationships in their work and subsequently deliver ethical care. In this article, I argue that work engagement is essential for ethical nursing practice. If engagement is essential for ethical nursing practice, the environmental and organizational factors that influence work engagement must be closely examined to pursue the creation of moral communities within healthcare environments.

Family-centered care (FCC) improves the quality and safety of health care provision, reduces cost, and improves patient, family, and provider satisfaction. Despite several decades of advocacy, research, and evidence, there are still challenges in uptake and adoption of FCC practices in adult critical care. The objective of this study was to understand the supports and barriers to family-centered adult critical care (FcACC). A qualitative descriptive design was used to develop a taxonomy. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 21 participants in Alberta, Canada, from 2013 to 2014. Analysis revealed two main domains of supports and barriers to FcACC: PEOPLE and STRUCTURES. These domains were further classified into concepts and subconcepts that captured all the reported data. Many factors at individual, group, and organizational levels influenced the enactment of FcACC. These included health care provider beliefs, influence of primary versus secondary tasks, perceptions of family work, nurses’ emotional labor, and organizational culture.

Transitions to and from primary care are a time of concern, especially for patients with chronic conditions and complex care needs. The Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network (ESPCN) developed a process for nurses to ensure timely post-discharge follow-up calls and physician appointments after hospitalization, assessing readmission risk with LACE and Clinical Frailty scores. Over 84% of eligible high-risk discharges received follow-up within 14 days. Of 7,400 index discharges, 1,464 had an emergency department revisit and 725 patients were readmitted within 30 days. Overall, ESPCN rates of readmission (9.8%) and rates of Family Practice Sensitive Conditions (FPSC) (5.7%) were significantly lower than national and provincial rates. FPSC rates for high-risk patients were significantly lower than low- or medium-risk groups. Consistent processes that support nursing involvement enable primary care teams to focus on those with highest risk for adverse outcomes and support patients to access the most appropriate place for the care they need.