Patients with heart failure have a high mortality and often readmits to hospital care, due to a lack of compliance in the treatment plan. Patient education on self-care provided by nurses is important in improving patient and clinical outcomes.The aim of this study was to describe effects of nurse led interventions of patient education for elderly patients with heart failure. Literature study based on nine quantitative scientific articles. The results shows that different nurse led interventions of patient education with patients with heart failure had positive effects on self-care management, quality of life, health related quality of life and hospital care. E-mail reminder to community nurses and telephone education shows to be the most effective patient education interventions.

Previous research and patient complaints to the Swedish Patient Support Committee shows that there is a lack of substance in the patient-nurse relationship. This may suggest that it can be difficult for health care to live up to health-care law which requires it to be of good quality, based on dignity and respect and designed so that the patient is an active participant and can make their own decisions when it comes to their health care. For a better understanding of what a dignified patient-nurse relationship is, this study aims to clarify what the patient values as good patient-nurse relationship and describe how they have experienced the patient-nurse relationship during their stay at an emergency care department. The study is a descriptive cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, where the population consisted of patients who were cared for at an emergency care department in the County of Västmanland, Sweden during 2007. The sample consisted of 93 patients which were asked to answer a questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: Pressure ulcers are unpleasant and painful and causes anxiety not only patient but also for the relatives. It also results in longer hospital stay and increased costs for health care sector and because of this it?s important to identify and survery the origin and what preventive measures there are to prevent pressure ulcer. AIM: To illustrate the nurses´ work to prevent the origin of pressure ulcers. METHOD: A general literary study where scientific articles were searched and found in electronic databases and through manual searches.

Elderly patients experiences of palliative care ? a rewireThe purpose of this paper was to study elderly patient?s experience of palliative care with present knowledge as starting point. The questions were; what criteria do the elderly, dying person think is most important to fulfill in palliative care? and how satisfied is the elderly, dying person with the palliative care that are giving to him/her? The information were collected by a data based search trough science magazines and technical literature. Four relevant studies were found; Costello (2001), Heyland (2005), Wilson (1999) and Formiga (2004).

Elderly patients experiences of palliative care ? a rewireThe purpose of this paper was to study elderly patient?s experience of palliative care with present knowledge as starting point. The questions were; what criteria do the elderly, dying person think is most important to fulfill in palliative care? and how satisfied is the elderly, dying person with the palliative care that are giving to him/her? The information were collected by a data based search trough science magazines and technical literature. Four relevant studies were found; Costello (2001), Heyland (2005), Wilson (1999) and Formiga (2004).

Every day in medical care the nurse and the patient meet, they are not just represented as the care giver and the care taker, but also as two unique individuals. The meeting is a very important part in caring and few studies have been made on this topic from the patient.s perspective. The purpose of this study was to describe the patient.s perspective on the meeting with the nurse. The study is a literature review, where articles have been reviewed, encoded, and then categorized. The result builds on our four main categories, confirmed as a unique indidual, the meaning of the information according to the patient, the humanistic side of the nurse, and the importance of humor in the meeting.

Background   The patient's rights to self-determine their own health care is described in Swedish legislation and guidelines. However, due to infancy, unconsciousness, severe brain damage or certain diseases, some patients might be unable to make such decisions. Ethically difficult situations do occur, not infrequently associated with culture. Since the patient is vulnerable, there is a risk that the patient in the treatment and care can not be bothered to maintain right to autonomy and that the nurse violates patient integrity.Aim                 The aim of this study was to illustrate the nurse's dilemma when the patient refuses vital caring efforts.Method           A literature review of eight scientific articles with a qualitative approach was performed.Results           The results revealed the following domains to describe the nurse's dilemma when the patient refuses vital care interventions: patients? reasons for treatment refusal, the nurse's understanding of the patient's refusal of care and contradictory legislationConclusion     More knowledge and discussion of the patient's decision-making competence is needed for both the nursing profession and those who make decisions on legislation..

Background:Studies show that when nurses are experiencing problems in the care of non-Swedish speaking patients, it is often due to obstacles in the communication. Studies also show that a prerequisite for adequate care is that there is a basis for a direct communication. Nurses perceive interpreters as an important link to the patient when they do not share a mutual language, the nurses perceive interpreters as a bridge in the conversation.Aim:The purpose of the study is to describe nurses' experiences of the quality of assessments done with the help of an interpreter.Method:The study was conducted through interviews with ten nurses, working at psychiatric clinics. Qualitative content analysis was used for the analysis, which resulted in five categories.Results:The analysis resulted in one theme: "it´s the interpreter who tells me and have not the feeling that the patient has" and five categories: "shades of the language", "conversation structure", "the interpreter's competence", "interpreting implementing" and "the interpreter's gender and origin". The nurses experience working with interpreters as a challenge.

Background: The patient meets nurses in the emergency department that provide both nursing and has medical skills. The care that the patients are receiving should be individually adjusted. The care is shaped by the individual meeting with the patient according to the nursing theorist Orlando. There are large variations between the number of patients in an emergency department and it sets high demands on the staff, both physically and mentally. When the emergency department is highly loaded there is a priority for medical care and psycho-social and aesthetic aspects will have to wait.

Background: Effective treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes needs a good communication between nurse and patient. This creats a good relation and leads to a more effective patient education. Aim: The aim with the literature study was to describe how nurses trough patient education can achieve self-care for patients with diabetes type 2. Methods: Literature studies with both qualitative and quantitative articles were examined. Findings: The articles that were chosen for the results were sorted in the two categories relation and communication.

Background: The Swedish population is aging [1] and malnutrition is a common problem among elderly people [2]. A method called food registration is used to monitor the patients? nutritional intake, with the purpose of reducing the risk of patients deteriorating in nutritional status during hospitalisation. However, the current method is not satisfactory and many food registration lists are incomplete. [3-6] Thus, patients do not receive a qualitative nutritional care since the assessment of the patients? nutritional status is based on incomplete documentation.Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to increase the quality in the nutrition monitoring process in the geriatric units B72 and B74 at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge, Sweden.

Background: Relatives are those persons who are closest to the patient, regardless of relationship and included into the patient´s life world. When a person is in a palliative stage this affects not only the patient but also the relatives, as it implies such a big change in life for all. The nurse has an important role for both the patient and the relatives. Aim: The aim is to highlight the relative´s needs of support for palliative care. Method: A literature review based on previous research. Ten articles were found, nine with a qualitative approach and one with both qualitative and quantitative approach. Results: The analysis resulted in six themes, these were the result of the study. The six themes were, ?to be seen an confirmed?, ?good communication?, ?continuous information?, ?availability and continuity?, ?to participate? and ?to share responsibility with the staff?. Conclusion: As a nurse we come in contact with relatives of patients in a palliative setting in any form.

Syfte:           Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att studera hur personer med hjärtsvikt kan få en förbättrad nutrition genom egenvård.Metod:         Studien genomfördes som en litteraturöversikt. Artiklarna söktes via databaserna CINAHL och PubMed.Resultat:      Studiens resultat innehöll 10 artiklar med kvantitativ ansats. En förutsättning för att personer med hjärtsvikt ska klara sin egenvård och ges möjlighet att förbättra sin nutrition är utbildning. Utbildningsmetoder som i föreliggande litteraturstudie har visat sig fungera är att kombinera skriftlig och muntlig utbildning. Undervisningen bör innehålla information om vilken typ av mat personer med hjärtsvikt behöver äta samt varför.

Background: Palliative care is a type of care, which does not cure but eases the suffering caused by the disease. The goal of palliative care is not to extend or shorten the patient's life, but to relieve pain and distressing symptoms and to promote the patients? quality of life (QOL). QOL can be understood as a subjective sense of happiness of existence, which means that the patient is experiencing life when her total life situation is consistent with her ??wishes.

ABSTRACT The persons whom the authorized nurse encounters in hospital wards and nursing homes are in great extent elderly persons. According to Wasserman (2000), about 30 to 40 percent among these, show signs of depression. To be aware of the signs of depression, and how an authorized nurse can support the patient is therefore of great value. The introduction to this study describes the symptoms of depression and how depression in elders is expressed. It also describes treatment possibilities and nursing aspects of concern.