Caring for the suffering, dying patients and giving support to relatives is probably one of the toughest jobs a nurse can encounter. Palliative caring is, with different measures, the prolonging of life whereas hospice caring is giving patients a meaningful and natural journey toward death. The hospice philosophy is grounded on comfort, communication and peace. The expectation is that patients will have a dignified, peaceful death. The purpose of this study was to describe the nurse's role in palliative care.

Introduction: To become acute ill and to be forced to seek treatment involves a difficult but also a vulnerable time for the individual. This acquires a good relationship between the nurse and the patient. At a surgical emergency ward patients with different diagnoses and trauma are treated. What distinguishes this specific type of ward is that care often occurs in a rapid rate and as a patient the environment may be experienced as stressed. The relationship with the nurse at the ward establishes a foundation for how the patient experiences the health care.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can limit patients physical abilities and contribute to social isolation. The purpose of this literature study is to investigate men's and women's experiences of living with chronic obstructive pulmonary dis-ease, and the supporting and guiding role of the nurse to an increased quality of life. 13 critical reviewed articles were used to find the answers to our questions. Quality rating forms were used in order to guarantee a good scientific quality. The results show that, it is of great importance for the COPD-patients well-being to experience social support from those around them, and to have a close relation-ship with their families and friends, in order to experience quality of life.

Background: High demands are today placed upon Swedish elderly care nurses as more elderly live with multimorbidity while the hospital bed capacity is becoming lower. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore nurses? perception of decision-making in situations with acutely ill patients in nursing homes and which factors may influence the decision about transferring patients to the emergency department or not. Method: This is a qualitative study with a phenomenographic approach. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with 11 nurses working in nursing homes. The data analysis was based on Dahlgren and Fallsberg (1991) data analysis. Result: Three different description categories were presented, which describes variations of the nurses? perceptions.Feeling comfortable in making the decision; which involved the nurses feeling confident in the decision-making about transferring patients to the emergency department or not.Hesitant in making the decision; which described how nurses perceived the decision-making as problematic, with regard to transferring patients to the emergency department.Many wishes to consider in taking the decision; which explained how nurses? decision-making was influenced by requests from the patients or from people close to them.Conclusion:  The study reflected how  supporting and aggravating factors could influence how nurses in nursing homes perceived the decision-making and how nurses have to take in consideration different opinions concerning the decision making process of transferring patients to the emergency department or not.

Introduction Every tenth patient in Sweden is affected by nosocomial infections. Among these, urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most frequently occurring within the hospital environment. Nosocomial infections lead to increasing costs for care, more suffering among the patients, increasing use of antibiotics, and longer treatment spells. The Academic hospital have engaged all wards in the so called VRISS-project (?nosocomial infections must be stopped?) in order to reduce the number of nosocomial infections.Aim In connection to the VRISS-project new routines for removal of uretrahl catheters are introduced at ward 70E2 at the Academic hospital.

?Studies have shown that patients receiving mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit (ICU), who are entirely dependent on the nursing staff, often experience frustration due to a temporary loss of the voice source. Limited communication is an important factor contributing to patient discomfort. Nursing staff also report communication as frustrating and difficult.The aim of the present study is to introduce a neck-type electrolarynx as a communication aid in an ICU, to study the nursing staff experiences of communication with tracheotomized patients receiving mechanical ventilation, and to examine the patient´s experiences regarding communicative abilities. Communication between a ventilator treated, tracheotomized patient and members of the nursing staff was recorded and analyzed according to principles of Conversation Analysis (CA).The results show that several members of the nursing staff experience difficulties communicating with tracheotomized patients receiving mechanical ventilation.

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).

Background: Prediabetes is caused by relative insulin deficiency and insulin resistance in the body tissue which leads to abnormal blood glucose levels. Prediabetes can over time lead to type 2 diabetes mellitus. To prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes and its complications, it is important to identify early elevated blood glucose levels and thereby prediabetes.Objective: To describe nurses' knowledge and experience regarding the management of patients with prediabetes.Methods: Qualitative descriptive design with individual interviews. Three nurses, three community health nurses and three diabetes nurses were interviewed.Results: The result can be understood from the nurses' experiences of encountering patients with prediabetes. An overarching theme in the analysis was that the nurses are working or aspiring to work preventively.

 Conclusion:Medical treatment may have a role in platelet count after transfusion. Since the TACSI platelets passed the quality requirements, and the vast majority of patients platelet count increased after TACSI platelet transfusion, the TACSI platelets will replace the old method to produce platelets at the Uppsala University hospital.  Methods: A new approach that pools 8 buffy coats (TACSI platelets) that were separated into 2 units instead of 4-6 buffy coats pooled to 1 unit was investigated in this study. After the platelets were extracted from the buffy coats their quality was controlled and subsequently the platelet product was evaluated in 96 patients. Results: The results showed that 80 % of the platelet units passed the European quality requirements. Further, the platelet count was increased in most patients that received TACSI platelets. Conclusion: Medical treatment may have a role in platelet count after transfusion.

Forensic psychiatric care is a complex business. Patients who are cared for in forensic psychiatry are usually in need of care for a long time. The forensic care is a major intrusion into a person's life and the nurses and caregivers are the people who spend the most time with patients. They have a difficult mission providing a good and personalized care while patients are deprived of their liberty. Previous research demonstrates that patients experience forensic care as uncertain, insecure and punitive but that there are also glimpses of "good care".

Bakgrund: Sepsis ?r ett livshotande tillst?nd med h?g global d?dlighet, som kr?ver snabb identifiering och behandling. Sjuksk?terskor p? akutmottagningen har en central roll i att uppt?cka tidiga tecken p? sepsis. Utmaningen ligger i symtomens ospecifika karakt?r, vilket g?r sjuksk?terskans strategier och kliniska bed?mning avg?rande f?r patientens ?verlevnad. Syfte: Syftet ?r att unders?ka vilka strategier sjuksk?terskan anv?nder sig av vid identifiering av tidiga tecken p? sepsis p? akutmottagningen.

Syftet med denna litteraturstudie är att undersöka patienternas psykosociala omvårdnads behov vid cancersjukdom. Metoden är en litteraturstudie, där tio vetenskapliga artiklar ligger till grund. Den teoretiska referensramen är Antonovskys syn på hälsa. Resultatet av denna studie visar på att cancerpatienter behöver Emotionellt stöd, Stärka känslan av hopp och Bibehålla sin livskvalitet. Genom dessa tre teman har det visat sig att patientens KASAM kan stärkas..

Anorexia nervosa is a severe and multifaceted eating disorder generally found in the female population. Throughout anorectic starvation relationship related conflicts revolving round power and autonomy are bound to happen. For that reason the most crucial part of treatment should be to build a trusting relationship.The aim of this study was to describe relationship promoting strategies a nurse can use during care of anorexia nervosa patients. This literature study derives from a qualitative analysis of scientific articles. The findings indicate on five different strategies a nurse can use during care of anorexia nervosa patients.

AimThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of MotVikt´s obesity-treatment program on eight severely obese subjects, concerning Body Mass Index, Waist-Circumference and Weight after three and a half months and Sense of Coherence, Body Image and Self-experienced Health after three months. The question in focus was: Did MotVikt´s obesity-treatment program have any effects concerning the factors mentioned above?MetodInformation was collected with questionnaires that were filled out by the eight subjects, three men and five women, who participated in MotVikt´s last round of treatment. Data concerning waist-circumference, weight and BMI were provided by MotVikt. The questionnaires that were used to get information about Sense of Coherence, Body Image and Self-Experienced health were SOC-29, BSQ and IQOLA SF-36.ResultatThe average BMI in the group has decreased with 2,9 kg/m2, from 39,7 till 36,8.