Introduction: On the surgical wards in most hospitals in Sweden patients with different surgical needs are cared for. Patients with gastrointestinal conditions are, for example, nurtured alongside patients with urological disorders or patients in need of observation for head trauma. When the nurse, in addition to these patients, have to care for patients with palliative care needs can be perceived as problematic for nurse and patient alike.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore nurses' perceptions of care for patients with palliative care needs on an acute surgical ward, based on a person-centered perspective.Method: A focus group interview was conducted with the strategic selection of nurses from two acute surgical wards in a county hospital in western Sweden. The data from the interview were analyzed with qualitative directed, deductive content analysis with person-centered care as a theoretical framework. The theoretical background shows that person-centered care includes partnership, participation and structured documentation.Results: The results of this study show that even a fourth category, organization, emerged and needed to be reported.

Background:In Sweden there are several thousand surgical procedures performed every day. The treatment is expected to be efficient, profitable and safe. Despite that, complications occur in 3-16 % of the surgical procedures. To prevent this, WHO has developed a surgical safety checklist containing safety issues to give the surgery team an opportunity to a last control that everything has been properly done. The profession of the surgical nurse focuses mainly on patient safety especially regarding hygiene and sterility.Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate and describe the perceptions of the perioperative nurses regarding WHO: s surgical safety checklist.Method:To test the suitability of the method a pilot study was performed where tree operating room nurses were interviewed and the data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.Results: Four categories emerged; Increased patient safety, enhanced team spirit, good planning, stronger professional role.Discussion: The result from the study showed positive perceptions regarding the surgical safety checklist, a fact known from earlier research.Conclusion: The results of the pilot study showed that surgical nurses had good support in their work when the surgical safety checklist was used..

ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is to illustrate how surgical operation theatre nurses perceive debriefing within emergency health care. The study has a qualitative design with semi structured interviews that have been performed with seven operating room nurses working in emergency health care. The strategic selection consists of professional operation theatre nurses working in emergency care at Uppsala University Hospital. The main goal of this thesis is to increase the understanding of debriefing and to highlight the need of debriefing after difficult or unexpected events in the emergency health care profession.The interviewed nurses perceive debriefing as an important way to develop the day to day work, but also as a way to unburden the staff at the time of bigger traumas. Even though the effect of debriefing is not univocally positive in the literature, the staff perceives that it reduces different kinds of stress.

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.

Postoperative site infections are the second most common health care associated infection in Sweden. Surgical procedures can lead to postoperative site infection causing great suffer for the patient and an extended care time with an increased cost as a result. In preparation for surgery, it is important that the skin is well prepared with antiseptics to decrease the risk of postoperative site infection. The purpose with this study was to shed light upon the skin preparation before surgery and its significance to postoperative site infection. Ten scientific articles have been scrutinized and compiled and two themes have been identified ? the preoperative and the intraoperative skin preparation.

Background: A patient undergoing surgery will meet many caregivers in different settings pre-, intra- and postoperative in the surgical pathway. Lack of communication is a common digression and the handoff is such an occasion. The purpose is to describe current knowledge about the patients´ right to safe care perioperative. The study is a systematic review (pilot). Result: The handoff was informal, unstructured and inconsistent.

The aim of this study was to investigate the intraoperative surgical stress response in dogs undergoing ovariohysterectomy and to compare acepromazine and medetomidine as premedications. 15 dogs diagnosed with pyometra were used in this study. Blood pressure and heart rate were used as parameters to measure surgical stress response. The surgery was divided into four phases. Phase 0 was the period 10 minutes before the skin incision, phase 1 was skin incision and opening of abdomen, phase 2 was manipulation of uterine horns, ligation and transection of mesovarium and phase 3 was ligation of cervix, removal of organs and closing the abdomen. The results showed that phase 2 was the most intense phase of surgical stress, regardless of which premedication the dogs received. When acepromazine and medetomidine were compared the results showed that within phase 3, all dogs that were given medetomidine had higher blood pressure compared to dogs that were given acepromazine. The dogs that were given acepromazine had higher heart rate than the dogs that were given medetomidine in phase 0, phase 2 and phase 3. .

Introduction: Balance between the essential nutritive substances is important for aperson to maintain health. The surgical patient can be stricken with conditions, whichhave a negative impact on this balance and can lead to malnutrition. Working as a nurseit is important to identify patients that are malnourished or is in the risk zone ofmalnourishment since 30 % of all patients in hospitals are malnourished.Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the compliance to the guidelines fornutritional assessment and parenteral nutrition on a surgical ward. Also whether thenutritional treatment/-support was reported to the next caregivers if the patient wasmalnourished or was in the risk zone of malnourishment at the time of discharge.Method: 80 patients enrolled on the ward in the beginning of year 2011 were included.Audit of patient records was made according to the hospital guidelines for nutrition andparenteral nutrition and followed a study specific protocol.Results: The examination of the case records showed that the guidelines for nutritionwere partly complied with. Nutritional treatment/-support was reported to the nextcaregivers when needed.

As reptiles are becoming more common as patients in veterinary clinics, there is a need for creating new procedures regarding the care of exotic pets. The aim of this study was to develop a wound care routine adapted to reptiles, which can be used independently by a veterinary nurse due to the absence of prescription drugs or surgical techniques. The study was conducted by compiling the available research regarding wound care in reptiles, as well as research from related fields. The result indicates that polyurethane films and chlorhexidine-alcohol may advantageously be used on these patients. Hydrocolloid dressings and silver sulfadiazine dressings have adverse effects on wound healing and should not be used routinely in reptiles.

Operationssjuksköterskan träffar dagligen patientersom ska genomgå någon form av kirurgi. Många patienter upplever rädsla och oroi den perioperativa perioden där operationssjuksköterskan har som uppgift attskapa en tillitsfull relation och vara ett stöd för patienten. Humor har visatsig ha en positiv inverkan på interaktionen mellan patient och vårdare. Syfte: Att sammanställa kunskap om hur patientenoch sjuksköterskan kan uppleva humor i omvårdnaden och hur humor kan användassom ett kommunikationsredskap. Metod: Metodenvar litteraturstudie.

The perioperative nurse's primary responsibility is to care for the patient during the operation?s three phases; before, during and after. The communication between colleagues in the surgical department is increasing opportunities for safe care for the patient and a good dialogue with the patient can alleviate the concerns facing the unknown environment such as an operating theater. The pilot study was to investigate the surgical nurses' perceptions of conversations with the patient one year after graduation. To answer the pilot study's aim a qualitative interview study was chosen with a phenomenographic approach.

Background: In today's Swedish health care, it is required that the various professionals must work together in teams to safer care. Several professionals with various skills expected working together in the traumateam at the care of the traumapatient. At the same time, research shows that substandard teamwork leads to avoidable errors in care. One way to improve teamwork is to practice. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to shed light on the experiences of the traumateam exercises that exercise participants feel has been favorable for the patient at the initial care of trauma patients.

Background: In today's Swedish health care, it is required that the various professionals must work together in teams to safer care. Several professionals with various skills expected working together in the traumateam at the care of the traumapatient. At the same time, research shows that substandard teamwork leads to avoidable errors in care. One way to improve teamwork is to practice. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to shed light on the experiences of the traumateam exercises that exercise participants feel has been favorable for the patient at the initial care of trauma patients.

The high incidence of cranial cruciate ligament injury in dogs results in both suffering and significant costs due to treatment and care of affected dogs. Today there are several different technics for surgical treatment in dogs with ruptured cranial cruciate ligament. At University Animal Hospital (UDS), SLU, in Uppsala two fundamentally different methods; TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) and external fixation with suture material are practiced. The aim of this study was to estimate if the different surgery technics result in any difference regarding the function of the dog in a long term perspective. Since motion and function are very affected by arthritis, was the purpose also to determine if there are any differences in developing arthritis between dogs surgical treated with external fixation respectively with TPLO. Development of arthritis is common after surgery or traumatic injuries in a joint, such as cruciate ligament rupture. Unfortunately was the number of dogs in the study to small to achieve two comparable groups.

ABSTRACTBackground: Obesity and overweight are health issues that more than every tenth person around the world suffers from and the number of individuals with BMI >30 is every growing. As a result, more patients that are subjects to anesthesia will have an increased BMI. Changes in respiration, airway anatomy, altered drug metabolism and multiple physiological changes in the body makes general anesthesia, of the patient with obesity, an anesthesiological challenge.Purpose: The aim of this study is to identify the specific anesthesiological nursing care of the patient with a BMI >30, undergoing general anesthesia.Method: A research plan is created and to test its credibility, a pilotstudy of 15 surveys in two surgical departments will be conducted. This study has a qualitative inductive design and the data collected through semistructured questionnaires. The result was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.Result: The result showed a clear focus on three main areas; airway management, pharmaceuticals and positioning of the patient.