Patient care guidelines are usually implemented one at a time, yet patients are at risk for multiple, often preventable, adverse events simultaneously. This study aimed to test the effect of the SAFE or SORRY? programme on the incidence of three adverse events (pressure ulcers, urinary tract infections …

We thank the authors Hayden and Glenn for commenting on our paper ‘The introduction of a nursing guideline on depression at psychogeriatric nursing home wards: Effects on Certified Nurse Assistants’, which was published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies (Verkaik et al., 2011). In our paper …

Because dental health and oral pathology may affect forensic psychiatric patients' well being, it is important to be able to assess oral health related quality of life (OH-QoL) in these patients. Two studies were conducted among Dutch forensic psychiatric male patients to assess the psychometric properties …

AIM: This paper is a report of a study conducted to describe the accuracy of nursing documentation in patient records in hospitals. Background.  Accurate nursing documentation enables nurses to systematically review the nursing process and to evaluate the quality of care. Assessing nurses' reports in …

To date, it is unknown whether waist circumference can be measured validly and reliably when a subject is in a supine position. This issue is relevant when international standards for healthy participants are applied to persons with severe intellectual, sensory, and motor disabilities. Thus, the aims …

Background: Patients in hospitals and nursing homes are at risk for the development of often preventable adverse events. Guidelines for the prevention of many types of adverse events are available, however compliance with these guidelines appears to be lacking. As a result many patients do not receive …

Adolescents with chronic conditions have to learn to self-manage their health in preparation for transitioning to adult care. Nurses often struggle with how to approach youth with chronic conditions successfully. Little is known about the preferences and attitudes of these young people themselves.

Implementation of innovations is a complex and intensive procedure in which different strategies can be successful. In nursing, strategies often focus on intrinsic motivation, competencies and attitudes of individual nurses while ignoring the social context. Since nurses often work in teams, identifying …

BACKGROUND: It is unclear if psycho-education on top of physical training is of additional value regarding quality of life in revascularised patients. DESIGN: Prospective randomised study comparing two types of cardiac rehabilitation: exercise based versus a more comprehensive approach including psychological …

Several studies have reported improved survival rates thanks to the use of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in the treatment of patients with life-threatening arrhythmia. However, the effects of the ICD on health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) of these patients are not clear. The aim …