Caring for elderly patients is an undertaking for a majority of Swedish nurses in different health-care sectors. The purpose of the study was to understand how nurses experienced the meaning of caring for elderly patients after 2 years as Registered Nurses. Interviews were conducted with 20 nurses 2 years after graduation. Data were analysed with a phenomenological–hermeneutic method and resulted in two themes: (i) providing the elderly with a sense of trust; and (ii) commitment to elderly patients. Each theme was made up of four subthemes, expressing both positive and negative aspects. Caring for the elderly means that the core of caring is in focus. Nurses need a supportive context for their care of the elderly, especially when they experience that they or their staff cannot provide the optimal quality of care for the patients.
Qualitative nursing researchers have long recognized that reflective practice (RP) seems to be a valuable tool in nursing care. The aim of the present meta-study was to analyse current qualitative research on RP in nursing care, in order to create and synthesize the knowledge and the understanding of registered nurses' RP. Using a meta-study synthesis approach, embedded assumptions were identified in qualitative studies that have influenced the way researchers have interpreted and made sense of RP in nursing care. Despite empirical focus in research on RP in nursing care, it was found that assumptions about RP were predominantly based on theory. The reflective movement within the practice of nursing care has mainly a constructivist epistemology, based on learning from experience. The individual nurse's RP capability is essential in providing and improving ethical and holistic nursing care.
Many nursing home patients with dementia suffer from symptoms of agitation (e.g. anxiety, shouting, irritability). This study investigated whether individualized music could be used as a nursing intervention to reduce such symptoms in four patients with severe dementia. The patients were video-recorded during four sessions in four periods, including a control period without music, two periods where individualized music was played, and one period where classical music was played. The recordings were analysed by systematic observations and the Facial Action Coding System. Two patients became calmer during some of the individualized music sessions; one patient remained sitting in her armchair longer, and the other patient stopped shouting. For the two patients who were most affected by dementia, the noticeable effect of music was minimal. If the nursing staff succeed in discovering the music preferences of an individual, individualized music may be an effective nursing intervention to mitigate anxiety and agitation for some patients.