needing a little help for thesis

[leng_calingasan]

good afternoon,..i just want to ask for maybe a little help? you see, the topic our group have chosen to work on is "possible mental disturbances of ICU nurse experiencing death of their critically ill patients." we want to know if there are any disturbances possibly experienced by both volunteer nurse and staff nurse. can anyone please share any ideas on how we can improve our topic, how we can make it more concise?to have a direction in our study? what would be our related literature? we're also thinking about how death of critically ill patients affects the psychological well-being of nurses, and how it also affects their efficiency and effectiveness in the clinical area..hmmm.. and another thing, how could transference and counter-transference be part of the study....thanks a lot!!it would really help!!:typing

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

I would look at 'critical incident debriefing' in critical care, and how it impacts the staff.

[elprup, BSN, RN]

Wow, I hated that class. Go back to your instructor for clarification and assistance. WE did and got sooo much help. good luck!

[NurseKitten, MSN, RN]

The AACN Journal a couple of months ago ("Critical Care Nursing") was entirely devoted to the effects of death and dying on staff members caring for the patient, and how it was not only the care of the patient that affected the staff, but watching the family suffer. Do an Ovid or EBSCO search for it - your reference librarian at your school's library can show you how if you don't know.

Good luck.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

Have you tried the PICO approach? Check out sites on Evidenced based practice for more info on that. It helps to drill down to a good topic. For instance, regarding your topic --- what do you want to know about the "mental disturbances"? That they exist? That most ICU nurses are affected? That there are no ways to assess for the problem and little or no interventions found in the literature? What EXACTLY is your objective in writing this paper?

[leng_calingasan]

thanks for the replies..

our thesis adviser told us to just work with death and it's effect on the quality of performance of ICU nurses...

to asses what are the factors that contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of nurses in the ICU in relation to experiencing death of their patients..

anyway, any suggestions?we're going to defend our topic with our subject teacher...then we will consult our adviser...

im not really a smart student..tanks for the help..=)

[Trishalishus, PhD, CNS]

... and another thing, how could transference and counter-transference be part of the study....

Here's my ten cents: transference and counter-transference are psychology terms. In this instance I s'pose your supervisor might be thinking that counter-t might apply... I think it's a misuse of the terminology. In counter-t the psychoanalyst/psychologist reacts to the patient's transference (i.e. patient begins to project his/her subconscious/unconscious needs/issues usually relating to parent-child relationships onto therapist). In c-t the therapist responds to the transference by projecting his/her subconscious/unconscious needs/issues onto the patient; no longer seeing the patient for who he/she is but rather as a mother-figure/father-figure etc.

It is nonsense to say that nurses who grow fond of a patient who dies are experiencing c-t. Similarly, it is also inaccurate to say that c-t is occurring in nurses whose own fear of death is aroused by the death of a patient.

Strongly suggest you negotiate this aspect OUT of your thesis. Both issues raised in the paragraph above can be covered under the subheadings Causes of Grief and Fear of Death

Good luck