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Volume 23, Issue 2, 2001

PDF cover and abstracts

Making waves: What Mary Glover taught us!

Karen McEwen, RN, LLB

Abstract

Karen McEwen, as the Mary Glover Lecturer, presented the following text in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the conference of the Canadian Association of Neuroscience Nurses in June 2001.

Good morning. Although it may sound somewhat cliché, it truly is an honour to have been asked to be this year’s speaker, particularly as we mark the twentieth anniversary of the Mary Glover Lecture.

As most of you know, Mary Glover was a British nurse who came to Canada in 1968. She worked at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, on the neurosurgical unit and was an active member of the Canadian Association of Neuroscience Nurses, otherwise known as CANN, for several years. Tragically, Mary was killed in a plane crash in 1979. The following year, in recognition of her commitment to nursing, her family established and generously donated money to the Mary Glover Fund—in support of neuroscience nursing education—and since 1981, the Mary Glover Lecture series has been an integral component in that education. Now, every year at the annual meeting of CANN, those of use who share Mary’s commitment to neuroscience nursing have an opportunity to honour her memory and pay tribute to her family’s generosity, caring and interest in the nursing profession, and particularly, the education of neuroscience nurses.

AXON, 23(2), 8–12.

Continuity of care for short-stay neurosurgery patients: a quality improvement initiative

Pikka Lam, BSc, Carole L. White, BScN, MSc, CNN(c), Sharron Runions, BSc, BScN, CNN(c), and Carole-Ann Miller, BSc, MSc(A), CNN(c)

Abstract

Decreases in the length of hospital stay for patients undergoing spinal surgery prompted this evaluation of the post-discharge needs of patients and the strategies that patients and their families employ to meet these needs. The nature and extent of post-discharge problems experienced by newly-discharged patients was required as a baseline for the evaluation and improvement of discharge planning. Forty patients were interviewed following discharge, 20 patients within the first week of discharge, and 20 different patients between three and four weeks after discharge. Most patients reported that they had been well-informed about pain management and the majority of patients reported that pain was well-controlled. There was a subset of patients, however, who continued to report high levels of pain, even at one month after discharge. Less than one in three patients stated that they had received information about wound care and the information received was not consistent among health professionals. Given the limited time to prepare patients for discharge, this project highlights the need for written materials and for systematic follow-up after discharge.

AXON, 23(2), 14–21.


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