Rural Nursing- small, ongoing projects

Reindriftssamer har pleie- og omsorgsbehov i to kommuner

Hovedbudskap: Hensikten med artikkelen er å belyse en kommunes erfaringer med å samhandle og vurdere behov for pleie- og omsorgstjenester for samiske pasienter som tilhører reindriften og kommer til sommerhjemmet. Dette er en viktig problemstilling med tanke på reindriftssamenes rett til likeverdige helsetjenester uavhengig av hvor de oppholder seg. Fagartikkel: DOI: 10.4220/Sykepleiens.2022.88154

June Brita Eira og Grete Mehus, 2022

I Norge er det en helsepolitisk målsetting at alle skal kunne bo hjemme lengst mulig, også hvis man trenger helsehjelp som kan gis hjemme. For å muliggjøre dette er uformell omsorg svært viktig. Over 50 % av befolkningen er involvert i uformelle omsorgsoppgaver. Dette innebærer blant annet tilsyn, bistand til handling, husvask og transport og noen ganger oppgaver av mer helsemessig art. Hensikten med denne studien er å belyse innholdet i den uformelle omsorgen som gis i rurale kystkommuner i Finnmark, samt å drøfte etiske dilemmaer tilknyttet dette. Vi intervjuet seks kvinner og menn mellom 65 og 75 år. Vi benyttet innholdsanalyse og identifiserte tre typer omsorgspraksiser: a) å bistå med uformell helsehjelp; b) å holde øye med hverandre; og c) å dele mat og det man høster i naturen. I tillegg fortalte deltagerne om ulike etiske dilemmaer rundt det å være involvert i disse omsorgsoppgavene. Mer overordnet viser studien at den uformelle omsorgen utføres ulønnet, uorganisert og ivaretar de hjemmeboende eldre. Den representerer et hvilende nettverk som fungerer som sikkerhetsnett når de offentlige helse- og omsorgstjenestene ikke imøtekommer omsorgsbehovet.  

Grete Mehus og Anne Giæver , 2022

Palliative care in rural and remote areas. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1892-2686-2020-03-02

Introduction: In Finnmark, the northernmost county of Norway, many villages are remote and scattered between vast stretches of uninhabited land, with mountain crossings that are often closed in winter or where one can only drive in single file behind a snowplough. This may mean periodic total isolation and daily challenges with long distances to other professionals and hospitals. These special circumstances mean that nurses must act more independently than elsewhere. Objectives: The aim was to explore the challenges of rural nurses in palliative cancer care, and the prerequisites to maintain a suitable professional standard in their nursing. Methods: This study is qualitative with an explorative design and reports the results of the content analysis of interviews with five nurses, living in small, multi-ethnic villages. Findings: The main finding of the study is that the nurses experienced themselves as being alone geographically and professionally in their practice of palliative care. The established infrastructure for performing advanced nursing in patients’ homes is poorly adapted to the geographical and professional situation in rural areas such as Finnmark, and suboptimal information about patients arriving from hospitals can compromise the quality of care. Advanced nursing is performed when specialists are far away and there is no palliative team, and they care for patients who are often their family members, friends and acquaintances, which involves role ambiguity and a risk of over-involvement. Conclusion: The study shows that requirements to enhance palliative cancer care are to establish palliative teams, discharge summaries present in transition, the necessary drugs and medical equipment for several days, and relevant training of personnel.

Prosjektperiode: 2018-2019

Prosjektleder:Trine Lise Edvardsen

Prosjektmedarbeidere: Geir Lorem og Grete Mehus.

Scoping review of  research  on rural nursing in Norway

In Norway, many areas can be classified as rural on climatic, geographic or demographic grounds. The rural context means that nurses and patients face circumstances and situations that are different, or do not occur in urban areas. The aim of this study was to identify existing research literature to ascertain what is known about nursing in rural areas of Norway. Scoping review, following Arksey and O`Malley`s methodological framework was used. A total of 111 articles were identified from searching five databases, twenty articles were included. This study gives an overview of rural descriptions and also provides a geographic presentation of areas categorized as rural in existing Norwegian nursing research. Only eight of the twenty articles described the rural context. The lack of descriptions makes it difficult to compare and conclude on causal relationships in the field. Increased awareness and more research into challenges that confront patients and nurses in rural settings in Norway is needed. doi:https://doi.org/10.7557/14.4238

Prosjektperiode: 2016-2017

Prosjektleder: Svenja De Smedt

Prosjektemedarbeider/veileder: Grete Mehus

Alle er finansiert av intern FoU tid fra IHO,UiT