| Getting to the bottom of the matter Nursing lecturer imparts embarrassing knowledge in research documentNurses must acquire some skills that non-medical people find embarrassing, disgusting, maybe even childish. Such knowledge can be difficult to obtain from the standard medical books and journals. A monograph called How to Perform a Digital Removal of Faeces aims to remedy one such gap in the literature.Gaye Kyle, a senior lecturer at the faculty of health and human science at Thames Valley University in Slough, researched the subject in depth. She published her findings in the journal Continence Essentials.There exists an official document that purports to provide the digital-removal information a nurse needs to know. But Kyle finds that document wanting. She complains that: "The publication of Digital Rectal Examination and Manual Removal of Faeces – Guidance for Nurses by the Royal College of Nursing addressed many issues concerning the professional and legal aspects of the manual (digital) removal of faeces. However, the document did not give detailed guidance on how to actually carry out the procedure."Kyle is can-do when it comes to how to. What must be discussed she discusses, prissy diplomatic mincing be damned. "Digital removal of faeces is a procedure that many healthcare workers are not confident about performing," she writes. "However, in some patients it is a necessary part of their routine bowel care".Some aspects of the situation strike her as dangerous and ludicrous. "Some nurses are actively refusing to undertake digital removal of faeces on spinal cord injury patients either because they have not been trained or, even more alarmingly, because they think they are not allowed to perform the procedure at all."Kyle uses plain language to describe the entire procedure, listing 25 distinct, specific actions. These range from the philosophical to the hands-in. For each action, she states a rationale, removing the guesswork that would stymie many an unconfident healthcare professional.Why should one ensure privacy? "To help the patient relax and minimise embarrassment."Why should one "place water-based lubricating gel on gloved index finger... for patients receiving this procedure on a REGULAR basis"? The reason is practical and also commonsensical: "To facilitate easier insertion of index finger."Kyle explicates technical minutiae, but only when and where such is needed to provide a clear, unambiguous understanding. "Gently rotate the finger 6–8 times in a clockwise motion and withdraw", she directs, then goes on to tell how many times the rotation may be repeated.Kyle has given us a case study in the way vital knowledge can remain hidden and difficult to get at, especially when it pertains to matters or matter that can remain hidden and difficult to get at.• Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prizeNursingResearchHigher educationMedical researchMarc Abrahamsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Struggle to save whales on NZ beach Volunteers have been working around the clock to save at least 24 pilot whales from a large pod of more than 70 found stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand. bbc.co.uk |
Intellectual Poverty | Lily Asquith Lily Asquith makes an impassioned plea for science. Time to watch Alom Shaha's film again, perhapsScientific research is not a luxury, without it we wouldn't have anything, not even hope. Those who think the world is moving too fast for them, it's not going to slow down if UK science is blown out of the water, it's going to keep on going while we sit there and descend.Particle physics does an unfathomable amount of good for everybody. Without particle physics research everyone would have died from the cancers that are treated by proton therapy, we wouldn't have the World Wide Web, iPods, satellites, or chocolate*. How can that even be quantified?There's a lot of kerfuffle at the moment about the "brain drain" - UK scientists leaving for America or Europe because they can't get a job in the UK any more. This is undoubtedly a real effect, but perhaps doesn't seem that relevant to the average UK tax payer. Or MP.I've left the UK already, because the 6 pounds an hour I was earning as a barmaid just wasn't enough to pay off the debt I got into learning my subject. I'm well aware that particle physics seems abstract and unnecessary to most people, so I'm doing something about that. Projects that cost a lot, like the LHC and the royal family and so on, should be appreciated by everyone who pays for them. We weren't really making that possible and that was wrong.It's a common line that those in favor of LHC funding push: we wouldn't have the www if it weren't for UK particle physics. Nobody really cares about that now, because everyone knows that the web is free and belongs to everyone, and nobody really cares how it got there. But the web is really just the tip of the iceberg. When I look at some of the people I know and they are working 70-80 hours a week and are eyewateringly smart and dedicated, I want them to have some sleep because I care about them, but I feel excited. It excites me that these amazing people are working on new ideas and thinking and developing them all the time.Even the ones who aren't brilliant at physics are vital. Software engineers cost a bloody fortune compared to physics PhD students/postdocs. That's why we are forced to spend half our lives (almost exactly, including the time most people spend sleeping) coding (writing computer programs using c++), which is an activity that at least 50% of physicists find abhorrently difficult, at first anyway. I am one of those, I didn't know how to do email until I started my PhD and spent the entire first year of it wishing I was dead.The UK is fucked financially. We all feel it. People are going to suffer because there isn't enough left on the credit card to keep us living to the standard we are used to. It'll last for ages, then it will improve and then it will get worse again. But there is hope where there are people who are dedicated and highly trained in providing solutions to seemingly intractable problems such as these and such as the much worse ones that will face us in the future.The Peoples' concern is quite rightly with ensuring that as many people as possible have access to healthcare, education and a job, therefore the people in charge of allocating money in this country will wonder how they can justify spending money on cutting-edge scientific research when there are people dying of cold because they can't pay their gas bill. I completely understand the problem of being a bit too preoccupied with just getting by to start doing something crazy like thinking about further than two weeks into the future. I've been about as deep in poverty as a person can get in the UK for a large part of my life. It's quite hard to think about hardcore research when you are shattered and disillusioned and wondering if you can afford to make dinner for two or just eat your kid's leftovers. And yes it is that bad.What UK science means to me is hope, and I for one don't mind tightening my belt a bit now if it means there is a brighter and better future for my daughter and her friends, and her children if she has them, and their friends, if they have them…So when those deciding where to spend the last dregs of the overdraft look at everyone with their hands out they will probably try and put a sticker on particle physics that says "not necessary". If they do that then we are all going to die.*I made that up about the chocolate.Jon ButterworthLily Asquithguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Australian's Ottoman treasure hunt stalled An attempt by a Greek-Australian prospector to find a hoard of Ottoman treasure in Greece has run into trouble. abc.net.au |
Forty-year mystery of Mars solved ASTRONOMERS said they could explain a four-decade-old enigma surrounding rugged troughs and a chasm in the northern ice cap of Mars. news.com.au |