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Comments on an article which examined patients' satisfaction from nursing care using the Care/Satisfaction Questionnaire. Advantages of the use of the questionnaire; Areas for future research; Confusions posed by the investigation of patients' satisfaction and perceptions of caring.

Presents a letter to the editor on the domains of quality of life.

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the care provided to people with chronic kidney disease within a larger study of nurse-run, physician-monitored clinics, as well as how patients, nurses, and nephrologists described their experience with the clinics. Interviews were conducted with 7 nurses, 5 physicians, and 23 patients. Data collection also entailed review of 40 randomly selected charts. Identified themes related to characteristics of the nurse, patient-centred care, health promotion, teaching, dealing with problems, time, protocols, consultation and referrals, clinic logistics, paperwork/documentation, and nurse-physician collaboration. Challenges and outcomes were also described as part of the experience with the clinic. Patients were actively engaged in self-management and reported high levels of satisfaction with care as well as improvements in selected outcomes. Overall, the perceptions of this model of care were positive and the approach warrants further exploration.

The purpose of this project was to test the WHOQOL-100, an instrument for assessing quality of life (QOL), developed to facilitate cross-cultural comparison. The instrument was tested with a convenience sample of 144 people. The mean age of participants was 58 years and 41% were female.Test-retest reliability was .86 for the physical domain, .78 for the psychological domain, .91 for independence, .87 for social relationships, .77 for environment, and .60 for spirituality. Consistency reliability was .77 for physical, .79 for psychological, .89 for independence, .71 for social relationships, .80 for environment, and .89 for spirituality/ personal beliefs. Correlations of the various domains with other instruments, including the SF-36, the Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, and the Visual Analogue Scale for Pain, supported the convergent validity of the instrument. The instrument was able to discriminate between healthy and ill populations, providing support for construct validity.

A large number of Aboriginal people await transplantation, and reluctance to donate organs has been noted among Aboriginal people. The purpose of this study was to explore the values and beliefs regarding organ donation of Coast Salish people living in British Columbia, Canada. Interviews were held with 14 people (8 women and 6 men) ranging in age from 25 to 63 years. Contextual themes were: lack of trust, life in Aboriginal communities, and tension between contemporary and traditional perspectives. Themes pertaining to death and dying were: acceptance of fate, death routines/rituals, and body wholeness. Themes pertaining to organ donation were: "we don't talk about it," transfer of spirit, and helping others. There was considerable diversity in beliefs among participants, which suggests that the beliefs held by an individual Aboriginal person should not be assumed to reflect those of any specific Aboriginal community.

Collaborative nursing education programs have been offered to facilitate access to baccalaureate-level nursing education. Our Collaborative Nursing Program involved 10 institutional partners and has been one of the largest of such programs. The collaborative approach to nursing education has been identified as an important model; the benefits include optimal use of resources and opportunities to develop and share knowledge across institutions. However, there has been little public discussion of the issues and challenges that emerge, including differing cultures, priorities, vulnerabilities, goals and aspirations between colleges and universities; desire to preserve autonomy and uniqueness; and complexity of approval and accreditation processes. Some of our college partners have chosen to offer an independent applied degree in nursing rather than continuing in a collaborative academic degree program. This paper describes the challenges inherent in maintaining quality of the degrees and strategies to increase the likelihood of continuing collaboration. Clarity and transparency are vital, and supportive programs involving mentorship of educators can foster increasing autonomy of colleges. Collaborative nursing programs pose many challenges, and their future will hinge on understanding mutual goals and expectations.