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Hemodialysis patients undergo hemodialysis two to three times a week and must live together with the dialysis machine. The patient's self-participation is to combine the patient's own experience and professional knowledge to influence the care. A successful self-participation experience empowers patients to adapt to living with hemodialysis. However, few studies have been conducted regarding the subjective experiences of such patient participation. There is a lack of a self-participation dialysis life scale for hemodialysis patients. Therefore, this study aims to develop and evaluate a self-participation dialysis life scale for hemodialysis patients. The items for the self-participation dialysis life scale were confirmed through qualitative interviews based on grounded theory. After expert content validity evaluation, 435 hemodialysis patients were purposively sampled from hemodialysis centers in two regional teaching hospitals in Taiwan. Descriptive statistics, principal axis factoring, reliability analysis, Pearson's correlation, and one-way ANOVA were used for data analysis. The results show that the item- and scale-content validity indices are 0.96 and 0.73, respectively. This scale is divided into two scales. The first part is "Scale of Perceptions of Hemodialysis", including two factors. The overall can explain 66.34% of the cumulative variances. The second part is the "Scale of Self-Participation in Hemodialysis", including four factors. The overall can explain 58.91% of the cumulative variances. The Cronbach's α is 0.812 for "Perceptions of Hemodialysis" and 0.959 for "Self-Participation in Hemodialysis", respectively. The self-participation dialysis life scale has good reliability and validity and can be used to evaluate the implementation of a patient's self-participation in their hemodialysis life. Discussing or consulting with patients based on their characteristics, life priorities, and their desired life on dialysis is essential for a high-quality of clinical care among hemodialysis patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nasal problems are a commonly encountered diseases in the ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialty. People with nasal problems usually seek medical therapy. When the problem cannot resolved by medical therapy then surgery becomes an option. According to statistics of the ENT unit where author served in 2006, 255 patients underwent nasal surgery. Swelling and pain are the most common discomfort symptoms for patients after nasal surgery. After data collection, it was found that only 16.7% of patients were willing to use ice packs, because they attached poorly (100%), were difficult to secure (100%), and were inconvenient to use (83.3%). After seeking an alternative ice pack replacement, the group decided to use a latex glove filled with 50 gm crushed ice and water in its index and middle fingers, tied with shoe laces and tied to the ears. The project involved three periods: preparation, execution, and evaluation. The results showed that 96.7% of patients were willing to use the new ice pack. The satisfaction rate for use of the new ice pack was 96.7%. The results of this project might improve patients' quality of care, as well as cost reduction.