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The Department of Nursing Science with a focus on Person-Centred Care Research is currently conducting a study on the topic of "Person-centered practice in the field of intensive care". The question being investigated is how person-centered care practice can be implemented and established in the field of intensive care. The perspective of patients and relatives is essential to answering this question. The aim is to develop an understanding of what it means to feel perceived as a person and well cared for as a patient or relative in an intensive care unit. You are therefore cordially invited to take part in an interview. We are looking for participants who have been a patient in an intensive care unit within the last 12 months or who have accompanied a loved one during an intensive care stay.

More information can be found here: Person-centered practice in the field of intensive care | Karl Landsteiner Private University (kl.ac.at)

Registration for participation: https://forms.office.com/e/CahpRymE9L

This year, Hanna Mayer was once again involved in a medical aid project in the south of Nigeria. She was involved in both pediatric and hand surgery. A special moment was the personal encounter with Grace, a young woman from a very humble background, who is able to study medicine thanks to the sponsorship of the Rectorate and some KL professors. She is already in her third semester and is studying with excellent results

At the end of the year, the project “Development of a competence model to anchor person-centeredness as a key competence in higher education nursing training in German-speaking countries” - “PerCen NursEdu” for short - will be launched in the Department of Nursing Science.

Together with research institutions from Germany, Switzerland and Italy and funded by Erasmus+, the KL team is working to develop a framework for the bachelor's degree in health and nursing that will promote the development of person-centered practitioners in German-speaking countries.

The objectives of the project are to identify person-centered competencies and survey how these can be developed and evaluated in degree programs, as well as to investigate the required attitudes and pedagogical competencies and knowledge of teaching staff. This results in the description of what is required for the development of a person-centered teaching and learning culture and the derivation of recommendations for nursing curricula and practice development in teaching.

Overall, the PerCen NursEdu project offers a forward-looking response to the challenges in the healthcare sector and ensures that nursing education meets ethical and humanistic requirements.

The team from the Department of Nursing Science is looking forward to the start of this exciting project.

As part of a research stay at the University of Sydney, Australia, our colleague Theresa Clement will be working with international experts in the field of person-centered nursing research from November 2024 to the end of January 2025.

Together with Prof. Brendan McCormack (Head of the Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health) and his team, she will deepen her research there as part of her dissertation on person-centered practice in the intensive care unit and gain valuable insights into the field of research. We are delighted that Theresa Clement will be representing the department's team in Sydney for the next three months to gain valuable experience and insights that she will bring back to KL.

Prof. Dr. Hanna Mayer and Martin Wallner published their article “Nursing effectiveness reconsidered: Some fundamental reflections on the nature of nursing” as a contribution to the theoretical discourse on the nature of nursing and research into its effectiveness in the journal “Nursing Philosophy”. Although professional nursing is considered the proverbial backbone of our healthcare systems, it is still difficult to scientifically demonstrate its contribution to positive patient care experiences and outcomes. To this end, the authors outline a number of prevailing paradoxes and their consequences in relation to nursing and nursing research, as well as possible approaches to address them.

Further information: Nursing effectiveness reconsidered: Some fundamental reflections on the nature of nursing - Mayer - 2024 - Nursing Philosophy - Wiley Online Library

Alles Clara - “The app that makes caring easier” has been successfully in operation for two years, which was celebrated at a birthday party with all stakeholders at Erste Campus on October 2, 2024. In pilot operation, the app has been downloaded 3,400 times so far and 400 consultations have been held with over 1,000 users.

Nicole Traxler (Managing Director of Alles Clara gGmbH) gave an optimistic outlook for the future: “Together with all stakeholders, we are working on making Alles Clara available to everyone throughout Austria free of charge. We have now been able to expand our chat-based counseling and support to include the option of telephone and video calls between those seeking advice and counselors. We are also delighted with the excellent results of the scientific monitoring and appreciative awards that make 'Alles Clara' more visible. Thank you to everyone who made this success possible.”

Hanna Mayer, Katharina Gabl and Theresa Clement are providing scientific support for the Alles Clara project at KL.

This year's EDCNS took place at MedUni Graz on September 20 and 21 under the motto “Looking back and looking forward”. Thomas Falkenstein from KL's Nursing Science team took part with the presentation “Felt-bodily communication as a medium for parents and their children with care needs: a neo-phenomenology perspective” and Birgit Schönfelder with the presentation “PerCenAI - Development of Artificial Intelligence to analyze patient stories in the context of Person-Centred Nursing Quality”.