Browsing by Subject "Loss"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Connecting Points in the Void
    (2023) Rasure, Kara Beth; Robinson, Cory; Holder, Dawn; Furqueron, Reagan
    This research argues that optimistic Nihilism provides a unique perspective for exploring the concept of loss and the intrinsic relationship between loss and meaning. By examining various forms of loss and their impact on human experience, the research reveals that mystical meanings can be found in the most nihilistic spaces. Creativity and making serve as a function in coping with loss in the human condition.
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    Effect of Bariatric Surgery on CKD Risk
    (American Society of Nephrology, 2018-04) Friedman, Allon N.; Wahed, Abdus S.; Wang, Junyao; Courcoulas, Anita P.; Dakin, Gregory; Hinojosa, Marcelo W.; Kimmel, Paul L.; Mitchell, James E.; Pomp, Alfons; Pories, Walter J.; Purnell, Jonathan Q.; le Roux, Carel; Spaniolas, Konstantinos; Steffen, Kristine J.; Thirlby, Richard; Wolfe, Bruce; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Obesity is linked to the development and progression of CKD, but whether bariatric surgery protects against CKD is poorly understood. We, therefore, examined whether bariatric surgery influences CKD risk. The study included 2144 adults who underwent bariatric surgery from March of 2006 to April of 2009 and participated in the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery-2 Study cohort. The primary outcome was CKD risk categories as assessed by the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) consortium criteria using a combination of eGFR and albuminuria. Patients were 79% women and 87% white, with a median age of 46 years old. Improvements were observed in CKD risk at 1 and 7 years after surgery in patients with moderate baseline CKD risk (63% and 53%, respectively), high baseline risk (78% and 56%, respectively), and very high baseline risk (59% and 23%, respectively). The proportion of patients whose CKD risk worsened was ≤10%; five patients developed ESRD. Sensitivity analyses using year 1 as baseline to minimize the effect of weight loss on serum creatinine and differing eGFR equations offered qualitatively similar results. Treatment with bariatric surgery associated with an improvement in CKD risk categories in a large proportion of patients for up to 7 years, especially in those with moderate and high baseline risk. These findings support consideration of CKD risk in evaluation for bariatric surgery and further study of bariatric surgery as a treatment for high-risk obese patients with CKD.
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    Impact of personal experiences on career path, clinical practice, and professional endurance among hospice nurses caring for dying children
    (Sciedu, 2022) Porter, Amy S.; Reeves, Tegan J.; Zalud, Kristina; Applegarth, Jacob; Woods, Cameka; Gattas, Melanie; Rutt, Emily; Williams, Karen; Baker, Justin N.; Kaye, Erica C.; Cameka; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Context and objective: The multifaceted demands of pediatric hospice work often discourage nurses from pursuing the career route and may overwhelm nurses who choose to do the work, risking burnout. The relationship between nurses’ personal experiences and their decisions to pursue this difficult work, as well as their ability to sustain it, has not been studied previously. The study objective was to explore the influences of pediatric hospice nurses’ personal experiences on their career trajectories, their clinical approaches to caring for dying children, and their endurance in doing so. Methods: From the 551 community hospice nurses in Tennessee, Mississppi, and Arkansas who completed a survey as part of a previous study, purposive sampling was used to select a cohort of 41 nurses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded, and transcribed. Content analysis of interview transcripts was performed. Results: Nurses described three types of personal experiences that shaped their professional practice: 1) personal illness, 2) personal loss, and 3) parenthood. We identified two major themes characterizing how personal experiences influence their work: 1) leading them into the hospice field (“career trajectory”) and 2) strengthening their clinical practice (“clinical approach”) through four mechanisms: a) identifying tools for patient care, b) connecting with pediatric patients, c) connecting with bereaved families, and d) finding balance between competing priorities. Conclusions: Personal experiences of illness, loss, and parenthood influence hospice nurses’ career trajectories and how they care for dying children. Normalizing these influences and integrating reflection on them into hospice training may empower nurses to pursue pediatric hospice nursing, find meaning in the work, and build professional endurance.
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    Longing For More Time
    (2014) Stoffer, Bridgit; Winship, Andrew
    My drawings and installations intertwine creating visual poems that allow my audience to view my inner world through shared experience and invites them to consider moments of honest vulnerability exposed in the quiet subtlety of what they witness. My narrative is always the starting point while I reflect upon and deepen an understanding of: the impact and resilience on seen and unseen realties, trying to rebuild out of brokenness, and our longing to preserve something lost. My work explores how one negative act can provoke determination and resolve. Through process and material exploration I’ve created ways that allow my art, much like an individual, to find a way to not simply endure, but navigate a path to thrive in the grim environments I create. Time is my true medium as I consider: temporality, lifespan, evolution and preservation. I use material and process to establish a passage of time so that I may reveal the way we hold on to things that are falling apart around us. I'm interested in making ephemeral objects that encapsulate a moment, holding it in place to somehow preserve something that would otherwise be lost even though they should not and cannot last. I expose this loss and our need to preserve what we can while holding on to the preciousness of the time we have that isn’t yet gone.