This article discusses the central role of the Norwegian professor Kari Martinsen in the discourse of the nursing profession. The key question is: how have Martinsen’s critical and anti-modern beliefs become central to the nursing discourse? The article argues that this is determined by a transformation of some of Martinsen’s fundamental beliefs – her phenomenological perception of cognition.

The analysis is methodologically and epistemologically inspired by the French philosopher Michel Foucault’s archaeological studies.

Firstly it is explained in which direction Martinsen’s beliefs lie. Subsequently the transformation of her beliefs is shown. It is concluded that, on the one hand, the transformation is necessary in order to adapt Martinsen’s beliefs to the discourse but, on the other hand, that the transformation disarms the core of Martinsen’s message.

The purpose of the study was to gain a further understanding of patients who survive cancer „against all odds“. The key research question was whether – and how – these patients had actively tried to win back their life’s and health. Eight survivors were interviewed. The methodological approach was based on phenomenology and the qualitative research interview.

The participants used various alternative therapies. Their attitude and the fact that they took responsibility for their own situation are viewed as the most important reasons for their positive state of health. Health personnel showed little interest in their efforts to cope. The medical staff often communicated the medical prognosis as a death sentence that could crush all hope; there was nothing more that could be done to combat the disease.

According to the findings, survival statistics should not be a guide as to how hope is communicated to the individual patient. The focus must be ethical hope. The public health service must communicate respect for the patient’s own coping strategies.

This article discusses possible reasons for the lacking development of practical skill among newly trained nurses in their first year of practice. In a field study over one year nurses were video-filmed and interviewed in two typical nursing skills. The lack of practical skill revealed by this study may have causes grounded both in nursing education and the clinical field. Possible reasons are interpreted and discussed in relation to findings in the original study and in more recently published national and international research studies.

This article highlights some of the barriers which can limit the ability to provide care for heavily alcohol addicted patients. The article discusses some possible explanations as to why the relationship between the nurse and the alcohol addicted patient can be characterized by preconceived notions and stigmatizing. The article focuses on the interaction/relationship between patient and nurse and, not least, on what courses of action are available to the nurse to change the drinking pattern of the patient, even during a brief hospitalization.

The purpose of this article is to focus on the idea of shared care from the patient’s perspective. The article shows that there are very few investigations into shared care related to the patient’s perspective. Other descriptions and studies of patients’ experiences with the health care system reveal that, in particular, exposed people and groups of patients with fragile health are left in a void of loneliness, dependence and desolation.

This happens because the health care system is unable to coordinate and take the responsibility for prolonged and complicated cases, and those which involve cross-sectorial and interdisciplinary collaboration. Shared care from the patient’s perspective might be of help to nurses in difficult situations concerning care and treatment, and help them find a way to meet the patient’s loneliness, dependence and desolation.

The objective of this article is to describe autonomy and informed consent in nursing practice. Through the use of literature studies the article describes when, how and under what circumstances informed consent is relevant in nursing practice. Autonomy and informed consent are described on the basis of four elements: competencies, voluntariness, information and consent, and these elements are related to nursing practice. Competencies are the ability to comprehend information and to decide based on knowledge. Voluntariness is described as freedom from compulsion and other forms of regulatory influence. In relation to autonomy and informed consent, information is a defined nursing responsibility in connection with self-managed nursing duties, nursing research and duties where nurses have been entrusted with responsibility for treatment. Consent is necessary in those situations where specific information is required.

Ethics in nursing practice has changed from action based values as implicit knowledge to ethical reflection as a tool in an academic profession. This shift is not only a historical matter but reflects a new way of being a nurse practitioner. To integrate both reflection and action based values, a new focus on ethics needs to be added in which personality is crucial.

Even though adolescents and young adults with cancer represent the patients of the 21st century, they are often overseen in cancer care. This is also the case in research, where there is a lack of studies into the needs of young people, and into how health care professionals can support them adequately.

This article describes how the early steps of a practice based research project focusing on the young cancer patient have been initiated and established at the Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. The project involves the staff in all units, and includes three nursing research studies.

The objectives of the project are: 1. to develop knowledge about young cancer patients (aged 15-40 years), 2. to develop care and nursing to the target group, 3. to create better experiences of the collaboration between the general practitioner and the hospital/oncological department, 4. to create and test a model of collaboration between researchers and practitioners.

It is the authors’ intention to describe the progress of the study in forthcoming articles in Clinical Nursing.