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Publikace detail

Is the sense of smell important in nursing as well?

Autoři: Pellant Arnošt | Mandysová Petra | Škvrňáková Jana | Vodička Jan

Rok: 2014

Druh publikace: ostatní - článek ve sborníku

Strana od-do: 142-142

Tituly:

Jazyk	Název	Abstrakt	Klíčová slova
eng	Is the sense of smell important in nursing as well?	Specific odours accompany a number of diseases and can thus alert clinicians to the possibility that a disease is present. Additionally, odours can provide important information about the patient’s general state of health and habits (poor hygiene, smoking, alcohol abuse, etc.). Despite all this, the importance of olfactory assessment in the provision of health care has not been sufficiently emphasized. The aim of this work is to focus on this aspect of health and, most importantly, to describe the importance and role of the nurse in olfactory assessment. Important findings available in the Czech and Slovak ear, nose, and throat (ENT) literature will be presented as they are relevant internationally as well. Based on the published experience of Czech ENT experts including nurses and physicians, nursing olfactory assessment (as opposed to an assessment conducted by other health care professionals) is important for the following reasons: a) most nurses are women who observe and evaluate odour in a more sensitive way than men do; b) nurses spend more time with patients than physicians and are more aware of the patient’s health status and needs; c) nursing care contains the concept of basal stimulation including intense sensory stimulation that builds on odour assessment; d) education of nurses and their approach to patients is based primarily on observation compared to the approach of physicians who base their assessments mainly on laboratory or imaging methods, and e) the list of nursing diagnoses contains a variety of domains related to the quality of olfactory perception. Although olfactory assessment cannot be recommended as a mandatory procedure for a reliable diagnostic process, multidisciplinary collaboration is important and the results of the nurse’s assessment should be used by other health care workers involved in the patient’s diagnosis and treatment.	assessment; nursing; odour; sense of smell