Patient's rights and nurses in the 21st century
Szûcs Á., Lipták K.

The aim of the authors was to examine whether nurses possess a knowledge of patients' rights, whether they are able to name such rights, and whether this knowledge depends on their level of formal education or the number of years they have spent in their profession.
They also attempted to answer the question of whether, in the opinion of nurses, the initiation of a complaint procedure has any effect on the relationship between the patient and the healthcare worker, and that impact that complaint has on the staff and the patient care department as a whole.
The research was carried out using a quantitative, self-completed questionnaire, containing 17 closed questions and 1 open question.
The authors found, as a result of their survey, that although nurses are aware of patients' rights, their level of knowledge can only be regarded as average, and not sufficient. In the authors' opinion it is necessary to expand and clarify knowledge of certain patients' rights. According to the results of the survey more than half of the nurses questioned had come across a complaints procedure in the course of their work, and do not believe that they would be able to assist a patient in filing a complaint, but it was also found that if requested to do so by a patient, the majority would nevertheless provide assistance in remedying the problem.

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Suicide and depression: nurses' role in recognition and prevention
Sebestyén B., Gonda X., Berze H., Rihmer Z. MD

Aim: To determine the significance of healthcare workers (doctors and nurses) in recognising the risk of suicide in psychiatric patients, and in preventing suicides.
Method: Review of Hungarian and international literature on the subject, and summary of experiences gained in the course of everyday clinical practise.
Suicide is an exceedingly complex, biological, psychological and social phenomenon, behind which lie innumerable interrelated factors and risks. It is also the result of several factors that the situation with regard to the recognition of suicidal tendencies and the prevention of suicidal acts remains far from ideal.
Research has proven that one of the main risk factors contributing to suicides is major depression. It is also fact that, depending on the standards of treatment and the level of development in the given country, depression is an under-diagnosed and under-treated illness everywhere in the world.
In the knowledge of suicide risk factors, and through the direct observation of patient conduct, the threat of suicide can be predicted with great certainty, and with the appropriate intervention suicidal acts can be prevented in a substantial proportion of cases.
Since 40-65% of suicide victims seek some form of medical treatment during the last four weeks of their life, healthcare personnel have a key role to play in recognition and prevention, and this is especially true of nurses, particularly on psychiatric wards and clinics.

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Disaster management at institutions
Dakó K.

At the Kecskemét Flying Hospital, owing to its status as a military institution, particular attention has to be paid to disaster prevention and dealing with the consequences of disasters. However, disasters do not necessarily occur only in military hospitals, but can strike anywhere and at any time. Therefore, all healthcare specialists must be aware of the most important tasks that need to be performed in an emergency situation, since effective and timely treatment can save lives.
All healthcare institutions have to put in place a disaster plan, the contents of which are regulated by various decrees and laws. General experience shows that the staff at healthcare institutions are not aware of such content, and therefore are not even aware that, in emergency situations, applying the disaster plan would enable them to provide quicker and better-coordinated assistance to the wounded, thereby saving more lives. The purpose of the article is to raise awareness of the disaster plan, and present the means of its implementation in the given institution

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How micro-surgery has altered the nursing and rehabilitation of ophthalmic patients
Bódi M., Petõ T., B. Tóth B.

Abstract
The changes in ophthalmic nursing have been largely influenced by the improvement in surgical techniques. Historically, both cataract and retinal detachment surgery required long postoperative care and therefore placed a large burden on the nursing staff. With the new surgical techniques, most ophthalmic operations only require short hospitalisation, but this has influenced both the nursing requirements and the challenges of appropriate care provision.
In this paper the historical background to the most common operation in ophthalmology, cataract operation, and one of the most potentially devastating disease, retinal detachment surgery are looked at. These require different nursing approaches and these are discussed in this paper.
Today microsurgical techniques are widely used in Hungary as well in the treatment of these diseases. Unfortunately even these do not guarantee success and patients need to be prepared for this by the doctors and the nursing staff.
Therefore we propose that all patients receive the appropriate and detailed information about their disease, its complications and these are reinforced by the nursing staff while caring for the patients. This way the patients are fully informed, know what to do in case of an emergency and with this approach, the potential devastating and debilitating and potentially avoidable complications of this disease can be lessened.

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A survey of demand for an experimental home-monitoring device in Zala county
Karamánné Pakai A., Peterka G.MD, Dér A., Bujtor A., Dancsné Balogh K., Czömpöl O.

Within the framework of a GVOP tender, three departments of the Budapest Technical University have embarked on development of a home device for monitoring health in the home without requiring any special training, which provides more accurate data that the instruments currently used, and measures a greater number of physiological parameters.
A team at the Zalaegerszeg Training Centre of Pécs University has undertaken to disseminate information regarding the development, and to assess demand for the device. the survey sample consisted of 192 randomly selected nurses working in healthcare institutions, social workers, and aged sufferers of cardiovascular disease. The respondents considered the development of the new instrument to be justified, owing to the opportunity that it provides for continuous monitoring of health, reassuring people who live far from healthcare institutions, the rapid identification of acute conditions, and the alarm function. The device could also become a means of preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, thereby improving longevity and lengthening working lives, enhancing the quality of life and preventing sustained periods of inactivity, thus contributing the national effort to reduce blood pressure and raise general health.

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The rehabilitation of patients with short bowel syndrome - a case study
Kovács I.

In the case described by the author, owing to a mesenterial thrombosis, the patient developed small and large intestinal atrophy, accompanied by diffuse peritonitis. In the course of a laparotomy, followed by another laparotomy that became necessary a few days later, an intestinal resection was performed, with the result that after the operation the patient was left with approximately 50 cm of small intestine and 75 cm of large intestine. Under these circumstances, owing to the short length of bowel, the patient was unable to receive adequate nutrition enterally. The essential nutrients, trace elements and vitamins had to be administered parenterally. Because of the permanent need to feed the patient parenterally, the decision was taken to implant a subcutaneous Porth-A-Cath catheter.
The author describes the most important events of the post-operative period, the nursing problems and the individual stages of the patient's gastroenterological rehabilitation.
In view of the considerable extent of the bowel loss, the patient can no longer be fed exclusively by enteral means, and therefore to this day the patient receives a course of parenteral nutrition, supplemented with trace elements and vitamins, once a week at an anaesthesiology clinic. The patient is as well as can be expected under the circumstances, and lives contentedly in a well-balanced family environment.

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