LETTERS S C H W A R T Z A R T I C L E : A S E N S I T I Z E R How moved I was to read Doris Schwartz 's "Catas t rophic Illness: How It Feels" in Par t I of GN's fea- ture on the care of the acutely ill old- er adult (Sept . /Oct . , p. 302).

She indeed is a great lady who touches many lives as she continues to reach out to help all of us as nurses to be more sensitive to the pa- tient and what the patient can teach US.

I 'm also excited about GN's Older Authors of the Year Contest (Sept . / Oct., p. 293) whereby men and wom- en who are 70 and older may write about their personal experiences in health care and what they have come to expect of the nurse.

DORIS L. WAGNER, RN, Ind.

D E M M E R L E A R T I C L E A I D S H O S P I T A L I N S E R V I C E Ter r i f i c ! - -Barbara Demmerle 's arti- cle "Genera l Nursing Care" (Sept . / Oct. '82, p. 316). It is very good reading for the staff nurse in an acute hospital. I plan to use it in my inservice programs on the hospital units.

D. ELIZABETH FREED, RN, Ind.

C O R R E C T I N G E R R O R S In Karen Kay Esberger 's article "Staking a Claim" (Ju ly /Augus t , p. 246), there is a significant discrep- ancy between her references to Con- stance Ailekian's findings and the results Allekian reported in " In t ru- sions of Terr i tory and Personal Space," Nursing Research, M a y / June 1973, p. 237.

On page 247, Esberger cited Alle- kian's study as suggesting " tha t pa- tients in long-term chronic care fa- cilities experience more anxiety than patients in acute care hospitals when their terri tory is invaded."

However, al though Allekian hypo- thesized that there would be a differ- ence in the feelings of anxiety be- tween these two patient groups (AI- lekian, p. 237), her results showed no significant differences on either ter- ritory or personal space. This hypo- thesis was therefore rejected (Alle-

kian, p. 239). Page 247 of the Esberger article

cites the Allekian study as showing that "persons hospitalized a year or more have been shown to evince greater anxiety over territorial and personal space intrusions than those who are hospitalized less than a year ." Again, Allekian hypothesized that there would be such a differ- ence, but her findings revealed no significant differences between pa- tients hospitalized for more than a year or less than a year on either ter- r i tory or personal space. This hypo- thesis was therefore rejected (Alle- kian, p. 239).

Since these findings were inter- preted incorrectly, readers might reach some false conclusions. There- fore, I think it beneficial to share these corrections.

PATRICIA L. LANE, RN, La.

Dr. Esberger replies: I see Ms. Lane's point. In the manuscript as submi t ted both quotes in question began with "'It has been fur ther hy- pothes ized t h a t . . . "' Apparent ly the original interpretation was lost in the editing process.

The Editors reply: Ms. Lane and Dr. Esberger are both correct. The mis- take was ours. This regrettable er- ror points up the need for editors to be more careful and f o r authors to reject any editorial alteration unless it is correct.

D O L P H I N S C O N T I N U E T O M U L T I P L Y Good heavens, Geriatric Nursing certainly has a wide readership!

To date we have received 77 let- ters from over 32 states, Canada, and Australia in response to my arti- cle "You ' r e a W H A T ? What"s a Dolphin?" (Mar . /Apr . '82, p. 118). Six new programs are in the process of forming in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Illinois, and New York.

When some day there are Dol- phins visiting residents in nursing homes around the world, the staff of G N can know they helped spread the word.

V I R G I N I A T H O M A S , Pa.

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Geriatric Nursing January/February 1983 13