Evaluation of Student Perceived Self-Efficacy With the Implementation of a Problem-Based Learning Module

To facilitate the graduation of competent registered nurses, healthcare educators must create learning environments that foster content expertise, problem solving, collaboration, and refined learning skills. Although countless teaching strategies are in existence today, problem-based learning (PBL) has revealed noteworthy potential in healthcare education. In PBL, complex, reality-based problems are used as motivation for students to identify salient concepts, gather data, and ultimately work through posed problems. Considerable evidence supports the use of PBL as a method to promote learning, though examining knowledge alone cannot always assess actual behavioral performance. To ascertain the likelihood learned concepts would be utilized in practice, we can evaluate perceived self- efficacy. According to Bandura, self-efficacy is the degree to which an individual believes that a behavior can be successfully performed to produce a desired outcome. Information learned provides a foundation for performance to transpire, but in the absence of self-efficacy performance may not even be attempted. This study examined the relationship between PBL and perceived self-efficacy. Using a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design, self-efficacy was measured using Schwarzer and Jerusalem\u27s General Self-Efficacy Scale. The study found that the perceived self-efficacy of undergraduate nursing students who participated in a PBL skills laboratory module were significantly higher than their counterparts who studied the same topic in a class not employing PBL

The Nurse’s Story: A Qualitative Study Of How Nurses Experience Caring For Patients Who Die Unexpectedly

The primary purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the experience of compassion fatigue among nurse professionals in order to examine natural grieving reactions and how they potentially change nurses’ lives. The focus of this study included nurse professionals working in rural community hospitals in Upstate New York. The nurse professionals in the study were exclusively those who identify and practice as registered nurses (RN). The nurses were asked to share their experiences of repetitive exposure to critical incidents (unexpected outcomes, mass casualties, and/or death of infant/child/young adult). Purposive sampling was utilized as a means to select participants. The researcher collected data by conducting face-to-face interviews with each participant. Nurses recalled experiences of high stress caregiving were examined as they relate to critical issues of compassion fatigue, also known as vicarious traumatization, or secondary traumatic stress disorder. After interviewing six registered nurses and analyzing the data, six themes emerged: (a) Sometimes We Do Lose People, (b) You Need to Find Something that Works for You, (c) Too Close to Home, (d) I Care, (e) It’s Not a Job, (f) Self-Preservation, and (g) The Role of Hospital Administration. In addition to the six major themes, there were 14 subthemes. Through this qualitative research, it has become clear to the researcher that nurses make significant sacrifices to ensure the health and well-being of others. They give of themselves to mend the physical, mental, and emotional wounds of others. Nurses need to have support early and often to debrief, share their experiences, connect with their colleagues, and be celebrated for the lifesaving work they do

Modularity in action.GNU/Linux and free/Open source sotfware development model unleashed.

Organizational and managerial theories of modularity applied to the design and production of complex artifacts are used to interpret the rise and success of Free/Open Source Software methodologies and practices in software engineeringmodularity; software project management; free/open source software; division of labor; coordination; information hiding

Landmine Survivors Network Victim Assistance Programs

The Landmine Survivors Network (LSN) assists victims through the support of other landmine survivors. A number of programs and networks are available for coping and reintegrating survivors and their families back into their communities

Working in a minefield; Nurses’ strategies for handling medicine administration interruptions in hospitals, -a qualtiative interview study

Abstract: Background: Administering medicines is one of the most high-risk tasks in health care. However, nurses are frequently interrupted during medicine administration, which jeopardises patient safety. Few studies have examined nurses’ experiences and the strategies they adopt to cope with interruptions during medicine rounds. This paper identifies nurses’ strategies for handling and reducing interruptions and ensuring safety during medicine rounds, within the confines of the hospitals’ organisational systems. Methods: This descriptive and exploratory research study was undertaken with experienced nurses in Norwegian hospitals in 2015 using semi-structured interviews. Interviews were designed to elicit experiences and strategies used for handling interruptions to medicine rounds. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis based on inductive reasoning to identify meaningful subjects and reach an interpretive level of understanding regarding nurses’ experiences. Results: All 19 senior nurses who were approached were interviewed. From 644 condensed meaning units, we identified eight interpretative units and three themes: ‘working in environments of interruptions’, ‘personal coping strategies’, and ‘management-related strategies’. Nurses’ working environments were characterised by interruptions and distractions, which often threatened patient safety. To handle this unpredictability and maintain ward organisation, nurses developed their own personal strategies to overcome inherent problems with their working conditions, the absence of effective management, and colleagues’ reluctance to assume responsibility for minimising interruptions. Conclusions: Administration of medicines in hospitals can be described as ‘working in a minefield’. Our findings indicate that the hospital management, in cooperation with nurses and other healthcare professionals, should take responsibility for improving the routine process of medicine administration by minimising avoidable interruptions. Patient safety can be improved when the hospital management takes steps to protect nurses’ work environments and assumes responsibility for resolving these challenges

Working in a minefield; Nurses’ strategies for handling medicine administration interruptions in hospitals, -a qualtiative interview study

Background: Administering medicines is one of the most high-risk tasks in health care. However, nurses are frequently interrupted during medicine administration, which jeopardises patient safety. Few studies have examined nurses’ experiences and the strategies they adopt to cope with interruptions during medicine rounds. This paper identifies nurses’ strategies for handling and reducing interruptions and ensuring safety during medicine rounds, within the confines of the hospitals’ organisational systems. Methods: This descriptive and exploratory research study was undertaken with experienced nurses in Norwegian hospitals in 2015 using semi-structured interviews. Interviews were designed to elicit experiences and strategies used for handling interruptions to medicine rounds. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis based on inductive reasoning to identify meaningful subjects and reach an interpretive level of understanding regarding nurses’ experiences. Results: All 19 senior nurses who were approached were interviewed. From 644 condensed meaning units, we identified eight interpretative units and three themes: ‘working in environments of interruptions’, ‘personal coping strategies’, and ‘management-related strategies’. Nurses’ working environments were characterised by interruptions and distractions, which often threatened patient safety. To handle this unpredictability and maintain ward organisation, nurses developed their own personal strategies to overcome inherent problems with their working conditions, the absence of effective management, and colleagues’ reluctance to assume responsibility for minimising interruptions. Conclusions: Administration of medicines in hospitals can be described as ‘working in a minefield’. Our findings indicate that the hospital management, in cooperation with nurses and other healthcare professionals, should take responsibility for improving the routine process of medicine administration by minimising avoidable interruptions. Patient safety can be improved when the hospital management takes steps to protect nurses’ work environments and assumes responsibility for resolving these challenges.publishedVersio

Socketless Option for Prosthetic Care

Dr. Chaz Holder developed Socketless Technology for prosthetics, a revolutionary approach to prosthetic care. In this article, his colleague describes this technology and its many applications

Attitudes and Practices of Perioperative Nurses Effecting the Election of Wearing Protection from Occupational Radiation Exposure

Health effects from exposure to radiation are unpredictable. On a daily bases, nurses working in the perioperative setting are exposed to medical x-rays (ionizing radiation) and are vulnerable to its carcinogenic effects. Regardless of the potential health consequences, the use of protective equipment remains inconsistent among perioperative nurses. Most research studies regarding nurses\u27 occupational health risks either failed to include or separate radiation exposure from chemicals and blood borne pathogens. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the attitudes and practices of perioperative nurses that influence their decisions to wear or not wear radiation protection equipment during surgical and postsurgical procedures that utilized ionizing radiation. The participants were a convenience sample of 13 perioperative nurses in a rural Western North Carolina hospital. The mean years employed as a nurse was 24 years. The study revealed that there was not a statistically significant relationship between the attitudes and behaviors of perioperative nurses effecting their decision to use or not use protective equipment. However, the research identified lack of time and equipment to be main reasons for non-compliance with utilizing radiation protection equipment. Secondly, of the 13 participants, over half, (53.8%), expressed a desire for more education, indicating a need for additional staff training regarding occupational radiation exposure

Woman-Centered Outcomes for Medical and Surgical Abortion: A Systematic Review of Core Outcomes

Background: The prevalence of global abortion rates coupled with the lack of systematic assessment tools for monitoring women's abortion experiences has necessitated the creation of a core outcome set (COS) outlining key outcomes of women's abortion experiences. Objectives: Utilizing a woman-centered lens, this project attempts to establish this core outcome set through a qualitative systematic review of key abortion outcomes as espoused by women's perspectives across the globe. Methods: A qualitative review was performed to determine outcomes that are meaningful to women experiencing abortion. Findings: After analyzing the qualitative data produced by the 32 included studies, nine core outcomes were established. These outcomes include continuity of care, the capacity to cope effectively with the psychological dimensions of abortion, and the capacity for self-care/self management during their abortion processes. Women also discussed the importance of feeling a sense of autonomy, choice and control during their abortion experiences as well as feeling that healthcare providers met their information needs. Feeling emotionally supported by healthcare providers as well as having felt treated respectfully by healthcare providers, the capacity to control/management of pain, side effects and complications and the social repercussions of abortion were identified as core outcomes. Conclusion: Incorporating these findings into relevant surgical and medical abortion trials has the potential to increase the impact of women's perspectives and experiences on the study of abortion