8th Annual Research Week- Event Proceedings

8th Annual Research Wee

An exploration of the career histories of leading female nurses in England and Scotland.

SIGLELD:D46979/83 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Tablet-based Self-management Intervention for Diabetes Mellitus Type II Patients: Usability and Efficacy of The ASSISTwell Tool

Background: The usefulness of technology and the powerful capabilities of technological applications have led to a significantly increased interest in finding novel approaches to support older adults’ self-management. Self-management technological applications have been used in various contexts, and usability is key in sustainability and adoption of such technologies. Objective: The purpose of this research is to assess the usability of the ASSISTwell application in an older adult population with Diabetes Type II (DMII) and explore whether the application can effectively enhance DMII patients’ self-management. Design: Qualitative interviews, Observation, and Quasi-experimental design. Methods: Semi-structured interviews, observation, documentation, and quantitative standardized measures were used in this study. A purposive sample of 24 elderly patients with DMII was recruited for the study. Descriptive and inferential analysis were used to analyze the quantitative data. Simple content analysis was used to organize the emerging usability themes. Results: User feedback from the four-week user intervention demonstrated good usability of the ASSISTwell application. After using the ASSISTwell for 30 days, there was significant improvement in the perceived diabetes self-management skills of the intervention group (difference in mean PDSMS (F (1, 20) =5.11, p=0.035). Furthermore, those who used ASSISTwell (mean= 30.22, SD= 6.34) had higher PDSMS scores than those who received usual care without ASSISTwell (mean= 23.95, SD= 7.12). There was no significant difference in mean blood glucose levels (F (1, 20) =0.37, p=0.54) between the two groups. Those who used ASSISTwell (M=178, SD=40) had lower blood glucose levels than those who received usual care without ASSISTwell (M=185, SD=49), but the difference is not statistically significant. Conclusions: The novel ASSISTwell application presented in this paper helped participants improve their diabetes self-management skills. A well-designed application with new features has the ability to provide more promising results regarding improving perceived diabetes self-management skills. Also, examining usability is an essential step in application development to ensure that the application\u27s features match users\u27 expectations and needs and minimize the likelihood of user errors and difficulties using the system

An Exploratory Study of Patient Falls

Debate continues between the contribution of education level and clinical expertise in the nursing practice environment. Research suggests a link between Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) nurses and positive patient outcomes such as lower mortality, decreased falls, and fewer medication errors. Purpose: To examine if there a negative correlation between patient falls and the level of nurse education at an urban hospital located in Midwest Illinois during the years 2010-2014? Methods: A retrospective crosssectional cohort analysis was conducted using data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) from the years 2010-2014. Sample: Inpatients aged ≥ 18 years who experienced a unintentional sudden descent, with or without injury that resulted in the patient striking the floor or object and occurred on inpatient nursing units. Results: The regression model was constructed with annual patient falls as the dependent variable and formal education and a log transformed variable for percentage of certified nurses as the independent variables. The model overall is a good fit, F (2,22) = 9.014, p = .001, adj. R2 = .40. Conclusion: Annual patient falls will decrease by increasing the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees and/or certifications from a professional nursing board-governing body

The American Academy of Health Behavior 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting: Health Behavior Research in the Age of Personalized Medicine

The American Academy of Health Behavior (AAHB) hosted its Annual Scientific Meeting at Loews Ventana Canyon in Tucson, AZ March 19-22, 2017. The theme of the meeting was “Health Behavior Research in the Age of Personalized Medicine.” This publication describes the meeting theme, podium presentations and workshop, and includes the refereed abstracts presented at the 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting

Key Topics on End-of-Life Care for African Americans

Racial classifications of human populations are politically and socially determined. There is no biological or genetic basis for these racial classifications. Health behaviors may be influenced by culture and poverty. Disparities in health outcomes, sometimes resulting in higher mortality rates for African-Americans appear to influence end of life decision-making attitudes and behaviors. To improve the quality of end of life care in African-American communities, health care professionals must better understand and work to eliminate disparities in health care, increase their own skills, knowledge and confidence in palliative and hospice care, and improve awareness of the benefits and values of hospice and palliative care in their patients and families

How Can we Use Simulation to Improve Competencies in Nursing?

This open access book offers an overview of theories related to simulation and describes different simulation areas within nursing. It illustrates how simulation may be used in different levels in professional education. The book deals with the role of the Simulation Facilitator, peer learning and the use of Virtual Reality in simulation. It provides new insights and paths to the development of the use of simulation within nursing and healthcare and contributes with new knowledge from research and experiences of implementation of different simulating scenarios within nursing and midwifery. It is intended to teachers in nursing and other healthcare professionals with an interest in the use of active learning methods

The Importance of Teamwork and Understanding: a Study of Shared Learning between Undergraduate Dental Students and Trainee Dental Technicians.

This researcher investigated the professional experiences and development of trainee dental technicians and undergraduate dental students during a shared learning exercise in a combined UK university dental school and hospital. Two purposes framed the investigation: 1. To gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences of trainee dental technicians and undergraduate dental students during shared learning opportunities and 2. To examine whether interprofessional learning between trainee dental technicians and undergraduate dental students offered any professional and occupational specific disciplinary developmental benefits or disadvantages. Using a qualitative approach with a phenomenological framework, data sources included reflective diaries, focus group interviews and other salient material. Dialogue between the researcher and participants played a major part in ensuring the rigour of the study, participants having the opportunity to review the central concepts and excerpts within the thesis. Results indicated that both trainee dental technicians and undergraduate dental students were pragmatic but positive in terms of their expectations of shared learning. In particular, they regarded the exercise as useful in terms of communication and understanding each other‟s role. Overall there was little evidence arising from the data to support issues of power and perceived social and interprofessional hierarchies as impediments to learning. Findings from this study are consistent with previous research into interprofessional education, which demonstrate the significance of preconceptions based upon traditional and perhaps stereotypical perceptions of their own professional status. The students regarded the processes of shared learning as having a positive impact on future interprofessional teamwork. This empirical study assists in creating understandings about the benefits and limitations to shared learning between these two groups within the dental team. It also contributes to a currently under-theorised account of how relationships developed between these two groups may affect longer-term professional development. Implications are offered for future research involving the investigation that such learning may have on patient care