Development, assessment, and evolution of an interprofessional activity with senior nursing and pharmacy students: application of quality improvement in interprofessional education (IPE)

Purpose: Concurrent development IPE activities and an assessment strategy is essential for informed evolution of such initiatives. This study provides an active example of the progression of IPE at an institution utilizing an active assessment plan. Background: IPE is advocated as a method to develop students who are prepared for interprofessional practice, which is essential for optimal patient outcomes. While IPE has been integrated in many health professional curricula, focus on assessment is needed to ensure obtainment of educational outcomes and truly prepare students for interprofessional collaboration in the work place. Description of Intervention/Program: IPE activities were developed through a multidisciplinary committee consisting of health profession faculty and students. Additionally the committee developed an assessment strategy to evaluate IPE initiatives. One activity implemented over the last three years involves senior nursing and pharmacy students collaboratively addressing a complex patient care simulation. Students complete a pre/post survey evaluating the impact of the activity on their readiness for interprofessional practice, IPE perceptions, and activity impact. Group care plans and group evaluations are also evaluated. Results: Quantitative and qualitative data are reviewed by the committee annually to make informed decisions for future iterations of the activity. Conclusion: Execution of a clear assessment plan is essential to fulfill learning objectives for IPE activities. Feedback from an educational activity allowed for continuous improvement, ensuring impact on student learning, and illustrates the necessity of assessment within IPE. Relevance to IPE or Practice: The study conveys three key points that would be helpful to other institutions implementing IPE. First, the study illustrates the importance of assessment planning when implementing IPE activities. Second, the assessment plan presented serves as an example for others. Lastly, the study provides an active example of applying the assessment plan to iterations of an IPE activity. Seminar Outline/Timeframe of Presentation and Interactive Discussion: Opening discussion on IPE and assessment of IPE activities (10 minutes) Integration of IPE into the University curriculum and details regarding the senior IPE activity (10 minutes) Development of an IPE assessment plan and application to the senior IPE activity (10 minutes) Interprofessional groupwork: 5-6 multidisciplinary group members provided student feedback from an IPE activity and must determine potential adjustments to the activity for future iterations (10 minutes) Interprofessional groupwork: In the same group, discuss potential adjustments to the assessment plan for IPE activities for the activity discussed previously as well as at group members’ own institutions. Large group discussion of group work including information gleaned from student feedback, proposed changes for future activities, and ideas for assessment planning, both for the activity presented and for participants’ own institutions. Two to Three measureable learning objectives relevant to conference goals: To demonstrate successful development and application of assessment strategies in IPE activities. To guide use of student feedback in the improvement of IPE activities To stimulate discussion regarding assessment planning within IP

Interprofessional Education for Freshman Nursing and Pharmacy Students: An Application of Ethics

Purpose: The purpose is to encourage students in the health care professions to work interprofessionally to better enable them to enter the workplace as a member of the collaborative practice team. Background: In 2009, six national education associations of schools of the health professions formed a collaborative to promote and encourage constituent efforts that would advance substantive interprofessional learning experiences (IPE) to help prepare future health professionals for enhanced team-based care of patients and improved population health outcomes. By 2016, this initiative has grown significantly, even being mandated by some professions. Description of Intervention/Program: IPE activities were developed through a committee consisting of faculty and students from nursing and pharmacy programs at the institution. An activity for freshman students (N=152) was developed, focusing on each profession’s code of ethics and application to ethical situations. Students completed a pre/post survey evaluating their readiness and perceptions of IPE, as well as evaluating the activities’ effectiveness in effective collaboration using qualitative and quantitative techniques. Results: The data was evaluated by the IPE committee to determine future iterations of the activity. Conclusion: Based on both quantitative and qualitative feedback from the students, the freshman IPE activity assisted both pharmacy and nursing students to become a more effective member of the health care team, bringing students from different health care programs together to problem-solve while applying a collaboratively devised code of ethics with an application-based activity to produce a robust experience. Relevance to IPE or Practice: The study conveys two key points that would be helpful for others integrating IPE activities into their curriculum. First, the authors illustrated an IPE activity that can be implemented with lower level professional students. Second, the authors outlined a plan for continuous improvement of IPE activity, looking beyond implementation to assessment and optimization of these initiatives. Seminar Outline/Timeframe of Presentation and Interactive Discussion: Opening discussion on IPE and its integration into the university curriculum (10 minutes) Freshman activity initial ideas, design, and feedback: the value of interprofessional ethics in healthcare (10 minutes) Modifications to the freshman activity and student feedback ( 10 minutes) Interprofessional groupwork (5-6 group members made up of participants from different disciplines) to develop a shared code of ethics (10 minutes) Interprofessional groupwork (same group members) using the shared code of ethics to solve a practical, real-world problem (10 minutes) Large group discussion on the overall activity, components of the shared code of ethics, and application of the code to the problem-solving activity, and considerations for the future for this activity (10 minutes) Two to three measureable learning objectives relevant to conference goals: To create a coordinated effort across the nursing and pharmacy health profession curricula to embed essential interprofessional experience and content. To guide professional and institutional curricular development of learning approaches and assessment strategies to achieve productive outcomes for nursing and pharmacy students. To demonstrate a newly developed ethics activity for freshman students in nursing and pharmacy programs to exhibit interprofessional problem-solving

Half-Metallic Graphene Nanoribbons

Electrical current can be completely spin polarized in a class of materials known as half-metals, as a result of the coexistence of metallic nature for electrons with one spin orientation and insulating for electrons with the other. Such asymmetric electronic states for the different spins have been predicted for some ferromagnetic metals - for example, the Heusler compounds- and were first observed in a manganese perovskite. In view of the potential for use of this property in realizing spin-based electronics, substantial efforts have been made to search for half-metallic materials. However, organic materials have hardly been investigated in this context even though carbon-based nanostructures hold significant promise for future electronic device. Here we predict half-metallicity in nanometre-scale graphene ribbons by using first-principles calculations. We show that this phenomenon is realizable if in-plane homogeneous electric fields are applied across the zigzag-shaped edges of the graphene nanoribbons, and that their magnetic property can be controlled by the external electric fields. The results are not only of scientific interests in the interplay between electric fields and electronic spin degree of freedom in solids but may also open a new path to explore spintronics at nanometre scale, based on graphene

Exact exchange-correlation potential of a ionic Hubbard model with a free surface

We use Lanczos exact diagonalization to compute the exact exchange-correlation (xc) potential of a Hubbard chain with large binding energy ("the bulk") followed by a chain with zero binding energy ("the vacuum"). Several results of density functional theory in the continuum (sometimes controversial) are verified in the lattice. In particular we show explicitly that the fundamental gap is given by the gap in the Kohn-Sham spectrum plus a contribution due to the jump of the xc-potential when a particle is added. The presence of a staggered potential and a nearest-neighbor interaction V allows to simulate a ionic solid. We show that in the ionic regime in the small hopping amplitude limit the xc-contribution to the gap equals V, while in the Mott regime it is determined by the Hubbard U interaction. In addition we show that correlations generates a new potential barrier at the surface

Novel multiple sclerosis susceptibility loci implicated in epigenetic regulation

We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility in German cohorts with 4888 cases and 10,395 controls. In addition to associations within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region, 15 non-MHC loci reached genome-wide significance. Four of these loci are novel MS susceptibility loci. They map to the genes L3MBTL3, MAZ, ERG, and SHMT1. The lead variant at SHMT1 was replicated in an independent Sardinian cohort. Products of the genes L3MBTL3, MAZ, and ERG play important roles in immune cell regulation. SHMT1 encodes a serine hydroxymethyltransferase catalyzing the transfer of a carbon unit to the folate cycle. This reaction is required for regulation of methylation homeostasis, which is important for establishment and maintenance of epigenetic signatures. Our GWAS approach in a defined population with limited genetic substructure detected associations not found in larger, more heterogeneous cohorts, thus providing new clues regarding MS pathogenesis

Solitary waves in the Nonlinear Dirac Equation

In the present work, we consider the existence, stability, and dynamics of solitary waves in the nonlinear Dirac equation. We start by introducing the Soler model of self-interacting spinors, and discuss its localized waveforms in one, two, and three spatial dimensions and the equations they satisfy. We present the associated explicit solutions in one dimension and numerically obtain their analogues in higher dimensions. The stability is subsequently discussed from a theoretical perspective and then complemented with numerical computations. Finally, the dynamics of the solutions is explored and compared to its non-relativistic analogue, which is the nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation. A few special topics are also explored, including the discrete variant of the nonlinear Dirac equation and its solitary wave properties, as well as the PT-symmetric variant of the model

A mathematical and computational review of Hartree-Fock SCF methods in Quantum Chemistry

We present here a review of the fundamental topics of Hartree-Fock theory in Quantum Chemistry. From the molecular Hamiltonian, using and discussing the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, we arrive to the Hartree and Hartree-Fock equations for the electronic problem. Special emphasis is placed in the most relevant mathematical aspects of the theoretical derivation of the final equations, as well as in the results regarding the existence and uniqueness of their solutions. All Hartree-Fock versions with different spin restrictions are systematically extracted from the general case, thus providing a unifying framework. Then, the discretization of the one-electron orbitals space is reviewed and the Roothaan-Hall formalism introduced. This leads to a exposition of the basic underlying concepts related to the construction and selection of Gaussian basis sets, focusing in algorithmic efficiency issues. Finally, we close the review with a section in which the most relevant modern developments (specially those related to the design of linear-scaling methods) are commented and linked to the issues discussed. The whole work is intentionally introductory and rather self-contained, so that it may be useful for non experts that aim to use quantum chemical methods in interdisciplinary applications. Moreover, much material that is found scattered in the literature has been put together here to facilitate comprehension and to serve as a handy reference.Comment: 64 pages, 3 figures, tMPH2e.cls style file, doublesp, mathbbol and subeqn package

Distinct Differences in Chromatin Structure at Subtelomeric X and Y' Elements in Budding Yeast

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, all ends of telomeric DNA contain telomeric repeats of (TG1–3), but the number and position of subtelomeric X and Y' repeat elements vary. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation and genome-wide analyses, we here demonstrate that the subtelomeric X and Y' elements have distinct structural and functional properties. Y' elements are transcriptionally active and highly enriched in nucleosomes, whereas X elements are repressed and devoid of nucleosomes. In contrast to X elements, the Y' elements also lack the classical hallmarks of heterochromatin, such as high Sir3 and Rap1 occupancy as well as low levels of histone H4 lysine 16 acetylation. Our analyses suggest that the presence of X and Y' elements govern chromatin structure and transcription activity at individual chromosome ends

A comprehensive 1000 Genomes-based genome-wide association meta-analysis of coronary artery disease

Existing knowledge of genetic variants affecting risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) is largely based on genome-wide association studies (GWAS) analysis of common SNPs. Leveraging phased haplotypes from the 1000 Genomes Project, we report a GWAS meta-analysis of 185 thousand CAD cases and controls, interrogating 6.7 million common (MAF>0.05) as well as 2.7 million low frequency (0.005<MAF<0.05) variants. In addition to confirmation of most known CAD loci, we identified 10 novel loci, eight additive and two recessive, that contain candidate genes that newly implicate biological processes in vessel walls. We observed intra-locus allelic heterogeneity but little evidence of low frequency variants with larger effects and no evidence of synthetic association. Our analysis provides a comprehensive survey of the fine genetic architecture of CAD showing that genetic susceptibility to this common disease is largely determined by common SNPs of small effect siz