Leading Change during the Convergence of an Epidemic and a Pandemic

As the first wave of COVID-19 cases spread around the globe in early 2020, the healthcare community adopted a medical model that emphasized the use of resources to mitigate viral spread (Oerther & Watson, 2020). Schools, churches, and businesses shutdown, and healthcare facilities – from outpatient clinics to inpatient elective surgeries – were closed or cancelled. Even long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, limited access of visitors to patients in an attempt at mitigation. And for six months, the healthcare community focused almost exclusively on a medical response to COVID-19, securing stockpiles of ventilators and fast-tracking vaccine development

The Ethical Challenges of Antimicrobial Resistance for Nurse Practitioners

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most challenging worldwide health threats facing modern medicine (Centers for Disease Control, 2018; Logan & Bonomo, 2016; World Health Organization, 2018; Zerr et al., 2014). According to the World Health Organization (2018), when antimicrobial drugs are no longer effective at killing infections caused by bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses, this is called AMR. AMR leads to drug-resistant infections (World Health Organization, 2018). Nurse practitioners need to be leaders in mitigating risks associated with antimicrobial use, including ethical dilemmas surrounding AMR (Centers for Disease Control, 2018; Logan & Bonomo, 2016; World Health Organization, 2018; Zerr et al., 2014). For instance, prescribing antimicrobial drugs represents an ethical dilemma for nurse practitioners, since the health needs of individual patients must to be balanced against preservation of effective antimicrobial therapies and concerns for long-term prevention of AMR in communities (Basu & Garg, 2018; Johnstone, 2016)

Parenting Pre-Teens during Covid-19 in a Rural Midwestern Community: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study

To uncover the experiences of parenting Generation Z pre-teen children in rural communities impacted by the Stay Home Missouri order from April through May 2020. Researchers have focused on urban parents, leading to gaps in understanding the impact of the COVID-19 quarantine on rural parents and children. A qualitative study employing interpretive phenomenology. 14 white cis-male-sexed fathers and cis-female-sexed mothers living in midwestern rural communities participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews with 14 participants parenting pre-teen children were conducted. The interviews were analyzed using interpretive phenomenology. The COREQ checklist was followed. One theme that emerged from the narratives was the study participants\u27 understandings of parenting, discovered when their routines were disrupted by the Stay Home Missouri order. This theme involved three sub-themes: 1) responding to the challenges of protecting pre-teen children; 2) coping with disrupted social relationships; and 3) renegotiating responsibilities. Professionals who work with families need to find ways to assist parents during and after a health emergency that requires quarantine. COVID-19 is not the first pandemic to endanger humanity, and the next pandemic—or a future variant of SARS—could require an additional period of local, regional, or national quarantine. Implications for professionals supporting parents during periods of severe disruption—such as future public health crises as well as large scale quarantines—are offered to assist with preparation for and coping with severe disruptions to parenting

Did the NAE Changing the Conversation Campaign Introduce the Care Penalty into Engineering?

Over the Past Twenty Years, the National Academy of Engineering of the United States of America Undertook a Campaign Entitled, Changing the Conversation. Explicit Intentions of the Campaign Included Raising Public Awareness of Engineering, Increasing the Total Number of Engineers, and Recruiting Historically Underrepresented Groups to Join Engineering. in Particular, Marketing Efforts Developed Inclusive Tag Lines Aimed to Diversify Groups Enrolled in Engineering and Increase the Diversity of the Professional Engineering Workforce. While Changes in Demographics Were Disappointing for Some Groups (I.e., Little to No Change Was Observed for People of Color), Generally, the Campaign Has Been Considered Moderately Successful for Increasing the Number of Females Joining Engineering. This is Speculated to Be Associated with the Use of Tag Lines that Helped to Humanize Engineering (I.e., Emphasizing the People Helping Aspects of Engineering Rather Than the Building Things Aspects of Engineering). the Use of Marketing Identified to Attract More Females to Engineering May Have Inadvertently Introduced the Care Penalty into Engineering. the Care Penalty Refers to the Lack of Financial Compensation for Work Performed by Those Who Choose Employment in a Caring Profession , Which is Independent of the Sex, Gender, or Gender Expression of the Employee. for Example, Caring Nurses Receive the Same Pay as Uncaring Nurses in a Hospital Setting, Yet Patients Who Have Caring Nurses Report Higher Levels of Satisfaction with the Hospital. Unpriced Benefits (I.e., Caring ), Which Are Poorly Rewarded in Employee Pay, Represent an Example of the Care Penalty. It Has Been Observed that Caring Professions Often Include a Larger Proportion of Female Employees (I.e., Skilled Nurses, Elementary School Educators, and Social Workers). Therefore, the Use of Tag Lines Specifically Selected to Attract a Larger Number of Females to Joining Engineering (I.e., Tag Lines Emphasizing the Caring Nature of Engineering ), May Attract Both More Females (Independent of Compensation) as Well as More Individuals Who Are Willing to Accept Lower Financial Compensation (I.e., Individuals Willing to Accept the Care Penalty). using a Literature Review, the Presence of a Care Penalty in Engineering is Described, and an Argument is Advanced that the Changing the Conversation Campaign May Have Been a Contributing Factor. in Conclusion, It is Important to Raise Awareness of the Care Penalty and to Identify Ways to Financially Compensate Workers Who Provide Substantial Unpriced Services Such as Caring on the Job . the Future of Engineering Includes STEMpathy, which is the Explicit Integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math with Empathy (I.e., Human-Centered Design, Community-Engaged Design, Etc.). Therefore, the Solution to the Care Penalty is Not the Exclusion of Caring from Engineering. Rather the Solution Must Include the Innovation of Properly Pricing and Incorporating Caring as a Quality Factor of Engineering Work. This Solution Should Include Compensation with an Appropriate Financial Wage (Or Alternative Employment Benefit for Caring Service Provided)

Using Nursing Theory to Improve the Teaching of Engineering Practice

Engineering education includes both classroom training in sciences and professional skills as well as learning-through-doing to integrate practice and engineering design into the future licensed Professional Engineer (PE). In a similar manner, nursing education includes both classroom training in sciences and professional skills as well as learning through doing to integrate practice and caring into the future licensed Registered Nurse (RN). From the mid-19th century until modern day, the fields of environmental engineering and community health nursing have worked side-by-side to prevent disease while promoting health and wellness. This paper provides a synthesis of previously published case studies by the author documenting collaborative learning among environmental engineers and community health nurses. During a decade of working together, Florence Nightingale\u27s Environmental Theory served as the organizing principle for teaching practice to the environmental engineers as facilitated through coaching and interaction with community health nurses. This paper provides a side-by-side comparison of the professions of engineering and nursing, and includes the results of assessments using mixed methods to document the impacts of exposure to nursing practice on the formation of emergent engineers

Introduction to Public Health for Environmental Engineers: Results from a Three-Year Pilot

The field of environmental engineering traces its origins to the integration of civil engineering infrastructure and the objectives of public health , namely cost effective disease prevention at the community-scale. To address the urgent need to re-invigorate the ancient sub-specialization of sanitary engineering within the field of environmental engineering, a new course was created at the Missouri University of Science and Technology entitled, Public Health for Environmental Engineers. The new course leverages available online materials disseminated by The Johns Hopkins University as well as materials disseminated by the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) to emphasize environmental health practice in diverse communities - from urban settings in developed nations to rural villages in less developed countries. The new course employs a previously reported format including blended delivery, a flipped classroom, and mastery learning (D.B. Oerther, Reducing costs while maintaining learning outcomes using blended, flipped, and mastery pedagogy to teach introduction to environmental engineering, in Proceedings of the 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, OH, USA, June 25-28, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://peer.asee.org/28786. [Accessed April 26, 2018]). This current article summarizes the course content, pedagogical approach, and the results of assessments of three offerings of Public Health for Environmental Engineers to a total of 79 students in the Spring Semesters of 2016, 2017, and 2018. According to the results of the assessments, some students resisted the blended learning delivery format (i.e., The professor gets paid a lot, and he shouldn\u27t use available online materials for teaching. He should make us purchase a text book and cover it in lecture ), and other students resisted the pedagogical choice of active learning (i.e., Complete abuse of power; the professor creates an environment that is not conducive to learning by forcing students to answer questions during discussion ). Other students responded positively to the course content (i.e., I learned a lot of practical environmental health information that I plan to use in practice ). Future work should: 1) follow-up with students to identify the value of the course in their professional practice after graduation; 2) assess changes in student attitudes and beliefs from before and after the course; and 3) replicate the course at other institutions to evaluate the effectiveness of the course content and delivery approach independent of the personality of the instructor and with a variety of student types