Transitional Care Interventions as Implemented By Faith Community Nurses

Hospitals are seeking innovative and efficient methods of decreasing avoidable readmissions. Despite the volume of nursing literature exploring the use of advanced practices nurses in providing transitional care, only one study mentions the use of a faith community nurse. The faith community nurse operates in the community and has the skills to provide transitional care. The purpose of this study was to describe transitional care as implemented by faith community nurses using a standardized nursing language: the Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC). A mixed method descriptive design was selected to facilitate a thorough exploration of the interventions implemented by faith community nurses. The findings suggested that the majority of interventions are in the coping assistance, communication enhancement, and patient education Classes of the Behavioral Domain. The most frequently selected nursing interventions in NIC (n=26) were found and validated by the faith community nurse focus group. Results were compared to evidenced-based priority transitional care interventions described in research. In addition, results were compared to previous faith community nursing research describing the practice. Results were also described using the Faith Community Nursing conceptual framework. The results may provide the underpinnings for further testing of transitional care interventions

Common genetic variants influence human subcortical brain structures

The highly complex structure of the human brain is strongly shaped by genetic influences1. Subcortical brain regions form circuits with cortical areas to coordinate movement2, learning, memory3 and motivation4, and altered circuits can lead to abnormal behaviour and disease2. To investigate how common genetic variants affect the structure of these brain regions, here we conduct genome-wide association studies of the volumes of seven subcortical regions and the intracranial volume derived from magnetic resonance images of 30,717 individuals from 50 cohorts. We identify five novel genetic variants influencing the volumes of the putamen and caudate nucleus. We also find stronger evidence for three loci with previously established influences on hippocampal volume5 and intracranial volume6. These variants show specific volumetric effects on brain structures rather than global effects across structures. The strongest effects were found for the putamen, where a novel intergenic locus with replicable influence on volume (rs945270; P = 1.08 × 10−33; 0.52% variance explained) showed evidence of altering the expression of the KTN1 gene in both brain and blood tissue. Variants influencing putamen volume clustered near developmental genes that regulate apoptosis, axon guidance and vesicle transport. Identification of these genetic variants provides insight into the causes of variability in human brain development, and may help to determine mechanisms of neuropsychiatric dysfunction