How the Practice/Academic Partnership Model Helped One State During COVID-19

During the spring and summer of 2020, boards of nursing (BONs) throughout the U.S. were faced with requests from educational programs for ways to replace clinical hours due to the inability to access clinical sites caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. While many clinical sites have since reopened to nursing students, some barriers still remain, resulting in a backlog of clinical hours for many nursing students throughout the state of Connecticut. Reflecting on lessons learned over the past year, collaboration between the BON and nursing leaders throughout the state has proved essential to providing the practice hours and clinical learning experiences needed to assure that students meet graduation goals and expectations for future clinical practice as an RN

Chemoprophylaxis

Chemoprophylaxis (or chemoprevention) in preventive medicine is the use of drugs, nutritional and mineral supplements, or other natural substances by asymptomatic persons to prevent future disease. It does not include using such agents to treat symptomatic illnesses or in persons with a prior history of the disorder. This chapter examines the use of medications for chemoprophylaxis. Chemoprophylactic agents are used in people without the condition for which they are taking the medication; therefore, great care must be taken to be certain that the benefits of the agents substantially outweigh their harms

Nurse Faculty Beliefs and Teaching Practices for the Care of the Cancer Survivor in Undergraduate Nursing Curricula

As the number of individuals surviving cancer continues to rise, short- and long-term effects of cancer and its treatment that result in physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs unique to the care of the cancer survivor has not been addressed in nursing curricula. The Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2005) recommends that all health care providers are educated on the care of cancer survivors. This descriptive qualitative study explored faculty beliefs and practices regarding the inclusion of caring for the cancer survivor in undergraduate nursing curricula. Faculty knowledge of the term “cancer survivor” and their beliefs and practices regarding the placement of theory and clinical experiences on cancer survivorship were explored through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Qualitative content analysis revealed themes and patterns related to the barriers and facilitators for disseminating information on the gap in content on care of the cancer survivor. Seven themes emerged from the content analysis of the interviews. These were as follows: (1) descriptions of cancer survivorship; (2) beliefs on inclusion of cancer survivorship care within undergraduate nursing curriculum; (3) established content on cancer survivorship care: teaching practices; (4) gaps in content on cancer survivorship care; (5) lack of supportive literature on cancer survivorship care; (6) clinical sites providing opportunities for cancer survivorship care: planned versus unplanned; and (7) barriers and facilitators to the inclusion of cancer survivorship in undergraduate nursing curricula. This study reveals the need for faculty education on the care of cancer survivors and a revision of undergraduate curriculum content