Advancing the Scholarship of Teaching Through Collaborative Self-Study

Self-study research is a mode of scholarly inquiry in which teachers examine their beliefs and actions as educators and explore pedagogical questions. A three-phase model of collaborative self-study research is offered as a framework for university faculty to engage in self-study for the purpose of improving teaching and creating new knowledge

Being a Real Nurse: A Secondary Qualitative Analysis of How Public Health Nurses Rework Their Work Identities

Many Western nations are emphasizing the importance of population health across health care delivery organizations and education systems. Despite significant momentum to integrate population health into nursing practice, a parallel effort to examine how these efforts impact practicing nurses\u27 views of their professional role and work identity has not occurred. This secondary qualitative analysis, employing an abductive approach, explored processes public health nurses use in creating and maintaining their work identity through three organizing themes: narrative self-identity, mandated identity, and identity as struggle. The analysis was based on interview data collected from 30 US public health nurses residing in 17 states. ‘Being a real nurse’ describes public health nurses\u27 efforts to balance a contradictory work identity where at times they are expected to focus on populations and at other times, on individuals. The identity work revealed through this study should be further explicated and specific strategies developed for stabilizing a work identity for public health nurses, as well as for any nurse charged with a population health role

Myths about teaching and the university professor

Self-study in teacher education is a growing field and a natural progression from the concept of reflective practice for pre-service teachers. This book is designed to introduce teacher educators to the theory and practice of self-study, in order to explore, understand and improve their teaching about teaching., Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Transitions, Decisions, and Regret: Order in Chaos After a Cancer Diagnosis

Receiving a cancer diagnosis marks a life transition that evokes feelings of chaos. Additional transitions occur when patients with relapsed cancer must decide to pursue conventional care or participate in experimental clinical trials. Individuals with hematologic malignancies (n = 25) and their caregivers (n = 20) were interviewed about their decisions to have an experimental stem cell transplant. Noting that they had no other choice, participants expressed no regret posttransplant. Doing something perhaps helped address the chaos of cancer. This aggressive response to advanced cancer also represented a social imperative that negated the options of living with the cancer or entering palliative care

Women, Abuse, and the Welfare Bureaucracy

Using critical and feminist theoretical frameworks, this report of a qualitative study describes women‰Ûªs perspectives of the welfare bureaucracy. An analysis of interviews with 38 women revealed emotional and economic abuse both in the welfare system and their personal lives. Interactions with frontline workers who implement the rules and regulations of welfare reform disempower recipients and mimic the conditions of abuse that these women have already experienced. Genograms provide a context for the women‰Ûªs personal histories. Recommendations include removing sanctions as a form of economic abuse, screening every applicant for interpersonal violence, and referring women to mental health services if necessary

I Had Already Made Up My Mind: Patients and Caregivers\u27 Perspectives on Making the Decision to Participate in Research at a US Cancer Referral Center

BACKGROUND: : Hematopoietic cell transplants (HCTs) are associated with high morbidity and mortality, which complicate the decision-making process for people considering HCT clinical trials. There is a lack of research examining longitudinally how patients make clinical trial participation decisions in US cancer referral centers. OBJECTIVE: : A qualitative study was conducted to examine how patients and their family caregivers decide to participate in HCT research at a US cancer referral center. METHODS: : Semistructured interviews were conducted with 25 patients enrolled in early-stage phase 2 HCT research studies and with 20 family caregivers. Interviews were conducted before HCT and approximately days 80 and 365 after HCT. RESULTS: : Most patients (92%) and their caregivers (75%) decided to participate in research well before consent conferences at the cancer referral center. Patients\u27 reasons for deciding to participate included having no other option, seeking a cure, and following their home oncologists\u27 recommendations. CONCLUSION: : Currently, US researchers are primarily guided by Federal regulations that view the decision-making process as a cognitive one. Findings confirmed cognition was a part of consent; however, most patients made the decision to participate in high-risk clinical trials long before they had been apprised of the specific information about the study and before the consent conference. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: : The high risk of death from the disease and/or the HCT underscored the emotional component of decision making and affirmed that researchers need to acknowledge this emotional component to meet the ethical imperative of providing informed consent

Community/Public Health Nursing: Is There a Future for the Specialty?

Graduate nursing education in the United States has undergone significant changes over the last decade with institution of the doctorate in nursing practice (2006) and the revised Essentials of Master\u27s Education in Nursing (2011). An overview of the status of community/public health nursing (C/PHN) education and practice during the past 100 years provides a historic context for understanding the current situation of the specialty. An analysis of U.S. graduate nursing programs in C/PHN is used to foreground a discussion of the factors that may significantly affect community/public health nurses\u27 interest in graduate education and the ability to sustain a master\u27s-prepared C/PHN workforce. Questions are raised about how the potential loss of this particular specialty may influence the practice of C/PHN and the role of nursing in general in ensuring the public\u27s health. Recommendations are offered for strengthening the specialty long-term, with a particular focus on C/PHN education and practice

Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Pain in the Emergency Department

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate emergency nurses’ knowledge and attitudes about pain. Methods: A descriptive design was used for this study. A validated tool, the Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (KASRP), was administered to nurses working in 5 U.S. emergency departments. Demographic data also were collected from each participant. Results: Ninety-one emergency nurses completed the survey. The mean total KASRP score was 76%. No significant differences were found in mean total scores by age, education level, years of nursing experience, or years of ED experience. Eight questions were answered incorrectly by more than 50% of participants. Five of these questions were related to opioid pharmacology and dosage, 2 concerned understanding of addiction and dependence, and one was linked to nurse assessment and patient report of pain level. Analysis of these 8 questions revealed that higher education levels had a weak positive association with correct answers. Discussion: Participants taking the survey scored comparably or better than participants in other reported studies using the KASRP. Years of nursing experience was not correlated with correct responses. Findings from this study underscore the Institute of Medicine\u27s Pain in America recommendation to increase pain management education for all providers