The Impact of Virtual Immersion in the E-Learning Environment

Students in post-graduate programs can enhance their learning efficacy and positively impact their interprofessional collaboration skills by participating in a virtual immersion experience within their e-learning course. Students from various healthcare disciplines who participated in a virtual immersion were charged with the task to create a strategic plan for a healthcare organization. Upon completion of the course, they believed the interprofessional collaborative discussions and group dynamics utilized during the virtual immersion enabled them to communicate more effectively in their workplace, thus, improving patient outcomes. The focus of this presentation is to share the impact a virtual immersion has on the student experience and patient outcomes

Theory of meaning in chronic illness and pregnancy following stillbirth

This chapter discusses the Theory of Meaning or Logotheory, a theory concerned with finding meaning in life. It explains the core concepts of the theory, the relationship among the core concepts, and the theory’s relationship to other disciplines and to nursing metaparadigm concepts. The chapter presents an analysis of the theory using Fawcett’s evaluative framework for theory analysis. It explores recommendations for future research and application in nursing practice. Logotheory is based upon three core tenets: freedom of will, will to meaning, and meaning in life. Logotheory postulates that the primary motivation of human beings is to seek meaning in life and in life events. Logotheory has been applied to many diverse health contexts and has gained most recognition in terms of mental health and psychotherapy. The chapter also presents an analysis and evaluation of Logotheory in terms of guiding future research on chronic illness and pregnancy loss

Inequitable Chronic Lead Exposure: A Dual Legacy of Social and Environmental Injustice

Both historic and contemporary factors contribute to the current unequal distribution of lead in urban environments and the disproportionate impact lead exposure has on the health and well-being of low-income minority communities. We consider the enduring impact of lead through the lens of environmental justice, taking into account well-documented geographic concentrations of lead, legacy sources that produce chronic exposures, and intergenerational transfers of risk. We discuss the most promising type of public health action to address inequitable lead exposure and uptake: primordial prevention efforts that address the most fundamental causes of diseases by intervening in structural and systemic inequalities

Development and validation of the Spirituality Instrument-27© (SpI-27©) in individuals with chronic illness

Aim: To develop and validate the Spirituality Instrument 27 (SpI-27©) in individuals with chronic illness (n = 249). Background: A need for a rigorously developed spirituality instrument that can be used with people who are religious and non-religious was identified. Methods: The initial 46-item instrument was developed from a concept analysis, a review of theoretical and empirical literature, and an appraisal of instruments measuring spirituality. Content validity was established with user focus groups and an expert panel review. A pilot study evaluated the online mode of administration and a descriptive correlational design assessed the reliability and validity of the instrument. Results: Results of exploratory factor analysis concluded a five-factor solution with 27 items: Connectedness with Others, Self-Transcendence, Self-Cognisance, Conservationism, and Connectedness with a Higher Power. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.823 to 0.911 for the five factors, and 0.904 for the overall scale. Paired t-tests, intra-class correlations, and weighted kappa values supported the temporal stability of the instrument. A significant and positive correlation was found between the SpI-27© and the Spirituality Index of Well-Being (p < 0.01), supporting convergent validity. Conclusions: Findings support the validity and reliability of the SpI-27©, which was developed with patient input and is underpinned by theoretical and empirical literature. The SpI-27© should be validated for use with other samples. The conceptual framework that guided the study can be used to enhance healthcare professionals' understanding of spirituality and its core dimensions

The inter-rater reliability of the Risk Instrument for Screening in the Community

Predicting risk of adverse healthcare outcomes is important to enable targeted delivery of interventions. The Risk Instrument for Screening in the Community (RISC), designed for use by public health nurses (PHNs), measures the one-year risk of hospitalisation, institutionalisation and death in community-dwelling older adults according to a five-point global risk score: from low (score 1,2), medium (3) and high (4,5). We examined the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of the RISC between student PHNs (n=32) and expert raters using six cases (two low, medium and high-risk), scored before and after RISC training. Correlations increased for each adverse outcome, statistically significantly for institutionalisation (r=0.72 to 0.80,p=0.04) and hospitalisation, (r=0.51 to 0.71,p<0.01) but not death. Training improved accuracy for low-risk but not all high-risk cases. Overall, the RISC showed good IRR, which increased after RISC training. That reliability reduced for some high-risk cases suggests that the training programme requires adjustment to further improve IRR

The Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON): the evolution of grassroots network science

Nine years later, with over 380 members from 40 countries, and 50 publications to its credit, GLEON is growing at a rapid pace and pushing the boundaries of the practice of network science. GLEON is really three networks: a network of lakes, data, and peopl

A Global lake ecological observatory network (GLEON) for synthesising high-frequency sensor data for validation of deterministic ecological models

A Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON; www.gleon.org) has formed to provide a coordinated response to the need for scientific understanding of lake processes, utilising technological advances available from autonomous sensors. The organisation embraces a grassroots approach to engage researchers from varying disciplines, sites spanning geographic and ecological gradients, and novel sensor and cyberinfrastructure to synthesise high-frequency lake data at scales ranging from local to global. The high-frequency data provide a platform to rigorously validate processbased ecological models because model simulation time steps are better aligned with sensor measurements than with lower-frequency, manual samples. Two case studies from Trout Bog, Wisconsin, USA, and Lake Rotoehu, North Island, New Zealand, are presented to demonstrate that in the past, ecological model outputs (e.g., temperature, chlorophyll) have been relatively poorly validated based on a limited number of directly comparable measurements, both in time and space. The case studies demonstrate some of the difficulties of mapping sensor measurements directly to model state variable outputs as well as the opportunities to use deviations between sensor measurements and model simulations to better inform process understanding. Well-validated ecological models provide a mechanism to extrapolate high-frequency sensor data in space and time, thereby potentially creating a fully 3-dimensional simulation of key variables of interest

Clinical and economic systematic literature review to support the development of an integrated care programme for chronic disease prevention and management for the Irish health system

Report prepared for the Clinical Strategy and Programmes Division (CSPD) of the Health Service Executive to support the work of integrated clinical care programmes.Based on a clinical and economic systematic review of the international literature, this report presents the evidence on integrated care programmes and generic models of care designed for chronic disease prevention and management. This evidence will support the work of integrated clinical care programmes in Ireland through the Clinical Strategy and Programmes Division of the HSE

A Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) for synthesising high–frequency sensor data for validation of deterministic ecological models

A Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON; www.gleon.org) has formed to provide a coordinated response to the need for scientific understanding of lake processes, utilising technological advances available from autonomous sensors. The organisation embraces a grassroots approach to engage researchers from varying disciplines, sites spanning geographic and ecological gradients, and novel sensor and cyberinfrastructure to synthesise high-frequency lake data at scales ranging from local to global. The high-frequency data provide a platform to rigorously validate process-based ecological models because model simulation time steps are better aligned with sensor measurements than with lower-frequency, manual samples. Two case studies from Trout Bog, Wisconsin, USA, and Lake Rotoehu, North Island, New Zealand, are presented to demonstrate that in the past, ecological model outputs (e.g., temperature, chlorophyll) have been relatively poorly validated based on a limited number of directly comparable measurements, both in time and space. The case studies demonstrate some of the difficulties of mapping sensor measurements directly to model state variable outputs as well as the opportunities to use deviations between sensor measurements and model simulations to better inform process understanding. Well-validated ecological models provide a mechanism to extrapolate high-frequency sensor data in space and time, thereby potentially creating a fully 3-dimensional simulation of key variables of interest

Global data set of long-term summertime vertical temperature profiles in 153 lakes

Climate change and other anthropogenic stressors have led to long-term changes in the thermal structure, including surface temperatures, deepwater temperatures, and vertical thermal gradients, in many lakes around the world. Though many studies highlight warming of surface water temperatures in lakes worldwide, less is known about long-term trends in full vertical thermal structure and deepwater temperatures, which have been changing less consistently in both direction and magnitude. Here, we present a globally-expansive data set of summertime in-situ vertical temperature profiles from 153 lakes, with one time series beginning as early as 1894. We also compiled lake geographic, morphometric, and water quality variables that can influence vertical thermal structure through a variety of potential mechanisms in these lakes. These long-term time series of vertical temperature profiles and corresponding lake characteristics serve as valuable data to help understand changes and drivers of lake thermal structure in a time of rapid global and ecological change