Holistic Self-Care: Tai Chi, Qigong Training for Caregivers at an Alzheimer Disease Assisted Living Facility

With the growing number of older persons with chronic illnesses, the demand for professionals who can provide complex care is increasing as well. However, evidence shows that health professionals’ burnout rate has been consistently increasing for the last 3 decades. In an effort to alleviate some of the issues associated with caregiver burnout, we conducted mind-body training of self-compassion for professional caregivers at an Alzheimer disease (AD) specialty center for 5 weeks. The intervention combined seven simple centering movements of tai chi and qigong in a context of mettā (loving kindness meditation) language mindfulness. Data showed significant improvements in caregiver Mindful Self Compassion, Psychological Social Well-being, General Self-Efficacy, and Positive and Negative Experience scales. In the context of improving health care delivery, the understanding that offering loving kindness to oneself increases compassion for others has significant implications, as it intertwines personal and professional development together. A research trajectory for future studies is suggested, which may lead to a practical self-care intervention for health care professionals

Perceptions of the Counseling Profession: From Health Science Graduate Faculty and Students

Counseling is considered a newer healthcare profession and possibly unknown to others. This study uses a post-positivist phenomenological approach exploring healthcare faculty and students\u27 perceptions of counseling professionals after participating in a semester long interprofessional health promotions and maintenance course. Results indicated most professions are unaware of counselors, their scope of practice, and their benefit to interprofessional teams. Participants showed growth in their knowledge. Results indicate the importance of interprofessional education and need for advocacy awareness

Telehealth: Preparing Advanced Practice Nurses to Address Healthcare Needs in Rural and Underserved Populations

Healthcare is being confronted with questions on how to deliver quality, affordable, and timely care to patients, especially those in rural areas, in systems already burdened by the lack of providers. Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) have been challenged to lead this movement in providing care to these populations through the use of technologies, specifically telehealth. Unfortunately, APRNs have limited exposure to telehealth during their educational experience, thereby limiting their understanding and comfort with telehealth. To address this problem, a telehealth program was developed at a large university that prepares Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) APRN students. The telehealth program, embedded into the DNP curriculum, consisted of a simulation workshop, practice immersion, and written project. This program was well received by students, making them aware of the benefits and barriers to the implementation of telehealth as a care delivery modality. Telehealth was embraced as students implemented the program in their own practice

Telehealth and eHealth in Nurse Practitioner Training: Current Perspectives

Telehealth is becoming a vital process for providing access to cost-effective quality care to patients at a distance. As such, it is important for nurse practitioners, often the primary providers for rural and disadvantaged populations, to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to utilize telehealth technologies in practice. In reviewing the literature, very little information was found on programs that addressed nurse practitioner training in telehealth. This article provides an overview of both the topics and the techniques that have been utilized for training nurse practitioners and nurse practitioner students in the delivery of care utilizing telehealth. Specifically, this article focuses on topics including 1) defining telehealth, 2) telehealth etiquette, 3) interprofessional collaboration, 4) regulations, 5) reimbursement, 6) security/Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), 7) ethical practice in telehealth, and 8) satisfaction of patients and providers. A multimodal approach based on a review of the literature is presented for providing the training: 1) didactics, 2) simulations including standardized patient encounters, 3) practice immersions, and 4) telehealth projects. Studies found that training using the multimodal approach allowed the students to develop comfort, knowledge, and skills needed to embrace the utilization of telehealth in health care

How to Prepare Interprofessional Teams in Two Weeks: An Innovative Education Program Nested in Telehealth

PROBLEM: Preparing health professional students for interprofessional collaborative practice, especially at a distance where provider shortages prevail remains difficult. APPROACH: A two-week interprofessional education (IPE) immersion experience preparing students from 11 disciplines and four universities was implemented. Week-one, using online technology, students develop/present an interprofessional careplan for a complex patient. Students then meet face-to-face to conduct group interviews with two standardized patient dyads. Week-two, students develop a website for use of the patient dyads. Websites are presented to faculty and fellow students via an online virtual meeting space. OUTCOMES: To date, 594 students have participated demonstrating capacity to: 1.effectively engage in interprofessional care,  2. utilize Telehealth to impact care and break down barriers of isolation, and 3. implement skills to advance healthcare. CONCLUSION: IPE combined with Telehealth technology provides future providers with knowledge and skills for interprofessional care regardless of geographic barriers. Next Step: Integrate more technology using mobile devices and enhance the evaluation process

Detecting Agitation Onset in Individuals With Dementia Using Smart Phone Sensors

Individuals living with dementia (ILWD) often experience problematic agitated behaviors, this occurs in up to 80% of ILWD. These behaviors lead to stress for caregivers and increased frequency of institutionalization. There are many proven methods to intervene during agitated behavior outburst and the earlier these methods are used the better the results. Technology has been used successfully to monitor many aspects of health monitoring for older adults. Technology is now being investigated to evaluate the effectiveness of predicting the onset of problem behaviors, especially escalating agitation in ILWD. Off the shelf technology, smart watches and android phones, are being tested to measure limb movements, vocalizations, heart rate and location in facility, to evaluate their ability to provide data that is helpful in predicting agitated behaviors about to occur. This project is a collaboration between nursing and computer science in a major university setting. Currently, work has been completed on volunteers acting as patients to evaluate the ability of this technology to measure the desired parameters. Positive results have been obtained; the goal is to trial this technology on ILWD that have documented history of agitation in an assisted living environment

Students' participation in collaborative research should be recognised

Letter to the editor