Nurse Workloads: The Relationship between Nurse Compassion Satisfaction and Burnout

Nurses face a wide variety of challenges and demands while caring for their patients and families. While nurses are an important part of healthcare, both for their compassion and care and for their skills at the bedside, they can become stressed and burned out. Compassion satisfaction is essential for nurses in today’s society. Compassion satisfaction has been defined as the pleasure an individual derives from being able to help others and do their work to the best of their ability. The lack of compassion satisfaction can lead to compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue affects the care provided to patients. Compassion fatigue leads to burnout. Burnout has been defined as physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion and can lead to nurse disengagement. The purpose of this thesis was to assess the actual relationship between nurses’ burnout and the patient load during their workdays as well as the relationship between nurse compassion satisfaction and burnout. The theoretical framework was based on Helen Erickson’s Modeling and Role Modeling Theory. The participants of the study were registered nurses or licensed practical nurses working at the bedside. Study results showed a significant relationship between burnout and compassion satisfaction, while showing no association between burnout and patient load. The data analysis showed no significant correlation between patient load and the likelihood of leaving the job in the next year

Deadly designs : the impact of road design on road crash patterns along Jamaica’s North Coast Highway

Jamaica has struggled to curb the number of road crash fatalities, having had on average 25 fatalities per month between 2010 and 2014, while many more persons have been injured. The causes of crashes are multidimensional, however this study focused on understanding one aspect of reducing crashes - safe road design. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships between road design characteristics and fatal road crash distribution along the North Coast Highway (NCH) in Jamaica. The Anselin Local Moran’s I and the Getis-Ord Gi* models were employed to look at the distribution of crash hotspots. This paper also utilised Esri’s Weighted Sum Analysis tool to devise a scoring method for determining how safe or dangerous road segments were based on the presence, absence and type of road design features. The design variables selected for this study included bus stops, pedestrian crossings, traffic lights, intersections, places of interest, sidewalks, speed limit, soft shoulders, medians, lanes and roadside barriers. This study also used the zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression model to identify the empirical relationships between crash counts, crash types, road design features and safety scores. Results The ZINB model identified road segments with many places of interest (POIs), single lane, medians and many intersections as being significantly related to the segments with the most crash counts (irrespective of crash type). This study demonstrates how the spatial analysis of road design features and crash distribution can be used to determine how effective road design features are in advancing road safety and where to implement road safety plans.Jamaica has struggled to curb the number of road crash fatalities, having had on average 25 fatalities per month between 2010 and 2014, while many more persons have been injured. The causes of crashes are multidimensional, however this study focused on understanding one aspect of reducing crashes - safe road design. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships between road design features and fatal road crash distribution along the North Coast Highway (NCH) in Jamaica. The distribution of crash hotspots was determined using two spatial analysis methods, the Anselin Local Moran’s I and the Getis-Ord Gi* models. A scoring method was also used to determine how safe or dangerous road segments were based on the presence, absence and type of road design features found along each road segment. The Weighted Sum Analysis tool was utilized to determine these scores. The design variables selected for this study included bus stops, pedestrian crossings, traffic lights, intersections, places of interest (entities other than houses, such as hotels, gas stations, schools and churches), sidewalks, speed limit, soft shoulders, medians, lanes and roadside barriers (guardrails). To determine relationships or associations between crashes and road design features the zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression model was used. Results The ZINB model identified road segments with many places of interest (POIs), single lane, medians and many intersections as being associated with segments with the most crash counts. This research showed how the analysis of road design features and crash distribution can be used to determine how effective road design features are in advancing road safety and where to implement road safety plans

Impulsivity and trauma exposure in adolescents

Trauma exposure is prevalent among adolescents and may have a negative impact on social, educational, and occupational functioning. Research indicates that individual-level variables, such as impulsivity, may be risk factors for exposure to traumatic events but the findings have been mixed. This study examined the relation between impulsivity and accidental trauma exposure using a multi-method, multi-informant procedure with a community sample of 48 adolescents. Mean age was 15.2 (SD = 1.38) and the sample was predominantly female (62.5%) and predominantly Caucasian (87.5%). No significant difference was noted between genders in terms of number of traumatic events reported. As a whole, participants endorsed a wide range of potentially traumatic events with every single participant endorsing at least one event and every single event being endorsed by at least one participant with the exception of one (removed from parent\u27s custody). Path analysis suggested that self-reported sensation seeking mediates the relation between self-reported impulsivity and accidental trauma exposure. This study provided valuable information with regards to factors that may serve to inform clinical practice within the area of adolescent trauma exposure. Findings from this study suggest that trauma exposure of any kind is nearly universal within an adolescent population. Given the widespread nature of this phenomenon, it is critically important that clinicians inquire fully about an adolescent\u27s trauma history. Further, findings from this study suggest that clinicians should look beyond a standard view of trauma as being a high magnitude event and instead recognize that trauma is subjective and that even low grade stressors may have significant impact on adolescent functioning. Limitations of this study include small sample size and method variance. As such, future studies should be conducted that address these limitations and are longitudinal in design in order to better understand the relation between impulsivity and trauma exposure

Morphine Following Peripheral Nerve Injury Potentiates the Magnitude and Duration of Subsequent Allodynia: A Role of Toll-like Receptor 4

Opioids are a frontline clinical therapy for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Yet, opioid use is fraught with many negative side effects. This study investigates the effect of repeated morphine following peripheral nerve constriction on mechanical allodynia and central immune activation in rats. Mild chronic constriction injury (CCI) was performed on Sprague Dawley rats by tying one chromic gut suture around the sciatic nerve. Following surgery, morphine (5 mg/kg) was administered twice daily for 5 days. Mechanical allodynia was assessed using the von Frey method. The magnitude of CCI-allodynia was potentiated by morphine at 1 day post-dosing, and the effect remained at 35 days post-dosing (n=11-12, p<0.001). The duration of CCI-allodynia was also potentiated by subsequent morphine in Fischer 344 rats (n=6, p<0.001 at day 35 post-dosing). Immunohistochemistry was used in the dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal cord at 1 and 21 days post-dosing in Sprague Dawley rats. No interaction between CCI and morphine was found to increase expression of either CD11b or GFAP. In the Sprague Dawley rats, intrathecal blockade of TLR4 using (+)-naloxone during morphine administration inhibited subsequent potentiation of allodynia (n=6, p<0.05 at day 28 post-dosing). Additionally, acute intrathecal blockade of IL-1 receptors 44 days post-morphine transiently reversed established potentiation of allodynia (n=4, p<0.001 at 1, 2, 4, and 6 hours post-dosing). Together, these findings suggest that repeated morphine following nerve injury potentiates both the magnitude and duration of allodynia, at least in part via TLR4 and the enduring release of IL-1

A framework for the simulation of regional decadal variability for agricultural and other applications

Climate prediction on decadal time scales is currently an active area of research, and reliable model-based forecasts of regional "near-term" climate change have yet to be demonstrated. In the absence of such forecasts, synthetic data sequences that capture the statistical properties of observed near-term climate variability have potential value. Incorporation of a climate change component in such sequences can help define risk estimates for a range of climatic stresses, including those lying beyond what has been experienced in the past. Properly conditioned simulations can be used to drive agricultural, hydrological or other application models, enabling resilience testing of adaptation or decision systems. The use of statistically-based methods enables the efficient generation of large ensembles of synthetic sequences and consequently, the creation of well-defined probabilistic risk estimates. In this report we examine some procedures for the generation of synthetic climate sequences that incorporate both the statistics of observed variability and expectations regarding future regional climate change. Model fitting and simulation are considered in the framework of classical time series analysis, with methodology conditioned by requirements particular to the decadal climate problem. A method of downscaling annualized simulations to the daily time step, while preserving subannual statistical properties, is presented and other possible methods discussed. Deployment in the applications setting, the details of which may vary considerably, depending on regional climate characteristics, available data and the design of follow-on models, is considered and elements of a case study presented

E-Learning Innovations: Implementation of Video in an Occupational Therapy Classroom

Given the growing emphasis on educational technology, it is necessary to inform educators on the best use of video as a course study tool. The aim of this project was to assess the difference between two types of video delivery methods in relation to occupational therapy student satisfaction and usage. Eighty-nine occupational therapy students used one of two types of video delivery methods for learning upper extremity goniometry: short videos embedded within e-learning modules or live lab video recordings available via a learning management system. Qualitative and quantitative data on student perceptions and usage were collected and analyzed. Students with access to e-learning module videos were more satisfied than those with access to live video recordings in terms of preparedness for exams, confidence, and accessibility. All students reported that access to videos was helpful in preparing for labs and exams. To maximize student satisfaction and usage, educators should consider providing short videos via e-learning modules

Hygiene, Storage, and Waste Management for the Unsheltered Community: Gaps & Opportunities Analysis

This study, completed in early February 2022, included focus groups and interviews with 18 government employees and service providers, interviews with 19 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, a review of research literature and news articles on the topic, and previous surveys and research from Portland State University to better understand gaps and opportunities in providing hygiene, storage and waste management to people living unsheltered

Multinational survey of chiropractic patients: reasons for seeking care

This is the publisher's version, copyright by the Canadian Chiropractic Association.This study explores the extent to which consumers seek wellness care when choosing chiropractors whose practice methods are known to include periodic evaluative and interventional methods to maintain wellness and prevent illness. Methods: Using an international convenience sample of Sacro-Occipital Technique (SOT) practitioners, 1316 consecutive patients attending 27 different chiropractic clinics in the USA, Europe and Australia completed a one-page survey on intake to assess reason for seeking care. A forced choice response was obtained characterizing the patient’s reason for seeking chiropractic care. Results: More than 40% of chiropractic patient visits were initiated for the purposes of health enhancement and/or disease prevention. Conclusion: Although prudence dictates great caution when generalizing from this study, if confirmed by subsequent research among other similar cohorts, the present results may lend support to continued arguments of consumer demand for a more comprehensive paradigm of chiropractic care, beyond routine musculoskeletal complaints, that conceptualizes the systemic, nonspecific effects of the chiropractic encounter in much broader terms