Assessment of Evidence-Based Practice Readiness and Plan for Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines in a Tertiary Hospital

Using evidence-based practice (EBP) to deliver patient care in a hospital setting improves patients\u27 care and their outcomes. The use of clinical practice guidelines (CPG) enables nurses and other healthcare professionals to translate current evidence into bedside care. However, there continue to be barriers for hospitals in adopting and implementing evidence-based care using CPGs, including a lack of understanding about EBP by nursing staff. The purpose of this project was to explore readiness of registered nurses in a tertiary hospital to use EBP and provide recommendations for a plan to implement CPGs successfully. Melnyk\u27s research identified EBP as an approach to care, and the concept of using CPGs to shape patient care served as a foundation for the project. In addition, Kotter\u27s theory of change was used to guide the recommendations to promote implementation. The Academic Center for Evidence-Based Practice-Readiness Inventory (ACE-ERI) created by Stevens was used to survey nurses\u27 EBP readiness and knowledge at one Florida tertiary hospital. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Survey results revealed the nurses\u27 overall moderate level of confidence in using EBP, but limited EBP knowledge. Therefore, recommendations to develop education programs for EBP as well as guidance on follow-up assessments were proposed to nursing leadership. Educating the nurses will increase the likelihood of adoption of the CPGs, which will promote positive social change by improving the bedside care delivered by hospital nurses, which will result in better patient outcomes

The Indivisibility of Economic and Political Rights

A review of: Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen. New York: Knopf , 1999 (Paperback Edition: Random House, 2000). 366pp

The American Rejection of Economic Rights as Human Rights and the Declaration of Independence: Does the Pursuit of Happiness Require Basic Economic Rights?

This article explores the economic dimension of the Pursuit of Happiness in the Declaration of Independence and how it undercuts the notion that economic and social rights under international human rights law are somehow un-American. The United States government seems to believe that economic rights are not truly human rights, but rather radical Cold War era entitlements advocated by communists. The minimum-needs conception of the pursuit of happiness suggests that economic rights are enshrined in a document considered part of the foundation of democracy. Part I evaluates the rejection of economic rights in the United States, focusing on international commitments. Part II turns to the Declaration of Independence, specifically, the Pursuit of Happiness. Drawing on eighteenth-century political thought, it asserts that the pursuit of happiness establishes an inalienable right that includes an economic dimension. Part III argues that the right to pursue happiness entails a concomitant governmental duty: the duty to facilitate the pursuit of happiness by providing minimum economic means. Although the Declaration of Independence has not been interpreted as legally enforceable, the principles of the Declaration form the basis for the government and must be followed by it. The article shows how this obligation to ensure basic economic rights is also contained in various international instruments. Far from being foreign to American political thought, this duty is provided for and must be fulfilled under the principles of the Declaration of Independence

Comparing the Interests of Justice : What the International Criminal Court Can Learn from New York Law

This article addresses the debate over whether the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court should adopt ex ante guidelines for prosecutorial discretion in order to increase transparency and legitimacy. It focuses on one of the most ambiguous provisions of the Rome Statute: allowing the Prosecutor to decline to prosecute in the “interests of justice.” Specifically, this article will examine the experience of New York in operationalizing a domestic statutory analogue to the Rome Statute provision: dismissal of cases “in furtherance of justice.” An analysis of New York law yields three core lessons that carry over to the international sphere despite differences in the systems. First, a requirement of a written rationale regarding the exercise of discretion does not necessarily yield thorough or convincing explanations. This undermines arguments that the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court will be enhanced by public explanations of prosecutorial discretion. Second, such explanations may backfire when the balancing of nebulous factors leads to apparently inconsistent or arbitrary reasoning and results, which may undercut the credibility of the decision-maker. Finally, the lack of a guiding theory to drive the interpretation of ambiguous criteria can lead to more confusion than clarity when there is no agreement on the theoretical justifications for prosecution, as seen in both the domestic and international systems. The experience of New York, therefore, supports skepticism of the efficacy of ex ante criteria for the exercise of discretion, particularly for complex decisions regarding the interests of justice. If such criteria are nonetheless adopted, the New York experience offers suggestions on crafting a more effective approach

Transnational Perspectives on Italy in Australia's Musical Landscape

A transnational perspective is needed to understand not only the nature and development of the migratory flow of Italian people to Australia, but also the ongoing interactions of Italians in Australia with families in Italy and elsewhere in the diaspora. This chapter provides background to the papers contained in the rest of the volume, which address many different dimensions of the musical role of Italian immigrants in Australia. After providing an overview of the characteristic features of Italian immigration to Australia, including the predominance of immigration from poor peasant backgrounds, the chapter provides a framework for understanding the diversity of musical expressions of Italianness in the Australian context.Australian Research Counci

Thoughts on Music and Migration

Music is always significant to human beings everywhere. Such diverse social phenomena as religion, power structure, class structure or family relations are to some extent expressed, mirrored, reinforced, exhibited—or even flaunted—through the social use of sound. And just like all these other social phenomena, music is always in a state of flux, with new generations of music-makers, audiences, technologies and social contexts spurring new musical creations and forms, and adapting or supplanting old ones. Migration is a similarly universal phenomenon. The history of humanity is a history of migrations. Migratory peoples tend to take their music along with them, especially if there are sufficient numbers of them to sustain its practice in a social context, and even if they do not , that fact in itself can help us to understand some important features of the originating and host societies, and the role of the migrants in relation to them. The study of music in migratory contexts may thus be crucial to the study of musical cultures in general. The experience of migration does not make music any less relevant in the lives of the emigrants, and the study of musical attitudes, tastes, practices (and their progressive reshaping over time) may help us to understand how easy or difficult it is for migrants to strike a balance between assimilation, co-habitation (with other groups) and the maintenance of distinctive cultural traits.Australian Research Counci