It’s All about the Nurse Aides

Context: Collaboration between the certified nurse aide (CNA) and licensed nurse (LN) is crucial for the provision of safe, personalized, quality care in the nursing home. This study explored the lived work experience of collaboration in caregiving pairs that identified one another as successful care partners in the delivery of high-quality resident care. Objective: This research explored the CNA and LN experience of mutual support in four nursing homes in the Western United States with a particular focus on varied approaches of LN support for CNAs. Methods: Using a purposive sampling design, we surveyed 12 LN and 12 CNA participants individually and as part of an LN/CNA caregiving pair. Semi-structured interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, loaded into NVivo software, and coded for meaning. Findings: LN participants described feeling most supported by CNAs who do their job well. LN and CNA participants described ways LNs in the sample provide holistic support to their CNA coworkers—a phenomenon we coinedundergirding: listen and respond, show respect, help with resident care and answer call lights, educate and explain, provide feedback and encouragement, adjust and divide workloads, protect the CNA, support physical needs, and provide emotional support. Undergirding promotes work success for the CNA and the LN. Most importantly, participants described how undergirding facilitates high-quality resident care. Limitations: This study was designed to identify and explore optimal collaboration as it is possible in the current nursing home setting. It was not intended to represent all LN/CNA caregiving pairs. Implications: These findings may be helpful for educators and administrators, but perhaps they are most important for policymakers. More effective support for CNAs is needed if we hope to decrease turnover, improve retention, and elevate nursing home residents’ quality of care

Development and Implementation of a Peer Mentoring Program for Early Career Gerontological Faculty: Mentoring Early Career Gerontological Faculty

In conjunction with the National Hartford Centers of Gerontological Nursing Excellence (NHCGNE), formerly known as the Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Initiative (BAGNC), the Hartford Gerontological Nursing Leaders (HGNL) developed and executed a program beginning in 2011 to enhance both (a) the experience of newly selected scholars and fellows to the NHCGNE and (b) the ongoing professional development of the HGNL. The purpose of this article is to describe key strategies used to develop and execute the mentoring program and to present the formative and summative program evaluation

A stable aberrant immunophenotype characterizes nearly all cases of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma in blood and can be used to monitor response to therapy

BACKGROUND: Abnormal variations in the expression level of some commonly expressed T-cell antigens are a feature of many T-cell malignancies. METHODS: We sought to assess the frequency of such abnormal antigen expression by flow cytometry in peripheral blood (PB) samples from patients with mycosis fungoides (MF) and Sézary syndrome (SS). We correlated presence of morphologically identifiable tumor cells on PB smear with the frequency of abnormalities in the level of expression of CD3, CD4, CD7, CD8 and CD26. We also examined the degree of stability of these abnormal findings in tumor cells over the course of disease. The flow cytometric findings in 100 PB samples from 44 patients, including 38 who had multiple sequential PB samples (2–8 samples each), were assessed. RESULTS: Abnormalities were seen in the expression level of one or more T-cell markers in 41 cases (93%) including CD3 in 34% of patients, CD4 in 54%, CD26 in 86% and CD 45 in 40% (10 cases tested). In all but 2 cases, the abnormal T-cell immunophenotype remained similar over the course of treatment and correlated with the relative numbers of tumor cells counted on PB smear. CONCLUSIONS: Using a standard T-cell panel, stable phenotypically aberrant T-cell populations representing the tumor are detected in the vast majority of involved PB samples in MF/SS and can be used to monitor response to therapy

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA

CITATION: Watson, R., et al. 2016. Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 11:13, doi:10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9.The original publication is available at https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.comENGLISH SUMMARY : Meeting abstracts.https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9Publisher's versio

Development of a Distance Based Long-Term Care Nurse Residency Program

Long term care (LTC) nursing is complex and highly regulated. Many LTC nurses (RNs) are associate degree trained with little leadership or gerontological nurse training. LTC RN burnout and turnover is high. LTC nurse residency programs (LTC NRP) for baccalaureate prepared RNs that include didactic and preceptor training have been successfully implemented. Our goal was to develop a distance based LTC NRP that could be attended remotely by rural and urban LTC RNs

Dangerous spaces: Using geographic information systems in injury research

Journal ArticlePURPOSE: To provide an overview of geographic information systems (GIS) and to discuss current and future applications in injury and trauma research. DESIGN: Literature review and discourse of GIS technology related to injury and trauma research. METHOD: A search of scientific literature databases, text books, and online resources was undertaken to describe the current and prospective uses of GIS in injury and trauma research. RESULTS: Geographic information systems are computerized mapping systems that link information from different data sets spatially. The advantage of GIS is the capability to graphically display different attributes of an area in a way that is easily interpretable. Geographic information systems have been used to study injury rates, describe populations at risk for injury, examine access to trauma care, and develop and assess injury prevention programs. CONCLUSIONS: Geographic information systems are tools for injury researchers to analyze injury rates and risks and to describe their results with colorful maps and graphics that allow the public to see how injuries affect their communities

Injuries Occurring to Older Adults in Rural Utah

Lecture presentations hosted by the College of Nursing featuring faculty, graduate students, nursing professionals, and allied health experts. Each lunchtime lecture is devoted to a timely topic examining the training, research and scholarly needs of the nursing community.Lecture