Improving Nurse Mentor Retention Through the Use of Nurse Residency Programs

Graduate nurses beginning their nursing career require a collaborative relationship with an expert nurse mentor to make this transition successful. However, high turnover among these experienced nurse mentors is causing a problematic gap in knowledge transfer, experience, and expertise in the nursing workforce. This project investigated whether nurse mentors who mentored in a Nurse Residency Program (NRP) remained with the organization longer and were more satisfied with their mentoring experience than nurse mentors who mentored outside of a NRP. The diffusion of innovations theory was used to support the project and process of dispersing information on the outcome of the project. Sources of evidence for the project included case-cohort studies, systematic reviews obtained via an exhaustive literature review, and the collection of nurse mentor retention and satisfaction data through the use of a cross-sectional survey. Data were assessed from 214 registered nurses at a hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota and divided into 2 groups: nurse mentor and NRP mentor. When compared to nurse mentors, 10% more NRP mentors reported being employed in their current position with the intent to remain employed for 10 or more years as well as being very satisfied with their mentorship experience, supporting the project question. This project substantiates the need for experienced nurse mentors to prepare new graduate nurses coming into the profession. Contribution to positive social change is as a result of mentorship in nursing that functions as a means of retaining both new graduate and experienced nurses simultaneously

HABITAT SUITABILITY MODELING OF PEROMYSCUS PECTORALIS (WHITE-ANKLED MOUSE) IN VAL VERDE CO., TEXAS

The goal of this work was to utilize habitat suitability modeling and spool-and-line tracking to delineate habitat use and distribution of the White-ankled mouse (Peromyscus pectoralis), within the Devils River State Natural Area – Big Satan Unit (DRSNA - BSU), in Val Verde County, Texas. Using trapping data from a 21 month period (February 2013 - October 2014), MaxEnt modeling was used to determine which of 7 environmental variables contributed the most to the species distribution at DRSNA - BSU, and a species distribution map was generated. A jackknife test of variable importance determined vegetation series and slope as the highest contributing variables in isolation. Generalized linear modeling was then used to compare trap-line abundance indices to the percentages of individual vegetation series within a buffered area around the trap-line. Positive correlations with higher abundance indices were observed in winter, spring, and fall among a variety of vegetation series. Using spool-and-line tracking, P. pectoralis was determined to be highly mobile indicating that this species is capable of dispersing to areas of greater resource availability. Data suggest that vegetative habitat selection of this species varies seasonally and is likely dependent on the degree of seasonal resource availability within each vegetation type and the trophic ecology of P. pectoralis

Characteristics of Subjects Who Avoid Activities and Participation due to a Fear of Falling in Parkinson’s Disease

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) exhibiting fear of falling avoidance behavior to those with no fear of falling avoidance behavior. Because avoidance behavior can have deleterious downstream consequences, it is important to determine what potentially mitigated physical and psychological factors are associated with it. Subjects: Fifty-six community dwelling individuals (age=72.1 years, SD=9.6; males=42, females=14) with PD (Hoehn and Yahr Scale stage median=2.0, mode=3.0) were classified into two groups using the Fear of Falls Avoidance Behavior Questionnaire (FFABQ): avoiders (n=26, ≥20 FFABQ), and non-avoiders (n=30, \u3c20 on the FFABQ). Methods: Avoiders and non-avoiders were compared using five domains: demographics (age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), education), PD (Parkinson’s Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), Hoehn and Yahr Scale, Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39)), balance and falls (fall history, Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Activities Specific Balance Scale (ABC)), physical performance (2-minute step test (2MST), 30 second Sit to Stand Test (30STS), Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT), ActivPAL physical activity monitor data), and psychological factors (Zung Anxiety Scale (ZAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)). Results: There were no differences between avoiders and non-avoiders in age, gender, SES, education, year of diagnosis, and fall history, including injurious falls (ps\u3e0.272). Avoiders had worse scores on the MDS-UPDRS (sections I-III, ps\u3c0.014) and the PDQ (mobility, ADLs, emotion, stigma, cognition, and bodily discomfort subscales, ps\u3c0.028). Avoiders also exhibited poorer balance performance and less balance iv confidence (BBS, p=0.003; ABC, p\u3c0.001; FES, p=0.048). Avoiders reported higher depression, anxiety, and catastrophization (BDI, p=0.015; ZAS, p=0.028; CAFS, p=0.001; CoFQ, p\u3c0.001). Discussion: Results of this study suggest that individuals with PD who report higher avoidance behaviors have more involved PD symptoms, score lower for balance, strength and conditioning, and have greater psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and catastrophization. There were no differences in fall history between the two groups, presumably because avoiders may have avoided activities that increase the risk for a potential fall. While these findings suggest that avoidance behavior has both physical and psychological dimensions, the cause-effect relationship cannot be determined

Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Transactional Skills Courses

The following description of our guided discussion reflects our questions from our original presentation and our own insights and experiences, together with the insights and ideas suggested by our audience. Our audience represented a variety of law schools, varying in size, geographic location, and curricular emphasis on transactional law and skills, and varying in types of transactional courses, including clinics, simulations, and courses focusing on transactional skills. We are grateful to our audience, who served as a thoughtful, vibrant discussion group in generously sharing their experiences, ideas, and suggestions regarding assessing learning outcomes in transactional skills-based courses

The Dynamics of a Mobile Phone Network

The empirical study of network dynamics has been limited by the lack of longitudinal data. Here we introduce a quantitative indicator of link persistence to explore the correlations between the structure of a mobile phone network and the persistence of its links. We show that persistent links tend to be reciprocal and are more common for people with low degree and high clustering. We study the redundancy of the associations between persistence, degree, clustering and reciprocity and show that reciprocity is the strongest predictor of tie persistence. The method presented can be easily adapted to characterize the dynamics of other networks and can be used to identify the links that are most likely to survive in the future

Exposure to the field of renal transplantation during undergraduate medical education in the UK

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of surgeons in the field of renal transplantation, with a predicted shortage of over 20 consultants by the year 2005. Early positive exposure to the field, commencing at undergraduate level, has been identified as being vital to improving rates of recruitment. This study was performed to assess the exposure of undergraduates to the field of renal transplantation during medical education in the UK. METHODS: In October 2004 a questionnaire was sent to the clinical deans of all UK medical schools regarding undergraduate exposure to renal transplantation. RESULTS: Twenty-five replies were received, giving a response rate of 96%. All but one school had a centre for renal transplantation in their region. Three schools (12%) gave no formal lecture or tutorial on the subject during the entire course. Of the remainder, between one to four formal sessions were provided, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours duration. Six medical schools (24%) provided no compulsory clinical exposure to renal transplantation, with a further five (20%) saying that students may receive exposure by chance. The average length of attachment was three weeks. Twenty-one medical schools (84%) provided between 1–10% of students a choice to study renal transplantation, as part of electives and special study modules. CONCLUSION: This study reveals a variation between, and within, medical schools in the levels of formal teaching. If the trends in recruitment to renal transplantation are to be reversed, we have an obligation to improve upon the medical education that students currently receive

Towards self-regulation: breaking the deadlock

How do students learn - through listening and making notes or through engaging in activities and questioning their learning experiences? Teaching is gradually becoming more activity-based, reflecting recent higher education learning theory (eg Biggs 2003). But assessment is too often seen to be the point at which staff and students retreat to the traditional model of ‘tutor knows best’. Students trust their tutors judgements and tutors distrust students’ abilities to make judgements...whilst still expecting them to become ‘self regulated learners’ (Nicol, 2009). In this session tutors and students will together provide details of a case study that aimed to break this deadlock and scaffold students as learners with the confidence and ability to assess, give and receive feedback from their peers (Falchikov 2006) within the first year of an undergraduate degree in primary education. Over a period of three months tutors facilitated students’ analysis of assessment criteria, framing of success criteria and provided models of individual and generic feedback. Students completed a ‘peer assessment’ of their work and evaluated the processes involved. As prospective primary school teachers they considered the experience from the perspectives of ‘learner’ and ‘teacher’. There were three major outcomes from the peer assessment process. Firstly the assessment experience appeared to have a greater impact on students’ engagement with learning than the more passive acceptance of tutor’s written feedback on an assignment. Secondly the students’ reflections demonstrated a high degree of engagement with, and recognition of, the major issues in assessment - validity, reliability and manageability. Thirdly the students were made aware of each other as valuable resources for learning and opportunities for giving and receiving constructive feedback – a critical step towards self regulation

Automatic Segmentation of Fluorescence Lifetime Microscopy Images of Cells Using Multi-Resolution Community Detection

We have developed an automatic method for segmenting fluorescence lifetime (FLT) imaging microscopy (FLIM) images of cells inspired by a multi-resolution community detection (MCD) based network segmentation method. The image processing problem is framed as identifying segments with respective average FLTs against a background in FLIM images. The proposed method segments a FLIM image for a given resolution of the network composed using image pixels as the nodes and similarity between the pixels as the edges. In the resulting segmentation, low network resolution leads to larger segments and high network resolution leads to smaller segments. Further, the mean-square error (MSE) in estimating the FLT segments in a FLIM image using the proposed method was found to be consistently decreasing with increasing resolution of the corresponding network. The proposed MCD method outperformed a popular spectral clustering based method in performing FLIM image segmentation. The spectral segmentation method introduced noisy segments in its output at high resolution. It was unable to offer a consistent decrease in MSE with increasing resolution.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure