A Gap Analysis of Nursing Systems and Practices in Malaysia: Culturally Appropriate Interventions to Advance Nursing

This project comprises a gap analysis of differences between American and Malaysian nursing programs, and additionally, proposes culturally appropriate interventions for Malaysian nursing to adopt American nursing models. The gap analysis was conducted on nursing systems and practices in Malaysia undertaken to identify the differences between Malaysian and American nursing, and the influences that affect Malaysian nursing. The aim is to facilitate the use of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Pathway to Excellence Practice Standard #4: Orientation Prepares New Nurses for the Work Environment, and #6: Professional Development is Provided and Used. The proposal of culturally appropriate interventions as a means to effectively introduce American nursing approaches to Malaysia for short and long term purposes was derived from the gap analysis data. The project is based on the framework that cultural understanding is necessary for the success of a cross-cultural project. Using Hofstede’s national culture dimensions as the foundation, the main intervention focuses on cross-cultural training with the use of simulation to create cultural awareness

Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment: A Nursing Perspective

Screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) was first initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the mid 1980’s in recognition of alcohol as an important contributor of ill health, mental health issues, injuries from trauma, and social problems .1 For example, in 2002, 3.2% of deaths worldwide were attributed to alcohol use.1 SBIRT has been successfully implemented in primary care and emergency departments and globally.1-11 In emergency medicine, SBIRT has been mandated by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma for all Level I trauma centers in the United States.8 There are a few studies, however, with results that question the efficacy of SBIRT to reduce alcohol use at longer term, at 12 months of follow-up. 7, 9-1

Clinical Nurse Leaders in the Community: Building an Academic Faculty Practice Partnership

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) emphasis on preventive care and primary health has given community organizations and outpatient care environments renewed attention. Nursing has been offered the opportunity to lead healthcare into a new era. One of the two new nursing programs to be given life in this movement is the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL). The CNL is a graduate level educated nurse who specializes in healthcare systems leadership, a facilitator of care in the complex healthcare environments of today. They are equipped to see the wider and broader perspective of things, assess needs, research the best interventions for problems identified, implement these interventions, and evaluate the processes and outcomes of the interventions. This paper describes the experience of a school of nursing and health professions and a community non-profit organization in developing a community faculty practice partnership allowing for CNL, nurse practitioner, and Doctorate of Psychology students to be placed at a community clinic serving high-risk patients. The Synergy Model of community partnership formation by Lasker and Weiss is used as the complimentary model to show how the CNL approach to a microsystem can be effectively adopted into the community setting with beneficial outcomes to both parties of the partnership

Critical Cultural Awareness and Diversity in Nursing: A Minority Perspective

Increasing multiculturalism and ongoing issues related to poor patient-centered care, teamwork, and safety call for urgent readdressing of cultural competency training. Critical cultural awareness education is needed to improve diversity in the nursing profession. Using Hofstede’s cultural dimension of Invidualism-Collectivism, this paper proposes that the dominance of one culture may be the contributory factor in the slow acceptance of change towards critical cultural awareness education. Experiential learning by way of gaming and critical reflection on cross-cultural interactions can contribute to the development of critical cultural awareness

Promoting Transgender Understanding and Acceptance at a Jesuit University

Transgender individuals have faced and continue to face misunderstanding and severe discrimination in society and in accessing the provision of healthcare. Two nursing faculty at a Jesuit university addressed this issue in a Jesuit community dialogue supported by a Jesuit grant. This dialogue was framed within Jesuit teachings and was consistent with the value of social justice, something fundamental to both the profession of nursing and Jesuit teachings. Three transgender individuals and a Jesuit priest each spoke of their personal experience and then opened the dialogue up for questions. Faculty and students overwhelmingly found the dialogue to be helpful and informative. This article can provide others, especially within the Jesuit tradition, with guidance for a similar dialogue

Promoting Transgender Understanding and Acceptance at a Jesuit University

Transgender individuals have faced and continue to face misunderstanding and severe discrimination in society and in accessing the provision of healthcare. Two nursing faculty at a Jesuit university addressed this issue in a Jesuit community dialogue supported by a Jesuit grant. This dialogue was framed within Jesuit teachings and was consistent with the value of social justice, something fundamental to both the profession of nursing and Jesuit teachings. Three transgender individuals and a Jesuit priest each spoke of their personal experience and then opened the dialogue up for questions. Faculty and students overwhelmingly found the dialogue to be helpful and informative. This article can provide others, especially within the Jesuit tradition, with guidance for a similar dialogue

Reflections on Leadership in Nursing Education: A Minority Perspective

Academic leadership is at once engaging and stimulating, demanding and overwhelming. This article discusses the experiences and perspectives of minority faculty members working at a Jesuit institution. In this article, the authors use Ignatian pedagogical values as the foundation to guide their responses to the challenges they experience in leadership roles and to turn these challenges into opportunities for growth

The meaning of evidence and nonmaleficence: cases from nursing

In our increasingly diverse environment, nurses are obligated to question the meaning of “evidence” when history has shown that our emphasis on the empirical and quantitative data has shaped our biases against knowledge unknown to us. This bias has limited our ability to provide patient or person-centered care, and can be harmful to patients. Nurses are encouraged to reflect on what evidence means in their practice, and to make sure harm is not caused to patients by dismissing evidence yet unknown to us or accepting “truths” not fully understood by us. The authors use composite case studies to share experiences from their clinical practice on how “evidence,” or lack of, can challenge our obligation to “do no harm.” Curiosity and skepticism should guide nursing practice, and every nurse should strive to contribute to questioning accepted practice and finding answers to the unknown to meet the needs of our diverse patients