Clinical Observation Reflections from Students in an Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Course

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into how a brief clinical observation encounter contributed to students’ experiences in an interdisciplinary palliative care course. This course was required of all graduate nursing students and was available as an elective for medical and other healthcare professions students at a healthcare sciences university. The students were required to spend approximately 8 to 12 hours attending interdisciplinary team meetings or accompanying a team on rounds and patient visits. The students’ summary narratives of their observation experience were analyzed in this qualitative study that focused on six categories of feedback: (1) patients’ and families’ reactions, (2) communication issues with patients and families, (3) how the palliative care team speaks with the patient and family, (4) communication within the interdisciplinary team, (5) students’ reflections, and (6) students’ suffering. This study demonstrated that a clinical observation activity can be a valuable introduction to palliative care principles for healthcare students in an interdisciplinary course. Students benefited from gaining insight into family/practitioner communications regarding difficult issues, interdisciplinary roles and cooperation, and application of palliative care principles to clinical practice. Further research is required to identify appropriate interventions to deal with student distress resulting from such early career clinical encounters

Chapter Report: Southwestern Association of Law Libraries

The membership of the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries converged in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the forty-seventh annual meeting on March 31-April 2, 2005, to discover and discuss issues and the latest innovations in the legal information profession for the twenty-first century. The theme was Big Ideas Come from Little Rock. The staff of the University of Arkansas Little Rock/Pulaski County Law Library hosted the preconference program, Basic Legal Research for the Non-Law Librarian, which broke attendance records for outside-Texas meeting locations. Successful marketing of the preconference to the Arkansas library community, including the Arkansas Documents Consortium, resulted in thirty-one registered attendees from public, college, and university libraries

Youth Leadership Development in the Activism Context: a Case Study of the Wilder Youth Leadership Initiative

In conducting this research I investigated the effectiveness of youth leadership development programming in the Wilder Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI), a program located in St. Paul, Minnesota. For this qualitative case study, I used participant observation, semi-structured interviews and a survey to explore the development and demonstration of specific leadership capacities and skills (communication and interpersonal skills, analytical and critical functioning, decision making skills, personal identity, project management, reflection, and sense of empowerment) among youth participants. I also explored the programmatic structures that facilitate Youth Leadership Development (in the context of a cause chosen by youth, explicit outcomes, developmentally appropriate experiences, youth assessment and feedback, varied learning methods, follow up and ongoing support, communication with families, well trained and supervised staff, and skill practice, action, membership, and modeling,) Based upon this research, I discuss the effectiveness of youth development programming that, in addition to building skills, provides for authentic voice and the practice of leadership

Information Resource Management: An Analysis of the Importance of Critical Skills as Perceived by Air Force Communications and Information Commanders

This study explores what Information Resource Management skills are required in the Communications Information career field as perceived by the Air Force commanders. A previous study polled junior officers, and this study furthers the research by sampling commanders who represent the leadership of the Communication Information career field. The following questions were addressed: (1) What are the skills commanders perceive as most important to the IRM mission? (2) Of those skills, where do the commanders perceive their organization\u27s members\u27 weaknesses? (3) What are the primary sources of training for commanders in the career field? (4) What expectations do commanders have for the training of their organizations? The results of skill importance concurred with current literature, including that pertaining to junior Air Force officers. The interpersonal skill category was concluded most important, followed by managerial and then technical. Results of ideal training sources for the career field are presented, advocating a revision to current Air Force technical courses. Notable commander comments referring to skill importance and areas of weakness, as well as viable training sources are provided

Candelight: Illuminating the Art of Spiritual Direction

Reviewed by Elizabeth Liebert