Evaluation of a Peer Support Group Implementation to Reduce Burnout in Nursing Staff on an Acute Inpatient Mental Health Unit

Background: Burnout is feeling emotionally overwhelmed and exhausted due to stress in the workplace. Caring for acute psychiatric patients can impact the mental health of nursing staff and contribute to high-stress levels. Nursing burnout contributes to staffing shortages and increased risk for adverse patient safety events in an acute inpatient mental health unit. Purpose: The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Quality Improvement (QI) project was to evaluate the impact of a peer support group on burnout reduction in the nursing staff working in an acute inpatient mental health unit. Methods: A peer support group was implemented in an acute inpatient mental health unit. Education was provided on coping strategies excerpted from Taking Charge of My Life & Health (TCMLH). The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) pre-and post-assessment tool was used to measure emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Results: Key results using the MBI assessment tool showed no statistically significant difference in pre- and post-assessment in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. There was no statistical significance in the reduction of adverse safety events. Conclusion: The implementation of a peer support group did not show statistical significance in reducing burnout in an acute inpatient mental health unit. However, the project did support clinical significance in promoting positive communication and building relationships to create a safe working environment. More studies are recommended with extended time to evaluate the impact of peer support groups in reducing burnout. Keywords: burnout, nurse burnout, acute mental health, mental health nurses, stres

Reach Out in a New Direction: Applying Public Relations Best Practices to Academic Outreach

Public relations isn’t just for Fortune 500 companies or high-profile celebrities. The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Thinking about outreach in these expansive terms goes beyond simple promotional activities, media relations, or marketing tactics, and the message should resonate with librarians. Building “mutually beneficial relationships” is at the very core of public services, and serving multiple publics should also be a familiar concept as libraries strive to reach a multitude of audiences. This poster presentation explores key public relations best practices to enhance outreach with illustrative examples from a successful campaign at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Trying a new approach for VCU Libraries, the Director of Communication and Public Relations and public services librarians collaborated to create an integrated campaign focused on understanding VCU’s diverse audiences and how to reach them using a consistent message with appealing imagery and concise writing. These efforts culminated in a scalable and sustainable approach for all our publics--from the masses that walk into the building to academic departments--even individual students

Diversity Project: Poster Series Connects Core Values to Library Materials and Expertise

Virginia Commonwealth University celebrates diversity as a core value, and VCU Libraries actively strives to foster inclusion and an understanding of difference. The diversity and culture poster series was envisioned as a way to connect education about diversity directly to library collections and expertise. This poster details the distribution, response, and impact of the series

Using Life History and Ecology as Tools to Manage a Threatened Salamander Species

Selected aspects of the life history and ecology of the small-mouthed salamander (Ambystoma texanum Matthes) relevant to the management of this threatened species in Iowa are presented. The population studied utilizes flooded woodland habitat during courtship, breeding and egg laying, and during the entire larval period. Larval foraging strategies in this habitat included ontogenetic but no diel shifts in prey selection. Synchronous, nocturnal breeding migration allowed effective use of drift fences fur capture of adults used in captive breeding, courtship behavior studies, and the estimation of breeding population size. Large numbers of spennatophores, apparently indiscriminate mate choice, and the relatively large number of eggs produced by females makes captive breeding programs potentially very successful. Because larvae are particularly vulnerable to predation by fish and larval tiger salamanders, ephemeral ponds are required for breeding and larval habitat. The primary management objective should be to preserve ephemeral woodland ponds and adjacent terrestrial habitat favorable for larval and adult survival

Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/21107/thumbnail.jp

Spiranthes cernua (L.) Rich.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/21357/thumbnail.jp

Recent Developments Concerning Preferred Stockholder Rights under Delaware Law

This is a timely article focusing on the conflicting duties owed to preferred and common stockholders. Delaware is the leading corporate law jurisdiction in the United States. Preferred stock is a key component in angel and venture capital transactions. Historically the Delaware courts have accepted as a general principle the proposition that since the preferred rights are contractual in nature, they must be expressly defined in the preferred stock contract in order for the preferred to successfully assert those rights. Accordingly, the directors owe correlative duties to the preferred to the extent that the rights are articulated in the contract. The Delaware courts maintained such position for many decades. In contrast, the Jedwab decision rendered in 1986 stated that the application of the general rule is confined to the situation where the matters relate to the preferences themselves. The Jedwab court then held that where the right asserted by the preferred does not relate to a preference as against the common stockholders, but rather the rights shared equally with the common, then fiduciary, rather than contractual, principles apply. Controversy ensued as to whether the Jedwab decision was an exception to, or a violation of, the general rule. In connection with the proposition that the directors’ duties to the preferred are limited to the extent that the preferred rights are defined in the contract, the recently decided Trados case added another layer to the ongoing debate. In 2009, the Trados court addressed the issue of whether directors breached their duty of loyalty to the common stockholders by improperly favoring the interests of the preferred stockholders. In that case, the court determined that it is possible a director could breach her duty by improperly favoring the interests of the preferred over those of the common. The court examined the role of directors who were affiliated with preferred stock investors, which is not an uncommon situation in venture and start-up capital situations. As a consequence, this case will likely have a significant impact on corporate lawyers and their clients. The Trados decision has been discussed both in the press and at major continuing legal education conferences. In March of 2010, the Delaware Court, in the LC Capital case , attempted to reconcile the Trados decision with the Jedwab decision. In examining the above cases, along with other recent cases, developments concerning preferred stockholder rights under Delaware law are analyzed

The process, outcomes, and challenges of feasibility studies conducted in partnership with stakeholders: A health intervention for women survivors of intimate partner violence

Feasibility studies play a crucial role in determining whether complex, community-based interventions should be subject to efficacy testing. Reports of such studies often focus on efficacy potential but less often examine other elements of feasibility, such as acceptance by clients and professionals, practicality, and system integration, which are critical to decisions for proceeding with controlled efficacy testing. Although stakeholder partnership in feasibility studies is widely suggested to facilitate the research process, strengthen relevance, and increase knowledge transfer, little is written about how this occurs or its consequences and outcomes. We began to address these gaps in knowledge in a feasibility study of a health intervention for women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) conducted in partnership with policy, community and practitioner stakeholders. We employed a mixed-method design, combining a single-group, pre-post intervention study with 52 survivors of IPV, of whom 42 completed data collection, with chart review data and interviews of 18 purposefully sampled participants and all 9 interventionists. We assessed intervention feasibility in terms of acceptability, demand, practicality, implementation, adaptation, integration, and efficacy potential. Our findings demonstrate the scope of knowledge attainable when diverse elements of feasibility are considered, as well as the benefits and challenges of partnership. The implications of diverse perspectives on knowledge transfer are discussed. Our findings show the importance of examining elements of feasibility for complex community-based health interventions as a basis for determining whether controlled intervention efficacy testing is justified and for refining both the intervention and the research design

Heterogeneity in small aliquots of Apolllo 15 olivine-normative basalt: Implications for breccia clast studies

Most of the recent advances in lunar petrology are the direct result of breccia pull-apart studies, which have identified a wide array of new highland and mare basalt rock types that occur only as clasts within the breccias. These rocks show that the lunar crust is far more complex than suspected previously, and that processes such as magma mixing and wall-rock assimilation were important in its petrogenesis. These studies are based on the implicit assumption that the breccia clasts, which range in size from a few mm to several cm across, are representative of the parent rock from which they were derived. In many cases, the aliquot allocated for analysis may be only a few grain diameters across. While this problem is most acute for coarse-grained highland rocks, it can also cause considerable uncertainty in the analysis of mare basalt clasts. Similar problems arise with small aliquots of individual hand samples. Our study of sample heterogeneity in 9 samples of Apollo 15 olivine normative basalt (ONB) which exhibit a range in average grain size from coarse to fine are reported. Seven of these samples have not been analyzed previously, one has been analyzed by INAA only, and one has been analyzed by XRF+INAA. Our goal is to assess the effects of small aliquot size on the bulk chemistry of large mare basalt samples, and to extend this assessment to analyses of small breccia clasts

Archetypal trajectories of social, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing and distress in family care givers of patients with lung cancer: secondary analysis of serial qualitative interviews

Objective To assess if family care givers of patients with lung cancer experience the patterns of social, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing and distress typical of the patient, from diagnosis to death