Global Nurse Migration Today

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74033/1/j.1547-5069.2007.00201.x.pd

Nurses, nannies and caring work: importation, visibility and marketability

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75248/1/j.1440-1800.2006.00320.x.pd

Using Sociograms to Enhance Power and Voice in Focus Groups

ObjectiveTo discuss the use of sociograms in our focus groups with homeless sheltered mothers and to assess facilitator influence and the distribution of power influence.Design and SampleAn exploratory, descriptive qualitative design that utilizes both focus groups and sociograms. Two focus groups were conducted in December 2009 (N = 7) and January 2010 (N = 4). Data analysis included a content analysis and a process analysis using sociograms to graphically represent group participant dynamics.ResultsUse of the sociogram provided a means to assess the influence of the facilitator as well as quantify the degree to which group participants' voices are included.ConclusionUsing sociograms provides a viable mechanism to complement content analysis and increase the methodological rigor of focus groups in health care research.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113728/1/phn12199.pd

Description of an advanced practice nursing consultative model to reduce restrictive siderail use in nursing homes

Researchers have demonstrated that the use of physical restraints in nursing homes can be reduced, particularly where advanced practice nurses (APNs) are utilized. We examined the link between APN practice, siderail reduction, and the costs of siderail alternatives in 273 residents in four Philadelphia nursing homes. The majority of participants were cognitively and physically impaired with multiple co-morbidities. APNs recommended a total of 1,275 siderail-alternative interventions aimed at reducing fall risk. The median cost of siderail alternatives to prevent falls per resident was $135. Residents with a fall history experienced a significantly higher cost of recommendation compared to non-fallers. Findings suggest that an APN consultation model can effectively be implemented through comprehensive, individualized assessment without incurring substantial costs to the nursing home. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 30: 131–140, 2007Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/56001/1/20185_ftp.pd

Statistical Mechanics and the Physics of the Many-Particle Model Systems

The development of methods of quantum statistical mechanics is considered in light of their applications to quantum solid-state theory. We discuss fundamental problems of the physics of magnetic materials and the methods of the quantum theory of magnetism, including the method of two-time temperature Green's functions, which is widely used in various physical problems of many-particle systems with interaction. Quantum cooperative effects and quasiparticle dynamics in the basic microscopic models of quantum theory of magnetism: the Heisenberg model, the Hubbard model, the Anderson Model, and the spin-fermion model are considered in the framework of novel self-consistent-field approximation. We present a comparative analysis of these models; in particular, we compare their applicability for description of complex magnetic materials. The concepts of broken symmetry, quantum protectorate, and quasiaverages are analyzed in the context of quantum theory of magnetism and theory of superconductivity. The notion of broken symmetry is presented within the nonequilibrium statistical operator approach developed by D.N. Zubarev. In the framework of the latter approach we discuss the derivation of kinetic equations for a system in a thermal bath. Finally, the results of investigation of the dynamic behavior of a particle in an environment, taking into account dissipative effects, are presented.Comment: 77 pages, 1 figure, Refs.37

GA4GH: International policies and standards for data sharing across genomic research and healthcare.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) aims to accelerate biomedical advances by enabling the responsible sharing of clinical and genomic data through both harmonized data aggregation and federated approaches. The decreasing cost of genomic sequencing (along with other genome-wide molecular assays) and increasing evidence of its clinical utility will soon drive the generation of sequence data from tens of millions of humans, with increasing levels of diversity. In this perspective, we present the GA4GH strategies for addressing the major challenges of this data revolution. We describe the GA4GH organization, which is fueled by the development efforts of eight Work Streams and informed by the needs of 24 Driver Projects and other key stakeholders. We present the GA4GH suite of secure, interoperable technical standards and policy frameworks and review the current status of standards, their relevance to key domains of research and clinical care, and future plans of GA4GH. Broad international participation in building, adopting, and deploying GA4GH standards and frameworks will catalyze an unprecedented effort in data sharing that will be critical to advancing genomic medicine and ensuring that all populations can access its benefits

Sending for nurses: Foreign nurse immigration to American hospitals, 1945-1980

This study analyzes the recruitment and employment of foreign nurses to U.S. hospitals between 1945 and 1980, with a particular focus on the use of Filipino nurses. Foreign nurse labor use was one of numerous strategies used to increase the American nursing supply in the latter half of the twentieth century. A persistent phenomenon in American nurse manpower development, over one-fifth of U.S. hospitals today report that they employ foreign nurses on a regular basis to maintain adequate staffing. Drawing data from government documents, archival records, secondary sources and oral testimonies, foreign nurse migration is examined against the backdrop of post-war American nurse/hospital relations. Post-war hospital expansion in both numbers and magnitude, combined with new surgical advances and technological developments and shifts in consumer ideologies about health, created the demand for more nurses and eventually culminated in a critical and widespread national nursing shortage. Hospitals, nursing leaders, and policy makers responded by rapidly developing inexpensive, temporary, and expendable means to expand the nurse labor pool. For example, LPNs, nurses\u27 aides, and later, two year community college-trained RNs were produced to fill the gaps in professional hospital nursing staffs. These temporary measures, however, like the use of foreign laborers, failed to solve the ongoing problem of a professional nursing shortage. Moreover, national agendas to increase nursing supplies failed to consider the local needs of communities. Rather than simply increasing the supply of nurses, the creation of more nurse workers generated a complex hierarchial nurse labor structure which divided nurses by race, class, ethnicity, and geography. Nurses thus became socially and spatially segregated, paradoxically perpetuating the shortage cycle. An historical examination of one group of nurse workers enhances our understanding of an increasingly complex American health care system and the persistent use of ineffective short-term solutions for recurrent nurse shortages. Analysis of the antecedent events and consequences of the long-used strategy of foreign nurse recruitment and employment may provide a basis for facilitating the development of socially responsible and cost-effective strategic approaches to future United States nurse shortages