Risk Factors for Colonic Polyps in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disorder affecting over 30,000 children and adults in the United States. With improving healthcare, cystic fibrosis patients’ survival has improved over the past several decades. CF patients have an increased incidence of cancer of the gastrointestinal (gi) tract. Little is known about why there is this increased incidence of gi malignancies. This research focuses on investigating potential risk factors for developing colonic polyps in patients over 40 years of age with CF. Two databases were established to capture data related to the research goals. The first database was created based on a questionnaire developed to capture potential risk factor information on CF patients undergoing a colonoscopy. The second allowed for data capture of the physician’s report of that same colonoscopy. Data was gathered from multiple procedure reports. Preliminary data review suggests gender may be a risk factor for developing colonic polyps.This project was supported by the University of Minnesota’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Progra

Little people, big lessons an innovative strategy to develop interpersonal skills in undergraduate nursing students /

Learning the skills of child health nursing requires more than technical skill development. Humanistic attributes such as being genuine, accepting and empathic are imperative in gaining the trust of a child, and in helping them feel comforted and safe in a health care setting. Interpersonal theory has a long history in nursing and numerous contemporary theories have drawn on the seminal work of Peplau to advance nursing practice. But rarely has this theory been applied to simulation learning. This paper reports on an innovative simulation technique that blends interpersonal theory with puppets. Qualitative evaluation using focus group method with fifteen undergraduate nursing students revealed that the pedagogy had a positive impact on characteristics of the learner, the learning process and on interpersonal communication skills development. The study deepened insights about the educative process and led to learning impacts that suggest that puppet-based learning is a powerful medium to bridge theory and practice, bringing the importance of interpersonal theory to life for students