Perinatal Palliative Care: Integration in a United States Nurse Midwifery Education Program

Midwifery students with perinatal palliative care education develop a skillset to provide holistic midwifery care to women and families who are experiencing stillbirth or life-limiting fetal diagnoses. This paper presents a model of perinatal palliative care in a United States midwifery education program. By utilizing evidence based practices and national programs, perinatal palliative care can be threaded through midwifery curricula to achieve international standards of practice and competencies. Most importantly, enhancing perinatal palliative care education will better prepare future midwives for when a birth outcome is not what was expected at the outset of a pregnancy

Patient Simulation: Applying an Interdisciplinary Health Communication Lens

The use of simulation to teach future healthcare professionals—in the present case, nurses—has become an essential pedagogical tool. Although a considerable amount is known about the process and effects of simulation, the pedagogy of simulation is primed to be enhanced. As such, a literature review, a perusal of 38 relevant articles, was conducted to assess the role of health communication. The essentials of this literature and suggestions for future research are offered

Building Nursing Capacity for Palliative Care at a Jesuit Catholic University: A Model Program

The average life span is increasing, due to vast advancements in social conditions, public health, and medical care. Globally, those living with chronic and serious medical conditions can benefit from palliative care services. Yet, the workforce is insufficient to support the demand. This case study describes efforts made by one Jesuit Catholic University to build nursing capacity and to promote access to high quality, compassionate palliative healthcare

Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care among Older Nursing Home Residents at the End of Life

Background: Spirituality is of particular importance in the lives of many older adults at the end of life. While the role of spirituality may differ among older adults, spirituality may offer a purpose and meaning toward the end of life and provides a framework for managing concerns and decisions at this time. Despite the increasingly evident role of spirituality in the United States, the spirituality of older adults has been neglected. Moreover, little research has been undertaken to determine how nurses may best help older adults improve spiritual health. Purpose: The purpose of this analysis was to investigate perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care among older nursing home residents at the end of life. Methods: A total of 26 older long-term care residents were surveyed using the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating scale from 2 faith-based nursing facilities to better understand residents\u27 spirituality and perception of spiritual care. Findings: Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the participant\u27s perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care. The 2 samples in this study received a mean score of 51.36 (SD = 5.99) with a range of 43 to 68, indicating moderately high views of aspects of spirituality and spiritual care among the sample, supporting spirituality as a framework for life. The sample reported on several interventions that nurses could use to support spirituality, including arranging visits with religious personnel, showing kindness, spending time listening to residents (presence), and showing respect for resident\u27s needs. Implications: The results of the study provide information that may be used to increase knowledge and improve spiritual interventions for nursing home residents at the end of life

Simulation scenarios for nurse educators: Making it REAL

Eileen O\u27Shea is a contributing author, Chapter 16 - Care of the infant with congenital heart disease status post cardiac surgical repair , pp.165-177 and Chapter 24 - Pediatric emergency , pp. 265-275. Book description: Computerized patient simulation is an exciting and innovative pedagogical method that allows nurse educators to prepare student nurses for the challenges of clinical practice. This book serves as a step-by-step guide to designing and developing simulated scenarios, and integrating them into nursing curriculums. The authors provide concrete information about the use of simulation in a variety of programs, courses, and schools with flexible simulator uses, including live actors and static mannequins. This book also provides options for building a learning resource center, and offers guidance on faculty development. Additionally, the contributors present 17 exemplars of actual scenarios in multiple clinical areas, as well as testimonies of practicing faculty.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/nursing-books/1002/thumbnail.jp

Addressing changing sexual health needs through the lifespan

Sexuality is a continued human need that begins in adolescence and extends through older adulthood. In optimum states of health and wellness, sexuality may be addressed privately between a couple. However, the risk for sexually transmitted diseases, ranging from Herpes Simplex to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) forces the discussion away from the sexual dyad into a healthcare context. In addition, the presence of illness often makes the fulfillment of sexual needs difficult and mandates the involvement of nurses and other members of the interprofessional team in order to achieve and maintain sexual health

Internet resources for nurses (2nd edition)

Eileen R. O\u27Shea is a contributing author, Chapter 23 Nursing publishing companies (2nd ed., pp. 141-147). Book description: This 2nd edition of the award-winning guide to the web for nurses is nearly double in size and twice as useful! Expert nurses in more than 50 content areas have carefully selected and reviewed nearly 400 web sites available in their specialty areas --- resulting in an authoritative guide to the best the web has to offer for the professional nurse. Each web description includes a summary of the site, intended audience, sponsor, level of information, and relevance to nurses. The book also indicates sites which can be referred to patients.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/nursing-books/1003/thumbnail.jp

A descriptive analysis of nursing student communication behaviors

This article describes a pilot study to examine communication behaviors in nursing simulations. The nursing and communication faculty researchers used an interdisciplinary descriptive approach to examine 55 student nurses in 19 video recordings of patient simulations. The results demonstrated that using an interdisciplinary process can lead to a more diverse and thorough assessment of communication skills. This study supports the need for psychometrically sound evaluation tools for the measurement of communication behaviors of nursing students during simulation scenarios

Emotional Intelligence and Nursing Performance among Nursing Students

Summary: Some scholars have proposed that the educational preparation of nurses can be improved by incorporating emotional intelligence lessons into the nursing curricula. However, the relationship between emotional intelligence and nursing performance in nursing students is unknown. The purpose of the study was to examine this relationship among nursing students. A descriptive correlational design with non-probability sampling methods of 87 nursing students in a university setting was conducted. The variables of focus were emotional intelligence and nursing performance. Emotional intelligence was measured with the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Nursing performance was measured using the Six Dimension Scale of Nursing Performance (6-D Scale). The sample was predominately Caucasian (91%), female (93%), mean age 24 years. The mean score for emotional intelligence was 0.53, SD ± 0.06 indicating moderate emotional intelligence. The mean score for nursing performance was 3.14, SD ± 0.40 indicating moderate nursing performance. Emotional intelligence was related to nursing performance. Four of the six nursing performance subscale scores were significantly correlated with the total emotional intelligence scores. Implications for nursing education and clinical practice are discussed