The clinical nurse leader: prepared for an era of healthcare reform.

Problem: Passage of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will require change in the healthcare systems. The clinical nurse leader must be prepared to lead and shape the changing environment to achieve maximum outcomes for patients and families. Movement toward integrated care delivery across the care continuum, the transition of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to a value-based funding model, and accountability for high-quality, cost-effective care are just some of the drivers of this new integrated healthcare system.

Nursing faculty mentors as facilitators for evidence-based nursing practice.

Increasing use of evidence-based practice (EBP) within complex healthcare organizations requires the identification of individuals who will support and facilitate new practice patterns. In a large Midwestern hospital, a diverse group of academic nursing faculty functioning as mentors to develop clinical nurses' skills in the use of EBP has demonstrated early success. This article highlights the context, challenges, and successes of faculty mentors for developing nursing staff's involvement in and use of EBP.

The Sister Model: a framework for academic and service partnerships in nursing home settings.

A unique teaching nursing home project was developed between a college of nursing and four nursing homes for the purpose of providing diverse teaching-learning experiences for nursing students, sharing resources among all participants, and attracting new nursing graduates to consider a career in long-term care. The Sister Model, a partnership model, served as a framework for the project and was designed to increase communication, share resources, promote interactive learning, and use nursing expertise to develop competence of nursing students. Evaluations of model activities were positive, and the model serves as an example of how schools of nursing and nursing homes can work together toward common goals.

Individualizing geriatric clinical resources to impact nursing home care.

A Midwestern United States baccalaureate program's partnership with local nursing homes provided an opportunity for faculty, students, and nursing home staff to use national geriatric best practice clinical resources when caring for nursing home residents. Individualizing and using these resources within the nursing home setting proved challenging. Nevertheless, the outcome of the project formed a solid foundation for future collaborative efforts between the College of Nursing and local nursing homes.

Prevention of nosocomial pressure ulcers: a process improvement project.

Nosocomial pressure ulcers (PU) occur in approximately 12% of all hospitalized patients. The risk can be determined by a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. As a first line of defense against nosocomial PU, we use the Braden Scale to determine the potential risk of PU development during hospitalization.

Exploring moral distress in the long-term care setting.

Moral distress has the potential to affect every practice setting in nursing; however little research has been conducted that examines the presence and impact of moral distress for nurses working in long-term care. This article reports the results of a pilot study that examined the experience and presence of moral distress of registered nurses in a long-term care setting. A convenience pilot sample of 6 nurses participated in audio-taped open-ended interviews.

Preparing to care for older adults: engaging college constituents.

Baccalaureate nursing programs must find innovative methods to transform educational culture to value and reward excellence in caring for older adults. Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University used a multidimensional approach to engage college constituents and change the way baccalaureate students are prepared to care for older adults. The college engaged faculty, students, and the community in exchange activities that focused on generating excitement for geriatric nursing within the college and the community.

Research environments that promote integrity.

Background: The body of empirical knowledge about research integrity and the factors that promote research integrity in nursing research environments remains small.

Objective: To propose an internal control model as an innovative framework for the design and structure of nursing research environments that promote integrity.

Methods: An internal control model is adapted to illustrate its use for conceptualizing and designing research environments that promote integrity.

Strategic use of faculty workgroups to develop online interactive geriatric curricular modules.

Initiating a college-wide, complex multimedia approach to teaching-learning can be fraught with considerable challenges. The strategic use of faculty workgroups to maximize faculty involvement in the development and use of interactive Web-based modules was one successful approach to overcoming such challenges. Use of faculty workgroups composed of grant team faculty members and course faculty during the development process recognized the faculty's curricular and content expertise and tapped individual creativity.

Continuing education in research ethics for the clinical nurse.

Background: In their role as care provider, clinical nurses are involved in research protocols. Although clinical nurses seldom serve as principal investigators, nursing care often is delivered to patients involved in study protocols. This article explores the need for continuing education in research ethics for clinical nurses and offers recommendations for core research ethics education.