The adapted model of institutional support for Hispanic student degree completion: revisions and recommendations.

This article describes the historical development of the adapted model of institutional support (AMIS) for Hispanic student degree completion. The model was developed using 6 major categories of support: financial support, emotional and moral support, mentoring, professional socialization, academic advising, and technical support. Studies used to validate the inclusion of each of the components are presented.

Institutional support for diverse populations: perceptions of Hispanic and african american students and program faculty.

Using the Adapted Model of Institutional Support as a framework, data were collected from 90 minority students, 80 faculty members, and 31 administrators from schools of nursing in Texas to determine perceived barriers and needed supports for program completion. Findings illustrate similar and differing perceptions of Hispanic and African American students, faculty, and program administrators. The data provide a baseline for making improvements and establishing "best practices" for minority recruitment and retention.

Assessing institutional support for Hispanic nursing student retention: a study to evaluate the psychometric properties of two self-assessment inventories.

Aim: To assess the content validity and internal consistency reliability of the Healthcare Professions Education Program Self-Assessment (PSA) and the Institutional Self-Assessment for Factors Supporting Hispanic Student Retention (ISA).

Background: Health disparities among vulnerable populations are among the top priorities demanding attention in the United States. Efforts to recruit and retain Hispanic nursing students are essential.

The biomechanics of patient room standardization.

Background: The prevailing focus on cognitive load reduction in healthcare environment standardization excludes a domain of healthcare delivery that could contribute significantly to safety and efficiency through standardization, but it has escaped discussion in the context of the biomechanics of care delivery. Inappropriate biomechanics not only can harm caregivers but compromise care delivery. Little, however, is known regarding the biomechanics of patient care and the way it interacts with the configurational issues typically targeted in healthcare environment standardization.

A comparison of glomerular filtration rate estimating equation performance in an older adult population sample.

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of four commonly used glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimating equations in an older, ethnically diverse sample using a descriptive correlational design. A convenience sample of 495 ethnically diverse adults aged 65 or older were observed via a retrospective record review. Average age was 73 years, and 76% were female.

Literature review: instructional design and pedagogy science in healthcare simulation.

This article is a review of the literature focused on simulation as an educational intervention in healthcare. The authors examined the literature based on four key levels: (1) the validity and reliability of the simulator, (2) the validity and reliability of the performance evaluation tool, (3) the study design, and (4) the translational impact. The authors found that the majority of research literature in healthcare simulation does not address the validity and reliability of the simulator or the performance evaluation tool.

A counterbalanced cross-over study of the effects of visual, auditory and no feedback on performance measures in a simulated cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Background: Previous research has demonstrated that trained rescuers have difficulties achieving and maintaining the correct depth and rate of chest compressions during both in and out of hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Feedback on rate and depth mitigate decline in performance quality but not completely with the residual performance decline attributed to rescuer fatigue. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of feedback (none, auditory only and visual only) on the quality of CPR and rescuer fatigue.

An empirical examination of patient room handedness in acute medical-surgical settings.

Objective: The study objective was to examine whether standardized same-handed room configurations contribute more to operational performance in comparison to standardized mirror-image room configurations. Based on a framework that physical environment standardization supports process and workflow standardization, thus contributing to safety and efficiency, the study examined the comparative effectiveness of the standardized same-handed configuration and the standardized mirror-image configuration.

Background: Patient room handedness has emerged as an important issue in inpatient unit design, with many hospitals adopting the standardized same-handed room concept at all levels of patient acuity.

Cultural competency of graduating BSN nursing students.

Providing culturally appropriate care is an essential nursing competency for new graduates. Multiple curricular approaches are being used to achieve this end. When measured by Campinha-Bacote's Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competency Among Healthcare Professionals-R, graduating students (n = 515) from six different BSN programs scored, on average, in the culturally aware range.

Emerging technologies to enhance the safety of older people in their homes.

As more and more Baby Boomers are growing into their senior years, technology applications are being developed and marketed to increase their ability to remain independent in their own homes for as long as possible. This article reviews currently available devices and products that are intended to meet home safety needs of the elderly. The purpose of the article to share with nurses who care for elderly patients and their families some of the products and services that are currently available.

A randomized cross-over study of the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation among females performing 30:2 and hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Background: Hands-Only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is recommended for use on adult victims of witnessed out-of-hospital (OOH) sudden cardiac arrest or in instances where rescuers cannot perform ventilations while maintaining minimally interrupted quality compressions. Promotion of Hands-Only CPR should improve the incidence of bystander CPR and, subsequently, survival from OOH cardiac arrest; but, little is known about a rescuer's ability to deliver continuous chest compressions of adequate rate and depth for periods typical of emergency services response time. This study evaluated chest compression rate and depth as subjects performed Hands-Only CPR for 10 minutes.

Innovations in basic life support education for healthcare providers: improving competence in cardiopulmonary resuscitation through self-directed learning.

Providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation is an essential competency for nurses. Nurse educators involved in staff development and continuing education spend numerous hours offering basic life support courses and conducting performance improvement activities such as mock codes. This study provides evidence that cardiopulmonary resuscitation performance skills using self-directed learning methods are as good as or, on a number of parameters, better than those achieved with a more resource- and time-intensive traditional approach.

Improving workplace safety training using a self-directed CPR-AED learning program.

Adequate training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) is an important component of a workplace safety training program. Barriers to traditional in-classroom CPR-AED training programs include time away from work to complete training, logistics, learner discomfort over being in a classroom setting, and instructors who include information irrelevant to CPR. This study evaluated differences in CPR skills performance between employees who learned CPR using a self-directed learning (SDL) kit and employees who attended a traditional instructor-led course.

Voices of Hispanic students in baccalaureate nursing programs: are we listening?

Hispanics have been described as the "missing persons" in the health professions at a time when a lack of cultural diversity in the workforce has been linked to health disparities. The shortage of Hispanic nurses cannot be addressed effectively without understanding their perspectives on nursing and nursing education. The adapted Model of Institutional Support served as a framework to describe perceived barriers and supports to retention among Hispanic students in baccalaureate nursing programs.

Nurses' implementation of guidelines for ventilator-associated pneumonia from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia accounts for 47% of infections in patients in intensive care units. Adherence to the best nursing practices recommended in the 2003 guidelines for the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should reduce the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Objective: To evaluate the extent to which nurses working in intensive care units implement best practices when managing adult patients receiving mechanical ventilation.

Cultural attitudes, knowledge, and skills of nursing faculty toward patients from four diverse cultures.

This study used a convenience sample of 94 nursing faculty recruited among attendees of two professional conferences to describe faculty attitudes toward and perceived level of confidence in cultural knowledge of patients representing four ethnic groups. The study also explored relationships between these variables and the respondents' demographic characteristics. Respondents completed the Cultural Attitudes Scale, the Cultural Self-efficacy Scale, and a demographic survey and wrote a response to an open-ended question.

Cultural attitudes, knowledge, and skills of a health workforce.

This study describes cultural attitudes, knowledge, and skill of 409 health care workers using the Ethnic Attitude Scale, the Cultural Self-Efficacy Scale, and a demographic inventory. Findings suggest cultural knowledge and educational preparation of the health worker may influence cultural skills. Workers that were most confident in their cultural skills in working with other cultural groups were more confident in knowledge of cultural concepts and had higher education levels.

Mastery over stress among women with HIV/AIDS.

To better understand how women with HIV infection deal with the stress of their disease, the authors explored the relationships between stressors, resources for managing stress, and mastery over stress in 80 HIV-positive women. Nurses and other professionals recruited participants in a variety of settings in 10 states. Participants completed a packet of research instruments that measured the stressors of perceived stress intensity, interpersonal conflict, and severity of illness; the resources of social support, support networks, and spiritual perspective; and the outcome of mastery over stress.

Access to preventive health care: is method of payment a barrier for immigrant Hispanic women?

This study describes the payment category of 397 low-income Hispanic women and the relationship to compliance with family planning visits the first year postbirth. Only one-fourth of the women returned for the one-year family planning visit, when they would have received well-woman care. Pay category was not a factor in identifying those who returned.

Evaluating nurse competency: evidence of validity for a skills recredentialing program.

A multitrait, multimethod approach was used to evaluate the validity of a hospital-based nurse competency assessment program as a mechanism for assuring compliance with the three standards for competence established by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. For selected competencies, both knowledge and skill performance were evaluated under simulated conditions and under routine patient care conditions. Under simulated conditions, pass rates on first attempts among the 368 participating nurses were high as expected (82 per cent to 94 per cent on knowledge and 75 per cent to 99 per cent on performance).