Thoughts About Stressors: A Neuman Systems Model Perspective.

In this essay, we discuss the definition and interpretation of stressors from the perspective of the Neuman Systems Model. A distinctive aspect is the emphasis on the client system's perception of each stressor as beneficial (positive), noxious (negative), or both beneficial and noxious. The client system's perceptions of the stressors determine the wellness goals that are needed and guide the selection of necessary prevention-as-intervention strategies for achieving those goals.

Identification of internal and external stressors in parents of newborns in intensive care.

The purpose of this study was to identify parents' self-reported stressors as they experience their baby's course in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Miles, Funk & Carlson (1993) Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was used to survey 119 parents of neonatal infants, born at 24 weeks to full term, in the 28-bed level 3 NICU of a mid-Atlantic, Magnet-designated acute care hospital with 665 licensed beds. The newly developed Grosik, Snyder, Cleary and Tidwell NICU External Stressors and Stress Reduction Scale (2006), a 5-point Likert scale, was also used.

Black pepper essential oil to enhance intravenous catheter insertion in patients with poor vein visibility: a controlled study.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of topically applied black pepper essential oil on easing intravenous catheter insertion (IVC) in patients with no palpable or visible veins compared to a control group (standard nursing practice).

Design: Randomized, controlled study.

Subjects: One hundred twenty hospitalized patients, who were referred to a hospital vascular team because of difficulty in accessing veins for IVC insertion.

Risk assessment profile and strategies for success instrument: determining prelicensure nursing students' risk for academic success.

The ultimate outcomes for succeeding in a collegiate prelicensure nursing program are earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and passing the NCLEX-RN®. The Risk Assessment Profile, Strategies for Success (RAPSS) is a criterion-based instrument that incorporates demographic and academic risk indicators. A convenience sample (N = 255) obtained retrospectively from student files was used to determine whether the RAPSS could be used to predict whether completers of a baccalaureate, prelicensure program will pass or fail the NCLEX-RN.

Mitogenic synergy through multilevel convergence of hepatocyte growth factor and interleukin-4 signaling pathways.

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) regulates various physiological and developmental processes in concert with other growth factors, cytokines and hormones. We examined interactions between cell signaling events elicited by HGF and the cytokine interleukin (IL)-4, in the IL-3-dependent murine myeloid cell line 32D transfected with the human HGF receptor, c-Met. HGF was a potent mitogen in these cells, and prevented apoptosis in response to IL-3 withdrawal.