Nursing Culture Within Higher Education: A Snapshot.

With little literature exploring the relationship between leadership styles within teams/departments and types of organizational culture in nursing education, we conducted an exploratory study to investigate leadership styles and culture types. An online survey using the Organizational Description Questionnaire was posted on two national nursing websites. Nearly 35 percent of participants in this pilot study (n = 43) identified their organization to be coasting, followed by high contrast (23%) and transformational (21%).

Interactive Nursing Education to Promote Exclusive Breastfeeding.

Although breast milk provides the most robust human nutrition and offers extensive immunological protection, many mothers are still hesitant to breastfeed exclusively, and the rate of exclusive breastfeeding declines significantly over time in the postpartum period. The objective is to educate nurses on the practice of exclusive breastfeeding. Breastfeeding education was provided to nurses ( = 11) at an urban academic medical center.

An Initiative to Increase Nurse Knowledge and Decrease Postpartum Readmissions for Preeclampsia.

Objective: To increase nurses' knowledge using innovative education and to improve maternal outcomes by reducing postpartum readmission rates of women with preeclampsia.

Design: Quality improvement project implementing escape room-style education for nurses.

Setting/local Problem: A large tertiary hospital in southeastern Michigan with initial postpartum readmission rates of women with preeclampsia exceeding national averages.

Admission characteristics that influence DNP students' first-semester success: A retrospective study.

Background: Students apply to Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs with varying demographic, academic, and professional characteristics. Programs are challenged with selecting and retaining students. Suggestions regarding which admission criteria and student characteristics are influential for success have been inconsistent.

Students' Perceptions of the Value of Learning the Skill Sets of a DNP-Prepared Nurse: An Exploratory Study.

Background: Students enter doctor of nursing practice (DNP) programs with varying interests and professional experiences. Little is known about how this impacts learning.

Objective: To explore if differences existed in students' perceptions of task values related to learning the skill sets of a DNP-prepared nurse.

Doctoral Student Self-Assessment of Writing Development.

Background: Doctoral nursing students struggle with scholarly writing. While writing improvement strategies have been shared, few studies have used student self-assessment of evidenced-based knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) to aid with writing development.

Objective: This study evaluated doctoral student self-assessment of the KSAs specific to writing at each level of nursing education and explored the association of student demographics with self-assessment results.

Experience of an 8-Week Online Mindfulness Intervention for Nursing Students: Qualitative Findings.

Background: Nurses returning to school often have stressors of work, family, and other obligations. Strategies are needed to mitigate the additional stress and promote academic success. Mindfulness is one proposed strategy.

Identifying Motivational Factors for Enrolling in a Doctor of Nursing Practice Program.

Background: Students enter Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs for varying reasons. An understanding of motivational factors is needed so nurse educators can address upon program entry student engagement strategies to promote retention and success in completing a DNP program. This article presents the findings of a descriptive study that explored newly admitted students' motivational factors for pursing DNP education.

Developing Executive Nurse Leaders: Exemplar for Using Information Technology to Bolster Professional Role Development of BSN-DNP Students.

Background: Universities are offering a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) to Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) track to meet the demands of complex health systems by preparing nurses to lead change. Curriculums developed for the adult learner may benefit from adding supplemental resources to prepare nurses with limited leadership experience for their future roles.

Objective: Support the development of executive leadership skills of BSN-DNP students.

Advancing scholarly writing of baccalaureate nursing students using the knowledge, skills, and attitude self-assessment for writing development.

Background: Baccalaureate nursing students often demonstrate basic oral and written communication skills and have varying levels of skill with scholarly writing. Current instructional approaches may not fully prepare students for scholarly writing expectations.

Objective: To determine undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students' self-assessed ability to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of scholarly writing.

MSN Students' Self-Assessed Use of the Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes of Scholarly Writing.

Aim: This study explored master of science in nursing students' self-assessed use of the evidence-based knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) of scholarly writing.

Background: Understanding MSN students' self-assessed use of the KSAs of writing can help faculty better prepare MSN graduates to advance the science of nursing through scholarly writing.

Method: A descriptive correlational design was used to determine how a national sample of 76 MSN students assessed their ability to demonstrate the KSAs of scholarly writing and to determine associations between select demographic variables and the self-assessment results.

Exploring The effects Of An online asynchronous mindfulness meditation intervention with nursing students On Stress, mood, And Cognition: A descriptive study.

Background: Nurses returning to school while working, raising families, and maintaining other roles, can experience stress, mood changes and cognition disturbance that negatively impact their academic success.

Objectives: To explore the effect of an online mindfulness meditation intervention with distance nursing students on stress, mood and cognition.

Design: A 24 week descriptive study.

Uncovering the Golden Veil: Applying the Evidence for Telephone Screening to Detect Early Postpartum Depression.

Postpartum depression (PPD) is often detected later than symptom onset, or even undetected, because of lack of prompt or adequate screening. An evidence-based PPD screening protocol using a telephone-based format within a primary care practice was developed to identify symptoms and initiate treatment between 2 and 3 weeks postpartum. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was used, with positive screens referred for provider and support services, and then tracked for follow-through.

Evidence-based knowledge, skills, and attitudes for scholarly writing development across all levels of nursing education.

Because nursing care in health care settings becomes more complex, nurses are called upon to work effectively with other health care providers to deliver high-quality evidence-based care. To do so in a cost effective and efficient manner requires the development of effective oral and written communication skills in nurses. One form of written communication is scholarly writing.

Facilitating student retention in online graduate nursing education programs: a review of the literature.

Online education, a form of distance education, provides students with opportunities to engage in lifelong learning without the restrictions of time and space. However, while this approach meets the needs of employed nursing professionals, it poses some challenges for educators. Student retention is one such challenge.

Understanding the scholarly writing development of nurses enrolled in U.S. clinical doctoral programs.

Problem: Faculty teaching nurses enrolled in clinical doctoral programs need to understand the process of student scholarly writing development so that students can be prepared to share knowledge and communicate effectively in scholarly formats.

Methods: A hermeneutic phenomenological study that sought to understand the scholarly writing development of nurses enrolled in a clinical doctoral program was conducted.

Findings: Findings from interviews with six Doctor of Nursing Practice students revealed three themes: learning throughout life, influence of emotions, and getting through the gate.

Facilitating scholarly writer development: the writing scaffold.

Unlabelled: PROBLEM OF INTEREST: Nursing faculty at a private, medium-sized university noted that students in their online Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing, hybrid Master of Science in Nursing, and online Doctor of Nursing Practice programs displayed varying scholarly writing abilities.

Purpose: This article proposes an evidence-based comprehensive support framework, or scaffold that can be used in nursing education to facilitate the development of scholarly writing abilities in students.

Practice Implication: The writing scaffold is recommended for use by nursing faculty to facilitate the development of scholarly writing abilities within nursing, across nursing program levels, and across disciplines.

Developing as a scholarly writer: the experience of students enrolled in a PhD in nursing program in the United States.

Graduates of doctoral nursing programs are expected to disseminate knowledge through scholarly writing, yet faculty teaching doctoral nursing students in two specific programs in western Pennsylvania in the United States noted students enter their doctoral programs with varying writing skills. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to uncover the lived experience of developing as a scholarly writer. Data were collected through the use of a demographic questionnaire and personal interviews with 10 students enrolled in their first semester of coursework in a traditional, rather than online, 60-credit PhD in nursing program at a large state university in western Pennsylvania.

Is difficult childbirth related to postpartum maternal outcomes in the early postpartum period?

Unplanned, adverse events during labor or delivery may generate a negative response during the early postpartum period, resulting in disruption of usual functioning and mood. High levels of maternal depressive symptoms are associated with parenting, infant attachment, behavioral problems and cognition (Beck 2002). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of adverse events in labor or delivery and depressive symptoms, functional status and infant care at 2-weeks postpartum.

Major depression and antidepressant treatment: impact on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes.

Objective: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use during pregnancy incurs a low absolute risk for major malformations; however, other adverse outcomes have been reported. Major depression also affects reproductive outcomes. This study examined whether 1) minor physical anomalies, 2) maternal weight gain and infant birth weight, 3) preterm birth, and 4) neonatal adaptation are affected by SSRI or depression exposure.