Improving Support for America's Hidden Heroes: A Research Blueprint.

The United States is home to more than 21 million veterans, many of whom deployed to support combat operations around the globe during their military service and sustained service-related conditions or disabilities. Supporting these wounded, ill, and injured warriors once home are millions of informal caregivers-individuals who provide unpaid support with activities that enable the service member or veteran to live in a noninstitutionalized setting. In this study, researchers describe elements of a research blueprint to inform future efforts to improve support for military and veteran caregivers.

Under the radar: contributions of the SUPPORT nurses.

SUPPORT (The Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatment) failed to produce changes in 5 quantitative outcome measures of care received by nearly 10,000 seriously ill patients in major teaching hospitals. This article reports a content analysis of documents produced during the SUPPORT study by the 17 nurses who delivered the intervention. "Effective communication" emerged as the central category, with "educational support" and "emotional support" as subcategories.

Description of the SUPPORT intervention. Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatments.

Background: The purpose of Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatments (SUPPORT) was to improve outcomes for seriously ill hospitalized adults by improving information and decision-making. The SUPPORT intervention has been characterized only briefly in previous publications.

Objective: To characterize the intervention in SUPPORT and its implementation.

Listen to women. The ACNM's vision.

This presentation introduced the theme of "Listen to Women" in addressing visionary planning conducted by the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 1993. The author drew on the exemplar nurse-midwifery model of health care created at the Frontier Nursing Service, Leslie County, Kentucky, in 1925 by Mary Breckinridge, RN, MPH, SCM. It is suggested that this historical exemplar remains contemporary to women's health needs today by demonstrating a health system managed by nurse-midwives that provided continuity, accessibility, affordability, accountability, and responsivity to its community through the services and education of nurse-midwives.