Standardizing Nurse Transition to Practice: An Infrastructure to Support Nursing Excellence.

Nurse residency programs (NRPs) require effective structures and processes to ensure achievement of desired outcomes, including program accreditation, newly licensed nurse retention, and a healthy nursing workforce for the future. A healthcare system created strategic positions of director of nursing workforce transitions and nursing workforce professional development specialists to standardize an NRP across six hospitals and to achieve Practice Transition Accreditation Program accreditation. The positions provide a strong infrastructure to optimize nurse transition to practice.

Oncology Nurse Navigator Effect on Emergency Department Visits and Hospital Admissions of Adults With Cancer Post-Outpatient Chemotherapy.

Objectives: To examine the effect of oncology nurse navigators (ONNs) on the number of emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions (HAs) of adults with cancer post-outpatient chemotherapy.

Sample & Setting: 1,370 patients with cancer between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2019, in a comprehensive community cancer center in southern California.

Methods & Variables: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using retrospective electronic health records.

Development and Psychometric Testing of a Leadership Competency Assessment.

Objective: This article discusses the development and psychometric testing of the Nursing Leadership Competency Assessment (LCA).

Background: Several leadership assessments are available for purchase, which are aligned with professional organizations. A competency-based leadership assessment is needed to identify the developmental needs of nurse leaders.

Leveraging a funding collaborative to develop more PhD prepared nurse scientists and leaders.

Background: Over its almost 50 year history, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has provided about $500M to nursing initiatives focused on education, practice, policy and leadership development. While RWJF was most often the sole funder of many of these initiatives, it has also joined with others to create a larger and more sustained impact on particularly challenging nursing, health, and health care issues.

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to describe the challenges and opportunities of a unique funding collaborative developed to engage new partners, increase the visibility of doctoral nursing education and increase funding of the RWJF Future of Nursing Scholars program to develop more PhD prepared nurses and nurse faculty.

A 1-Year Accredited Nurse Residency Program's Effect on Intent to Leave.

Objective: This article describes the evaluation of a system-wide program to enhance new graduate nurse resident (NGNR) experience, enculturation, and commitment to the organization.

Background: Structured nurse residency programs support NGNR transition to the work environment and increase retention and organizational commitment.

Methods: The study used a descriptive, comparative design measuring NGNR perceptions of affective commitment, job satisfaction, job stress, and other variables over 3 times from baseline to 24 months.

Psychometric Testing of a Nurse Residency Program Stakeholder Evaluation Survey.

This article describes the development and psychometric testing of a 43-item nurse residency program stakeholder evaluation. The valid and reliable survey provides nursing professional development practitioners with insight into opportunities to improve nurse residency program design and educational content. Survey results may also substantiate human and capital resources required for effective programs.

Implementation and Evaluation of a Healthcare System's Approach to Surge Staffing and Training.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, a multihospital healthcare system expanded its nursing resources to accommodate the anticipated and actual surge of patients infected with COVID-19. Nursing professional development practitioners rapidly implemented and evaluated a novel, structured orientation and training program to provide additional surge staffing. Transitioning to a team-based model using the new role of nurse extender ensured the continued deployment of safe, person-centered care.

Does Gender Matter in Septic Patient Outcomes?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine potential gender disparities in relation to factors associated with sepsis management among a cohort of patients admitted through an emergency department with a discharge diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock. Sepsis is one of the leading causes of death globally, with significant associated costs. Predictors of survival for those with sepsis-related diagnoses are complex.

Design and Testing of a Postanesthesia Care Unit Readiness for Discharge Assessment Tool.

Purpose: This article describes the development and psychometric testing of a new Postanesthesia Care Unit (PACU) Readiness for Discharge Assessment Tool (RDAT) that can be used in assessing patients' readiness for discharge from a phase 1 PACU.

Design: This study used an instrument development methodology described by Waltz and Strickland that included item development and testing for content and convergent validity and interrater reliability.

Methods: Items were developed from a review the literature, best practice exemplars, and input from an expert panel.

Six-Month Follow-up of a Regional Evidence-based Practice Fellowship Program.

Objective: This study examined a 6-month follow-up of a regional evidence-based practice (EBP) fellowship program and the predictors of EBP adoption at hospital units.

Background: The immediate beneficial effects of a regional EBP program are known, but the medium-term effects are not certain.

Methods: A matched pretest/posttest study was conducted using a mailed questionnaire 6 months after the completion of a 9-month regional EBP fellowship program among 3 annual cohorts of participants.

Benefits of a Regional Evidence-Based Practice Fellowship Program: A Test of the ARCC Model.

Background: The Advancing Research and Clinical practice through close Collaboration (ARCC) model postulates that improvement in nurses' evidence-based practice (EBP) beliefs results in improved EBP implementation, which in turn improves nurse-related outcomes, such as nurses' job satisfaction and group cohesion. However, there is a dearth of interventional studies that evaluate the relationships among these variables.

Aims: This study evaluated whether a regional EBP fellowship program improved participants' EBP beliefs, EBP implementation, job satisfaction, group cohesion, and group attractiveness, and examined the relationships among these improvements, using structural equation modeling.

Predictors of Evidence-Based Practice Implementation, Job Satisfaction, and Group Cohesion Among Regional Fellowship Program Participants.

Background: A regional, collaborative evidence-based practice (EBP) fellowship program utilizing institution-matched mentors was offered to a targeted group of nurses from multiple local hospitals to implement unit-based EBP projects. The Advancing Research and Clinical Practice through Close Collaboration (ARCC) model postulates that strong EBP beliefs result in high EBP implementation, which in turn causes high job satisfaction and group cohesion among nurses.

Aims: This study examined the relationships among EBP beliefs, EBP implementation, job satisfaction, group cohesion, and group attractiveness among the fellowship program participants.

Redesigning Orientation in an Intensive Care Unit Using 2 Theoretical Models.

Background: To accommodate a higher demand for critical care nurses, an orientation program in a surgical intensive care unit was revised and streamlined. Two theoretical models served as a foundation for the revision and resulted in clear clinical benchmarks for orientation progress evaluation.

Purpose: The purpose of the project was to integrate theoretical frameworks into practice to improve the unit orientation program.

Staff nurse perceptions of the Magnet journey.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compile a rich description of the phenomenon Magnet journey by registered nurses in clinical settings who provide direct patient care in community healthcare systems recently receiving Magnet designation.

Background: Evidence supports that Magnet designation leads to improved nursing, patient, and organizational outcomes. Descriptions abound regarding the organizational and cultural transformation during the time leading up to the Magnet designation, commonly referred to as the Magnet journey.

Promoting nurses' knowledge in evidence-based practice: do educational methods matter?

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a mandate for nursing practice. Education on EBP has occurred in academic settings, but not all nurses have received this training. The authors describe a randomized controlled pretest/posttest design testing the differences in effectiveness of two educational methods to improve nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and practice of EBP.

Regional evidence-based practice fellowship program: impact on evidence-based practice implementation and barriers.

This quasi-experimental, pre- and posttest study evaluated the impact of a 9-month collaborative regional evidence-based practice (EBP) fellowship program on practice, attitude, knowledge, and perceived barriers associated with implementation of EBP. Three annual cohorts (N=142) of nurses attending a fellowship program from 2008 to 2010 participated in this study. Paired t tests showed statistically significant increases in practice (+.

Evidence-based architectural and space design supports Magnet® empirical outcomes.

This department expands nursing leaders' knowledge and competencies in health facility design. The editor of this department, Dr Jaynelle Stichler, asked guest authors, Drs Ecoff and Brown, to describe the process of using the conceptual models of a nursing evidence-based practice model and the Magnet Recognition Program® as a structured process to lead decision making in the planning and design processes and to achieve desired outcomes in hospital design.

Multi-institutional study of barriers to research utilisation and evidence-based practice among hospital nurses.

Aims: The study aims were to explore the relationships between perceived barriers to research use and the implementation of evidence-based practice among hospital nurses and to investigate the barriers as predictors of implementation of evidence-based practice.

Background: Evidence-based practice is critical in improving healthcare quality. Although barriers to research use have been extensively studied, little is known about the relationships between the barriers and the implementation of evidence-based practice in nursing.

Moving into a new hospital: strategies for success.

The work of moving into a new hospital does not end with construction. Planning a move must include preparing staff and physicians for the changes in their usual routines in care delivery. This bimonthly department expands nurse leaders' knowledge and competencies in health facility design and enables them to lead in transition planning for operations in a new setting.