Simulation to the rescue! Caring for a pediatric patient in the rural setting.

Rural nurses are expected to be competent and confident caregivers for patients of all ages and disease states. Rural nurse educators are challenged with creating appropriate learning environments to assess and maintain nursing competencies in resource-limited areas. This project describes and evaluates the utilization of a simulation manikin from a local community college to provide a hands-on learning environment for rural nurses working with pediatric patients in respiratory distress.

Statewide collaboration to evaluate the effects of blood loss and transfusion on surgical site infection after hysterectomy.

We used mandatory public reporting as an impetus to perform a statewide study to define risk factors for surgical site infection. Among women who underwent abdominal hysterectomy, blood transfusion was a significant risk factor for surgical site infection in patients who experienced blood loss of less than 500 mL.