Cultivating evidence-based practice through mentorship.

Background: Nurses' use of evidence-based practice (EBP) improves patient outcomes through provision of optimal patient care.

Aim: The Evidence-Based Practice Mentorship Program (EBPMP) is a self-directed, year-long immersion program implemented for staff nurses to experience the EBP process with close mentor support. The aim of this program is to bolster a culture of EBP at a single large pediatric quaternary care hospital in the Northeast.

Perceptions of Pain Treatment in Pediatric Patients With Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders.

Objectives: Individual understanding of and expectations for chronic pain treatment can influence treatment adherence and thus success, but little is known about these critical factors in parents and children presenting with pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders. The aim of this study was to identify parent and patient understanding of pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders, expectations for treatment, and interventions utilized before presenting to a multidisciplinary clinic.

Materials And Methods: This was a prospective study of patients evaluated in a Multidisciplinary Functional Abdominal Pain Program.

Competency-based Professional Advancement Model for Advanced Practice RNs.

The process of developing a 3-tiered advanced practice RN (APRN) competency-based professional advancement model at Boston Children's Hospital is described. The model recognizes the contributions of entry-level and expert APRNs to advanced clinical practice and outcomes, impact, and leadership, while incorporating the tenets of Patricia Benner's Novice to Expert Model and the American Association of Critical- Care Nurses Synergy Model of Care.

Author Correction: Comparing Sanger sequencing and high-throughput metabarcoding for inferring photobiont diversity in lichens.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Oxygen therapy in adult patients. Part 2: promoting safe and effective practice in patients' care and management.

The assessment, care and management of patients requiring oxygen therapy are key aspects of a nurse's role. Although oxygen therapy is an important treatment for many clinical conditions, it carries risks and complications; therefore, nurses and other health professionals have a responsibility to ensure safe and effective practice along with maintaining and developing their knowledge and skills in this therapy. The relevant aspects of physiology and pathophysiology were explored and discussed in part one of this article ( Rolfe and Paul, 2018 ).

Multidisciplinary Treatment Reduces Pain and Increases Function in Children With Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders.

Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are common in children and adolescents, frequently resulting in extensive testing, school absenteeism, disability, and poor quality of life. FGIDs result from a complex interplay between genetic predisposition, biological triggers, and psychosocial triggers, and are best explained by the biopsychosocial model. Although this implies the necessity of multidisciplinary treatment, studies showing the efficacy of such an intervention are lacking.

Oxygen therapy in adult patients. Part 1: understanding the relevant physiology and pathophysiology.

Oxygen therapy is a treatment commonly used for adult patients in clinical and community settings. It is therefore important that nurses and other members of the healthcare team caring for patients requiring oxygen therapy have knowledge of the relevant physiology and pathophysiology, along with the safe and effective use of oxygen devices, patient monitoring and oxygen prescribing. This two-part article aims to explore and discuss these aspects in relation to current evidence and best practice recommendations that members of the healthcare team can apply when caring for such patients in a range of settings.

Comparing Sanger sequencing and high-throughput metabarcoding for inferring photobiont diversity in lichens.

The implementation of HTS (high-throughput sequencing) approaches is rapidly changing our understanding of the lichen symbiosis, by uncovering high bacterial and fungal diversity, which is often host-specific. Recently, HTS methods revealed the presence of multiple photobionts inside a single thallus in several lichen species. This differs from Sanger technology, which typically yields a single, unambiguous algal sequence per individual.

Measuring Nurses' Value, Implementation, and Knowledge of Evidence-Based Practice: Further Psychometric Testing of the Quick-EBP-VIK Survey.

Background: The Quick-EBP-VIK is a new instrument for measuring nurses' value, implementation, and knowledge of EBP. Psychometric testing was conducted in two parts. Part 1 describes the tool development and validity testing which resulted in the development of a 25-item survey after receiving ≥0.

Impact of the early initiation of feedings on hospital length of stay in children post-PEG tube placement.

Delays in feeding patients post-percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement may result in unnecessary prolongation of hospital stay, deprivation of nutrition, and increased healthcare costs. Common practice has been to wait overnight before initiating feedings post-PEG tube placement. Our facility changed existing policy and began feeding children 6 hours post-PEG.

The role of the nurse practitioner within the Hospital at Night service.

The Hospital at Night (HaN) service uses a multidisciplinary approach to prioritise the care of acutely ill patients overnight. Nurse practitioners (NPs) play a key role in coordinating this service and provide support to ward-based staff. Despite evidence that HaN can positively impact on patient care, it may be met with scepticism owing to changes in how acutely ill patients are assessed overnight.

Tracheostomy care and management in general wards and community settings: literature review.

Aims And Objectives: To identify current perspectives and areas for research regarding care and management of tracheostomized adult patients discharged to general wards and the community.

Background: The increased number of tracheostomies being performed has led to more tracheostomized patients being discharged to non-specialized areas. Staff within these diverse areas may care for this patient group on an infrequent basis, and may lack the skills, knowledge and confidence to provide safe tracheostomy care.

An exploration of student nurses' thoughts and experiences of using a video-recording to assess their performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during a mock objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an essential skill taught within undergraduate nursing programmes. At the author's institution, students must pass the CPR objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) before progressing to second year. However, some students have difficulties developing competence in CPR and evidence suggests that resuscitation skills may only be retained for several months.

Short- and long-term impact of critical illness on relatives: literature review.

Aim: This paper is a report of a literature review undertaken to identify the short- and long-term impact of critical illness on relatives.

Background: Patients in intensive care can experience physical and psychological consequences, and their relatives may also experience such effects. Although it is recognized that relatives have specific needs, it is not clear whether these needs are always met and whether further support is required, particularly after intensive care.

The quality of written information for parents regarding the management of a febrile convulsion: a randomized controlled trial.

Aims And Objectives: To identify whether providing a new information leaflet for parents regarding the management of a febrile convulsion was more effective in comparison with standard leaflets.

Background: Although information leaflets are frequently recommended within healthcare, their quality is often poor. Furthermore, the evidence regarding the effectiveness of leaflets is inconsistent.

Partnership working between a higher education institution and NHS TRUSTS: developing an acute and critical care module.

The underpinning philosophy of preparing nurses to work within a modern National Health Service (NHS) is to ensure patient safety and quality of clinical care. There is increasing recognition that post-registration education should become more clinically focused and adopt a more work-based approach. Critical to the success of such an approach is partnership working between education providers and NHS Trusts.

Meeting patient and relatives' information needs upon transfer from an intensive care unit: the development and evaluation of an information booklet.

Background: Transfer from the intensive care unit to a ward is associated with a significant degree of relocation stress for patients and relatives. This can be stressful for ward nurses due to the dependency levels of patients and the ensuing increased workload. Furthermore the patient may require care, not normally undertaken in that clinical area, e.