Improving Compliance With Evidence-Based Laboratory Testing Recommendations and Monitoring Associated Patient Outcomes.

A team comprising nursing, medical staff, and administrative leaders at an urban academic orthopedic hospital in the northeastern United States sought to revise a preoperative laboratory testing protocol based on evidence and practice guidelines. The goal was to decrease unnecessary tests by 20% without negatively affecting patient outcomes. After adding the revised protocol to the electronic health record, audits revealed that the target goal was not met and additional strategies were implemented, including educational webinars for surgeon office personnel who ordered tests, additional webinars for advanced practice professionals, and the creation of scorecards to track surgeons' progress.

Why Pursue a Doctorate? Findings From a Study of Doctorally Prepared RNs in an Integrated Healthcare System.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the motivations and perceptions of RNs with completed doctorates in an integrated healthcare system.

Background: Historically, PhD preparation was the primary doctorate available for nurses, preparing them to conduct research and hold leadership positions. The recent growth of Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs that focus on either advanced clinical practice or executive competencies has significant implications for the future of nursing in practice settings.

Trait stacking simultaneously enhances provitamin A carotenoid and mineral bioaccessibility in biofortified .

Vitamin A, iron, and zinc deficiencies are major nutritional inadequacies in sub-Saharan Africa and disproportionately affect women and children. Biotechnology strategies have been tested to individually improve provitamin A carotenoid or mineral content and/or bioaccessibility in staple crops including sorghum (). However, concurrent carotenoid and mineral enhancement has not been thoroughly assessed and antagonism between these chemical classes has been reported.

The Impact of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic on Registered Nurses' Intent to Stay in Nursing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for registered nurses. Media reports, most of them anecdotal, have reported upticks in nurse resignations, and plans to resign and/or leave nursing due to COVID-19. This article reports findings from an online anonymous 95-item survey completed by about 1,600 nurses from a New York City metropolitan area health system's (HS) four hospitals and ambulatory care centers about their COVID-19 experience in the spring of 2020, their intent to stay at the HS, and their intent to stay working as a nurse.

A comparative study of PhD and DNP nurses in an integrated health care system.

Background: A vast literature exists on doctorally-prepared RNs in academia, but little is known about those in practice settings.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore demographic, educational, and employment characteristics, as well as practice patterns and professional accomplishments of doctorally-prepared RNs in one practice setting.

Methods: Survey of approximately 100 doctorally-prepared RNs in an integrated health system were surveyed.

The psychosocial impact on frontline nurses of caring for patients with COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic in New York City.

Background: Infectious disease pandemics, such as COVID-19, have dramatically increased in the last several decades.

Purpose: To investigate the personal and contextual factors associated with the psychological functioning of nurses responding to COVID in the New York City area.

Method: Cross sectional data collected via a 95-item internet-based survey sent to an email list of the 7,219 nurses employed at four hospitals.

Using a Mentorship Approach to Address the Underrepresentation of Ethnic Minorities in Senior Nursing Leadership.

Healthcare organizations must be intentional and purposeful in creating diversity programs. A nursing leader mentorship program for racial and ethnic minority nurse managers was introduced at a large academic medical center to meet this need. The program design was based on the successful Leadership Institute for Black Nurses, first conducted at a university school of nursing.

Evaluating the NICHE program in an Academic Medical Center: Uncovering the missing link between training and effective practice change in the care of older adults.

Purpose: This paper recounts the history and experiences of one academic medical center that sought to improve the care of elderly patients by adopting and adapting the Geriatric Resource Nurse (GRN) model recommended by the Nurses Improving the Care of Healthsystem Elderly (NICHE) program. A formal evaluation examined the perceptions, opinions and attitudes of non-GRN nursing peers, Nurse Managers (NMs) and members of the Inter-Professional Advisory Board (IAB) regarding GRN practices and the institution's NICHE program.

Design: A qualitative research design with purposive sampling was utilized.

Evaluation of Agronomic Performance of β-Carotene Elevated Sorghum in Confined Field Conditions.

To help alleviate vitamin A deficiency in Africa, we have developed nutritionally enhanced sorghum with stabilized high all-trans-β-carotene accumulation. Toward the finalization of this nutritionally enhanced sorghum for food production, confined field trials were conducted to determine the agronomic performance of thirteen independent transgenic events in Iowa and Hawaii. Through these trials, three leading events with no negative impact on agronomic performance were identified.

Nutritionally Enhanced Sorghum for the Arid and Semiarid Tropical Areas of Africa.

To help alleviate malnutrition in Africa, nutritionally enhanced sorghum was developed through genetic transformation to increase pro-vitamin A (β-carotene) accumulation and stability, to improve iron and zinc bioavailability, and to improve protein digestibility. Through many years of efforts, significant achievements have been made for these goals. We generated nutritionally enhanced sorghum lines with enhanced and stabilized pro-vitamin A that provide 20-90% of the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for children under age 3, lines with a 90% reduction in phytate that increase iron and zinc bioavailability and provide 40-80% of the EAR for iron and zinc, and lines that show no reduction in protein digestibility after cooking compared with normal levels.

Participating in a Multisite Study Exploring Operational Failures Encountered by Frontline Nurses: Lessons Learned.

This article describes our experience participating in a multisite collaborative study involving frontline nurses and operational failures (OFs). We encountered a range of challenges conducting the study as proposed by the study's coordinating center (CC), which hindered our ability to meet our goals and objectives. We identified 3 general areas in which our expectations and actual experience diverged: 1) research resources, design, and methods; 2) CC communications and deliverables; and 3) influencing organizational change.

Assessing the perceptions and attitudes among geriatric resource nurses: Evaluating the NICHE program at a large academic medical center.

The national Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) program and the geriatric resource nurse (GRN) model promote training a geriatric nursing workforce to serve in hospitals and elsewhere. Literature exists on the NICHE program but this is the first to study the opinions, attitudes, and perceptions of GRNs in practice. Our organization's hybrid GRN model, first adopted in 1999, combines materials from national NICHE program with homegrown resources and has GRNs practicing in a wide range of clinical specialties.

A single point mutation in Ms44 results in dominant male sterility and improves nitrogen use efficiency in maize.

Application of nitrogen fertilizer in the past 50 years has resulted in significant increases in crop yields. However, loss of nitrogen from crop fields has been associated with negative impacts on the environment. Developing maize hybrids with improved nitrogen use efficiency is a cost-effective strategy for increasing yield sustainably.

Developing and Implementing a Professional Practice Model.

Professional practice models guide nursing practice by giving meaning to the work of nurses. They elevate the practice from tasks to theory, from skills to knowledge, and remind us that the patient and family are at the center of our practice. Professional practice models are one of the foundations of the Magnet Recognition Program.

Elevated vitamin E content improves all-trans β-carotene accumulation and stability in biofortified sorghum.

Micronutrient deficiencies are common in locales where people must rely upon sorghum as their staple diet. Sorghum grain is seriously deficient in provitamin A (β-carotene) and in the bioavailability of iron and zinc. Biofortification is a process to improve crops for one or more micronutrient deficiencies.

The Long-term Effect of a Nurse Residency Program, 2005-2012: Analysis of Former Nurse Residents.

Objective: Research on nurse residency programs (NRPs) typically focuses on retention within the 1-year NRP or perhaps an additional year beyond. Few have evaluated the long-term impact of NRP, and none have adopted a longitudinal approach to follow cohorts over time. This study, conducted in a large urban academic medical center (AMC), examines the effects of the NRPs on former nurse residents (NRs) in 8 cohorts (2005-2012) and compares those who left the institution with those who remain.

Evaluating the Short- and Long-term Outcomes of a Post-BSN Residency Program: Findings of a Retrospective Study of Nurse Residents, 2005-2012.

Objective: This retrospective study evaluates short- and long-term outcomes of the nurse residency program (NRP) at NYU Langone Medical Center from the perspective of former residents.

Background: Studies of NRPs focus primarily on retention rates. Little is known about the careers of former residents beyond completion of the program or their perceptions of the value of the NRP on their careers.

Excellence and evidence in staffing: a data-driven model for excellence in staffing (2nd edition).

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, 2010) and the Institute of Medicine's (IOM, 2011) Future of Nursing report have prompted changes in the U.S. health care system.

Optimized -mediated sorghum transformation protocol and molecular data of transgenic sorghum plants.

-mediated sorghum transformation frequency has been enhanced significantly medium optimization using immature embryos from sorghum variety TX430 as the target tissue. The new transformation protocol includes the addition of elevated copper sulfate and 6-benzylaminopurine in the resting and selection media. Using strain LBA4404, the transformation frequency reached over 10% using either of two different selection marker genes, moPAT or PMI, and any of three different vectors in large-scale transformation experiments.

Developing a leadership laboratory for nurse managers based on lived experiences: a participatory action research model for leadership development.

Objective: The aim of the pilot study was to design an innovative model of leadership development, Leadership Laboratory (LL), grounded in the lived experiences and peer best practices of 43 cross-disciplinary nurse managers.

Background: The Institute of Medicine/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study, The Future of Nursing, reinforces the need to prepare nurses for leadership positions.

Methods: A 1-year participatory action research study was designed to develop 3 LLs involving nurse managers as participants, co-creators, and evaluators of the unique learning format.

Economic impact of switching from an open to a closed enteral nutrition feeding system in an acute care setting.

Background: This study compared an open-system (OS) enteral nutrition (EN) delivery system with a closed system (CS). Factors evaluated included nursing time for administration, patient safety factors, and cost of formula and supplies.

Materials And Methods: This study analyzed the cost of formula and supplies in 1 major academic medical center.

Bioaccessibility of carotenoids from transgenic provitamin A biofortified sorghum.

Biofortified sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) lines are being developed to target vitamin A deficiency in Sub-Saharan Africa, but the delivery of provitamin A carotenoids from such diverse germplasms has not been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to screen vectors and independent transgenic events for the bioaccessibility of provitamin A carotenoids using an in vitro digestion model.