Best practice standards for the delivery of NHS infection services in the United Kingdom.

Infection expertise in the NHS has historically been provided predominantly by hospital-based medical microbiologists responsible for provision of diagnostic services and advice to front-line clinicians. While most hospitals had consultant-led microbiology departments, infectious iiseases departments were based in a small number of specialist centres. The demand for infection expertise is growing in the NHS, driven by advances in medical care, increasing awareness of the impact of antibiotic resistant and healthcare associated infections and threats from emerging infectious diseases.

Transformative Learning in an Online Doctor of Nursing Practice Population Health Course.

Background: Population health is a critical component of Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) education, providing the foundation for clinical prevention, health equity, responsible policy, and practice change. Many DNP learners enter population health courses focused on individual patient care in microsystems. Transformative learning broadens learners' perspectives about health determinants and implications for health system transformation.

PsyConnect: Constructing Layered Engagement for Optimal Learning in Clinical Education.

Background: The increasing volume of nursing students placed in shrinking numbers of clinical sites has resulted in clinical overcrowding in behavioral care settings. Overcrowding has resulted in the deterioration of the clinical teaching and learning experience for students, faculty, and nurses. PsyConnect is a layered, multiplatform engagement learning experience that uses multiple teaching methods to increase student engagement, reduce inpatient overcrowding, maximize learning opportunities, and improve teaching and learning experiences.

Redesigning a graduate research course for evidence-based competencies.

Nursing research is critical to establish the science for the discipline and to provide a foundation for evidence-based practice. All nurses need to understand the research process and engage in research at the level for which they were prepared. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has clearly outlined essential learning outcomes for each level of nursing education, including the competent application of research findings to clinical problems.

Development and psychometric testing of the Register - Connectedness Scale for Older Adults.

Connectedness, maintaining active engagement with life, is crucial to successful aging. Yet, no instruments were found to measure connectedness. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a connectedness scale for older adults.

Quality of life revisited: the concept of connectedness in older adults.

Viewing quality of life from a generative context gave rise to a new perspective and the old term quality of life failed to capture the essence of the new idea. Creation of a new term required a series of deliberate studies to develop the concept of connectedness. This article traces the conceptual progression and presents the concept synthesis of connectedness using literary synthesis, qualitative synthesis, and quantitative synthesis.

A middle range theory for generative quality of life for the elderly.

Decades of quality of life (QOL) research has failed to produce widely recognized QOL definitions or measurements. The inconsistency may be due to an ontological error in the perspective of researchers. Most researchers portray QOL as a given or inherent condition that declines in the face of challenges.

Use of a pregnancy support web site by low-income African American women.

Objective: To examine the feasibility and usage pattern of a social support Web site by low-income pregnant African American women.

Design: Descriptive.

Setting: Homes of participants.

Skin temperature and chronic venous insufficiency.

Objective: This study compared lower leg skin temperatures in adults age 50 years and older with and without chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). Norms and ranges of skin temperature were also established.

Design: A descriptive comparative design was used.

The effect of auricular acupuncture on psychophysiological measures of cocaine craving.

This study used a randomized pretest/posttest control group design to test the effectiveness of auricular acupuncture interventions in diminishing psychological and physiological changes associated with cocaine craving in 30 treatment-seeking cocaine-dependent patients. The experimental group received the real auricular acupuncture intervention, insertion of needles into ear point locations specifically targeted for drug withdrawal. The control group received sham or placebo auricular acupuncture, insertion of needles into ear point locations not targeted for any specific therapeutic benefit.