Mobile-Social Learning for Continuing Professional Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Integrative Review.

Background: Access to continuing professional development (CPD) for health care workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is severely limited. Digital technology serves as a promising platform for supporting CPD for health care workers by providing educational content virtually and enabling virtual peer-to-peer and mentor interaction for enhanced learning. Digital strategies for CPD that foster virtual interaction can increase workforce retention and bolster the health workforce in LMICs.

Interdisciplinary Peer Mentorship: An Innovative Strategy to Enhance Writing Competency.

Background: Writing competency is imperative for Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)-prepared advanced practice nurses (APNs), who serve as clinical leaders and educators of the nursing workforce.

Method: As part of a writing quality improvement project, a Writing Tutor Round Table program was developed. Interdisciplinary tutors from the campus writing center worked with groups of three to four DNP students to enhance the quality of their written assignments.

Competencies for respectful maternity care: Identifying those most important to midwives worldwide.

Background: A respectful, person-centered philosophy of maternity care has been emerging over several decades. Research conducted on behalf of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) to identify essential competencies for midwifery practice also identified the knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors that should be hallmarks of respectful maternity care practices among the global community of midwives.

Methods: A three-round, online, modified Delphi survey was conducted between April 2016 and October 2016.

Developing advanced practice nurse writing competencies as a corequisite for evidence-based practice.

Writing competency is increasingly recognized as imperative for advanced practice nurses (APNs) who are engaged in evidence-based practice (EBP). Writing skills are an implied expectation inherent in many APN evidence-based practice competencies, such as "formulating evidence based policies and procedures," and "communicates best evidence …." A quality improvement project was implemented for APN's within a post-Master's Doctor of Nursing Practice program, to create a novel set of low-cost, high-impact strategies that could be embedded into a program of study to improve APN writing skills.

The doctorate of nursing practice and entry into midwifery practice: Issues for consideration and debate.

The American College of Nurse-Midwives represents two cadres of midwifery professionals: certified nurse-midwives who are educated in both midwifery and nursing, and certified midwives who are educated in the discipline of midwifery. Certified nurse-midwives are designated by nursing professional organizations as advanced practice nurses. The United States nursing profession is advancing toward adoption of the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, as the entry into practice credential for advanced practice nursing.

Abortion-related care and the role of the midwife: a global perspective.

Introduction: The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) represents 132 midwifery associations in 113 countries. The ICM disseminates the Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice (EC) that describes the global scope of midwifery practice. The basic (core) and expanded (additional or optional) role of midwives in providing abortion-related care services was first described in 2010.

Effects of a programme to advance scholarly writing.

Background: Scholarly writing, although central to the completion of doctoral studies, is often not supported by systematic teaching/learning approaches that specifically help students to convey scholarship through writing. The purpose of this project was to promote writing as an essential component of scholarship, provide opportunities for students to develop a self-awareness of confidence in writing and challenges to writing, and to improve writing competence.

Methods: An innovative set of peer-supported interventions was embedded within a core foundational course in a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programme during the first academic semester as part of a continuing quality improvement process to improve DNP student writing.

Competence for basic midwifery practice: Updating the ICM essential competencies.

Objective: To obtain consensus amongst midwifery experts globally about the essential competencies for basic midwifery practice.

Design: A modified Delphi approach, involving a three-round online survey.

Participants: Midwifery leaders, educators and regulators in all ICM regions, along with representatives of organisations affiliated to ICM.

Global competencies for midwives: external cephalic version; ultrasonography, and tobacco cessation intervention.

Problem And Background: The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) conducts regular updates to the Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice to determine the introduction or retention of items in the global scope of midwifery practice guidance document.

Aim: This article presents the review process that underpinned the deliberation about three specific clinical practices: external cephalic version, prenatal ultrasonography, and tobacco cessation interventions that occurred during the 2016-2017 global update study.

Methods: A brief outline of the research methodology used in the 2016-2017 study is provided.

Transitioning veterans to nursing careers: A model program.

Background: A commitment to increase the enrollment, retention and educational success of United States veterans admitted to a baccalaureate degree nursing program was established through the support of a grant received from HRSA in collaboration with the US Departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs.

Method: Challenges encountered by the student veterans were identified and programs of mentorship, tutoring, equine therapy and interface with services offered by the University Office of Veteran Affairs were developed.

Results: Thirty-two student veterans provided positive feedback about their perceptions of academic and personal support provided during their program.

Creating a Novel Online Digital Badge-Awarding Program in Patient Navigation to Address Healthcare Access.

A novel, sustainable digital badge-awarding online course was developed to prepare learners with familiarity of patient navigation. Learners offered favorable endorsement of essentially all elements of the program, especially the utility of the Blackboard learning management software program. Quality Matters standards provided a rigorous framework for the challenges of designing, implementing, and evaluating online curricula.

A Rapid Assessment Tool for affirming good practice in midwifery education programming.

Objective: to design a criterion-referenced assessment tool that could be used globally in a rapid assessment of good practices and bottlenecks in midwifery education programs.

Design: a standard tool development process was followed, to generate standards and reference criteria; followed by external review and field testing to document psychometric properties.

Setting: review of standards and scoring criteria were conducted by stakeholders around the globe.

Task Analysis as a Resource for Strengthening Health Systems.

Task analysis is a descriptive study methodology that has wide application in the health professions. Task analysis is particularly useful in assessment and definition of the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that define the scope of practice of a health profession or occupation. Jhpiego, a US-based nongovernmental organization, has adapted traditional task analysis methods in several countries in assessment of workforce education and practice issues.

The Midwifery Workforce: ACNM 2012 and AMCB 2013 Core Data.

Introduction: Core data are crucial for detailing an accurate profile of the midwifery workforce in the United States. The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) and the American Midwifery Certification Board, Inc. (AMCB), at the request and with support from the US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), are engaged in a collaborative effort to develop a data collection strategy (the Midwifery MasterFile) that will reflect demographic and practice characteristics of certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and certified midwives (CMs) in the United States.

Assessment of provider competence and quality of maternal/newborn care in selected Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Objective: To obtain a snapshot of the maternal and newborn care provided by different types of maternal and child health providers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to 1) better inform advocacy and programmatic strategies and interventions to improve the quality of those services in the region, and 2) determine the need for more rigorous study of the issues.

Methods: A rapid assessment of 83 health workers providing antepartum, intrapartum, and immediate postpartum and newborn care (within two hours of birth) in eight LAC countries was conducted in November and December of 2011. Health workers were observed by two-person expert maternal/newborn clinician teams using pretested forms based on international quality-of-care standards.

Scaling up high-impact interventions: how is it done?

Building upon the World Health Organization's ExpandNet framework, 12 key principles of scale-up have emerged from the implementation of maternal and newborn health interventions. These principles are illustrated by three case studies of scale up of high-impact interventions: the Helping Babies Breathe initiative; pre-service midwifery education in Afghanistan; and advanced distribution of misoprostol for self-administration at home births to prevent postpartum hemorrhage. Program planners who seek to scale a maternal and/or newborn health intervention must ensure that: the necessary evidence and mechanisms for local ownership for the intervention are well-established; the intervention is as simple and cost-effective as possible; and the implementers and beneficiaries of the intervention are working in tandem to build institutional capacity at all levels and in consideration of all perspectives.

Assessment of the nursing skill mix in Mozambique using a task analysis methodology.

Background: The density of the nursing and maternal child health nursing workforce in Mozambique (0.32/1000) is well below the WHO minimum standard of 1 nurse per 1000. Two levels of education were being offered for both nurses and maternal child health nurses, in programmes ranging from 18 to 30 months in length.

Effective in-service training design and delivery: evidence from an integrative literature review.

Background: In-service training represents a significant financial investment for supporting continued competence of the health care workforce. An integrative review of the education and training literature was conducted to identify effective training approaches for health worker continuing professional education (CPE) and what evidence exists of outcomes derived from CPE.

Methods: A literature review was conducted from multiple databases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) between May and June 2011.

An integrative review and evidence-based conceptual model of the essential components of pre-service education.

Background: With decreasing global resources, a pervasive critical shortage of skilled health workers, and a growing disease burden in many countries, the need to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of pre-service education in low-and middle-income countries has never been greater.

Methods: We performed an integrative review of the literature to analyse factors contributing to quality pre-service education and created a conceptual model that shows the links between essential elements of quality pre-service education and desired outcomes.

Results: The literature contains a rich discussion of factors that contribute to quality pre-service education, including the following: (1) targeted recruitment of qualified students from rural and low-resource settings appears to be a particularly effective strategy for retaining students in vulnerable communities after graduation; (2) evidence supports a competency-based curriculum, but there is no clear evidence supporting specific curricular models such as problem-based learning; (3) the health workforce must be well prepared to address national health priorities; (4) the role of the preceptor and preceptors' skills in clinical teaching, identifying student learning needs, assessing student learning, and prioritizing and time management are particularly important; (5) modern, Internet-enabled medical libraries, skills and simulation laboratories, and computer laboratories to support computer-aided instruction are elements of infrastructure meriting strong consideration; and (6) all students must receive sufficient clinical practice opportunities in high-quality clinical learning environments in order to graduate with the competencies required for effective practice.

Competency-based education: the essential basis of pre-service education for the professional midwifery workforce.

Background: many articles published in the decade since promulgation of the Millennium Development Goals have acknowledged the distinct advantages to maternal and newborn health outcomes that can be achieved as a result of expanding access to skilled birth attendant (including midwifery) services. However, these advantages are often predicated on the assumption that the midwifery workforce shares a common definition and identity. Regrettably, a clear delineation of midwifery competencies is rarely addressed.

Findings from the analysis of the American College of Nurse-Midwives' membership surveys: 2009 to 2011.

Introduction: The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) Core Data Survey is an annual membership survey that collects demographic and selected workforce data about certified nurse-midwives (CNMs), certified midwives (CMs), and students enrolled in midwifery education programs accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education. These data are aggregated and published every 3 years. This article presents findings from the analysis of membership data for the years 2009 to 2011.

Misoprostol for postpartum hemorrhage prevention at home birth: an integrative review of global implementation experience to date.

Background: Hemorrhage continues to be a leading cause of maternal death in developing countries. The 2012 World Health Organization guidelines for the prevention and management of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) recommend oral administration of misoprostol by community health workers (CHWs). However, there are several outstanding questions about distribution of misoprostol for PPH prevention at home births.