The Effect of a Community Based Educational Intervention on Oral Health Knowledge Levels of Adult Caregivers of Young Children in the Rural Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Low levels of oral health literacy in parents and caregivers may place a child at risk for poor oral health (Miller, Lee, DeWalt, & Vann, 2010). The purpose of this project was to determine baseline oral health literacy levels for a sample of adult caregivers of young children living in rural communities and to determine the effectiveness of a community-based education program on increasing these baseline levels of knowledge. A convenience sample of sixty-four participants who attended educational programs aimed at adult caregivers of young children comprised the sample.

Efficacy of a nitric oxide dressing in decreasing bacterial counts on human skin.

Objective: Inhibiting the proliferation of skin bacteria, using nitric oxide (NO), is a potential strategy to prevent infections. This study evaluated the efficacy of using a new NO releasing film dressing to decrease resident human bacterial skin flora compared with the measured microbial activity underneath control sterile Tegaderm transparent dressings.

Methods: A within-subjects design using a sample of convenience compared the bacterial counts under the skin of experimental dressings to those under control dressings.

Bridging the gap: strategies to integrate classroom and clinical learning.

Nursing students often feel their classroom (didactic) learning and clinical (practice) experiences are disconnected which can lead to a rejection of academe and dissatisfaction with the profession. This classroom/clinical divide may be exacerbated because of the increased use of part-time clinical faculty, who are often isolated from their didactic peers. If clinical faculty, either novice or experienced, are disconnected from didactic faculty, is it any wonder students feel their learning is fragmented? The purpose of this paper is to discuss strategies to help bridge the gap between didactic and clinical learning.

Program outcomes following implementation of a hybrid curriculum at the certificate level.

Aim: This study examined satisfaction levels and learning outcomes before and after implementation of a hybrid curriculum.

Background: Increased competition for clinical sites pressured a practical nursing program to explore alternative placement solutions. A hybrid curriculum, defined as offering 50 percent of second-semester theory course content online, was implemented in order to free students from place-bound instruction and thereby open new clinical opportunities.

Osteoporosis update.

Introduction: Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that is estimated to affect more than 75 million people worldwide. The US Department of Health and Human Services projects that the disease will impact more than 10 million women by 2020 if efforts to prevent it are ineffective. This article provides an overview of the pathophysiology of osteoporosis, prevention measures, and an update of the US Food and Drug Administration-approved medications that are used in the treatment of this widespread disease.

Online teaching efficacy of nurse faculty.

The purpose of this study was to examine variables that affect nurse faculty self-efficacy levels and participation in online teaching. Specifically, this study sought to understand how teaching experience and preparatory experiences might correlate with high or low self-efficacy perceptions of online teaching in the domains of student engagement, instructional strategies, classroom management, and use of computers. The 32-item Michigan Nurse Educators Sense of Efficacy for Online Teaching instrument was used to measure online teaching efficacy through a Web-based survey that collected data from a cross-section of Michigan nurse educators employed at public accredited higher education institutions.