Using an organizational framework to drive change in nursing education: An action plan for nurse leaders.

Background: Organizational change within nursing schools that supports growth of students, faculty, and staff from underrepresented groups occurs through purposeful strategies and commitments to building capacity for the spectra and richness of diverse perspectives.

Purpose: To evaluate framework-guided initiatives, our organization implemented to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion to achieve inclusive excellence in nursing education and leadership.

Methods: Framework-guided initiatives include a standardized diversity education model, hiring bias mitigation strategies, equitable spending, partnerships for student and faculty recruitment, and restructuring committees to include diverse perspectives.

Finding the right candidate: Developing hiring guidelines for screening applicants for clinical research coordinator positions.

Impact: The success of any clinical research team is dependent on hiring individuals with the experience and skill set needed for a specific research project. Strategies to improve the ability of human resource (HR) recruiters to screen and advance qualified candidates for a project will result in improved initiation and execution of the project.

Objective/goals: HR recruiters play a critical role in matching research applicants to the posted job descriptions and presenting a list of top candidates to the PI/hiring manager for interview and hiring consideration.

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether Serum Concentrations and Depressive Symptomatology in Pregnant African American Women.

(1) Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were widely produced in the United States until 2004 but remain highly persistent in the environment. The potential for PBDEs to disrupt normal neuroendocrine pathways resulting in depression and other neurological symptoms is largely understudied. This study examined whether PBDE exposure in pregnant women was associated with antenatal depressive symptomatology.

Analyzing the predictors of health care utilization in the agricultural worker population using decision tree analysis: Does language matter?

Objectives: To analyze the predictors of health care utilization among respondents to the National Agricultural Worker Survey. Specifically, we hypothesized that English proficiency would predict utilization of health care services within the last 2 years.

Methods: Using the 2015-2016 National Agricultural Worker Survey, we performed a secondary data analysis to analyze the predictors of health care utilization within the last 2 years in the United States' agricultural worker population.

Sleeping Within Six Feet: Challenging Oregon's Labor Housing COVID-19 Guidelines.

Facing the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing outbreaks among farmworkers and food processing workers across the nation, the Oregon Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OR OSHA) issued temporary regulations, in contrast to optional recommendations, in late spring. These regulations aimed to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission among farmworkers, but made compromises that may fail to reduce the risk of further outbreaks among Oregon's agricultural workers, particularly those living in agricultural labor housing. Instead of considering the scientific literature that called for attention to space and length of time for social distancing among unrelated persons in indoor areas, the agency accepted the 6-foot social distancing rule of thumb and allowed even shorter distances between beds with the installation of plastic or plywood barriers.

Doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree in the United States: Reflecting, readjusting, and getting back on track.

Background: In 2004, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) called for all nursing schools to phase out master's-level preparation for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) and transition to doctor of nursing practice (DNP) preparation only by 2015. Today, five years after the AACN's deadline, nursing has not yet adopted a universal DNP standard for APRN practice entry.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the ability of nursing schools to implement a universal DNP standard for APRNs.

Physical activity and work activities in Florida agricultural workers.

Background: Laboring in hot and humid conditions is a risk factor for heat-related illnesses. Little is known about the amount of physical activity performed in the field setting by agricultural workers, a population that is among those at highest risk for heat-related mortality in the United States.

Methods: We measured accelerometer-based physical activity and work activities performed in 244 Florida agricultural workers, 18 to 54 years of age, employed in the fernery, nursery, and crop operations during the summer work seasons of 2015-2017.

Elevated Core Temperature in Florida Fernery Workers: Results of a Pilot Study.

With expected increases in extreme weather, there may be a greater risk of injury from extreme heat in outdoor worker populations. To plan for future adaptation measures, studies are needed that can characterize workers' physiologic responses to heat in outdoor settings such as agriculture. The objective of this study was to characterize occupational heat exposure, key vulnerability factors (e.

Examining Agricultural Workplace Micro and Macroclimate Data Using Decision Tree Analysis to Determine Heat Illness Risk.

Objective: This study was designed to examine the associations between regional weather data and agricultural worksite temperatures in Florida.

Methods: Florida farmworkers (n = 105) were each monitored using iButton technology paired with simultaneous data from regional weather stations. Conditional inference tree models were developed for (1) regional environmental temperatures and iButton (worksite) temperatures, and (2) regional heat index (HI) and iButton HI.

Hydration Status, Kidney Function, and Kidney Injury in Florida Agricultural Workers.

Objective: Recent findings suggest that laboring in hot occupational environments is related to kidney damage in agricultural workers. We examined hydration status and kidney function in 192 Florida agricultural workers.

Methods: Blood and urine samples were collected over 555 workdays during the summers of 2015 and 2016.

Classification of Heat-Related Illness Symptoms Among Florida Farmworkers.

Background: Farmworkers working in hot and humid environments have an increased risk for heat-related illness (HRI) if their thermoregulatory capabilities are overwhelmed. The manifestation of heat-related symptoms can escalate into life-threatening events. Increasing ambient air temperatures resulting from climate change will only exacerbate HRI in vulnerable populations.

Farmworker Vulnerability to Heat Hazards: A Conceptual Framework.

Purpose: To review factors that impact the effect of hot environments on the human body in order to develop a conceptual model of human biological response.

Methods: The organizing concept for the model development was the multilevel integration of three major factors, exposure to heat, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, and the heat stress response. Exposure of a vulnerable occupational group was used to illustrate the components of the model.

Deleterious Effects From Occupational Exposure to Ethylene Thiourea in Pregnant Women.

Human exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has become common as a result of widespread application of these chemicals to the food supply, environmental contamination, and occupational exposures (Caserta et al., 2011). However, relatively little is known about the effects of EDCs such as ethylene thiourea (ETU) in developing fetuses and the lasting implications of this disruption on human development from birth through adulthood.

Heat Exposure in Central Florida Fernery Workers: Results of a Feasibility Study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of field-based biomonitoring of heat-related illness (HRI) phenomena in Florida farmworkers. The authors determined feasibility through participant interviews regarding acceptability, data capture, recruitment and retention, and observed barriers and challenges to implementation.

Methods: Study participants were employed in fernery operations in northeast Central Florida where ornamental ferns are grown and harvested in a seasonally high-heat environment.

Female farmworkers' perceptions of heat-related illness and pregnancy health.

Although agricultural workers have elevated risks of heat-related illnesses (HRI), pregnant farmworkers exposed to extreme heat face additional health risk, including poor pregnancy health and birth outcomes. Qualitative data from five focus groups with 35 female Hispanic and Haitian nursery and fernery workers provide details about the women's perceptions of HRI and pregnancy. Participants believe that heat exposure can adversely affect general, pregnancy, and fetal health, yet feel they lack control over workplace conditions and that they lack training about these specific risks.

Female farmworkers' health during pregnancy: health care providers' perspectives.

Pregnant farmworkers and their fetuses are at increased risk of negative health outcomes due to environmental and occupational factors at their workplaces. Health care providers who serve farm communities can positively affect workers' health through the informed care they deliver. Yet, interviews with rural health care providers reveal limited knowledge about agricultural work or occupational and environmental health risks during pregnancy.

Extensive genetic diversity and rapid population differentiation during blooms of Alexandrium fundyense (Dinophyceae) in an isolated salt pond on Cape Cod, MA, USA.

In Massachusetts, paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is annually recurrent along the coastline, including within several small embayments on Cape Cod. One such system, the Nauset Marsh System (NMS), supports extensive marshes and a thriving shellfishing industry. Over the last decade, PSP in the NMS has grown significantly worse; however, the origins and dynamics of the toxic Alexandrium fundyense (Balech) populations that bloom within the NMS are not well known.