Multigenerational Challenges: Team-Building for Positive Clinical Workforce Outcomes.

Patient acuity in hospital settings continues to increase, and there is greater emphasis on patient outcomes. The current nursing workforce is comprised of four distinct generational cohorts that include veterans, baby boomers, millennials, and generation Xers. Each group has unique characteristics that add complexity to the workforce and this can add challenges to providing optimal patient care.

A qualitative study of continuing education needs of rural nursing unit staff: the nurse administrator's perspective.

Background: This study reports perceptions of the continuing education (CE) needs of nursing unit staff in 40 rural healthcare facilities (10 hospitals and 30 long-term care facilities) in a rural Midwestern U.S. region from the perspective of nurse administrators in an effort to promote a community-based academic-practice CE partnership.

Facilitators and barriers of independent decisions by midwives during labor and birth.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that affect labor management decisions of midwives in hospitals and freestanding birth centers.

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using one-on-one tape recorded interviews of midwives who had experience managing labor and birth in both hospitals and freestanding birth centers. Ten interviews consisting of several open-ended questions were conducted, coded, and analyzed in a stepwise fashion to identify codes, categories, and themes.

Are students' impressions of improved learning through active learning methods reflected by improved test scores?

Purpose: To report the transformation from lecture to more active learning methods in a maternity nursing course and to evaluate whether student perception of improved learning through active-learning methods is supported by improved test scores.

Methods: The process of transforming a course into an active-learning model of teaching is described. A voluntary mid-semester survey for student acceptance of the new teaching method was conducted.