Living kidney donor advocacy program: a quality improvement project.

Objective: : In 2007, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services mandated that kidney transplant programs establish a living donor advocate program to ensure safe care and support for living organ donors. This quality improvement project assessed the impact of establishing a living donor advocate program and identified the ethical commitments and threats living kidney donors perceive throughout the donation process.

Method: : This quality improvement project reflects a mixed-methods methodology.

Does good documentation equate to good nursing care?

Good documentation does not necessarily equate to good care. This article explores the potential underpinnings of poor documentation from an ethical decision-making lens. Nursing standards of care related to documentation are reviewed.

Critique of 'advance directives: curriculum content and preparation of nursing students'.

This research study reflects an important topic for the practice of nursing and nursing education. The descriptive design utilized clear sampling methods. Clear research questions were identified; however, other data analysis methods may have been more appropriate.

Working with standardized patients: a primer.

This paper presents concepts and strategies for using standardized patients (SP) in teaching and evaluation of nursing students. SP encounters are an alternative to clinical experiences and a standardized criterion for student performance evaluation. Careful development of encounters, selection and training of SPs, support and debriefing of all participants are essential to a positive SP encounter.

Promoting a good death for persons with dementia in nursing facilities: family caregivers' perspectives.

The experience of dying from Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a nursing home setting is a poorly understood phenomenon. Fifty-seven family member caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease, who had died as a resident in a national nursing home chain, participated in a structured telephone interview. Despite the belief that their loved one had died with dignity, 16 out of 57 (28%) family member caregivers believed that their loved one had not experienced a good death.