Effectiveness of an intensive care unit family education intervention on delirium knowledge: a pre-test post-test quasi-experimental study.

Purpose: To create, validate, and refine an intensive care unit (ICU) delirium education intervention to prepare family members to partner with the ICU care team to detect delirium symptoms and prevent and manage delirium using nonpharmacological strategies.

Methods: In this pre-test post-test quasi-experimental study, consecutive eligible family members of critically ill patients admitted to an ICU completed an ICU Family Education Delirium intervention in two parts: 1) six-minute video on ICU delirium (risk factors, prevention/management, symptoms, communication with the ICU care team), and 2) two case vignettes to practice detecting delirium using family-administered delirium detection questionnaires (Family Confusion Assessment Method [FAM-CAM] and Sour Seven). Family members' delirium knowledge was measured before, immediately after, and two weeks following the intervention using the Caregiver ICU Delirium Knowledge Questionnaire (CIDKQ).

Psychometric evaluation of the family caregiver ICU delirium knowledge questionnaire.

Background: Delirium is a common condition in critically ill patients, affecting nearly half of all patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). Family caregivers of critically ill patients can be partners in the early recognition, prevention and management of delirium provided they are aware of the signs/symptoms and appropriate non-pharmacological strategies that might be taken. Valid, reliable instruments that assess family caregiver knowledge are essential so that nurses can prepare family caregivers to be effective partners.

Nurses' Experiences Empowering Hospitalized Patients.

Four focus groups were conducted to explore acute care nurses' experiences empowering patients and the facilitators and barriers they encountered during the process. Thirty-four nurses employed at four hospitals in the Midwestern United States participated in the study between February and April 2015. Facilitators of empowerment included establishing a therapeutic relationship, fostering communication, providing education, respecting patient autonomy, engaging support systems, and lifting spirit/giving hope.

Preparing Family Caregivers to Recognize Delirium Symptoms in Older Adults After Elective Hip or Knee Arthroplasty.

Objectives: To test the feasibility of a telephone-based intervention that prepares family caregivers to recognize delirium symptoms and how to communicate their observations to healthcare providers.

Design: Mixed-method, pre-post quasi-experimental design.

Setting: A Midwest Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a nonprofit health system.

Engaging Nursing Staff in Research: The Clinical Nurse Specialist Role in an Academic-Clinical Partnership.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the processes of exploring and implementing an academic-clinical study, engaging nursing staff in research, and maintaining their enthusiasm within the context of an academic-clinical research partnership.

Description: The core competencies of the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) role address evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and research. Studies and exemplars of the CNS role in the literature illustrate expert practitioner and facilitator of evidence-based practice, but less attention is given to methods used by the CNS to engage staff in clinical research.

Educating Family Caregivers for Older Adults About Delirium: A Systematic Review.

Background: Delirium in older adults is considered a medical emergency; it contributes to a cascade of functional decline and to increased mortality. Early recognition of delirium symptoms is critical to prevent these negative consequences. Family caregivers who are educated about delirium could partner with nurses and other healthcare professionals in early recognition of delirium symptoms.

Psychometric Properties of the Family Caregiver Delirium Knowledge Questionnaire.

A valid, reliable measure of family caregivers' knowledge about delirium was not located in the literature; such an instrument is essential to assess learning needs and outcomes of education provided. The purpose of the current study was to (a) develop a family Caregiver Delirium Knowledge Questionnaire (CDKQ) based on the Symptom Interpretation Model; and (b) establish validity and reliability of the measure. The 19-item CDKQ was developed and administered to 164 family caregivers for community-dwelling older adults.

Family Caregivers' Knowledge of Delirium and Preferred Modalities for Receipt of Information.

Delirium is a life-threatening, frequently reversible condition that is often a sign of an underlying health problem. In-hospital mortality alone for older adults with delirium ranges from 25% to 33%. Early recognition of delirium is critical because prolonged duration poses a greater risk of poor functional outcomes for older adults.

Public health model identifies recruitment barriers among older adults with delirium and dementia.

Recruiting older adults and their family caregivers into research studies presents challenges. Although the literature notes some general recruitment challenges, no studies specifically address the unique challenges of recruiting older adults who have Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and their family caregivers in studies about delirium or suggest using a framework to identify barriers to recruiting this population. In conducting a pilot study about preparing family caregivers to detect delirium symptoms in older adults with (AD) the researchers used the Public Health Model for identifying barriers to recruitment.

Strategies for sustaining self used by family caregivers for older adults with dementia.

The negative health consequences of caring for an older adult family member with dementia are well documented. However, not all family caregivers experience these negative health consequences. The purposes of this study were to describe strategies family caregivers use to help them continue to provide care for an older family member with dementia despite challenges and describe these family caregivers' resilience and psychological distress.

A framework of academic persistence and success for ethnically diverse graduate nursing students.

Aim: The goal of this qualitative study was to examine how ethnically diverse graduate nursing students persisted with academic studies.

Background: Ethnically diverse nurses are vastly underrepresented in the workforce.This problem is accentuated by high attrition rates in academic programs.

Use of the resiliency model of family stress, adjustment and adaptation in the analysis of family caregiver reaction among families of older people with congestive heart failure.

Background: Little attention has been given to the resiliency process of family caregivers for older people hospitalized with congestive heart failure.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of older peoples' activities of daily living dependency, family caregivers' spiritual well-being, quality of relationship, family support, coping and care continuity on the burden of family caregivers of hospitalized older people with congestive heart failure using the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation. DESIGN AND SAMPLE.

Delirium in older adults attending adult day care and family caregiver distress.

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND; Delirium is a critical, costly, frequently reversible problem in older adults. Findings of previous studies indicate that delirium occurs in up to 65% of hospitalised older adults and up to 80% of terminally ill patients. Few studies address the frequency of delirium in community dwelling older adults and the extent to which delirium symptoms create distress for their family caregivers.

A complex elder care simulation using improvisational actors.

Complex simulations can facilitate students' synthesis of knowledge. Simulations of cognitively impaired elders provide nursing students the opportunity to use critical thinking and clinical decision-making skills in complex patient care situations. The authors report their experiences in designing, implementing, and evaluating a simulation on cognitive problems in elders using actors.

Influences of spiritual well-being and coping on mental health of family caregivers for elders.

The purpose of the study was to describe spiritual well-being of family caregivers of elders with congestive heart failure and examine the relationships among family caregivers' spiritual well-being, coping, and mental health. A descriptive, correlational research design was used, and data were collected from a convenience sample of 50 family caregivers. The findings indicated that positive spiritual well-being was inversely related to negative mental health.

Preparing teacher-scholars to reduce health disparities.

Health disparities are a major public health problem in the United States. Doctorally prepared nurse scholars, who understand factors contributing to these disparities, possess research competence to study these factors, and pose strategies to be tested are essential to improve the health of these vulnerable populations. This article describes how a PhD curriculum was designed to prepare teacher-scholars to assume leadership roles in reducing health disparities.

Seeking what's best during the transition to adult day health services.

Family caregivers provide more than 80% of the long-term care for elders in the United States and experience a variety of transitions that are intertwined with those of their elders. Previous research on health care transitions documents problems elders and family caregivers encountered following hospitalization, following nursing home admission, and in adjusting to home health care. Little is known about the transition to adult day health services (ADHS).

Using structured academic controversy with nursing students.

Nurse educators use a variety of strategies to foster critical thinking in undergraduate and graduate students. Structured academic controversy, although used by other disciplines, offers a novel approach for nurse educators. The author describes structured academic controversy and its use in a graduate course in gerontological nursing.