The Nature of Nursing Competency in Simulation of Adult Medical-Surgical Nursing: Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Background And Purpose: Educators, employers, and regulatory agencies face substantive challenges in evaluating nursing competency. Evidence on what competency is and how to measure it can mitigate the challenges.

Methods: Participants ( = 67) completed three high-fidelity simulation tests.

Standardized Testing Practices: Effect on Graduation and NCLEX® Pass Rates.

The use standardized testing in pre-licensure nursing programs has been accompanied by conflicting reports of effective practices. The purpose of this project was to describe standardized testing practices in one states' nursing programs and discover if the use of a cut score or oversight of remediation had any effect on (a) first time NCLEX® pass rates, (b) on-time graduation (OTG) or (c) the combination of (a) and (b). Administrators of 38 nursing programs in one Southwest state were sent surveys; surveys were returned by 34 programs (89%).

Intracoronary Brachytherapy for Recurrent Drug-Eluting Stent Failure.

Objectives: The study sought to report safety and long-term clinical efficacy of intravascular brachytherapy (VBT) for recurrent drug-eluting stent in-stent restenosis (DES-ISR).

Background: Recurrent DES-ISR remains a therapeutic challenge, and VBT has been used selectively in recurrent DES failure.

Methods: Patients undergoing VBT for recurrent DES-ISR were enrolled from a percutaneous coronary intervention registry.

Beta radiation for renal nerve denervation: initial feasibility and safety.

Aims: In small clinical trials, sympathetic renal denervation using radiofrequency (RF) energy shows promise in treating resistant hypertension. However, the RF procedure is lengthy and is associated with pain during ablation. Vascular brachytherapy, a proven treatment for in-stent restenosis, has the potential to cause nerve fibrosis.

Measuring competence: collaboration for safety.

Few options are available to nursing regulatory boards for the evaluation of nursing competency in registered nurses who are reported for practice breakdown. To address this deficiency, the authors conducted funded research through collaboration between their respective institutions: a state nursing regulatory board, a community college nursing program, and a state university nursing program. Through this collaboration, a competency evaluation process that used high-fidelity simulation was developed and was called the nursing performance profile (NPP).

Developing a statewide medication technician pilot program in nursing homes.

In times of fiscal constraints, nursing homes are seeking to maximize use of licensed staff through delegation of low-risk tasks to unlicensed personnel. Between 2004 and 2008, the Arizona State Board of Nursing developed and conducted a pilot program to determine the impact on patient health and safety of licensed nurses delegating medication administration to trained certified nursing assistants. There were no differences in patterns of medication errors before and after the introduction of medication technicians, and structured interviews revealed that participants viewed the role favorably, with reported increased role satisfaction on the part of delegating nurses.

Phase II trial of concurrent paclitaxel, carboplatin, and external-beam radiation followed by surgical resection in locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, protocol 99-444.

Purpose: We conducted a phase II study to evaluate the utility and outcomes of concurrent weekly low-dose chemotherapy with concurrent radiation in an effort to "downstage" patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients And Methods: Eighteen patients with pathologically confirmed stage IIIA (T1-3 N2 or T3 N1) and 3 patients with stage IIB (T3 N0) NSCLC were enrolled. Seventeen of 18 patients with stage IIIA cancer had N2 disease.