Sarcoidosis Illuminations on Living During COVID-19: Patient Experiences of Diagnosis, Management, and Survival Before and During the Pandemic.

Inspired by intense challenges encountered by patients and clinicians, we examined the experiences of living with sarcoidosis in three of the hardest impacted English-speaking cities during the early COVID-19 pandemic: London, New Orleans, and New York. A multi-disciplinary, multi-national research team including 6 patient leaders conducted qualitative investigations with analyses rooted in grounded theory. Recruitment occurred by self-referral through patient advocacy groups.

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in Sarcoidosis: Diagnosis, Management, and Health Outcomes.

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL), though rarely considered as a primary endpoint in clinical trials, may be the single outcome reflective of patient priorities when living with a health condition. HRQoL is a multi-dimensional concept that reflects the degree to which a health condition interferes with participation in and fulfillment of important life areas. HRQoL is intended to capture the composite degree of physical, physiologic, psychological, and social impairment resulting from symptom burden, patient-perceived disease severity, and treatment side effects.

Effectiveness of an Evidence-Based Practice Nurse Mentor Training Program.

Background: Multiple reasons are cited for why nurses do not incorporate evidence into clinical practice, including lack of knowledge and skills, training, time, and organizational support.

Aims: To investigate the effectiveness of a mentor training program on mentors' perceptions of knowledge, attitude, skill, and confidence levels, and organizational readiness related to evidence-based practice (EBP) and research utilization; and to investigate the effectiveness of creating a formalized structure to enculturate EBP in order to prepare nurses to incorporate EBP into clinical practice on nurses' perceptions of knowledge, attitude, skill levels, barriers, nursing leadership, and organizational support related to EBP and research utilization.

Methods: A two-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental, interventional design was used.

Clinical Deterioration Leadership Ability Scale: A Psychometric Study.

Background And Purpose: Assessing nurses' perceived leadership abilities during clinical deterioration provides a starting point for designing educational interventions to support leadership improvement. The study purpose was to provide psychometric testing of the Clinical Deterioration Leadership Ability Scale (CDLAS).

Methods: The psychometric properties and factor structure of the CDLAS was examined.

Medical-surgical nurses' experiences as first responders during deterioration events: a qualitative study.

Aim And Objective: To explore and understand the experiences of medical-surgical nurses as first responders during clinical deterioration events.

Background: Nurses are key players in identifying and responding to deterioration events to escalate the level of care essential to address specific needs of patients. Delays in recognising signs and symptoms of patient deterioration and activation of Rapid Response Teams have been linked to a lack of nontechnical skills (leadership, teamwork, situational awareness) resulting in increased patient morbidity and mortality.

The effect of preceptor role effectiveness on newly licensed registered nurses' perceived psychological empowerment and professional autonomy.

The first year turnover rate for newly licensed registered nurses is roughly 30% and increases to about 57% in the second year (Twibell et al., 2012). An effective preceptorship has been shown to better facilitate the first year transition (Hodges et al.

The Role of Preceptorship and Group Cohesion on Newly Licensed Registered Nurses' Satisfaction and Intent to Stay.

Background: Thirteen percent of newly licensed registered nurses (NLRNs) vacate their first job after 1 year, and 37% report that they feel ready to change jobs. Turnover can lead to consistent and detrimental nursing shortages in nursing units, as well as increased costs for health care systems.

Method: A descriptive, prospective, cross-sectional design was used to understand how preceptor role effectiveness and group cohesion affect NLRNs' satisfaction and intent to stay.

The Effects of Guided Imagery on Patients Being Weaned from Mechanical Ventilation.

The study purpose was to assess the effects of guided imagery on sedation levels, sedative and analgesic volume consumption, and physiological responses of patients being weaned from mechanical ventilation. Forty-two patients were selected from two community acute care hospitals. One hospital served as the comparison group and provided routine care (no intervention) while the other hospital provided the guided imagery intervention.

Psychometric properties of the Clinical Decision-Making Self-Confidence Scale.

Background And Purpose: Nurses' self-confidence in handling acute patient deterioration events may influence decision-making capabilities and implementation of lifesaving interventions during such events. The study purpose is to provide further psychometric testing of the Clinical Decision-Making Self-Confidence Scale (CDMSCS).

Methods: The psychometric properties and factor structure of the CDMSCS was examined.

Psychometric testing of the clinical nurse leader staff satisfaction instrument.

Background And Purpose: Patient care is changing rapidly with increased complexity of care, patient volumes, and financial constraints with rising health care costs and limited reimbursements. In response, the clinical nurse leader (CNL) role was developed. No appropriate instrument exists to measure staff satisfaction with the CNL role.

Resilience in nurses: an integrative review.

Aim: To describe nursing research that has been conducted to understand the phenomenon of resilience in nurses.

Background: Resilience is the ability to bounce back or cope successfully despite adverse circumstances. Nurses deal with modern-day problems that affect their abilities to remain resilient.

Increased susceptibility of transgenic mice expressing human PrP to experimental sheep bovine spongiform encephalopathy is not due to increased agent titre in sheep brain tissue.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans have previously been shown to be caused by the same strain of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy agent. It is hypothesized that the agent spread to humans following consumption of food products prepared from infected cattle. Despite evidence supporting zoonotic transmission, mouse models expressing human prion protein (HuTg) have consistently shown poor transmission rates when inoculated with cattle BSE.

Cultural competency among nurses with undergraduate and graduate degrees: implications for nursing education.

Aim: To compare the level of cultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and comfort of nurses with undergraduate and graduate degrees when encountering patients from diverse populations.

Background: Cultural competency is a core curriculum standard in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. Assessing cultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and comfort among nurses can help identify areas to strengthen in nursing curricula.

Medical-surgical nurses' perceived self-confidence and leadership abilities as first responders in acute patient deterioration events.

Aims And Objectives: To explore and understand medical-surgical nurses' perceived self-confidence and leadership abilities as first responders in recognising and responding to clinical deterioration prior to the arrival of an emergency response team.

Background: Patients are admitted to hospitals with multiple, complex health issues who are more likely to experience clinical deterioration. The majority of clinical deterioration events occur on medical-surgical units, and medical-surgical nurses are frequently the first healthcare professionals to identify signs and symptoms of clinical deterioration and initiate life-saving interventions.

Cultural challenges and barriers through the voices of nurses.

Aims And Objectives: To discover and describe challenges and barriers perceived by nurses in providing culturally competent care in their day-to-day encounters with diverse patient populations.

Background: Nurses are challenged in today's healthcare environment to provide culturally competent care to a diverse patient population. To provide patient- and family-centred care, nurses must first acknowledge patient's and family's cultural differences, be willing to incorporate patient's and family's beliefs within the healthcare treatment plan, and respect the values and lifeways of differing cultures.

Hearing the voices of newly licensed RNs: the transition to practice: a qualitative study suggests that new nurses need more guidance and support than they’re getting.

Objective: The future of nursing depends on newly licensed RNs (NLRNs), who often need help in transitioning from an academic to a clinical setting. This study sought to describe the NLRN's orientation experience and to identify ways of enhancing it.

Methods: Using qualitative methods, a convenience sample of NLRNs was recruited and 21 were interviewed; audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed and validated for accuracy.

The effect of unit-based simulation on nurses' identification of deteriorating patients.

Patients are admitted to healthcare organizations with multiple, complex conditions that can lead to acute deterioration events. It is imperative that nurses are adequately trained to recognize and respond appropriately to these events to ensure positive patient outcomes. The purpose of this pilot research study was to examine the effects of a unit-based, high-fidelity simulation initiative on cardiovascular step-down unit registered nurses' identification and management of deteriorating patients.

Impact of Let's Go! 5-2-1-0: a community-based, multisetting childhood obesity prevention program.

Objective: Document the impact of Let's Go!, a multisetting community-based childhood obesity prevention program on participants in 12 communities in Maine.

Methods: The study used repeated random telephone surveys with 800 parents of children to measure awareness of messages and child behaviors. Surveys were conducted in schools, child care programs, and afterschool programs to track changes in policies and environments.

Effectiveness of a structured curriculum focused on recognition and response to acute patient deterioration in an undergraduate BSN program.

The study purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured education curriculum with simulation training in educating undergraduate Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) students to recognize and respond to patients experiencing acute deterioration as first responders. Researchers have demonstrated a lack of adequate clinical reasoning skills in new graduate nurses is a factor in critical patient incidents. A mixed methods design using a quasi-experimental, repeated measures and a descriptive, qualitative approach was used.

Psychometric validation of the revised clinical cultural competency questionnaire.

Background And Purpose: Growing diversity in health care requires culturally competent care. Assessing nurses' cultural competence is the first step in designing cultural competency education. The Clinical Cultural Competency Questionnaire (CCCQ) is one instrument to assess nurses' cultural competence.

The culture of an emergency department: an ethnographic study.

In an environment of change and social interaction, hospital emergency departments create a unique sub-culture within healthcare. Patient-centered care, stressful situations, social gaps within the department, pressure to perform, teamwork, and maintaining a work-life balance were examined as influences that have developed this culture into its current state. The study aim was to examine the culture in an emergency department.

Bovine PrP expression levels in transgenic mice influence transmission characteristics of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Until recently, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) disease in cattle was thought to be caused by a single agent strain, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) (classical BSE or BSE-C). However, due to the initiation of a large-scale surveillance programme throughout Europe, two atypical BSE strains, bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy (BASE, also named BSE-L) and BSE-H have since been discovered. These atypical BSE isolates have been previously transmitted to a range of transgenic mouse models overexpressing PrP from different species at different levels, on a variety of genetic backgrounds.

Discovering ways that influence the older nurse to continue bedside practice.

A descriptive qualitative approach was used to investigate older nurses practicing bedside nursing and to identify ways to influence older nurses to continue bedside practice. A purposive sample of 18 older nurses was recruited from a healthcare system located in the Southeastern United States. Interpretative analysis of interviews resulted in the identification of three constitutive patterns and eight themes.

Nurses' knowledge of heart failure education principles survey: a psychometric study.

Aims: To compare the psychometric properties of the original dichotomously scored Nurses' Knowledge of Heart Failure Self-Management Education Principles Survey with a Likert scored version.

Background: Nurses must be knowledgeable of HF self-management principles to provide optimal education to patients. Psychometrically strong instruments to measure nurses' knowledge of HF self-management provide important insight into gaps of nurses' knowledge.