Being a Research Mentor: A Qualitative Study.

Objectives: This qualitative study was designed to describe the experiences of mentors for a nursing research fellowship at a southeastern US academic medical center.

Background: Mentoring is an important aspect of nursing and is a key strategy to develop nurse leaders and faculty. Research mentors have been identified as essential for novice researchers to be able to complete clinical studies.

Successful grant applications: Follow the 4 F's.

All nurses have the potential to influence the healthcare industry and the nursing profession through research, but preparing a grant application can be intimidating. This article addresses the process of writing and developing successful grant proposals.

Audit and Feedback: A Quality Improvement Study to Increase Pneumococcal Vaccination Rates.

The purpose of this quality improvement study was to explore the impact of audit and feedback on the pneumococcal immunization rate for at-risk adults in ambulatory settings. Study findings support the hypothesis that timely, individualized audit and feedback can have a positive impact on immunization rate; generalized feedback that did not provide actionable information did not have the same impact. The difference between the interventions was significant, χ (1, N = 1993) = 124.

A prospective, randomized controlled trial comparing 3 dressing types following sternotomy.

Dressings are an important aspect of post-sternotomy care. A prospective, randomized, controlled trial was conducted between July 2010 and August 2012 to compare wound and patient outcomes among 3 marketed postoperative dressings. Using convenience sampling methods, 315 patients requiring a sternotomy incision followed by hospitalization were randomly assigned to postoperative care with a dry sterile (n = 106), metallic silver-containing (n = 105), or ionic silver-containing (n = 104) dressing.

Magnet designation: a model for home healthcare practice.

Nurses at 1 hospital-affiliated home healthcare agency (HHA) found that being a department of a Magnet-accredited hospital had a significant impact on the culture of their HHA. Important lessons were learned in conjunction with the Magnet designation journey. In this article, the authors describe the history of the Magnet recognition program, the components of the Magnet model, and how these are applicable to nursing practice within HHAs.

Improving pneumococcal immunization rates in an ambulatory setting.

The purpose of this quality improvement project was to improve the immunization rates of an at-risk adult population seen in a presurgical testing center through staff training and patient education. Over 24 months, there were 2257 patients preintervention and 2505 patients postintervention. There was a statistically significant difference between preintervention rate of 24% and postintervention rate of 47% (χ2 [1, N = 4736] = 173.

Nurse-physician leadership: insights into interprofessional collaboration.

Objective: The objective of this qualitative research study was to identify themes characterizing collaboration from the perspectives of nurses and physicians serving in complementary leadership roles in intensive and progressive care hospital units.

Background: Failures of communication are reported as a major cause of sentinel events. Most frequently, communication breakdown occurs between physicians and nurses.

Preparing for the unexpected: violence in the home care environment, one agency's story.

Home care and hospice agencies, bound by regulations, prepare for emergencies and disasters by creating policies and protocols for management of emergency situations, perhaps conducting table top or other types of drills, and discussing hazards likely to impact home care. Is this preparation merely an exercise to meet a requirement, or is it life-saving preparation? For one home care agency, the emergency exercise saved the day as the scenario enacted in the drill was actually lived out a few weeks after the exercise-a scenario the agency leaders hoped they would never face. This account explores how the agency prepared to meet the emergent situation and details lessons learned in the aftermath.

Telehealth monitoring: a smart investment for home care patients with heart failure?

This telehealth project was positive overall. It was an agency goal to utilize telehealth to augment, not replace, SN visits while improving quality outcomes for the patient. The findings of this project supported that goal.

Investing in human capital: an academic-service partnership to address the nursing shortage.

The well-documented shortage of nurses and the impact of educational preparation of nurses on patient care outcomes provide a compelling argument for the need to increase the number of registered nurses and to advance their educational preparation. This article describes the application of human capital theory in a creative venture between a health system and a school of nursing that has demonstrated success in addressing these issues. A tuition advancement program was developed to support interested personnel in attaining the associate degree in nursing and to support current RNs in attaining the baccalaureate degree.