Implementing Evidence-Based Vitamin D Protocol in the Dialysis Clinic: An Educational Approach.

Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and even more pronounced in patients with kidney failure who are undergoing peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. This project was a nurse practitioner-led quality improvement project conducted in an outpatient hemodialysis unit that focused on determining if educating providers and hemodialysis unit clinical staff on vitamin D guidelines increased the awareness and monitoring of patients on hemodialysis. The number of patients screened for vitamin D levels increased from 29% to 100%, and 70% of patients tested were deficient in vitamin D.

Initiation of Therapeutic Hypothermia in the Emergency Department: A Quality Improvement Project.

Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) postresuscitation has been recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA) since 2005. Early initiation of TH and fast achievement of goal temperatures have been associated with better neurological outcomes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific TH protocol for the emergency department (ED) in increasing ED use of TH and decreasing the time from return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) to initiation of cooling measures.

Reflections of Evidence-Based Practice in Nurse Educators' Teaching Philosophy Statements.

Aim: This article focuses on the nature and importance of evidence-based practice (EBP) as described in the teaching philosophy statements of academic nurse educators (ANEs).

Background: EBP is a core competency identified by the Institute of Medicine. Its incorporation into teaching philosophies expresses ANEs' ideas, values, and practices.

Student learning with concept mapping of care plans in community-based education.

Concept mapping, a learning strategy used to understand key concepts and relationships between concepts, has been suggested as a method to plan and evaluate nursing care. The purpose of this study was to empirically test the effectiveness of concept mapping for student learning and the students' satisfaction with the strategy. A quasi-experimental pre- and posttest design was used to examine the content of concept maps of care plans constructed by junior-level baccalaureate students (n = 23) at the beginning and end of a community-based mental health course.