Assessment moderation in higher education: Guiding practice with evidence-an integrative review.

Background: Maintaining the quality and integrity of student assessments, especially in professional fields like nursing, is critical. Managing moderation processes across large teams poses social and logistical challenges, further complicated by varying quality and clarity of institutional guidelines. Systematic reviews on moderation practices in higher education are scarce.

Contextual Factors Influencing Intensive Care Patients' Discharge Processes: A Multicentre Prospective Observational Study.

Aims: To compare contextual factors influencing discharge practices in three intensive care units (ICUs).

Design: A prospective observational study.

Methods: Data were collected using a discharge process report form (DPRF) between May and September 2023.

Navigating challenges and opportunities: Nursing student's views on generative AI in higher education.

Aim: This qualitative study aims to explore the perspectives of nursing students regarding the application and integration of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in their studies.

Background: With the increasing prevalence of generative AI tools in academic settings, there is a growing interest in their use among students for learning and assessments.

Design: Employing a qualitative descriptive design, this study used semi-structured interviews with nursing students to capture the nuanced insights of the participants.

Perceptions and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination among health professional students in Australia: a qualitative study.

Using two qualitative data sources: free-text responses to an open-ended question of an online survey and subsequent interviews and focus groups, we explored perceptions and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination among health professional students enrolled in Australian universities during the pandemic with data collected from October 2021 to April 2022. Students provided free-text responses to the open-ended question (n = 313) in the online survey and participated in interviews or focus groups (n = 17). Data analysis revealed three themes, including perceptions of COVID-19 seriousness and the risk of contracting the virus, information dissemination, and attitudes toward the vaccine mandate.

Strategies for improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in cardiovascular research: a primer.

This paper aims to empower cardiovascular (CV) researchers by promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) principles throughout the research cycle. It defines DE&I and introduces practical strategies for implementation in recruitment, retention, and team dynamics within CV research. Evidence-based approaches supporting underrepresented populations' participation are outlined for each research phase.

Comparison of six frailty instruments in adults with heart failure: a prospective cohort pilot study.

Aims: To compare the frailty prevalence and predictive performance of six frailty instruments in adults with heart failure and determine the feasibility of study methods.

Methods And Results: Prospective cohort pilot study. Adults aged 18 years or older with a confirmed diagnosis of heart failure in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Clinician Estimates of Frailty Compared to Formal Frailty Assessment in Adults With Heart Failure: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.

Background: Frailty assessment is recommended for patients with heart failure. Despite the availability of instruments to assess frailty, there are no clear recommendations regarding the optimal instrument to use in a heart failure context. This ambiguity combined with a lack of education and resources, often leads clinicians to rely on subjective estimates of frailty, such as 'the end-of-the-bed' or 'eyeball' test.

Discrepancies between proxy estimates and patient reported, health related, quality of life: minding the gap between patient and clinician perceptions in heart failure.

Purpose: Health related quality of life (HRQoL) is rarely routinely measured in the clinical setting. In the absence of patient reported data, clinicians rely on proxy and informal estimates to support clinical decisions. This study compares clinician estimates (proxy) with patient reported HRQoL in patients with advanced heart failure and examines factors influencing discrepancies.

mHealth education interventions in heart failure.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a chronic disease with significant impact on quality of life and presents many challenges to those diagnosed with the condition, due to a seemingly complex daily regimen of self-care which includes medications, monitoring of weight and symptoms, identification of signs of deterioration and follow-up and interaction with multiple healthcare services. Education is vital for understanding the importance of this regimen, and adhering to it. Traditionally, education has been provided to people with heart failure in a face-to-face manner, either in a community or a hospital setting, using paper-based materials or video/DVD presentations.

Costs Before and After Left Ventricular Assist Device Implant and Preceding Heart Transplant: A Cohort Study.

Background: Up to 50% of heart transplant candidates require bridging with left ventricular assist devices (VAD). This study describes hospital activity and cost 1 year preceding and 1 year following VAD implant (pre-VAD) and for the year before transplant (pre-HTX). The sample comprises an Australian cohort and is the first study to investigate costs using both institutional and linked administrative data.

Evaluating the convergent and discriminant validity of three versions of the frailty phenotype in heart failure: results from the FRAME-HF study.

Background: Frailty is an important predictive measure of mortality and rehospitalisation in people with heart failure. To date, there are no frailty instruments validated for use in people with heart failure.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of three versions of the frailty phenotype in those with heart failure.

COMBINING INSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATA TO ASSESS HOSPITAL COSTS FOR PATIENTS RECEIVING VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICES.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe patient level costing methods and develop a database of healthcare resource use and cost in patients with AHF receiving ventricular assist device (VAD) therapy.

Methods: Patient level micro-costing was used to identify documented activity in the years preceding and following VAD implantation, and preceding heart transplant for a cohort of seventy-seven consecutive patients listed for heart transplantation (2009-12). Clinician interviews verified activity, established time resource required for each activity, and added additional undocumented activities.

Long distance heart transplantation: a tale of two cities.

In this 'paired' case report, we describe two heart transplants performed 3 days apart at our centre. Both cases involved very prolonged transportation time of the donor heart. In one case, the donor heart was transported in an ice chest, while in the other case the organ was transported using a normothermic ex vivo perfusion (NEVP) system.

Left Ventricular Device Implantation Impacts on Hospitalisation Rates, Length of Stay and Out of Hospital Time.

Background: Widespread application of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) in advanced heart failure, is limited by costs, and access to technical expertise. Hospitalisation drives both cost and inversely, quality of life - but cross institutional and pre-surgical inpatient length of stay data is missing in the Australian literature. We describe changes in hospitalisation rates, in the year before and after bridge to transplant LVAD therapy and preceding heart transplant (HTX).

Adaptation and coping in patients living with an LVAD: A metasynthesis.

Objective: To synthesize information supporting coping and adaptation of LVAD patients and to identify opportunities for future interventions.

Background: Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) patients demonstrate improvements in quality of life and functional status, but qualitative research has not been meaningfully integrated.

Methods: Qualitative meta-synthesis using Lazarus and Folkmans' Transactional Model of stress and coping.

Impact of left ventricular assist device speed adjustment on exercise tolerance and markers of wall stress.

Introduction: Left ventricular assist devices are crucial in rehabilitation of patients with end-stage heart failure. Whether cardiopulmonary function is enhanced with higher pump output is unknown.

Methods: 10 patients (aged 39±16 years, mean±SD) underwent monitored adjustment of pump speed to determine minimum safe low speed and maximum safe high speed at rest.

Effect of exercise and pump speed modulation on invasive hemodynamics in patients with centrifugal continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices.

Background: Continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (CF-LVADs) improve functional capacity in patients with end-stage heart failure. Pump output can be increased by increased pump speed as well as changes in loading conditions.

Methods: The effect of exercise on invasive hemodynamics was studied in two study protocols.

Six-minute walk distance predicts VO₂ (max) in patients supported with continuous flow left ventricular assist devices.

Background: Six-minute walk distance (6MWD) and maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂ max ) are used as prognostic tools in patients with heart failure (HF). Whether these tests provide similar information in the LVAD population is not known.

Methods: Eight patients supported with VentrAssist rotary blood pump LVADs, underwent three days of testing that included 6MWD and VO₂ max at normal, high or low speeds, generating twenty-four paired results.

Normalisation of haemodynamics in patients with end-stage heart failure with continuous-flow left ventricular assist device therapy.

Background: New generation continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) utilise centrifugal pumps. Data concerning their effect on patient haemodynamics, ventricular function and tissue perfusion is limited. We aimed to document these parameters following HeartWare centrifugal continuous-flow LVAD (HVAD) implantation and to assess the impact of post-operative right heart failure (RHF).

Effect of alteration in pump speed on pump output and left ventricular filling with continuous-flow left ventricular assist device.

Third-generation continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) provide reduced pulsatility flow. We examined the safe working range for LVAD pump speed and the effect on pump output and cardiac function in 13 stable outpatients with VentrAssist-LVAD (Ventracor Ltd, Australia). Pump speed was decreased from a baseline mean of 2,073 ± 86 revolutions per minute (RPM, with corresponding mean flow of 5.