Option generation in the treatment of unstable patients: An experienced-novice comparison study.

There are a dearth of studies that quantitatively measure nurses' appreciation of stimuli and the subsequent generation of options in practice environments. The purpose of this paper was to provide an examination of nurses' ability to solve problems while quantifying the stimuli upon which they focus during patient care activities. The study used a quantitative descriptive method that gathered performance data from a simulated task environment using multi-angle video and audio.

Mitigating procedural pain during venipuncture in a pediatric population: A randomized factorial study.

Background: Evidence suggests that a significant number of children receive less than optimal management of procedure-related pain.

Objectives: To determine if there was a difference in the perceived pain associated with a venipuncture procedure in a group of pediatric patients based on the preparatory intervention used during the procedure and, to determine if age, sex, or ethnic group were associated with the effectiveness of the preparatory interventions used.

Design: A quasi-experimental, 3×4 factorial design was used.

Cognitions and clinical performance: a comparison of high and low performing baccalaureate nursing students.

Studies to date have employed a variety of methods to elucidate the cognitive processes that underlie nursing actions in clinical situations. Most studies relied on clinical case scenarios rather than actual patient care situations, and did not supplement cognitive measures with quantitative measures of performance or physiologic outcomes of care. The present study employed a quasi-experimental design to describe and compare the verbal report data of baccalaureate nursing students who were assigned to high and low performing groups based on their ability to alter the physiological trajectory of the patient in a simulated task environment.

A study of the relationship of nursing interventions and cognitions to the physiologic outcomes of care in a simulated task environment.

This study, based on the Expert Performance Approach, examined the clinical nursing performance of participants who were introduced into a simulated task environment requiring them to administer care to a client experiencing an exacerbation of Congestive Heart Failure. This was undertaken to identify cognitive and physiologic variables that differentiate performance levels among participants. Data on participant actions and verbal reports were coded to characterize their relationship with physiologic responses of the Human Patient Simulator.

Cognitions associated with nurse performance: a comparison of concurrent and retrospective verbal reports of nurse performance in a simulated task environment.

Background: Cognitions represent the computations associated with human thought processes. Verbal protocols offer a method by which to record these processes. While concurrent and retrospective verbal reporting of cognitions have been used extensively within nursing and other domains, the use of this methodology in nursing has been characterized by inconsistencies in its application.

The relationships among anxiety, anger, and blood pressure in children.

Relationships between anger and anxiety have been examined in adults but less frequently in children. This investigation explored relationships among trait anxiety, trait anger, anger expression patterns, and blood pressure in children. The participants were 264 third- through sixth-grade children from five elementary schools who completed Jacob's Pediatric Anger and Anxiety Scale and Jacob's Pediatric Anger Expression Scale and had their blood pressure measured.

Telerehabilitation support for families at home caring for individuals in prolonged states of reduced consciousness.

Objective: To investigate the use of telerehabilitation to support families caring at home for individuals with prolonged states of reduced consciousness.

Design: A comparison group approach.

Participants: Participants were recruited from a special program that is part of a Model Systems brain injury program located in the Southeast.

The use of computers and the Internet as a source of health information for people with disabilities.

It becomes increasingly obvious that computers and the Internet will play a prominent role in healthcare in the 21st century in America. The use of these tools in telecommunications technology to inform and educate has resulted in the emerging field of interactive health communication (IHC). The value of this new field is heightened by its potential to make health-related information and services more accessible to vulnerable populations such as people with disabilities.