Regulation and accreditation of pre-licensure education of registered nurses: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of the scoping review is to examine and map the literature that reports outcomes of the regulation and accreditation of pre-licensure education of registered nurses (RNs).

Introduction: Pre-licensure nursing education is the basic education that a person must complete before becoming an RN. Regulation and accreditation of nursing education vary by country and may vary within a country.

Accelerating the Development of Higher-Level Clinical Thinking in Novice Nurses.

Enhancing clinical expertise of novice nurses is a challenge for nursing professional development practitioners. Time and availability of expert preceptors are limited. This article describes a process evaluation project using a specific method of cognitive skills training to expose inexperienced nurses to expert thinking and help them develop more advanced cognitive skills.

Can Children Reduce Delayed Hospital Arrival for Ischemic Stroke?: A Systematic Review of School-Based Stroke Education.

Background: Delayed hospital arrival after onset of ischemic stroke reduces the number of patients eligible for tissue plasminogen activator, which must be given soon after stroke onset. There are conflicting results about the impact of mass media stroke education on timing of hospital arrival and tissue plasminogen activator administration rates. School-based programs are a new way to communicate stroke information.

Review of evidence about family presence during resuscitation.

Family presence during resuscitation (FPDR) has not been implemented consistently as standard practice across health care settings despite the availability of supporting research and recommendations from professional organizations. Health care providers, patients, families, and the public have divergent attitudes about FPDR. Inconsistencies in if, when, and how FPDR is offered can lead to inequities in care.

Application of a Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program in critical care: the royal exchange.

This article discusses the history of the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) and how it is used to foster a culture of safety. CUSP involves interdisciplinary teamwork and empowers nurses at all levels to pioneer changes and develop leadership skills. A case study is presented to show how CUSP was used effectively in critical care to create a standardized handover of patients from the operating room to the intensive care unit.

Falls and patient mobility in critical care: keeping patients and staff safe.

Creating safe passage for patients is a priority in hospitals across the United States, a priority in which critical care and advanced practice nurses play a crucial role. Three unique but related areas within this safety framework are fall prevention, the emerging practice of early mobility in intensive care, and safe patient handling. This article explores these 3 topics in tandem to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to guide fall prevention strategies, to explore patient safety associated with early mobility in intensive care units, and, because mobilizing patients is physically demanding for health care workers, to describe safe patient-handling techniques aimed at injury prevention for critical care nurses and others.

ST-segment monitoring: putting standards into practice.

ST-segment monitoring is one key reason that continuous electrocardiographic monitoring is performed in hospitals, and can help with early detection of myocardial ischemia for at-risk patients. Although ST-segment monitoring research, guidelines, and expert consensus statements have been published, ST-segment monitoring has not been implemented in all appropriate clinical areas. The purpose of this article is to present relevant research, review the latest practice standards, and discuss issues important to nurses wishing to implement ST-segment monitoring.

Continuous ST-segment monitoring: raising the bar.

ST-segment monitoring is recommended by clinical experts to assist in the early detection of transient myocardial ischemia; however, a gap exists between the recommendations and clinical practice. This article provides a review of research to support the use of ST-segment monitoring in a variety of clinical situations. Patient selection for monitoring, techniques, and strategies to facilitate successful implementation of ST monitoring are included.