Incorporating the AACN Essentials 'spheres of care' into nursing curricula.

In 2021 the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) published new education standards for nursing programs offering degrees at the baccalaureate-level and higher. The new standards, The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education (AACN, 2021), represent an educational shift and an opportunity to transform the nursing profession through a better-prepared workforce. One important new standard that must be incorporated for entry-level (Level 1) programs is preparation for practice within four spheres of care.

The association of nurse practitioners' mortality risk assessments and advance care planning discussions on nursing home patients' clinical outcomes.

Purpose: To investigate the impact nurse practitioners' (NPs) documented mortality risk assessments (MRAs) and advance care planning (ACP) discussions have on clinical outcomes for newly enrolled Medicare Advantage nursing home patients.

Methods: Data collection in this mixed-method study consisted of quantitative data from a convenience sample of NPs' MRAs and medical record reviews 6 months later, and qualitative data from two NP focus groups. Quantitative analyses include descriptive statistics, bivariate ANOVA, and logistic regression.

"A means of restoring the health and preserving the lives of His Majesty's subjects": Ireland's 18th-Century National Hospital System.

In 1765, the Irish parliament enacted legislation that established a nationwide hospital network funded by a mixture of taxation and philanthropic donations. The county infirmaries had a similar ethos to the British and Irish voluntary hospitals; only those with an admission ticket were admitted. The legislation also regulated the qualifications of the County Infirmary Surgeons who were authorised to run the infirmaries.

Registered nurses and influenza vaccination. An integrative review.

Influenza is a serious infectious disease, causing 226,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths in the United States each year. Since 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that all health care workers receive influenza vaccination annually. Current CDC reports indicate that only 40% of health care workers receive influenza vaccination.