Developmental disabilities: improving competence in care using virtual patients.

Nurse practitioners (NPs) have an increasingly important role in health care provision in the United States. However, most nurses report that they receive little or no clinical training in the area of developmental disabilities. A core development team consisting of NP faculty members from three universities, one physician assistant faculty member, the parents of children with developmental disabilities, and educational specialists developed two multimedia interactive pediatric instructional modules in CD-ROM format: one involving a child with Down syndrome and the other, an infant born at 26 weeks gestation.

Caring for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities: virtual patient instruction improves students' knowledge and comfort level.

Nurses play a vital role in providing health care to children with developmental disability (DD) throughout the United States. Unfortunately, most nurses continue to report that they receive little or no clinical education in the area of DDs. In response to this need, a core development team consisting of nurse practitioners and nursing faculty from three universities, one physician assistant faculty, parents of children with DD, and educational specialists developed two multimedia (virtual patient) pediatric instructional modules in CD-ROM format--one involving a child with Down syndrome, and the other involving an infant born at 26 weeks' gestation.

Counseling parents to quit smoking.

It is estimated that 20%-50% of adult smokers reside with children, and the majority of these smokers (70%) continue to smoke inside their homes despite the adverse health effects of second hand smoke (SHS) for their children (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1997). Smoking is more prevalent among parents with lower incomes and less education (U.S.

Smoking behavior and desire to quit among low-income female caregivers.

The purpose of this study was to examine smoking behavior and the desire to quit among low-income women. Two hundred and eight women caregivers were surveyed about their smoking status, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in the home, and desire to quit smoking. Most of the smokers (74%) wanted to quit smoking.

Palivizumab prophylaxis of respiratory syncytial virus disease in 2000-2001: results from The Palivizumab Outcomes Registry.

The objective of the Registry was to characterize the population of infants receiving prophylaxis for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease by describing the patterns and scope of usage of palivizumab in a cross section of US infants. RSV hospitalization outcomes were also described. The Palivizumab (Synagis, MedImmune, Inc.