Improving Discharge Teaching for Adult Patients with an Ileostomy.

Local Problem: Discharge teaching is essential to the self-care and successful recovery of colorectal surgery patients, yet the trend toward shorter hospital stays for patients with new ileostomies limits opportunities for patient education. As a result, discharged patients at our institution are initiating calls to providers with questions that could have been addressed prior to discharge.

Purpose: The aim of this quality improvement (QI) project was to decrease patient-initiated postdischarge inquiries using a frequently asked questions (FAQs) handout at discharge.

Applying Natural Language Processing to Understand Motivational Profiles for Maintaining Physical Activity After a Mobile App and Accelerometer-Based Intervention: The mPED Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Regular physical activity is associated with reduced risk of chronic illnesses. Despite various types of successful physical activity interventions, maintenance of activity over the long term is extremely challenging.

Objective: The aims of this original paper are to 1) describe physical activity engagement post intervention, 2) identify motivational profiles using natural language processing (NLP) and clustering techniques in a sample of women who completed the physical activity intervention, and 3) compare sociodemographic and clinical data among these identified cluster groups.

Understanding Health Literacy for People Living With HIV: Locations of Learning.

Health literacy, including people's abilities to access, process, and comprehend health-related information, has become an important component in the management of complex and chronic diseases such as HIV infection. Clinical measures of health literacy that focus on patients' abilities to follow plans of care ignore the multidimensionality of health literacy. Our thematic analysis of 28 focus groups from a qualitative, multisite, multinational study exploring information practices of people living with HIV (PLWH) demonstrated the importance of location as a dimension of health literacy.

Report From the Night Shift: How Administrative Supervisors Achieve Nurse and Patient Safety.

The administrative supervisor role (the nurse leader on the evening or night shift) has been present in hospitals for more than 100 years, but research is just commencing regarding how this leader achieves nurse and patient safety. This focused ethnographic study was conducted in 2 parts. The first part consisted of focus groups with night-shift staff nurses, held at 7 hospitals in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, with the objective of obtaining the staff nurses' perception of the supervisors' role.

Getting safely through the shift: a qualitative exploration of the administrative supervisor role.

Aim: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the administrative supervisors' perspective of their managerial practices and how these practices contribute to nurse and patient safety.

Background: The position of administrative supervisor, often referred to as house supervisor on the evening and night shifts, lacks empirical data supporting efficacy.

Method: A focused ethnographic study was conducted with 30 administrative supervisors from acute care hospitals, using in-depth interviews and job descriptions.

Nurse Manager Safety Practices in Outpatient Hemodialysis Units.

Little is known regarding the specific managerial activities or best practices that nurse managers in outpatient hemodialysis settings use to achieve positive safety outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe specific managerial practices used by nurse managers in outpatient hemodialysis units to enhance patient safety and quality of care. A descriptive qualitative design was used.

Perception and Sense of Control Over Eating Behaviors Among a Diverse Sample of Adults at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore and understand knowledge and attitudes about food, diet, and weight control, focusing on barriers and motivators to reduce risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Six focus groups were conducted in May and June 2010. The groups were stratified by sex.

Evolution of a nursing education program delivered to baccalaureate-prepared Haitian nurses.

Haiti has high morbidity and mortality rates, a large proportion of people living in poverty, and a shortage of nurses and nursing faculty members. A partnership program between a US and Haitian university was formed to deliver a certificate program in nursing education. The authors describe their experiences developing, delivering, and evaluating the blended on-site and online program and their future goals.

Unhealthy substance-use behaviors as symptom-related self-care in persons with HIV/AIDS.

Unhealthy substance-use behaviors, including a heavy alcohol intake, illicit drug use, and cigarette smoking, are engaged in by many HIV-positive individuals, often as a way to manage their disease-related symptoms. This study, based on data from a larger randomized controlled trial of an HIV/AIDS symptom management manual, examines the prevalence and characteristics of unhealthy behaviors in relation to HIV/AIDS symptoms. The mean age of the sample (n = 775) was 42.

Cluster analysis of elderly cardiac patients' prehospital symptomatology.

Background: Chest pain routinely brings patients into the healthcare system, and elderly patients may present with more complex symptoms presaging ischemic heart changes than do younger patients.

Objective: To examine, using cluster analysis, how elderly patients experiencing an ischemic coronary heart disease cluster based on presenting symptoms in the week before hospitalization and how they vary in terms of their general physical and mental health, mood states, and quality of life.

Methods: Elderly (age >or=65 years), unpartnered patients (N = 247) admitted with ischemic coronary heart disease to one of five university medical centers were inducted into a clinical trial; only baseline data are reported.

Cluster analysis: a useful technique to identify elderly cardiac patients at risk for poor quality of life.

Objective: The purposes of this study are (1) to examine the frequency of cardiac symptoms in elderly people one year after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and/or coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG); (2) to identify patient subgroups (cluster solutions) based on cardiac symptoms after cardiac events and (3) to determine if these subgroups vary based on health related quality of life and psychological distress.

Methods: A sample of 206 elderly, unpartnered, patients (age > or = 65) were interviewed one year after AMI and/or CABG by telephone. Cardiac symptoms, SF-36, POMS, and QOL-I were measured.

Man works from sun to sun, but woman's work is never done: insights on research and policy.

Gender equity and equality in health and human development are key national and international goals. To achieve these goals, the androcentric definition of work needs to be addressed. The current definition is driven by the globalized capitalistic model, which equates "work" with generating income or the production of goods.