Palliative Care Education and Serious Illness Communication Training for Baccalaureate Nursing Students.

Background: Palliative care is an essential component of community health for a growing population of seriously ill older adults residing in the community. Yet, nursing students are often challenged in initiating and engaging in serious illness conversations.

Purpose: This study implemented and evaluated an educational activity designed to increase nursing students' skills and self-efficacy to initiate and conduct conversations with patients/clients experiencing serious illness.

Addressing Cultural Competency and Primary Palliative Care Needs in Community Health Nursing Education.

To meet the primary palliative care needs of older adults, especially the underserved and those of color, a qualitative descriptive study was conducted among nursing students (n = 34) in community health nursing whose clinical rotations included independent living facilities for low-income populations. Two themes were identified that influence student nurse confidence and self-efficacy in initiating conversations with seriously ill clients and assessing their primary palliative care needs: (1) emotional assessment skills and cultural competency and (2) an assessment guide to primary palliative care needs that provides structure and guidance to conduct such conversations. Two major categories were identified that influence student nurse confidence and self-efficacy in initiating conversations with seriously ill clients: (1) educational needs and desired experience and (2) cultural impact.

Change and inertia in the New York state Medicaid Personal Care Services program: an institutional case study.

This study analyzes how competing logics (belief systems) of stakeholders have influenced patterns of change and inertia in the development of the New York Medicaid Personal Care Services (PCS) program. A case-study methodology was used to collect documents, statistics, and interview data from four key stakeholder groups: state and city officials, PCS agencies, a labor union, and consumer advocates covering the period 1999 to 2005. The New York PCS program is one of the oldest, largest, and most stable programs in the United States.

Assessing emergency nurses' geriatric knowledge and perceptions of their geriatric care.

Introduction: Persons aged 65 years or older have up to a 45% increased functional dependence and a 10% mortality rate within the first 3 months after being discharged from the emergency department. It has been demonstrated that when elderly individuals are cared for by nurses with specialized training in geriatrics, their outcomes improve. However, few registered nurses have this specialized training.

Nursing responses to transcultural encounters: what nurses draw on when faced with a patient from another culture.

Objective: We explored nurses' experiences when they encounter patients from cultures other than their own and their perception of what helps them deliver culturally competent care.

Methods: Registered nurses from all shifts and units at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center were invited to complete a questionnaire. Within the time frame allowed, 111 nurses participated by returning completed questionnaires.