Factors Influencing Organizational Commitment and Turnover in Nurse Residents.

Background: Newly licensed RNs (NLRNs) are at risk for leaving employment in the first year. Nurse residency programs have demonstrated success for NLRN retention, yet other variables remain to be explored.

Method: A retrospective correlational approach was used to determine the effect of autonomy, competence, group cohesion, structural empowerment, and job satisfaction on organizational commitment, turnover intent, and actual job turnover using secondary data of 1,498 nurse residents.

Carcinoma of the lungs causing enlarged kidneys.

Bilateral enlarged kidneys can be caused by a number of conditions. Renal metastasis is included in the differential diagnosis. We report a case of a 67-year-old woman with a 6-month history of productive cough and unintentional weight loss.

Diagnosing and managing low serum testosterone.

Measuring testosterone levels became easier in the 1970s, and it wasn't long before levels were being checked in men across all age groups. At that time, several authors reported an age-associated decline of serum testosterone levels beginning in the fourth or fifth decades of life. Other studies found that the decline in testosterone with age might be more related to comorbidities that develop in many aging men.

Using a strengths model to build an on-line nursing education program.

The on-line environment is the new frontier for academia struggling to define its place in the evolving economy. A concern is how to engage students who maximize their on-line experience and graduate in a timely manner. A strengths model was used as the basis for development of an on-line doctoral nursing program.

Comparison of professional values of Taiwanese and United States nursing students.

Globalization is a part of modern life. Sharing a common set of professional nursing values is critical in this global environment. The purpose of this research was to examine the professional values of nursing students from two distinct cultural perspectives.

Pain management knowledge and attitudes of baccalaureate nursing students and faculty.

Pain affects approximately 76 million adults in the US. Though pain management has been targeted as a top priority, it continues to be inadequately addressed. Nursing faculty are in a unique position to significantly address the problem through facilitating the acquisition and utilization of knowledge by student nurses.

Creating and sustaining academic-practice partnerships: lessons learned.

This article outlines how one community's academic-practice partnership evolved over time as it sought to address the community's needs for a qualified competent nursing workforce. Both organization and system changes were essential in the establishment of formal structures to address nursing workforce shortage needs. Both practice and education leaders were actively engaged in setting the strategic priorities at multiple system levels in the creation of these formal structures.

Journey to a doctoral program.

Several nursing programs will be developing either doctor of philosophy or doctor of nursing practice programs in the near future. There is little literature available to advise and guide program planners about the challenges and rewards encountered when creating a new doctoral program. The intent of this article is to assist program planners in meeting some of the challenges associated with initiating a doctoral program by describing one institution's experiences in launching a doctoral program in nursing.

Changes in Taiwanese nursing student values during the educational experience.

Professional values are standards for action and provide a framework for evaluating behavior. This study examined changes in the professional values of nursing students between their entrance to and graduation from an undergraduate nursing program. A pre- and post-test design was employed.

Tell me--show me: using combined focus group and photovoice methods to gain understanding of health issues in rural Guatemala.

As health researchers, our training is more literary than visual. We are only beginning to learn about the value of photography as a qualitative data collection method. In this article we describe a project utilizing focus groups and photovoice, sequentially, to gather information about health-related conditions in rural Guatemala.

Journal editor survey: information to help authors publish.

Faculty are expected to publish but often do not know how to write a manuscript that avoids major reasons for subsequent rejection. The authors share the results of a survey of 63 journal editors who reported journal characteristics and reasons for rejection of manuscripts. Suggestions to improve the acceptance rate of faculty publications are offered.

Clinical evaluation and grading practices in schools of nursing: national survey findings part II.

To better understand how nurse educators evaluate and grade students' clinical practice, the Evaluation of Learning Advisory Council of the National League for Nursing conducted a survey of faculty (N = 1,573) in all types of prelicensure RN programs. This article describes the findings of that survey in relation to clinical evaluation and grading clinical practice. Nearly all faculty used a clinical evaluation tool to rate students' performance in the clinical setting (n = 1,534, 98 percent); most programs had the same basic tool in all courses, but modified to reflect the unique aspects of each course (n = 1,095, 70 percent).

Assessment and grading practices in schools of nursing: national survey findings part I.

In fall 2007, the Evaluation of Learning Advisory Council of the National League for Nursing conducted a survey on the assessment and evaluation strategies and grading practices used by nurse faculty in prelicensure RN programs. This article describes how faculty evaluate student learning in the cognitive and affective domains and factors that influence their decisions about assessment and grading. A 29-item web-based survey was completed by 1,573 nurse faculty from all types of prelicensure programs.

Postextubation pulmonary edema: a case series and review.

Unlabelled: We report a series of patients with postextubation pulmonary edema who had no obvious risk factors for the development of this syndrome.

Methods: Patients identified by the pulmonary consultation service at an academic medical center were reviewed.

Results: Fourteen cases were collected and analyzed.

Globalization, commodification and mass transplant of nurses: Part 1.

The world is currently facing a shortage of nurses and this is predicted to worsen as a result of the looming en masse retirement of the so-called 'baby-boom' generation. Moreover, this problem is foreseen to be far more pronounced in Western countries where the post-Second World War 'baby-boom' demographic was (and is) most prominent. Data collected by various international organizations illustrates a corresponding recent increase in nurse migration and that such mass transplantation inevitably involves the unidirectional movement of nurses from developing countries to developed Western countries.

Globalization, commodification and mass transplant of nurses: Part 1.

This two-part article examines the mass transplantation of nurses within the context of globalization. Part one focused on the international data regarding the global shortage of nurses, the increase in nurse migration from 'underdeveloped' to 'Western' countries, definitions and descriptions of global health and summarized the debate so far, such as it is. Part two draws attention to how this group of migrating nurses is more often than not comprised disproportionately of women and accordingly, draws on critical feminist ideas to demonstrate how such mass transplantation of nurses adds to the idea of women as a commodity.

Incorporating cultural issues in education for ethical practice.

The population of most non-dominant ethnic groups in the USA is growing dramatically. Faculty members are challenged to develop curricula that adequately prepare our future nurses. An increased focus on clinical ethics has resulted from the use of sophisticated technology, changes in health care financing, an increasing elderly population and the shift of care from inpatient to outpatient settings.

Student learning with concept mapping of care plans in community-based education.

Concept mapping, a learning strategy used to understand key concepts and relationships between concepts, has been suggested as a method to plan and evaluate nursing care. The purpose of this study was to empirically test the effectiveness of concept mapping for student learning and the students' satisfaction with the strategy. A quasi-experimental pre- and posttest design was used to examine the content of concept maps of care plans constructed by junior-level baccalaureate students (n = 23) at the beginning and end of a community-based mental health course.