An interprofessional education initiative: Introducing a local anesthesia dental course for nurse practitioner and physician assistant students.

Purpose/objective: To assess the impact of local anesthesia (LA) course for physician assistant (PA) and adult gerontology-acute care nurse practitioner (NP) program students on knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and intention to incorporate skills in clinical practice.

Methods: The course was conducted by dental faculty for forty-eight PA and seven NP students and consisted of two lecture hours on anatomy of the oral cavity, anesthesia and pain management, 2 hours of preclinic lab where participants practiced injection technique on mannikins, and a clinical practicum conducted by dental school faculty and residents where students observed dental treatment including administration of LA, and discussed symptom triage by NPs and PAs for patients with dental problems including orofacial pain, initial management including LA, and patient referral to dentists. An online survey was administered to all students before and after the course to assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and intention to incorporate LA administration skills into clinical practice and elicit students' perception of program quality.

Advancing the clinical nurse leader model through academic-practice-policy partnership.

The nursing profession is tasked with identifying and evaluating models of care with potential to add value to health care delivery. In consideration of this goal, we describe the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) initiative and the activities of a national-level CNL research collaborative. The CNL initiative, launched by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in collaboration with education and healthcare leaders, has delineated CNL education curriculum and practice competencies, and fostered the creation of academic-practice-policy partnerships to pilot CNL integration into frontline nursing care delivery.

Developing the Clinical Nurse Leader Survey Instrument: A Modified Delphi Study.

Clinical nurse leader (CNL)-integrated care delivery is an emerging nursing model, with growing adoption in diverse health systems. To generate a robust evidence base for this promising nursing model, it is necessary to measure CNL practice to explicitly link it to observed quality and safety outcome improvements. This study used a modified Delphi approach with an expert CNL panel to develop and test the face, content, and construct validity of the CNL Practice Survey instrument.

Innovating Traditional Nursing Administration Challenges.

The evolving and complex practice environment calls for new mindsets among nurse leaders, academics, and nurse innovators to envision innovative ways to manage and optimize traditional tasks and processes in nursing administration. The purpose of this article is to present 3 case studies that used linear programming and simulation to innovate staffing enterprises, financial management of healthcare systems, and curricula development.

Basic concepts of hemorheology in microvascular hemodynamics.

Blood rheology, or hemorheology, involves the flow and deformation behavior of blood and its formed elements (ie, erythrocytes, leukocytes, platelets). The adequacy of blood flow to meet metabolic demands through large circulatory vessels depends highly on vascular control mechanisms. However, the extent to which rheologic properties of blood contribute to vascular flow resistance, particularly in the microcirculation, is becoming more appreciated.