Building a research-focused academic practice partnership: A stepwise approach.

The 20th century began a period of reform in nursing education and practice, with more nurses receiving advanced degrees and serving in key leadership roles throughout healthcare organizations. During this period, the transformation of the healthcare delivery system encouraged innovation and collaboration between academic nursing programs and other healthcare entities to develop partnerships based on a shared vision and goals. As a result, nurses are negotiating academic-practice partnership agreements and leading interprofessional teams to meet the needs of collaborating organizations.

LACE and the APRN Consensus Model: Implications for Advancing Nursing Practice.

Understanding the historical context and contemporary trends in advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) education and regulation is pivotal for effective professional advocacy. Until the release of the APRN Consensus Model in 2008, a uniform model for APRN regulation was lacking. Adopting the model's recommendations has implications for APRNs beyond licensure and regulation, including full practice authority, license portability, and patient access to APRN-led care.

Nurse-Driven Fluid Responsiveness Evaluation in Patients With Septic Shock: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Background: Fluid responsiveness should be assessed in patients with septic shock because only 50% of patients are fluid responsive. Dynamic measures of fluid responsiveness, like pulse pressure variation measured after a passive leg raise maneuver, are recommended to guide fluid administration in patients with sepsis after initial fluid resuscitation.

Local Problem: The purpose of the project was to evaluate outcomes after implementing a nurse-driven fluid responsiveness evaluation using passive leg raise and pulse pressure variation measurement in patients with septic shock.

Increasing postpartum depression screening and resources in pediatric primary care: A quality improvement project to enhance provider confidence.

Background: Unidentified and untreated postpartum depression (PPD) can have a negative impact on children. This Quality Improvement (QI) project aimed to increase PPD screening through provider education and enhancing pediatric primary care provider (PCP) confidence in using the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Screening (EPDS) tool, discussing PPD with mothers, and providing resources.

Design And Methods: PCPs and staff were educated on the project.

Use of Simulated Telenursing With Standardized Patients to Enhance Prelicensure Nursing Education.

Background: Telenursing is a growing field in health care but remains underutilized as a clinical learning opportunity in the prelicensure nursing curriculum.

Problem: Prelicensure nursing students need exposure to telenursing as an educational modality, which can serve as an alternative opportunity for clinical hours where facilities and resources are limited.

Approach: Using standardized patients and a web-based videoconferencing platform, faculty developed an innovative, simulated telenursing encounter to expose nursing students to virtual patient care scenarios.

Perspectives of student incivility in the online learning environment and social media platforms.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine student and faculty perspectives of student incivility in the online learning environment and social media platforms and to describe the participants' recommendations for promoting civility.

Methods: Mixed-method design was used to collect data from a convenience sample of students and faculty in a nursing program in the Southeast United States.

Results: 53 faculty members and 203 nursing students participated, and the majority agreed that incivility is a problem to some degree.

Child's perceived stress: A concept analysis.

Problem: Child's perceived stress is a term used widely in literature, yet it is poorly defined. Perceived stress in childhood has been linked to negative health outcomes throughout the lifespan. Therefore, the ability of researchers and healthcare providers to conceptualize child's perceived stress and form accurate measures of the concept is of utmost importance.

Self-Care in Nurses.

The health of nurses impacts the care of patients in healthcare settings today both inside and outside of hospitals. Many papers are written about nurses' burnout, depression, poor physical and mental health, weight gain, unhealthy eating patterns, back injury, moral negativity, and lack of job satisfaction. However, little attention has been paid to self-care in nurses.

Development and implementation of virtual clinical skills experiences for psychiatric nurse practitioner students.

The educational preparation of nurse practitioner (NP) students includes didactic content and clinical experiences. These clinical experiences can be via clinical rotations or simulation. Although there is no specific list of clinical skills to prepare NP students for professional practice, the National Organization for Nurse Practitioner Faculties identifies core competencies for the basic education of NP students.

Evidence-Based Facebook Recruitment of Study Participants.

Traditional methods for research study recruitment such as snail mail lists and posting flyers may fail to reach the tech-savvy participants needed for today's healthcare studies. Word of mouth can be effective for recruiting a few participants but can rarely accomplish the numbers needed for a representative sample. Social media can be a viable avenue to reach increased numbers of sample participants; however, a good understanding of the risks and benefits of using social media is needed before embarking on active recruitment.

Simulation-Based Training Program to Improve Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Teamwork Skills for the Urgent Care Clinic Staff.

Introduction: Lack of high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and effective team communication during cardiovascular emergencies could lead to poor patient outcomes and adverse events. Studies have shown that CPR psychomotor skills declined 3 months and plateaued up to 6 months after the completion of CPR training. The Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) interprofessional staff did not receive consistent training on CPR and teamwork skills beyond what was received from the biannual American Red Cross (ARC) Basic Life Support (BLS) training and semiannual Resuscitative Care Function mock cardiac arrest.

Standardizing Multidisciplinary Discharge Planning Rounds to Improve Patient Perceptions of Care Transitions.

Patients' satisfaction with care transitions is low, especially when it comes to understanding their care when discharged home from the hospital. Therefore, a quality improvement effort was initiated with the aim of improving patients' satisfaction with care transitions. Specific goals of the project were to improve communication between healthcare providers and patients, increase patient satisfaction, and enhance patient education by standardizing multidisciplinary discharge planning rounds.

Implementing the ABCDE Bundle, Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool, and Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale to Reduce Ventilation Time.

Prolonged mechanical ventilation of patients in intensive care units across the United States consumes billions of health care dollars every year. Using the awakening and breathing coordination, delirium monitoring/management, and early mobility (ABCDE) bundle along with the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool and the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale combines the best available evidence to optimize outcomes for critically ill patients. This study is the first to examine the effects of implementing the ABCDE bundle, the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool, and the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale together in a coordinated effort across multiple disciplines.

The Creation of an Interprofessional Evidence-Based Practice Council.

Evidence-based practice (EBP), communication, and interprofessional collaboration are all essential for safe, quality care. As members of the interprofessional team, nurse leaders are in a unique position to advance patient safety with a strategic plan, infrastructure, resources, reporting structure, and recognition program to guide the way. Leaders of a 152-bed children's and women's hospital formed an academic-practice partnership to create an interprofessional council to foster the principles of collaboration and EBP among frontline staff.

African American Women's Perceptions of Cardiovascular Disease After Myocardial Infarction: A Phenomenological Inquiry.

Background: The primary cause of death among African American women older than 50 years is cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease affects more than 16.8 million Americans and occurs when plaque builds up in the arteries that provide blood to the heart.

Protecting Restricted Extremities: The Implementation of a Pink Wristband.

Nurses should protect the affected extremities of patients who have a permanent arteriovenous access for hemodialysis by avoiding blood pressure measurements and venipuncture on access extremities. National recommendations include labeling the affected extremity with an alert mechanism, such as a wristband, to notify patients and staff of arteriovenous access. A policy change was enacted at an academic medical center in the Southeast to identify restricted extremities with a pink "limb alert" wristband after review of national recommendations on hemodialysis access preservation, individual facility procedures, product cost-benefit analysis, and unit and system educational methods.

Using a Sleep Protocol to Limit Sleep Interruptions on a Medical-Surgical Unit.

A quality improvement effort was designed to coordinate care in minimizing sleep interruptions to allow patients 6 or more hours of uninterrupted sleep. An interprofessional team developed a sleep protocol (HUSH) and coordinated care activities to reduce sleep interruptions on a 30-bed medical-surgical-telemetry unit. Changes in patient perceptions of noise and number of hours of restful sleep were compared before and after implementation.

Competency in obesity management: An educational intervention study with nurse practitioner students.

Background: The National Center for Health Statistics reported that obesity is at epidemic levels in the United States, with an estimated 70.7% of adults affected by overweight and obesity. The disease state of obesity affects all generations and is pervasive among all socioeconomic groups.

Targeting the Fear of Safety Reporting on a Unit Level.

Historically, healthcare has accepted a culture of individual blame and punishment following an adverse event. Blame leads to under-reporting of errors due to the fear of reprisal. Consequently, under-reporting results in missed opportunities for nursing leaders to recognize and improve system breakdowns in mitigating recurrence.

Why Seek a Doctorate-Prepared Nurse to Join Your Team?

Increasing numbers of doctoral-prepared nurses are joining interprofessional health care teams. Interestingly, the evolving doctoral programs for nurse leaders can be confusing to other health care professionals. Advanced education for nursing leaders is driven by a growing need for cost-effective implementation of evidence-based practices.