Precepting nurse practitioner students in the graduate nurse education demonstration: A cross-sectional analysis of the preceptor experience.

BACKGROUND: The Graduate Nurse Education (GNE) Demonstration seeks to increase the number of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in clinical practice. With the overall increase in APRN programs and, particularly, enrollment in nurse practitioner (NP) programs, there is growing competition among students to secure quality clinical precepting experiences. PURPOSE: This study describes NPs' and physicians' experiences with precepting APRN students within the Greater Philadelphia GNE Consortium. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive survey of 1,021 NP and physician preceptors who provided clinical practicum experiences for at least one of the nine Greater Philadelphia GNE Consortium schools. RESULTS: Differences between NP and physician precepting experiences regarding the importance of various factors in their decisions to precept were explored. Both NP and physician preceptors provide clinical practicum experiences to APRN students because they enjoy doing so. However, they differ regarding what they find important in their decisions to precept such as having protected time to precept and educational opportunities. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: As universities work to recruit quality preceptors, they should consider tailoring their approach based on the preceptor's clinical role. In addition, schools located within the same region should consider streamlining administrative processes to form sustaining and productive clinical partnerships.

Experimental studies on performance of ventilators stored in the Strategic National Stockpile.

BACKGROUND: The Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched a collaborative initiative with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to gain a better understanding of ventilators that are used during national emergencies. This initiative was intended to test reliability of ventilator devices stored long term in the CDC Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and also used by the Department of Defense. These ventilators are intended to be used by trained operators to provide ventilatory support to adult and pediatric populations under diverse environmental conditions. The authors evaluated device performance and possible effects of long-term storage. METHODS: Three SNS ventilator models: Impact Uni-Vent 754 Eagle™, Covidien (Puritan Bennett) LP10, and CareFusion LTV 1200 were used in this study. A total of 36 ventilators, 12 per model, were evaluated for performance in simulated adult populations using a test lung. The parameters evaluated included battery charge status and capability, battery longevity, positive end expiratory pressure consistency, device performance on AC and DC (battery) power, and device durability testing. RESULTS: The out-of-the-box run time was equal to or higher than the manufacturer's specifications for fully charged batteries for all ventilators except 58 percent of the Impact 754 ventilators. No significant ventilator performance issues were observed in terms of tidal volume consistency, proximal pressure, oxygen consumption, and a 2000-hour run test in LP10 models. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide information about the long-term storage of ventilators that have regular maintenance, and their ability to perform reliably during a public health emergency.

Simulation as a means to foster collaborative interdisciplinary education.

The purpose of this study was multifaceted: to initiate an interdisciplinary collaborative relationship between nursing and medical students; to determine the usefulness of an interdisciplinary approach using simulations as an educational strategy; and to analyze students' perceptions of collaboration. A pre/posttest design was used to assess students' perceptions of interdisciplinary collaboration with a mock code experience using a high-fidelity simulator. Open-ended questions provided another perspective of interdisciplinary collaboration. A convenience sample of fourth-year nursing students and third-year medical students from a large urban university participated in the study. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) were seen in medical students' posttest scores for two factors, collaboration and nursing autonomy. The narrative responses revealed that nursing students' perceptions of the nurse-physician relationship became more collaborative after the simulation experience. Both medical and nursing students described the experience as one that should be continued.