Collaboration Between Infection Prevention and Clinical Education in Response to COVID-19.

With the rapid escalation of COVID-19 educational needs within hospitals, it was imperative for content experts of the infection prevention departments to lean on the expertise of nursing professional development specialists. This article provides a brief overview of how a clinical education and professional development department was deployed to assist and support the COVID-19 response efforts.

Elevating the Voice of Nursing Leadership: AONL's Virtual Advocacy Day.

As we began planning for AONL Advocacy Day during the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, we expected record attendance at AONL's annual event in Washington, DC. What a great opportunity to raise the profile of nursing and increase legislators' understanding of nursing's impact in advancing health! Registration substantially outpaced all prior years. Then on January 21, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first United States case of the novel coronavirus that had already taken 6 lives in China,1 changing life in this country as we know it. As this pandemic changed the way we deliver care, it has also changed the way legislators interact with their constituents.

Effect of Peer-to-Peer Nurse-Physician Collaboration on Attitudes Toward the Nurse-Physician Relationship.

The goal of this study was to pilot a novel peer-to-peer nurse-physician collaboration program and assess for changes in attitudes toward collaboration among a group of newly licensed nurses and resident physicians (n = 39). The program included large group meetings, with discussion of key concepts related to interprofessional collaboration. In unit-based teams, the registered nurses and physicians developed a quality improvement project to meet a need on their unit. Creating learning activities like this program enable nursing professional development specialists to promote interprofessional collaboration and learning.

Test-Retest Reliability of the Genetics and Genomics in Nursing Practice Survey Instrument.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Assessment of nursing genomic competency is critical given increasing genomic applications to health care. The study aims were to determine the test-retest reliability of the Genetics and Genomics in Nursing Practice Survey (GGNPS), which measures this competency, and to revise the survey accordingly. METHODS: Registered nurses (n = 232) working at 2 Magnet-designated hospitals participating in a multiinstitutional genomic competency study completed the GGNPS. Cohen's kappa and weighted kappa were used to measure the agreement of item responses between Time 1 and Time 2. Survey items were revised based on the results. RESULTS: Mean agreement for the instrument was 0.407 (range = 0.150-1.000). Moderate agreement or higher was achieved in 39% of the items. CONCLUSIONS: GGNPS test-retest reliability was not optimal, and the instrument was refined based on the study findings. Further testing of the revised instrument is planned to assess the instrument performance.

Stepping to stability and fall prevention in adult psychiatric patients.

Fall prevention is a major area of concern in inpatient settings. This article reports on the feasibility of implementing a daily exercise program that features line dancing to promote stability, balance, and flexibility in adult psychiatric patients and describes the impact of that program. Six hundred sixty-five patient charts drawn from before and after the practice change were reviewed. The fall rate after the introduction of line dancing was 2.8% compared with 3.2% before implementation. In a setting that treats both men and women of many ages and with varying levels of mobility, line dancing offers a viable approach to exercise in a secure setting.

Podcasting: making waves in millennial education.

Podcasting is a useful addition to the repertoire of distance learning technologies that provides a fresh and mobile learning option particularly for millennial learners. Nurse educators should capitalize on this new educational approach, which has much to offer in the line of audio recordings.

Stagnant perceptions of nursing among high school students: results of a shadowing intervention study.

To gain insight into high school students' perceptions of the role of the nurse and to explore students' impressions of nursing following a nurse-shadowing intervention. Often nurses abandon staffing positions in the first 1-2 years, reporting a "poor fit" with nursing. Few studies have examined expectations and perceptions of nursing among high school students; a population of potential nurses in whom a more accurate view of nursing opportunities and professionalism may be fostered. High school students from two North Carolina counties participated in a nurse-shadowing intervention. Constant comparison and thematic coding were used for analysis of post-intervention in-depth interviews. Sixteen of 24 students completed the study. Misperception of nursing was the dominant theme. Five sub-themes were professional role responsibility, teamwork, caring relationships, tools and technology, and medication management. Experiential knowledge of nursing was a core need for students interested in nursing careers. These data suggest that a nurse shadowing program may positively influence perceptions of nursing, and may result in improved recruitment and retention in the workplace.