Benefits and challenges of a nursing service-learning partnership with a community of internally-displaced persons in Colombia.

Service-learning partnerships between nursing programs and health care settings in vulnerable communities may be challenging to initiate, but can offer multiple benefits for students, faculty, and the community served. The aim of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the benefits and challenges of establishing a service-learning partnership between a university nursing program and an isolated community of internally-displaced persons in Medellin, Colombia. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 nursing professors and nine students who participated in the service-learning partnership. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Main benefits identified were: learning about the social determinants of health, development of compassion, appreciation for the community nursing role, professional growth and development, community engagement and increased access to care for community members. Challenges related to the service-learning experience included feelings of moral distress, lack of value for community nursing, and conflict with traditional biomedical approaches to care. Several threats to program sustainability were also identified. Professors and students offered several recommendations for program improvement, including interdisciplinary collaboration, documentation and dissemination of the service-learning experience, increased community autonomy and capacity for self-care, and curricular changes to enhance recognition of the importance of community nursing.

Impact of bronchopulmonary dysplasia on brain and retina.

Many premature newborns develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease resulting from prolonged mechanical ventilation and hyperoxia. BPD survivors typically suffer long-term injuries not only to the lungs, but also to the brain and retina. However, currently it is not clear whether the brain and retinal injuries in these newborns are related only to their prematurity, or also to BPD. We investigated whether the hyperoxia known to cause histologic changes in the lungs similar to BPD in an animal model also causes brain and retinal injuries. Sprague Dawley rat pups were exposed to hyperoxia (95% O2, 'BPD' group) or room air (21% O2, 'control' group) from postnatal day 4-14 (P4-14); the rat pups were housed in room air between P14 and P28. At P28, they were sacrificed, and their lungs, brain, and eyes were extracted. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was performed on lung and brain sections; retinas were stained with Toluidine Blue. Hyperoxia exposure resulted in an increased mean linear intercept in the lungs (P<0.0001). This increase was associated with a decrease in some brain structures [especially the whole-brain surface (P=0.02)], as well as a decrease in the thickness of the retinal layers [especially the total retina (P=0.0008)], compared to the room air control group. In addition, a significant negative relationship was observed between the lung structures and the brain (r=-0.49,P=0.02) and retina (r=-0.70,P=0.0008) structures. In conclusion, hyperoxia exposure impaired lung, brain, and retina structures. More severe lung injuries correlated with more severe brain and retinal injuries. This result suggests that the same animal model of chronic neonatal hyperoxia can be used to simultaneously study lung, brain and retinal injuries related to hyperoxia.