COVID-19 vaccination readiness among nurse faculty and student nurses.

BACKGROUND: Unprecedented efforts are underway to develop COVID-19 vaccines, widely seen as critical to controlling the pandemic. Academic nursing leaders must be proactive in assuring widespread faculty and student vaccination uptake. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe nursing faculty and student nurse factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine readiness. METHODS: Cross-sectional online survey of nursing faculty and student nurses at a university affiliated with an academic medical center was conducted. FINDINGS: Most full-time faculty (60%) intended to receive the vaccine; but only 45% of adjunct faculty and students reported intending to get vaccinated. The major reasons for not getting vaccinated were vaccine safety and side effects. Collectively, participants reported a low level of knowledge related to vaccine development. DISCUSSION: As the most trusted profession, nurses will play a decisive role in counseling patients about COVID-19 risks and benefits. Findings suggest that academic nursing leaders need to consider faculty and student vaccine concerns and provide vaccine development education.

Jefferson interprofessional clinical rounding project: an innovative approach to patient care.

BACKGROUND: Bedside rounding is an historical clinical model that brings together care providers and the patient to discuss the plan of care. Interprofessional clinical rounding is an approach that uses this historical model to involve multiple health professions. This study was conducted to determine if a model of interprofessional clinical rounding could be implemented successfully in an acute care setting. METHODS: Teams consisting of medical, nursing, and pharmacy students were assigned to work with the attending physician (AP) in the colorectal surgery service. Prior to the rounding experience, students met to review and discuss patients' data from their discipline-specific perspective and then made a presentation of the case to the AP, who used these presentations as an educational opportunity, asking probing questions. A structured observation form was used to assess the team members' interaction during this process, and a debriefing was held at the conclusion of each experience. FINDINGS: Results of the observations suggested that most students were very engaged in the process, while summaries of the debriefing revealed a high level of satisfaction among participants. All groups suggested that they had a better understanding of the roles of other professions as a result of the increased communication and claimed that the process resulted in a more patient-centered approach. They also claimed that the additional information provided through the team approach resulted in a more integrated plan of care because input is provided from these different perspectives. CONCLUSION: Interprofessional bedside rounding can be implemented successfully, resulting in a more effective experience for health professions students.

Enhancing the clinical adjunct role to benefit students.

This article describes solutions to one of the challenges that nursing programs throughout the nation face--the employment of clinically expert nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists as clinical adjunct faculty who lack the educational foundation to teach students. Some of the difficulties experienced by clinical adjunct faculty, university administrators, and full-time faculty are presented. Solutions described include a clinical adjunct workshop, collaboration between hospitals and universities, mentoring, and incorporation of technology. Collaboration, commitment, and thoroughness are essential to the development of the clinical adjunct in the role of clinical educator.