Copyright Law Basics for the Nursing Professional: Part 2: Protecting Your Work.

This article is a continuation of the discussion of Copyright Law (found in JNPD 31:5) as it applies to nursing professionals. This part focuses on the definition of "work made for hire" and how nursing professional development specialists can both protect and share their own work. Many nurses assume that they own the works they create, but authorship is not necessarily the same as ownership. Misunderstanding copyrights could put one's job and hard work at risk!

Copyright Law Basics for the Nursing Professional: Part 1: Using the Work of Others.

This article covers the basics of Copyright Law as applicable to the use of protected resources and the sharing of information by nurse professionals. It explores frequently cited justifications for copyright violation, including the doctrine of Fair Use and the Technology and Copyright Harmonization Act. It also discusses why those justifications may or may not apply to the nurse professional who teaches in a clinical setting or at a conference.(See CE Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/JNPD/A2).

Newsletters and adherence to a weekly home spirometry program after lung transplant.

CONTEXT: Newsletters are a common intervention for patients in clinical trials. However, it is not clear whether newsletters are associated with increased adherence to the health regimen, and if so, which aspects of the newsletter are reported as most helpful to patients. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between patients' ratings of worthwhileness of a quarterly newsletter and adherence with a home spirometry regimen. DESIGN: Patients (n=48) were in a research-based spirometry program after lung transplant and had received at least 1 newsletter; 24 (50%) returned completed surveys via postal mail. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Adherence for forced vital pulmonary function tests for respondents versus nonrespondents, number of weeks they were adherent, ratings they gave the newsletter, and which components of the newsletters were helpful to the respondents. RESULTS: Respondents had more forced vital capacity pulmonary function tests ("blows") overall, blew more times weekly, and blew more consistently from week to week than did nonrespondents. Although it was not statistically significant, a mild correlation was found between the number of weeks that the respondents were adherent and their ratings of the newsletter (r = 0.36, P = .08). Most respondents reported that newsletter length was "about right", and 86% reported that newsletters helped encourage regular spirometer use, maintain interest in the study, educate about general health, and alert readers to seasonal health risks. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: High ratings for newsletters used to encourage participation among adults in our home spirometry study were associated with higher adherence.