Effects of peer-mentoring on stress and anxiety levels of undergraduate nursing students: An integrative review.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students, whether undergraduate or graduate, are at a higher risk for stress and anxiety due to competitiveness and complexities of nursing school. There is evidence in the literature on the effects of peer mentoring among nursing students. Peer mentoring has been associated with increased retention, student engagement, and skills competence among nursing students. There is, however, paucity in the literature about peer mentoring's effect on stress and anxiety levels of undergraduate nursing students. PURPOSE: To examine the literature on the effect of peer mentoring on stress and anxiety levels among undergraduate nursing students. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: Bandura's Self-Efficacy Theory was used to guide this review. METHOD: An integrative review of the literature was conducted. Electronic databases searched included PubMed, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and ERIC using keywords: nurse*, student*, undergrad*, stress and nursing students, anxiety and nursing students, and mentor*. Review was limited to peer reviewed articles published in the English language from January 2000 to August 2018. Articles were independently reviewed by three authors, and the quality of data was evaluated using established criteria. RESULTS: Eight articles were included in the review. Review suggested that peer mentoring decreases stress, and situation or short-term anxiety levels of undergraduate nursing students. However, results should be interpreted with caution based on limited studies identified.

Guided Imagery for Pain Management in Postoperative Orthopedic Patients: An Integrative Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Pain following orthopedic surgery can be intense due to the nature of the surgical procedure. Pain is a multilevel phenomenon that includes physiological and psychosocial components. Interventions that address body, mind, and spirit are needed to provide holistic management of pain. Guided imagery is a mind-body intervention that can address all aspects of the patient's pain experience. PURPOSE: This integrative review, informed by Watson's theory of human caring, identifies evidence that either supports or refutes the use of guided imagery as a supplement to pharmaceutical pain management for postoperative orthopedic patients. METHOD: An integrative literature search was conducted. Twenty-two studies were identified as potentially relevant to this study. Nine of the articles met all inclusion criteria and were included in this study. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Based on the evidence reviewed, it is recommended that guided imagery be used as an adjunct for pain management in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. However, additional research in this area is needed. Future research: Two topics for further research were identified. The first is a need to identify an optimal frequency of use of guided imagery. The second is to identify how to ensure patients are using the intervention as recommended.

Dementia care costs and the patient's quality of life (QoL) in Taiwan: home versus institutional care services.

Organizing optimal care for demented older people is a complex health care issue. Controversies of service models for demented patients should be balanced between cost of care, placement, and quality of life (QoL). The main purpose of this study was to explore the optimal model of dementia care in Taiwan by evaluating the care cost, patients' QoL and healthcare settings. Overall, 140 pairs of demented patients and their primary informal caregivers were enrolled (89 community-living and 51 institute-living). Compared to institute-living subjects, community-living subjects were significantly better in cognition, physical function and QoL. The annual direct cost of institutional care was significantly higher than community care (464,193 New Taiwanese Dollar (NTD) vs. 144,047 (NTD), p<0.001), but indirect cost was significantly higher in home care (287,904 NTD vs. 35,665 NTD, p<0.001). The care cost of home care subjects with low physical dependence was significantly lower than institutional care subjects, but the care cost of home care subjects with high physical dependence was significantly higher than institutional care subjects. Physical dependence was the significant determinant of QoL for demented patients in this study. In conclusion, demented patients with low physical dependence may be cared in the communities with support and those who had high physical dependence may be cared in the institutes in terms of the balance of QoL and the care cost.

Heart failure patient learning needs after hospital discharge.

This descriptive-correlational study examined the perceived learning needs of heart failure patients in postdischarge settings, as well as the influence of demographic variables on these learning needs. The Outpatient Heart Failure Learning Needs Inventory was used to rate subjects' perceptions of the importance of educational topics on a five-point Likert scale. Findings indicated that subjects perceived signs and symptoms and medications as most important to learn and diet, activity, and psychological factors as least important to learn. These findings are consistent with previous research and provide a framework on which to base the development of educational programs for patients with heart failure. A significant finding was that nearly 25% of screened patients were unable to participate because they were unaware that they had been diagnosed with heart failure.