Determinants of Complementary Therapy Use among Registered Nurses in an Acute Care Setting.

INTRODUCTION: Alternatives are needed to traditional care to help patients manage pain and discomfort in acute care settings. Complementary and integrative therapies (CIT) involve alternative medicine practices that are assimilated into conventional care. The degree to which Registered Nurses (RNs) use CIT in acute care settings, however, remains unclear. This study identified determinants of CIT use among RNs in a U.S. hospital. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted. Nurse Managers emailed invitations to study-eligible RNs, and the survey captured recent CIT use, as well as sociodemographic and training/experience exposures. Participants were employees in a western Wisconsin hospital. All participants were RNs at the target hospital and worked in acute care. CIT use was assessed with a single item that asked respondents to indicate which of 25 common CIT methods they have used or offered to patients. RESULTS: There were 164 respondents from 463 invited RNs (35% response rate). In the past six months, 79% reported use of CIT with their patients. The most common practices were relaxed breathing, music therapy, essential oils, massage, and aromatherapy. The final multivariable logistic regression model found that RNs with ≥14 years of clinical experience had 72% lower odds of CIT use relative to those with 0-2 years of experience (p=0.023). In addition, RNs who were married had 76% lower odds of CIT use relative to those not married (p=0.017). Other factors such as age, gender, specialized CIT education, or nursing degree type had limited influence on CIT use. CONCLUSION: Use of CIT was generally high in this sample of hospital RNs, particularly among those who were not married and who were trained more recently. Future research should examine RN-led CIT effectiveness on patient outcomes in clinical settings.

A randomized controlled trial comparing health and quality of life of lung transplant recipients following nurse and computer-based triage utilizing home spirometry monitoring.

BACKGROUND: Lung transplantation is now a standard intervention for patients with advanced lung disease. Home monitoring of pulmonary function and symptoms has been used to follow the progress of lung transplant recipients in an effort to improve care and clinical status. The study objective was to determine the relative performance of a computer-based Bayesian algorithm compared with a manual nurse decision process for triaging clinical intervention in lung transplant recipients participating in a home monitoring program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This randomized controlled trial had 65 lung transplant recipients assigned to either the Bayesian or nurse triage study arm. Subjects monitored and transmitted spirometry and respiratory symptoms daily to the data center using an electronic spirometer/diary device. Subjects completed the Short Form-36 (SF-36) survey at baseline and after 1 year. End points were change from baseline after 1 year in forced expiratory volume at 1 s (FEV1) and quality of life (SF-36 scales) within and between each study arm. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between groups in FEV1 or SF-36 scales at baseline or after 1 year.: Results were comparable between nurse and Bayesian system for detecting changes in spirometry and symptoms, providing support for using computer-based triage support systems as remote monitoring triage programs become more widely available. CONCLUSIONS: The feasibility of monitoring critical patient data with a computer-based decision system is especially important given the likely economic constraints on the growth in the nurse workforce capable of providing these early detection triage services.

Race, Rurality, and Suicidality in Children and Adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: Suicide is among the leading causes of death in U.S. youth. Rural residency is a risk factor, but suicide variability by race/ethnicity is more nuanced. Early detection of suicidal ideation and intent are key components of prevention, but to the authors' knowledge, few prior studies have examined how rurality and race interact on youth suicidality. This study examined suicidality between White non-Hispanic versus non-White or Hispanic youth, as well as those who lived in rural versus non-rural areas. METHODS: Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using data from youth age 5-17 years who had complete capture of their medical care in a Wisconsin healthcare system. Suicidality was extracted from medical records by screening for diagnoses indicative of suicidal attempt or ideation between 2017 and 2022. Race/ethnicity and rural residence were extracted from administrative records. Analyses were done in 2023. RESULTS: The sample included 27,392 rural and 20,370 non-rural youth, with suicidality observed in 2% of participants. There was a significant interaction between rural residence and race/ethnicity (p=0.015). Non-White or Hispanic youth in rural areas had the highest risk of suicidality at 75 (CI: 57, 97) per 10,000. Non-White or Hispanic youth in non-rural areas had the lowest risk of suicidality at 38 (CI: 28, 52) per 10,000. CONCLUSIONS: Racial/ethnic minority youth who lived in rural areas were more likely to experience suicidality as compared to their non-rural counterparts. Larger prospective studies are needed to identify causal elements of the rural environment that may hasten racial disparities in youth suicidality.

Time-motion analysis of research nurse activities in a lung transplant home monitoring study.

BACKGROUND: The emergence and subsequent integration of new technologies precipitate changes in roles and work lives of nurses. The nurses' work with home monitoring technologies within a spirometry-based program that transmits pulmonary function data after lung transplantation has characteristics that are distinct from other types of direct patient care. Nurses' changing roles in such programs after transplantation have not been well described. OBJECTIVE: To describe a time-motion study of 2 research nurses in the context of a home-spirometry study to monitor patients' pulmonary status after lung transplantation. METHOD: A detailed list of research nurses' 67 routine work-related activities was developed and validated to monitor and record activities of research home monitoring nurses. Two weeks of observations were completed; recordings of a second observer established reliability of observations. RESULTS: In 48.8 hours of observation, 610 tasks related to monitoring of 45 patients were recorded. Task time ranged from brief seconds (eg, data review) to 39 minutes (eg, clinic visits). Between-observer intraclass correlation (r = 0.96) reflected high agreement in observations of the duration of activities. Agreement for category of activity was strong (kappa = 0.82), with high levels of agreement (96%). Computer tasks were the most frequent (118 tasks/week) and most time-intensive activities. Nurses' face-to-face interactions with health professionals were equally time intensive (both 267 minutes/week), but not as frequent. Data review tasks were the second most frequent (49/week), although less time-intensive (47 minutes/week). CONCLUSION: Findings reveal patterns of effort and time expenditure in nurses' evolving roles in home monitoring of the health status of patients after lung transplantation. These findings highlight the centrality and importance of well-developed data management, computer skills, and interprofessional communication skills of nurses who perform responsibilities in this emerging role in transplantation. Efforts to streamline computerized information access, as through integrated information systems, and methods to enhance efficiency in connecting with patients in the clinic may free up time for nurses to engage in other activities of direct benefit to patients. Strategies to supplement face-to-face meetings among professionals with electronic modalities may reduce the time spent meeting, while maintaining or enhancing communication.

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.

Exploring the translational impact of a home telemonitoring intervention using time-motion study.

OBJECTIVE: Home telemonitoring improves clinical outcomes but can generate large amounts of data. Automating data surveillance with clinical decision support could reduce the impact of translating these systems to clinical settings. We utilized time-motion methodology to measure the time spent on activities monitoring subjects in the two groups of a home spirometry telemonitoring randomized controlled trial: the manual nurse review (control) group and the automated review (intervention) group. These results are examined for potential workflow effects that could occur when the intervention translates to a clinical setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Time motion is an established industrial engineering technique used to evaluate workflow by measuring the time of predefined, discrete tasks. Data were collected via direct observation of two research nurses by a single observer using the repetitive or snap-back timing method. All observed tasks were coded using a list of work activities defined and validated in an earlier study. Reliability data were collected during a 2-h session with a secondary observer. RESULTS: Reliability of the primary observer was established. During 35 h of data collection, a sample of 938 task observations were recorded and coded using 46 previously defined and 5 newly defined work activities. Between-group comparisons of activity time for subjects in the two study groups showed significantly more time spent on data review activities for the automated review group. Reclassification of the 51 observed activities identified 15 activities that would translate to a clinical setting, of which 5 represent potentially new activities. CONCLUSIONS: Implementing an intervention into a clinical setting could add work activities to the clinical workflow. Time-motion study of research personnel working with new clinical interventions provides a template for evaluating the workflow impact of these interventions prior to translation from a research to a clinical setting.

Using lesson study to integrate information literacy throughout the curriculum.

To develop evidence-based practice skills, students need to be capable of retrieving various levels of scholarly information, evaluating its usefulness, and applying it to clinical practice. The authors discuss the process of developing an information literacy curriculum for a cohort of students over a 5-semester nursing program using lesson study.

Interdisciplinary collaboration applied to clinical research: an example of remote monitoring in lung transplantation.

Collaboration across disciplines is vital in clinical practice. It is also needed to generate high-quality actionable research, yet few frameworks for interdisciplinary collaboration exit to promote effective communications among researchers with common goals, but varied backgrounds. A review of what has been learned about collaboration was undertaken to determine attributes of effective interdisciplinary collaboration and barriers to its realization in patients undergoing lung transplantation.

Development of a remote monitoring satisfaction survey and its use in a clinical trial with lung transplant recipients.

We developed an instrument to measure the satisfaction of lung transplant recipients with home monitoring. The survey comprised 15 items, each scored on a five-point Likert-type scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree). Three additional free-text items enabled subjects to provide comments. The survey had a scoring range of 15-75. In a test group of 43 patients, the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.93 overall for all questions. The intra-class correlation for scores from the same 27 patients approximately 2.5 months apart was 0.77 for the total score. The survey was used to evaluate subject satisfaction in a randomized controlled trial of a computerized algorithm for triaging lung transplant recipients. Surveys were mailed to 50 study subjects and were returned by 32 (64% return rate). Ninety percent of respondents were satisfied with the home monitoring programme and would recommend it to other patients.

The effects of acupuncture on cardiac arrhythmias: a literature review.

Cardiac arrhythmias increase mortality and diminish quality of life. Several online databases were searched to produce relevant articles examining the effectiveness of acupuncture on cardiac arrhythmias. Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years in Eastern medicine to treat multiple medical conditions and has been documented to improve many aspects of cardiovascular functioning. Despite several identified gaps in the efficacy of typical arrhythmia treatments (eg, pharmacotherapy, cardioversion), evidence supporting the use of acupuncture for cardiac arrhythmias has yet to be synthesized. According to the eight studies reviewed, 87% to 100% of participants converted to normal sinus rhythm after acupuncture. Acupuncture seems to be effective in treating several cardiac arrhythmias, but the limited methodologic quality of the studies necessitates better-controlled clinical trials. For acupuncture to become a more viable intervention in Western medicine, more rigorous studies are needed with standardized treatment protocols, diverse patient populations, and long-term follow-up.

Challenges of implementing a feasibility study of acupuncture in acute and critical care settings.

A majority of people in the United States use complementary and alternative therapies, and this use is increasing. With the increasing interest, providers must evaluate potential risks and benefits of these therapies. This article describes challenges of a feasibility study of acupuncture as a potential therapeutic adjunct to prevent atrial fibrillation following coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Institutional review board approval, consent logistics, implementation issues, and rapid changes in clinical practice were the primary challenges faced. Unique technological features of the institution helped address these challenges. The study protocol was acceptable to staff, patients, and family and was considered safe for these patients. However, the protocol was not feasible as designed; therefore, the efficacy of acupuncture could not be determined. Continued research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture to prevent atrial fibrillation following coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Recommendations for future studies of complementary and alternative therapies in acute and critical care settings are offered.