Leveraging Innovation to Design a Psychiatric Mental Health Simulation for Undergraduate Nursing Students During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: Undergraduate nursing students experience challenges integrating didactic knowledge into the clinical care of clients living with psychiatric mental illness. Simulation can be a successful teaching strategy to mitigate some of these challenges. The aim of this pilot simulation experience was to understand how academic technology and telehealth competencies could be leveraged to support the success of standardized patient simulations for nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from debriefings found that students had greater confidence in their technical skills than their ability to manage their emotional responses to simulation scenarios.

Developing a Diversity, Equity, and Civility Council to Advance Health Equity in Nursing Academia and Practice.

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) recently released the Future of Nursing 2020-2030 focused on charting a path to achieve health equity. This article focuses on the critical role of nursing education in this call for action. Most specifically, we provide an overview of the process of developing a diversity, equity, and civility council in a school of nursing to promote equity, inclusivity, and diversity grounded in social justice within the culture of the school for faculty, staff, and students. In addition, we describe the council's work to date highlighting goals and the council's plans for future work based on data-driven processes.

Study protocol of a randomized intervention study to explore effects of a pure physical training and a mind-body exercise on cognitive executive function in independent living adults age 65-85.

BACKGROUND: Decline in cognitive function associated with aging is one of the greatest concerns of older adults and often leads to a significant burden for individuals, families, and the health care system. Executive functions are most susceptible to age-related decline. Despite the well-known benefits of regular exercise on cognitive health, older adults tend to be less physically active than other age groups. Thus, there is a need to identify strategies that attract older adults and can enhance cognitive vitality. AIMS: This article describes the protocol of a study designed to evaluate whether two interventions, a pure physical exercise and a mind-body exercise, can improve cognitive executive function in independent-living older adults. In addition, the study will explore barriers/facilitators related to adherence. METHODS: After baseline assessment, participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups (strength training, Awareness Through Movement®, or a control group). Participants of the two active groups will attend the interventions for 12 weeks. The control group continues with the usual everyday life. Assessments will include three measures of executive function of the NIH Toolbox, and are administered at baseline, post-intervention and at 3-month follow-up. The primary outcomes are the changes in cognitive executive function performances. Secondary outcomes include adherence, self-efficacy for exercise, symptoms of depression, mindfulness and enjoyment. Attendance will be used as a measure of adherence. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: If successful, the interventions could provide low-cost strategies for older adults to maintain cognitive vitality and has the potential to impact current exercise guidelines.

Prior Learning Assessment in Nursing: An Accelerated Pathway to Degree Completion.

The purpose of this study was to identify RN-BSN students' perceived satisfaction with the use of prior learning assessments (PLAs) and to examine graduation rates for students who utilized PLA in comparison to non-PLA users. Students were surveyed to examine satisfaction with PLA use; retrospective data were examined to determine graduation status by PLA option. A high percentage of students perceived PLA as flexible and affordable, and users had significantly higher graduation rates. The PLA option is highly associated with degree completion.

A multidisciplinary approach to providing care to adolescents with spinal cord trauma resulting from all-terrain vehicle accidents.

All-terrain vehicle accidents that affect the spine can lead to complex injuries in adolescents. This requires that many subspecialties work together on a multidisciplinary team to improve patient outcomes. Our case presentation will examine the multidisciplinary approach to care required for an 11-year-old adolescent involved in an all-terrain vehicle accident that resulted in traumatic spinal cord injury.

Determining left ventricular hypertrophy in overweight-obese youth using electrocardiogram criteria.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is an escalating prevalence of obesity in youth that increases the risk for cardiovascular alterations such as left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). The purpose of this study is to identify the most effective electrical voltage measurement for determining LVH in youth who are overweight and obese. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was conducted to determine sensitivity, specificity, and the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve of 4 popular electrical voltage measures. RESULTS: Our findings indicated the sensitivity and specificity for Cornell product (50.0%; 96.2%), Cornell voltage (52.9%; 98.0%), Romhilt Estes (50.0%; 100.0%), and Sokolow-Lyon index (60.0%; 86.4%) consecutively. CONCLUSION: The Romhilt-Estes and Cornell voltage measures displayed the highest specificity and could prove to be beneficial as a screening method to rule out LVH in overweight and obese youth.

A pilot study of QT interval analysis in overweight and obese youth.

This descriptive pilot study examined if manual corrected QT (QTc) interval measures obtained from a standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) correlated with automated 24-hour ambulatory Holter QTc measures in 30 overweight and obese youth aged 12-17 years. In addition, we sought to determine if a significant difference existed between the means of manual 12-lead ECG versus automated 24-hour ambulatory Holter measures. Spearman's rho correlation coefficient revealed there was little if any correlation between manual 12-lead ECG and automated 24-hour ambulatory Holter QTc measures (r = .179, p = .345). In addition, a significant difference existed between QTc measures obtained from the manual 12-lead ECG in comparison to the automated 24-hour ambulatory Holter measures (p = .01). The manual 12-lead ECG and automated 24-hour ambulatory Holter analysis methods should not be used for comparison of QTc measures in overweight and obese youth.

Prediabetes and blood pressure effects on heart rate variability, QT-interval duration, and left ventricular hypertrophy in overweight-obese adolescents.

This ancillary, descriptive correlational study examined the effect of glucose regulation, blood pressure (BP), and their combined effects on cardiac autonomic function in 128 overweight-obese 11-18-year-olds. Measures included body mass index, resting BP, fasting glucose, glucose tolerance, and cardiac autonomic function (heart rate variability, QT, and Cornell voltage). After adjusting for age and gender, multivariate analysis of covariance revealed no differences in cardiac autonomic measures based on glucose regulation (p = .319), BP (p = .286), or the interaction between glucose regulation and BP (p = .132). The additive effect of prediabetes and elevated BP did not impact cardiac autonomic function in overweight-obese youth.

Nursing students' perception of class size and its impact on test performance: a pilot study.

The combination of increasing student enrollment in baccalaureate nursing programs and the faculty shortage has contributed to larger class sizes that may affect both student satisfaction and learning. The purpose of this study was to identify baccalaureate nursing students' satisfaction with enrollment in small and large nursing courses. The authors also sought to determine whether a significant difference existed between test scores of students enrolled in small and large nursing courses. A survey was completed by 110 students, and test scores were compared between students in a small and a large nursing class using analysis of variance. The findings indicated that perceived satisfaction of students was significantly higher for those enrolled in the small nursing course versus the large course; however, no significant difference was found between test scores. To improve student satisfaction that can positively affect student retention, further research is needed on class size in the nursing discipline.

Partnering to educate: dedicated education units.

A current focus of the healthcare industry is centered on addressing the nursing shortage. In the midst of a nursing faculty shortage the Institute of Medicine (2010) recently released a report that calls for increasing the number of baccalaureate prepared nurses to 80% of the workforce by 2020. Therefore, nursing schools are faced with graduating more nurses to meet the demand. Yet, admission to schools of nursing are often limited because of clinical placement sites. The Dedicated Education Unit (DEU) model has been recently introduced to address the challenge of increasing the enrollment of nursing students in spite of a nationwide shortage of nursing faculty. Dedicated Education Units are clinical sites in hospitals where staff nurses serve as preceptors for students in all levels of their nursing education. This model is designed to improve practice education to better prepare students for actual practice while decreasing the number of faculty required at clinical sites. The purpose of this article is to discuss the implications of this model for nursing education, our experience with the DEU model, and issues of deliberation.