Palliative Care Practices and Knowledge of Home Care Nurses in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Palliative Care (PC) is an interdisciplinary specialty focused on relieving symptoms and optimizing quality of life for people living with serious illnesses and their families. A great need for PC exists in Saudi Arabia due to its aging population and prevalence of cancer and other chronic diseases. Home healthcare can make PC more accessible to patients, but clinicians must be equipped with the PC knowledge and skills to perform their roles. This study was a descriptive, correlational examination of PC practices and knowledge of home care nurses recruited from military hospitals in Saudi Arabia. We surveyed participants using the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN) and the Modified Global Home Health Nursing Care Assessment Questionnaire. The mean PCQN score was 8.40, indicating low levels of PC knowledge. A nurses' demographic and physical, spiritual, religious, cultural, linguistic, ethical, and legal aspects of care revealed significant associations. Given the low levels of PC knowledge and skills, we recommend focusing on education, training, and research. Universities should review their curriculum to ensure PC content. Hospitals should provide training programs focused on all aspects of PC, specifically emotional and spiritual, without limiting training to physical aspects of care. Future research is also needed to inform policy in this area.

Minimizing Unconscious Bias in Nursing School Admission.

BACKGROUND: The potential exists for unconscious bias to influence decisions throughout the admission process to nursing school and derail holistic admission review processes. Although little is known about unconscious bias in nursing school admissions, unconscious bias has been demonstrated in nurse educators at levels similar to the general population. METHOD: This article examines concepts of unconscious bias, factors that may interfere with accurate and fair assessment of applicants to nursing school, and ways to mitigate unconscious bias in the application and admission decision processes. RESULTS: Interventions that have shown success in reducing unconscious bias center on increased awareness of the presence of unconscious bias and cognitive strategies that include motivation and effort to counter the unconscious bias. CONCLUSION: Creating structures in the admission process that promote fairness and reduce the risk of relying on automatic judgments can minimize the influence of unconscious bias on admission decisions. [J Nurs Educ. 2021;60(6):317-323.].

Enhancing Student Engagement: Innovative Strategies for Intentional Learning.

AIM: This paper presents four innovative teaching modalities conceptually designed and adherent to National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) indicators. BACKGROUND: Nurse education has received 'calls' for transformation, demanding a pedagogical refocus that better equips the future workforce. A key aspect is the need to actively engage students in learning, an approach shown to improve outcomes. METHOD: Four innovative teaching modalities were incorporated into a baccalaureate curriculum, aligned to the NSSE indicators, and targeted an area of the curriculum where active student participation had the potential to improve the learning experience. RESULTS: The four modalities: Theater of the Oppressed; Simulation as a Clinical Site for Active Engagement; Legal Simulation; and Creating Student Researchers were introduced at key stages in the curriculum and covered sophomore to senior levels. CONCLUSION: NSSE can be utilized to provide a robust framework on which to plan and deliver educational opportunities that support meaningful, student-centered participation.

Eating Behaviors, Weight Bias, and Psychological Functioning in Multi-ethnic Low-income Adolescents.

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to: 1) Describe the incidence of disordered eating, weight bias, body dissatisfaction, and psychological distress, 2) Examine the relationship between sociodemographic variables (gender, ethnicity, and income) and disordered eating, weight bias, body dissatisfaction, and psychological distress in a sample of low-income adolescents. DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 105 adolescents from low-income neighborhoods. Participants completed self-report questionnaires to assess eating behaviors, weight bias, body dissatisfaction, and psychological functioning. Height and weight were measured, and information on household income was collected. RESULTS: The participant's mean age was 16.31 (SD=2.8) years, 66% female, 47% Hispanic, and 46% African American. The mean annual income was $17,018 (SD=11,355). Twenty-eight percent self-reported having some form of disordered eating, and 15% reported an eating disorder. The group with eating disorder reported the highest levels of weight bias (M=93.4, SD=109.6), body dissatisfaction (M=94.6, SD=47.6), and psychological distress (M=1.4, SD=0.97). CONCLUSION: This study found a high prevalence of eating disorders with eating disorder participants experiencing the highest levels of weight bias and psychological distress. Future studies are needed to identify and evaluate community and school-based interventions to minimize weight bias and disordered eating. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Nurses are at the forefront of healthcare and should collaborate with educators, school counselors, administrators, coaches, parents, and students, to address weight bias and disordered eating in schools by implementing school-based curriculum and policies.

Nursing students' experiences with high-fidelity simulation.

Research has revealed the effectiveness of simulation for facilitating student development of self-efficacy, knowledge, clinical judgment, and proficiency in technical skills. This grounded theory study was conducted to describe the experience of nursing students in high-fidelity simulation and develop a model which explicates the experience of nursing students in simulation. Focus group interviews were conducted with three cohorts of students enrolled in a baccalaureate nursing program who experienced simulation four to twelve times per academic year. Five prominent themes emerged during analysis Emotional Processing; Anxiety; Making Connections; Fidelity; and Learning. The Simulation Learning Model - Student Experience (SLM-SE) was developed to illustrate the student's multi-dimensional experience of learning through high-fidelity simulation. Findings from this study suggest that students are better equipped to learn through increasing confidence and experience, continued reflection-on action and enhanced peer-to-peer interaction. Recommendations for future research include developing strategies to optimize students' experiences for learning in simulation.