Diabetes: Health Literacy Education Improves Veteran Outcomes.

This pilot study adds to the literature of the positive impact of individualized, structured, tailored nursing interventions delivered with careful consideration of the participants' personal goals and health care needs for diabetes self-management.

Using the analytic rubric as an evaluation tool in nursing education: the positive and the negative.

It is imperative for nurse educators to provide accurate student evaluations to prepare them for the workplace. The impetus for transformation in nursing education has created the need for educators to effectively evaluate the quality of student achievement and learning through the educational process. Therefore, a rubric that consistently assesses student performance and provides meaningful feedback is essential in today's learning environment. If students are not given feedback that is consistent or meaningful, then they may feel their grades are not valid, thus sending mixed messages to the student. If expectations are not clear, the unacceptable performance may transfer into the work environment.

The costs of NCLEX-RN failure.

Nursing programs across the country are challenged with producing qualified competent graduates who can successfully pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for Registered Nurses (RN) on the first attempt. The challenge has been prompted by the largest aging population striking the nation who will need nursing care and organizations who are demanding increasing numbers of competent nurses. However, graduates from nursing programs are failing the NCLEX-RN on the first attempt. The impact of NCLEX-RN failure is felt not only by the graduate student and their nursing program, but by healthcare organizations as well. Even though the impact is multi-faceted, a common theme of cost emerges.

Staff background checks: safeguarding vulnerable adults.

It is compulsory for an applicant seeking employment in a healthcare organisation in the United States to undergo a series of background checks, which are carried out by the employer. These checks are made to protect the safety and wellbeing of residents in nursing homes or patients in healthcare organisations. Residents of nursing homes are soft targets for criminals and patients undergoing medical procedures can be vulnerable to abuse. The deviant behaviour of employees can also be a financial disaster for organisations, and ruin their reputation. This article discusses safeguards that an organisation in the US can put in place to protect its interests and help keep patients or residents safe and preserve their integrity. Although care systems are different in the U.K., concerns about the potential abuse of vulnerable adults are similar.

Without enough nurse educators there will be a continual decline in RNs and the quality of nursing care: contending with the faculty shortage.

Compromising the quality and safety of patient care is the nursing shortage. Patients are and will continue to be placed at risk as long as there is a nursing shortage and not enough faculty to teach RNs. The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of not having enough nurse educators to educate the future generation of nurses and the ramifications of the nursing shortage on patient care.

Are nursing homes adequately staffed? The silent epidemic of malnutrition and dehydration in nursing home residents. Until mandatory staffing standards are created and enforced, residents are at risk.

Providing care to produce positive resident outcomes is an ethical duty of nursing home staff. Research has shown that inadequate staffing levels present an increased health risk to nursing home residents. Nursing home residents may experience dehydration and malnutrition caused by inadequate staffing. Continued research in the area of nutrition and dehydration in nursing home residents may positively influence changes in staffing levels at nursing homes. Currently, residents living in understaffed nursing homes and not receiving proper care are the victims. It is time for nurses to forcefully lobby for national mandatory nurse staffing standards.