Nurse Leader Mindfulness Pilot Impact on Perceived Stress: A Quality Improvement Project.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing stressful conditions in health care, further elevating the risk of negative health outcomes for nurses and particularly nurse leaders. The aim of this pilot project was to assess the efficacy of mindfulness practices in attenuating nurse leaders' perceived stress levels. There is a lack of evidence regarding the outcomes of stress reduction programs aimed at health care staff, especially for nurse leaders within the clinical setting. Mindfulness has been shown to have a significant positive effect on attenuating stress in a wide variety of populations. This study used a prospective longitudinal design with a volunteer nurse leader group comparing self-reported perceived stress levels before and after a brief mindfulness intervention. Results indicated a significant reduction in perceived stress among volunteer nurse leader participants postintervention. Further investigation is needed in a variety of settings to more fully understand and evaluate the potential impact of introducing mindfulness practices to support nurse leaders in hospital or clinical settings.

Health Consequences of Climate Change: Continuing Education Opportunities for Health Professionals in the United States.

Climate change is a looming public health challenge. The health consequences of climate change are increasingly recognized as contributing to negative health outcomes for individuals, families, communities, and populations. The education of health professionals in academic programs and continuing education in clinical practice settings is critical in today's world. The Association of American Medical Colleges and the National League for Nursing, among other organizations, have urged academic programs to include the impact of climate change on health in health professions education and have started to integrate it into curricula. However, health professionals educated over the past several decades have received little content related to the deleterious impact of climate change on health. Therefore, continuing education programs addressing the health consequences of climate change are being developed to fill the gap in health professions education globally. This review study explicated the available continuing education opportunities for public health professionals and health care providers related to the health consequences of climate change. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2023;54(12):561-566.].

Investigation of social support as a mediator of the relationship between physical and psychological health among hospitalised patients.

AIM: To investigate the self-reported levels of social support from friends and family and from nurses as mediators of the relationship between self-rated physical and psychological condition in hospitalised patients. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of adult inpatients at a large tertiary-care hospital in the northeast United States. METHODS: Multiple mediation analysis of survey data. RESULTS: In surveys received from 324 inpatients, one fourth of the variation in patients' self-rated psychological condition was explained by self-rated physical condition. Social support from family and friends mediated a significant proportion (11.0%) of the relationship between self-rated physical and psychological condition, however social support from nurses did not. CONCLUSION: Social support from family and friends can positively influence the psychological health of inpatients, but nurses are not an adequate replacement for the social support provided by family and friends. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Although nurses cannot replace the social support provided by family and friends, the assessment of social isolation and care planning of interventions to support patients is a fundamental nursing role. Technology to connect patients with friends and family should be used to mitigate isolation for hospitalised patients unable to receive in-person visits from loved ones. IMPACT: The influence of social support from family and friends and nurses was addressed. The study found social support from family and friends, but not nurses, to influence the relationship between physical and psychological ratings. This finding has implications for the role of nurses in the hospital setting. REPORTING METHOD: Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines were followed.

The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: The Critical Role of Nurses and Nurse Leaders in Addressing the Health Impacts of Climate Change.

Climate change represents a looming health challenge and a critical area for nursing leadership at all levels of organizations and settings. With a lens on The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity, addressing climate change-related health consequences should be a major focus and spotlight for nurses and nurse leaders with a lens on individuals, communities, populations, and from a national and global perspective.

Development of a screening tool for assessment of climate change-related heat illness in the clinical setting.

ABSTRACT: Extreme heat contributes to heat-related illnesses resulting from heat intolerance, which is the inability to maintain a thermal balance to tolerate heat stress. In the United States, heat-related mortality for older persons has almost doubled in the past 20 years. Other populations at risk for heat-related illness (HRI) include children, pregnant people, those who work outside, young people participating in outdoor sports, and at-risk populations such as Black, indigenous, and populations of color. The classic heat tolerance test used for decades monitoring physiological responses to repetitive motions is impractical across large and potentially health challenged populations and does not identify environmental or social factors or specific vulnerable populations. To address this issue, we developed a heat-related illness screening tool (HIST) to identify individuals at risk for HRI morbidity and mortality based on their physical, environmental, and social vulnerabilities with an emphasis on populations of concern. The HIST has the potential to be used as routine clinical screening in the same way as other commonly used screening tools. Heat intolerance affects patient outcomes and quality of life; therefore, early screening with a simple, easy-to-administer screening tool such as the HIST can identify people at risk and refer them to services that address heat exposure and/or create safety nets to prevent heat-related illnesses.

Leading as Servant in Times of Crisis.

ABSTRACT: Using servant leadership as a framework, leaders within a school of nursing guided faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic and called them to address social injustice in the summer of 2020. A model was developed to sustain growth and build resilience of students, faculty, and staff. Influenced by external and internal drivers that stimulated the need for change, strategies were implemented based on core principles of servant leadership. Outcomes emerged in three categories: collaborative strengths demonstrated by students, faculty, and staff; performance of the community to be intentional about change; and transformative practices leading to enhancement of internal and external partnerships.

Applying the American Nurses Association Credentialing Center Accreditation Program in the Setting of Registered Nurse Remediation.

The objective of this project was to use and evaluate the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) accreditation program in the context of registered nurse practice remediation using Just Culture. The quality improvement project intervention was aimed at educating nursing professional development educators about the accreditation program for registered nurse remedial education and implementing this program for remediation. It compared pre- and postintervention data for nurse educators using the nine key elements.

Emergency Airway Response Team (EART) Documentation: Criteria, Feasibility, and Usability.

Patients in an acute care hospital who experience a difficult airway event outside the operating room need a specialized emergency airway response team (EART) immediately. This designated team manages catastrophic airway events using advanced airway techniques as well as surgical intervention. Nurses respond as part of this team. There are no identified difficult airway team documentation instruments in the literature, and the lack of metrics limits the quality review of the team response. This study identified EART documentation criteria and incorporated them into a nursing documentation instrument to be completed by a nurse scribe during the event. The EART instrument was tested by nurses for usability, feasibility, and completeness. Twenty-one critical care nurses participated in this study. The results confirmed good usability, positive feasibility, and 79% documentation completeness using this tool. These criteria and this instrument can be important in documenting the EART and in evaluating the quality of the team performance.

Rapid Health Care Improvement Science Curriculum Integration Across Programs in a School of Nursing.

This article describes the systematic efforts undertaken by a school of nursing in the Northeastern United States to foster innovation in health professions education. We present an application of modified team coaching and plan-do-study-act improvement methods in an educational context to rapidly integrate a quality and safety curriculum across programs. We discuss applications in generalist, advanced practice, doctoral, residency, and advanced fellowship programs and provide examples of each.