Preparing direct care nurses to function as research coordinators in a heart failure study.

BACKGROUND: Nurses interviewed heart failure patients admitted to two rural hospitals, to learn what was important to them concerning their disease. Data from this study would inform a subsequent heart failure intervention study. The researchers gained a better appreciation of the role of direct care nurses in research coordination, recruitment and data collection. AIM: To describe lessons learned during this research about using direct care nurses as research coordinators. DISCUSSION: The direct care nurses were highly motivated and engaged in the research, identifying barriers and solutions to enrolling heart failure patients in the hospital. The researchers developed customised educational materials and data management documents to address the nurses' learning needs, ensuring compliance with protocol and the safety of participants. CONCLUSION: Nurse researchers can establish an effective partnership with direct care nurses when conducting research studies. To accommodate learning needs and workplace demands, securing protected time for nurses to complete training, budgeting for administrative support and monitoring recruitment data weekly, as opposed to monthly, may be considered. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Direct care nurses can inform the design and conduct of research conducted in a hospital.

Maryland Action Coalition: Academic Progression Takes Several Pathways.

AIM: The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the Maryland Action Coalition academic progression activities. BACKGROUND: Maryland is predicted to be one of four states that will experience a shortage of 10,000 or more registered nurses in 2025. The Maryland Action Coalition has committed to the Institute of Medicine's Future of Nursing recommendation that 80 percent of nurses be educated at the baccalaureate (or higher) level. METHOD: Various approaches to seamless academic progression are described. The Maryland articulation model was revised to reflect new academic models. RESULTS: More BS and BSN degrees have been awarded, and more employers have advertised a preference for RNs who have completed a baccalaureate degree. CONCLUSION: Maryland is developing a solid foundation to ensure that the state has a well-educated nursing workforce to meet the complex health needs of all residents.

An Integrative Review of Flipped Classroom Teaching Models in Nursing Education.

Nursing care is changing dramatically given the need for students to address complex and multiple patient comorbidities. Students experience difficulties applying knowledge gained from didactic instruction to make important clinical decisions for optimal patient care. To optimize nursing education pedagogy, innovative teaching strategies are required to prepare future nurses for practice. This integrative review synthesized the state of the science on flipped classroom models from 13 empirical studies published through May 2016. The purpose of the review was to evaluate studies conducted on flipped classroom models among nursing students using a validated framework by Whittemore and Knafl. Multiple academic databases were searched, ranging in scope including PubMed, Embase (Elsevier), CINAHL (Ebsco), Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, resulting in 95 unique records. After screening and full-text reviews, 82 papers were removed. Thirteen empirical studies were included in the final analysis and results provided (a) design and process information on flipped classroom models in nursing education, (b) a summary of the state of the evidence to inform the implementation of flipped classrooms, and (c) a foundation to build future research in this area of nursing education. To develop sound evidence-based teaching strategies, rigorous scientific methods are needed to inform the implementation of flipped classroom approaches.

Engaging patients with heart failure into the design of health system interventions: Impact on research methods.

The purpose of this study was to engage patients with heart failure (HF) to assess if changes are needed in a research study design, methods and outcomes when transferring interventions used in urban/community hospitals to rural hospital settings. A qualitative structured interview was conducted with eight patients with a diagnosis of HF admitted to two rural hospitals. Patients validated the study design, measures and outcomes, but identified one area that should be added to the study protocol, symptom experience. Results validated that the intervention, methods and outcomes for the planned study were important, but modifications to the study protocol resulted. Patient engagement in the conceptualization of research is essential to guide patient-centered studies.

Evaluating the Impact of Wikis on Student Learning Outcomes: An Integrative Review.

Although wikis appear to have been reported as effective tools for educators, uncertainty exists as to their effectiveness in achieving student learning outcomes. The aim of this integrative review was to examine the current evidence on the impact of wikis on student learning in courses requiring collaborative or co-developed assignments or activities. The authors searched several electronic databases for relevant articles and used R. Whittemore and K. Knafl's (2005) integrative review method to analyze and synthesize the evidence. Twenty-five articles met the selection criteria for this review, and four major themes for wiki use were identified: (a) writing skills, (b) collaboration, (c) knowledge acquisition, and (d) centralized repository. Although wikis have been found useful in improving student learning outcomes and hold great potential as an instructional strategy to aid students in learning various skills and gaining new knowledge, more research is needed on their effectiveness, especially in the area of nursing education.

An interprofessional web-based approach to providing breast cancer education.

This paper describes the process that nursing, social work, and pharmacy faculty at a state university undertook to develop interprofessional web-based breast cancer education modules for incorporation into required curriculum. Eight web modules initially developed to educate baccalaureate nursing students on breast cancer were revised and expanded at each health professional school to include discipline-specific information pertinent to social work and pharmacy scope of practice. A specialized internet-accessible web-delivered application was constructed consisting of eight reusable learning objects, or modules, including epidemiology, risk factors and screening, diagnosis, staging and grading, treatment, survivorship, disparities, and metastatic breast cancer. These modules were organized for easy integration into existing courses and allowed for an efficient means of providing expert, evidence-based content. Innovative methods to integrate nursing, social work, and pharmacy education are needed to achieve an effective interprofessional educational approach to teaching breast cancer content.

Improving nursing students' breast cancer knowledge through a novel academic and non-profit foundation partnership.

The unique partnership between an affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure(©) foundation and a school of nursing offered faculty the ability to creatively inject breast cancer content into the baccalaureate curriculum. In-house breast cancer experts and external consultants developed seven breast cancer-specific educational Web-based modules to supplement a packed curriculum taught by generalists in a cost-efficient manner. Easily integrated into the baccalaureate program, these modules provided evidence-based breast cancer content to nursing students. Following completion of the modules, baccalaureate students' knowledge of breast cancer improved.

Informatics tools to improve clinical research study implementation.

BACKGROUND: There are numerous potential sources of problems when performing complex clinical research trials. These issues are compounded when studies are multi-site and multiple personnel from different sites are responsible for varying actions from case report form design to primary data collection and data entry. METHODS: We describe an approach that emphasizes the use of a variety of informatics tools that can facilitate study coordination, training, data checks and early identification and correction of faulty procedures and data problems. The paper focuses on informatics tools that can help in case report form design, procedures and training and data management. CONCLUSION: Informatics tools can be used to facilitate study coordination and implementation of clinical research trials.