Aligning Simulation-Based Education With Didactic Learning in Prelicensure Baccalaureate Nursing Education.

BACKGROUND: Research has shown there is a gap between academia and practice. Nursing stakeholders support the use of the clinical judgment model in developing competency for practice. PURPOSE: This study analyzed the effectiveness of simulation-based education on the development of clinical judgment and explored new graduate nurses' perceptions of their preparation for practice. METHODS: A longitudinal, explanatory, mixed-methods design with survey points at onset and end of the intervention and interviews 6 months postgraduation. RESULTS: The Simulation Effectiveness Tool-Modified (SET-M) was utilized for the pre- and posttest surveys. Two-tailed Mann-Whitney 2-sample rank sum tests were conducted and analyzed for all items on the SET-M. Significant differences were seen in pre- and posttest responses for 12 of the 19 SET-M survey items. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study support the deliberate alignment of didactic and practical teaching strategies to strengthen practice performance and bridge the gap.

Virginia NP scope of practice: A legislative case study.

During the 2018 state legislative session, Virginia's General Assembly approved legislation supporting a transitional licensing model for NPs with at least 5 years of full-time work equivalence in their certification area. This article outlines Virginia's case as an example for NP advocates who are planning scope-of-practice legislation in other states.

Integrating Social Media Into an Online Academic Program.

There is a noticeable gap in the literature regarding the programmatic integration of social media into health sciences education. Networked participatory scholarship theory supports the use of social media in higher education; associated benefits include promoting student engagement and real-time dissemination. This article describes the integration of social media use in a graduate online doctoral nursing program; specifically, blogging, microblogging, and ePortfolio integration are presented. The purpose is to improve students' utilization of social media as a professional tool.

Medical students learn over distance using virtual reality simulation.

INTRODUCTION: This article presents the results of a demonstration project that was designed with the goal to determine the feasibility and acceptability of medical students in using distance technology and virtual reality (VR) simulation within a problem-based learning (PBL). METHODS: This pilot project involved students from the Universities of New Mexico and Hawaii and compared (1) control groups consisting of medical students in a tutor-guided PBL session using a text-based case, (2) distance groups using the same text-based case but interacting over distance from multiple sites, (3) groups using a VR simulation scenario integrated into the case without interaction over distance, and (4) combination groups interacting over distance from multiple sites with integration of a VR simulation scenario. RESULTS: The study results suggest that it is possible to successfully conduct a PBL tutorial with medical students from two institutions with the integration VR and distributed distance interaction in combination or independently. The addition of these modalities did not interfere with learning dynamics when compared with traditional tutorial sessions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the feasibility and acceptability by students in the use of VR simulation integrated into a PBL learning session, as well as multipoint distance technologies that allowed interaction between students and tutors in different locations. The authors believe that these modalities can be applied where students and tutors from different institutions are in separate locations and can be used to support interactive experiential learning in a distributed network or on site and suggest areas for additional research.

Effect of electronic charting on the patient-psychiatrist relationship.

The impending implementation of an electronic medical record (EMR) within Behavioral Health facilities at the University of New Mexico (UNM) offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of EMR usage on a psychiatric patient population. A pre-test and post-test design using a satisfaction survey will test for changes to the patient-psychiatrist relationship before and after implementation. To date, 48 subjects have participated in the pre-implementation portion of the study.

The Latin American Social Medicine database.

BACKGROUND: Public health practitioners and researchers for many years have been attempting to understand more clearly the links between social conditions and the health of populations. Until recently, most public health professionals in English-speaking countries were unaware that their colleagues in Latin America had developed an entire field of inquiry and practice devoted to making these links more clearly understood. The Latin American Social Medicine (LASM) database finally bridges this previous gap. DESCRIPTION: This public health informatics case study describes the key features of a unique information resource intended to improve access to LASM literature and to augment understanding about the social determinants of health. This case study includes both quantitative and qualitative evaluation data. Currently the LASM database at The University of New Mexico http://hsc.unm.edu/lasm brings important information, originally known mostly within professional networks located in Latin American countries to public health professionals worldwide via the Internet. The LASM database uses Spanish, Portuguese, and English language trilingual, structured abstracts to summarize classic and contemporary works. CONCLUSION: This database provides helpful information for public health professionals on the social determinants of health and expands access to LASM.

Increasing access to Latin American social medicine resources: a preliminary report.

PURPOSE: This preliminary report describes the development and implementation of a project to improve access to literature in Latin American social medicine (LASM). METHODS: The University of New Mexico project team collaborated with participants from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador to identify approximately 400 articles and books in Latin American social medicine. Structured abstracts were prepared, translated into English, Spanish, and Portuguese, assigned Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), and loaded into a Web-based database for public searching. The project has initiated Web-based publication for two LASM journals. Evaluation included measures of use and content. RESULTS: The LASM Website (http://hsc.unm.edu/lasm) and database create access to formerly little-known literature that addresses problems relevant to current medicine and public health. This Website offers a unique resource for researchers, practitioners, and teachers who seek to understand the links between socioeconomic conditions and health. The project provides a model for collaboration between librarians and health care providers. Challenges included procurement of primary material; preparation of concise abstracts; working with trilingual translations of abstracts, metadata, and indexing; and the work processes of the multidisciplinary team. CONCLUSIONS: The literature of Latin American social medicine has become more readily available to researchers worldwide. The LASM project serves as a collaborative model for the creation of sustainable solutions for disseminating information that is difficult to access through traditional methods.

Integration of advanced technologies to enhance problem-based learning over distance: Project TOUCH.

Distance education delivery has increased dramatically in recent years as a result of the rapid advancement of communication technology. The National Computational Science Alliance's Access Grid represents a significant advancement in communication technology with potential for distance medical education. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the TOUCH project (Telehealth Outreach for Unified Community Health; http://hsc.unm.edu/touch) with special emphasis on the process of problem-based learning case development for distribution over the Access Grid. The objective of the TOUCH project is to use emerging Internet-based technology to overcome geographic barriers for delivery of tutorial sessions to medical students pursuing rotations at remote sites. The TOUCH project also is aimed at developing a patient simulation engine and an immersive virtual reality environment to achieve a realistic health care scenario enhancing the learning experience. A traumatic head injury case is developed and distributed over the Access Grid as a demonstration of the TOUCH system. Project TOUCH serves as an example of a computer-based learning system for developing and implementing problem-based learning cases within the medical curriculum, but this system should be easily applied to other educational environments and disciplines involving functional and clinical anatomy. Future phases will explore PC versions of the TOUCH cases for increased distribution.