Paid Mentors Develop Leadership Skills and Promote Socialization Into Nursing.

ABSTRACT: Peer mentoring encourages relationships among novice and senior nursing students, provides emotional support, and develops leadership skills. The research design was a pretest/posttest, interventional study to evaluate a supervised peer-mentoring program among nursing students to determine socialization of mentees into the nursing discipline. The second purpose was to evaluate if financial reimbursement was an incentive for participation by mentors. The pretest mean was significantly lower than the posttest mean; the difference was statistically significant. Success was achieved for both mentors and mentees. A paid peer-mentoring program allows students to relinquish time that would otherwise be spent in outside employment.

Diagnosing and treating respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the major causes of respiratory tract illness in children and can lead to significant infection and death. This article discusses the incidence, clinical presentation, diagnosis, current treatment, and prevention options to successfully diagnose and treat infections caused by RSV.

Cultivating and Refining Clinical Knowledge and Practice: Relating the Boyer Model to Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarship.

This article discusses the importance of collaboration between faculty members with clinical and research-focused doctoral degrees. The barriers to obtaining tenure for clinical faculty members as compared to the research-prepared faculty members are presented. Best practice outcomes are accomplished by using a team approach. The team uses the strengths of each of the academic backgrounds, connecting them in collaboration and professionalism. Support for each other, within the nursing community, provides empowerment and success in both patient outcomes and clinical excellence.

Nursing as an Additional Language and Culture (NALC): Supporting Student Success in a Second-Degree Nursing Program.

: The nursing workforce does not represent the diversity of the United States population and while recruitment of diverse nursing students is high, so are their rates of attrition. The Nursing as an Additional Language and Culture Program (NALC) was implemented in an accelerated, second-degree baccalaureate nursing program to enhance retention by minimizing barriers and supporting activities to enhance student success. Results suggest that the NALC program was successful in decreasing the attrition rate of nursing students, including minority students.

Uncovering common bacterial skin infections.

The four most common bacterial skin infections are impetigo, erysipelas, cellulitis, and folliculitis. This article summarizes current information about the etiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and implications for primary care practice needed to effectively diagnose and treat common bacterial skin infections.