The AACN Essentials journey.

The new AACN Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education create an opportunity to nursing education to transform the educational preparation of our workforce with new standards for all member schools to implement into their academic programs as we prepare the future nursing workforce. With the advent of these updated academic standards, many nursing schools across the nation are reviewing program outcomes and transitioning from concepts to competencies. The purpose of the article is to describe the early phases of a quality improvement initiative to implement the new AACN Essentials within the undergraduate curriculum of a large school of nursing spanning multiple campuses. The article conveys lessons learned to help support and guide other schools of nursing.

Mentoring to engage diverse undergraduate nursing students in honors research.

BACKGROUND: A diverse workforce is necessary to reflect our communities and impact the health disparities of our increasingly diverse populations. Students from ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds face many challenges and barriers to their academic success. Faculty must try new ways of supporting the engagement of this student population to positively affect quality outcomes for the entire community. METHODS: High-performing students were recruited from undergraduate research courses to participate in a study to determine how honors research mentoring programs affect the engagement of undergraduate nursing students from ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. FINDINGS: Study participants who were mentored for 3 years had a retention rate of 98%, compared to a rate of 73% in the year before the start of the mentoring initiative with faculty. NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination)-RN pass rates were 95% for those in the mentoring program, compared to 84% for those not mentored. Of the students completing the program and passing the NCLEX-RN, 100% are employed in the local community. CONCLUSIONS: A competent and diverse nursing workforce is a priority for eliminating health disparities in rural and underserved communities. Supporting ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students is valuable to bridging this gap and positively influencing our communities.

Implementing Huddles Improves Care Coordination in an Academic Health Center.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: To determine whether routinely scheduled, organized interdisciplinary huddles result in decreased length of stay and readmissions. PRIMARY PRACTICE SETTING: The study was conducted in an academic health center (AHC) that also fills a community hospital need for a diverse inner-city population. Results are applicable in other care settings. METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLE: Daily interdisciplinary huddles were piloted on 5 medical/surgical units. The 2015 readmission and length of stay data were compared with the 2013 baseline. RESULTS: There was a mean readmission reduction of 0.56%. A paired t test comparing the 2013 and 2015 readmission rates of the 5 units was significant (p < .05). There was a 0.42-day increase in the mean LOS between the 2013 baseline and the 2015 follow-up. A paired t test comparing 2013 and 2015 readmission rates of the 5 units was not significant at the .05 level. IMPLICATIONS FOR CASE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE: Daily interdisciplinary sessions can result in reduced readmissions. Long-lasting positive outcomes related to enhanced communication are possible. Requirements for success include consistency in the standard huddle content reviewed. Data should be followed closely throughout an extended period of time to identify trends and support sustainment. Creative means to obtain input from services that cover multiple units and not be able to attend huddles may be necessary. Staff turnover will impact success. Variation in physician engagement can be addressed by frequent communication on the "why" behind the significance of the huddles, as well as sharing of change data highlighting success stories.

A comparison of still point induction to massage therapy in reducing pain and increasing comfort in chronic pain.

A quantitative study was completed to determine whether complementary techniques provide pain relief and comfort in patients with chronic pain. Subjects participated in sessions including aromatherapy and music therapy. Massage or cranial still point induction was randomly assigned. Statistically significant improvement in pain and comfort was noted in both groups.

Implementing the WISEWOMAN program in local health departments: staff attitudes, beliefs, and perceived barriers.

BACKGROUND: Although most health departments recognize the need for programs to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among older, low-income women, they face numerous barriers to successfully implementing such programs. This paper explores counselors' attitudes and beliefs about patients and perceived barriers to implementing the North Carolina Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation (WISEWOMAN) program. METHODS: Health departments were assigned to provide patients with either an enhanced intervention (EI) or a minimum intervention (MI). Cross-sectional baseline and 12-month follow-up surveys were completed by health department counselors designated to deliver the MI or EI. Both surveys addressed counselors' beliefs about patients' motivation and attitudes, their counseling practices, and their personal diet and physical activity behaviors and attitudes. The follow-up survey also addressed opinions about the feasibility of long-term WISEWOMAN implementation. RESULTS: Counselors were skeptical about patients' motivation to improve their lifestyle, citing high perceived cost and burden. At follow-up, EI counselors reported having higher self-efficacy for counseling, incorporating more behavioral change strategies, and spending more time counseling than did counselors at MI sites. They were also more likely to report making healthful personal lifestyle choices. All counselors identified lack of time as a major barrier to counseling, and most cited obtaining low-cost medications for patients, ensuring that patients made follow-up visits, and implementing the program with existing staff as key challenges to the long-term sustainability of WISEWOMAN. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide insight into the organizational challenges of implementing a CVD risk-reduction program for low-income women. We discuss ways in which intervention and training programs can be improved.