Addressing the Shortage of Academic Nurse Educators: Recommendations for Educational Institutions Based on Nominal Group Technique Research.

AIM: The purpose of this qualitative study was twofold: 1) explore factors contributing to the shortage of academic nurse educators (ANEs) and 2) identify opportunities to address these factors from the perspectives of nursing education institutions. BACKGROUND: The nurse faculty shortage is a major national concern, with inadequate recruitment and retention. Addressing the nursing faculty shortage is important to maintain a sustained nursing workforce. METHOD: Using a nominal group technique (NGT), a group of 45 diverse nurse educators from across the United States formed a virtual workgroup. RESULTS: Findings led to an action plan formulated to guide educational institutions with ways to decrease the ANE shortage through recruitment and retention. CONCLUSION: The evidence demonstrates the need for educational institutions to concentrate efforts on recruiting and retaining ANEs to combat the nursing shortage. The analysis offers recommendations to institutions to increase the number of qualified ANEs.

Addressing the Lack of Professional Values and Behaviors among New Nurses.

Professionalism and safety in patient care are concepts nurses are expected to exhibit in practice. High fidelity simulation was explored to assist in teaching students the behaviors needed to succeed in nursing. Nursing leaders identified areas in which graduates struggle, including critical thinking, skills acquisition, time management, role responsibilities, delegation, and effective communication. The project's purpose was to analyze students' perceptions regarding professional nursing values, identify gaps in knowledge concerning professional behavior, and determine perception change of professional values. A pretest post-test simulation intervention was chosen. Improvement in communication and autonomy was noted with statistically significant findings.

Reducing Hospital Visit Rates in Hospice Patients Using Telemedicine.

The purpose of this project was to examine the impact of accessibility to a provider via telemedicine on emergency department visit rates in adults, 35 years and older, on home hospice and palliative care. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, 44 adults 35 years and older were educated on Doxy.me telemedicine usage as an intervention. Measures included gender, diagnosis, age, the reason for contact, and outcome (intervention group only); the number of emergency department visits, the number of 911 calls, and the number of discharges/transfers (control and intervention) in the 8 weeks after the evidence-based telemedicine intervention. Statistical analyses were performed to examine the number of emergency department visits and 911 calls preintervention and postintervention among all participants. A total of eight teletechnology calls were documented from a patient or patient caregiver. Among the intervention group, the number of emergency department visits and the number of 911 calls decreased from 12 (54.5%) to one (4.5%) postintervention. Paired-samples t tests show there were statistically significant differences in the number of emergency department visits and 911 calls between the two points in time. In conclusion, a telemedicine hospice care application may benefit a palliative and hospice organization by enhancing patient clinical outcomes and decreasing emergency department visit rates.

Implementation of a Shared Medical Appointment as a Holistic Approach to CHF Management.

Congestive heart failure is a costly chronic disease within the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a holistic shared medical appointment (SMA) approach to congestive heart failure. Findings suggest the SMA approach improves depression, quality of life (QOL), and health-promoting behaviors. This study implemented congestive heart failure self-management education in primary care using a holistic multidisciplinary approach with SMA to provide evidence-based interventions to improve depression, QOL, and health promotion outcomes. Patients participating in the holistic multidisciplinary SMA experienced improvement in depression, QOL, and health promotion behaviors. A comparison of the means between preintervention and postintervention showed an overall reduction in systolic blood pressure, weight, depression scores, QOL scores, and several indicators of health promotion lifestyle.

Hypertension in the Faith Community: A Four-Week, Nurse Led, Diet/Exercise Intervention.

Inadequate blood pressure (BP) control in hypertension carries a major financial and public health burden. This study examined the efficacy of behavioral and lifestyle changes on BP control among African American adults, aged 55 years and older in a faith-based setting. The study was supported by clergy who helped to engage participants in interventions. Nurse-led diet and exercise teaching with BP monitoring led to lower BP readings over a 4-week intervention.

Reciprocal Service-Learning Benefits Students, Educators, and the University.

Service-learning offers an opportunity to educate nursing students and foster important personal and professional characteristics. A different kind of service-learning project was developed and implemented in a nursing school. Community/public health nursing students and nurse educators taught cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and epilepsy training to faculty and staff members of another university department in a Good Samaritan Training project. The multiple benefits of the project to nursing students, educators, and the project recipients are discussed.

USING THE Internet TO INCREASE Physical Activity IN A FAITH COMMUNITY.

Physical inactivity is the biggest public health problem of the 21st Century. Additionally, minority populations have higher rates of obesity and obesity-related illnesses, supporting the need to develop culturally-appropriate physical activity interventions for these populations. For African Americans (AAs), churches promote spiritual, mental, and physical well-being. The Internet offers an innovative medium to produce health behavior change and may be ideal to use with AAs in a church setting. A simple, no-cost, 8-week, Internet-delivered intervention to increase physical activity was piloted in an AA church. Level of activity increased, whereas time spent sitting decreased.