Voices of Hispanic students in baccalaureate nursing programs: are we listening?

Hispanics have been described as the "missing persons" in the health professions at a time when a lack of cultural diversity in the workforce has been linked to health disparities. The shortage of Hispanic nurses cannot be addressed effectively without understanding their perspectives on nursing and nursing education. The adapted Model of Institutional Support served as a framework to describe perceived barriers and supports to retention among Hispanic students in baccalaureate nursing programs. Focus groups were used to allow the voices of Hispanic students to emerge; 14 Mexican American nursing students from two liberal arts universities participated. Theory-guided content analysis of focus group transcripts revealed themes congruent with the model components of finances, emotional and moral support, professional socialization, mentoring, academic advising, and technical support. Personal determination emerged as a theme not identified in the model. The prominence of the personal determination theme among these students warrants further study, but suggests that success may be enhanced by helping students capitalize on their personal determination.

The adapted model of institutional support for Hispanic student degree completion: revisions and recommendations.

This article describes the historical development of the adapted model of institutional support (AMIS) for Hispanic student degree completion. The model was developed using 6 major categories of support: financial support, emotional and moral support, mentoring, professional socialization, academic advising, and technical support. Studies used to validate the inclusion of each of the components are presented. Two self-assessment instruments based on the model, the Institutional Self-Assessment for Factors Supporting Hispanic Student Recruitment and Persistence and the Healthcare Professions Education Program Self-Assessment (PSA), used to evaluate institutional supports for Hispanic student degree completion are described. This article describes the results of 2 studies using the PSA. The findings from these studies provide support for the AMIS. Limitations of the model and recommendations for further research are presented.

Carbon and hydrogen isotopic fractionation during biodegradation of methyl tert-butyl ether.

Carbon and hydrogen isotopic fractionation during aerobic biodegradation of MTBE by a bacterial pure culture (PM1) and a mixed consortia from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) were studied in order to assess the relative merits of stable carbon versus hydrogen isotopic analysis as an indicator of biodegradation. Carbon isotopic enrichment in residual MTBE of up to 8.1/1000 was observed at 99.7% biodegradation. Carbon fractionation was reproducible in the PM1 and VAFB experiments, yielding similar enrichment factors (epsilon) of -2.0/1000 +/- 0.1/1000 to -2.4/1000 +/- 0.3/1000 for replicates in the PM1 experiment and -1.5/1000 +/- 0.1/1000 to -1.8/1000 +/- 0.1/1000 for replicates in the VAFB experiment. Hydrogen isotopic fractionation was highly reproducible for the PM1 pure cultures, with epsilon values of -33/1000 +/- 5/1000 to -37/1000 +/- 4/1000 for replicate samples. In the VAFB microcosms, there was considerably more variability in epsilon values, with values of -29/1000 +/- 4/1000 and -66/1000 +/- 3/1000 measured for duplicate sample bottles. Despite this variability, hydrogen isotopic fractionation always resulted in 2H enrichment of the residual MTBE of >80/1000 at 90% biodegradation. The reproducible carbon fractionation suggests that compound-specific carbon isotope analysis may be used to estimate the extent of biodegradation at contaminated sites. Conversely, the large hydrogen isotopic fractionation documented during biodegradation of MTBE suggests that compound-specific hydrogen isotope analysis offers the most conclusive means of identifying in-situ biodegradation at contaminated sites.