Building the Science to Guide Nursing Administration and Leadership Decision Making.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify the challenges, barriers, and solutions for conducting nursing administration and leadership science (NALS) research. BACKGROUND: Evidence from leadership science should be at the forefront of nurse leaders' decision making. Yet, challenges remain in building the evidence and moving it into nursing administration and leadership practice. METHODS: This study used a Delphi technique with open-ended questions and direct content analysis to evaluate survey responses of members of the Association for Leadership Science in Nursing and American Organization for Nursing Leadership. RESULTS: Open-ended responses were coded to yield super categories and supportive codes for areas with limited evidence to guide leadership practice and the challenges for conducting NALS research. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide future directions for continuously driving NALS research and for building and leveraging leadership science to support nursing administration decision making.

Understanding religious and spiritual influences on adjustment to cancer: individual patterns and differences.

Higher levels of religious and spiritual engagement have been shown to be associated with better adjustment in dealing with serious illness. Nevertheless, the pattern of such engagement may vary substantially among individuals. This paper presents exploratory research with the goal of identifying subgroups of individuals with non-terminal cancer who vary along multiple dimensions of religious/spiritual (R/S) involvement and well-being. Cluster analysis utilized both R/S (FACIT-Sp) and quality of life variables (e.g., FACT-G) to identify subgroups within 114 individuals (Median age = 65; 59% female) under care for cancer. Additional R/S and adjustment variables were used to explore further distinctions among these groups. Four clusters were identified: High R/S (45%), with the lowest depression; Low R /High S (25%), also with good adjustment; Negative Religious Copers (14%), with the highest depression; and Low R/S (16%), with the poorest adjustment to cancer. The results support the value of differentiating patterns of religious and spiritual engagement in relation to well-being, with implications for matching psycho-social interventions with individuals.

Community-based nursing education of prelicensure students: settings and supervision.

This study of prelicensure nursing programs had a fourfold purpose: 1) describe what community-based settings are being used by faculties in associate degree (AD) and baccalaureate degree (BSN) programs to provide community-based nursing care experiences; 2) explore whether or not the settings used in AD and BSN programs differ; 3) describe how faculties in AD and BSN programs provide for supervision of students in community-based settings; and 4) synthesize from the data what might be best practices for faculty-student supervision in community-based settings. A web-based survey was sent to 827 accredited AD and BSN programs with usable email addresses; 324 programs (39 percent) completed and returned the surveys. Findings indicated that students were placed in a variety of settings, including public health departments, schools (K-12), prisons, and home care. Community-based activities were in the following categories: immunizations, surveillance, data collection, health teaching, case management, treatments, and procedures. Depending on the activity, students performed nursing functions independently 4 percent to 39 percent of the time. Depending on the activity, preceptors were sole supervisors 27 percent to 40 percent of the time. Telephones, cell phones, and pagers were the primary means of faculty-student contact. AD and BSN students in the same settings performed the same activities. The only significant differences were that BSN students were placed in K-12 schools for community-based experiences more often than AD students, and they engaged in case management more often than AD students. Based on these findings, a model for community-based education is proposed.

Leader as expert.

A rapidly changing and uncertain health care delivery system requires well-educated nurse leaders who can work to achieve organizational missions that are appropriate for the needs of all who seek health care. Educators in both undergraduate and graduate programs can use the four ways of knowing as outlined by Carper (1978) to design curricula that will prepare nursing leaders as experts.

Nursing administration graduate programs: current status and future plans.

BACKGROUND: Much controversy has been reported in the literature regarding the value of graduate programs in nursing administration. Yet a rapidly changing healthcare delivery system requires that nurse administrators be well prepared to deal with a fiscally restrained environment that demands the delivery of high-quality care OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study was to investigate the current status and future plans of graduate programs in nursing administration. We particularly focused on anticipated program reforms and relationships with external stakeholders. METHOD: A survey was mailed to 338 National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission and Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education accredited master's programs. Data from 105 completed surveys were analyzed descriptively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Graduate programs in nursing administration are alive and well. Programs appear to be adding needed content as suggested by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and American Organization of Nursing Executives and others to keep pace with a changing healthcare delivery system. Programs continue to explore creative ways to reach more students with fewer faculty resources.