Using Kolb's Experiential Learning to Educate Nursing Students About Providing Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Care.

ABSTRACT: Over the past decade, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and The Joint Commission have identified that communication problems are a root cause of most serious adverse events and that patients with limited English proficiency are more likely than others to suffer physical harm when such errors occur. It is essential to educate nursing students on the challenges of patients with limited English proficiency and empower them with tools, such as the National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services standards, to minimize this phenomenon in their future nursing practice. We describe an educational intervention designed to accomplish this using Kolb's experiential learning theory as a foundation for implementation.

Preventing and Alleviating Compassion Fatigue Through Self-Care: An Educational Workshop for Nurses.

Though various authors have refined and described the concept of compassion fatigue (CF), the overarching features, predisposing factors, and potential consequences remain relatively consistent. Available literature demonstrates that caregivers caring for patients who are chronically ill and/or traumatized are at highest risk for developing CF. Potential consequences for unmitigated CF include physical, emotional, and work-related consequences, all of which can have negative effects on the quality and safety of care and degree of engagement with one's employer. CF is further exacerbated by exposure to cumulative, unresolved stress and neglect of one's own emotional needs over time. Caregivers must be knowledgeable on CF's risk factors, symptoms, and management strategies to decrease its incidence and negative impacts. This article details the creation, execution, and evaluation of an evidence-based practice change project implemented with the goal of increasing knowledge needed to prevent, identify, and alleviate CF in high-risk nurses. The project involved a series of educational workshops containing information on CF's risk factors, symptoms, and consequences, with a strong emphasis on self-awareness, self-care, and stress management. Pre- and postknowledge tests showed a significant increase in knowledge was achieved via the workshops, and qualitative surveys indicated a high level of participant satisfaction with the program contents, format, and impact.

Pharmacological management of the agitated pediatric patient.

Children with behavioral or psychiatric complaints are often evaluated in pediatric emergency room settings, and may present as agitated or violent at any point during the evaluation process. Emergency department-based practitioners should be aware of risk factors associated with agitation and should be able to assess the agitated patient in a timely fashion. Management may require the use of pharmacological agents that can mitigate agitation safely and effectively, thus ensuring good outcomes for patients and emergency department staff.