ABSTRACT
The United States has always been and will continue to be a nation of many cultures and languages. In the healthcare arena, this means safety will depend on clear, linguistically appropriate communication between the patient and family and the healthcare provider. Three obstacles exist to this type of essential communication: limited English proficiency, low health literacy, and cultural barriers.
Subject(s)
Cultural Diversity , Linguistics , Patient Safety , Communication Barriers , Humans , United StatesABSTRACT
Health care providers' collaboration and effective teamwork are essential to patient safety and quality care. Part of an ongoing project, this study focused on nursing faculty-student communication characteristics, specifically examining psychological type (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) and explanatory style (Attributional Style Questionnaire) of participating first-year baccalaureate nursing students (n = 286) and clinical nursing faculty (n = 59) from both 2-year and 4-year nursing programs. Modal student psychological type was ESFJ, and modal faculty psychological type was ISTJ. The two groups demonstrated significant differences in information processing styles and in making decisions and judgments. Students demonstrated slightly more optimistic outlooks than did faculty. Psychological type and level of optimism did not appear to correlate. Data from this study provide an initial framework on which to base research to examine quality of teamwork among health care providers and, consequently, the quality of patient care.
Subject(s)
Communication , Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate , Faculty, Nursing , Personality , Students, Nursing/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Female , Group Processes , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Patient Care Team , Personality InventoryABSTRACT
This study used content analysis and hermeneutics to examine 53 first-year nursing students' surmised reasons for their own or their peers' experiences of feeling down or depressed. Study data were confidential e-mail responses (n = 53) to the question, "If you or another student you know has been feeling down or depressed, can you describe a reason?" Content analysis reflected respondents' sense of their own relatedness to the experience; a general sense of awareness of the occurrence of feeling down or depressed among students; suggested reasons, from general to specific, for those experiences among students; and sense of ownership, from self to others to individuals unspecified, as they described the experience of feeling down or depressed among first-year college students. Hermeneutic analysis revealed seven themes characterizing student experiences of feeling down or depressed. The authors address the context of depression frequently associated with college student life.
Subject(s)
Attitude of Health Personnel , Depression/psychology , Students, Nursing/psychology , Adaptation, Psychological , Adolescent , Adult , Causality , Depression/diagnosis , Depression/etiology , Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate , Female , Humans , Incidence , Loneliness , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Nursing Methodology Research , Peer Group , Personality Inventory , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Self Efficacy , Severity of Illness Index , Social Isolation , Social Support , Surveys and Questionnaires , Workload/psychologyABSTRACT
Anecdotal and research data suggest that psychological type and explanatory style influence individuals' day-to-day functioning. The assessment of these characteristics among postbaccalaureate students will support faculty in planning for students' educational programs and guide them as they provide support for the expansive role functions of, among others, the graduates of the newly proposed clinical nurse leader program. This article is a report of one study included in a longitudinal project examining the influence of psychological type and explanatory style on students' academic success. The questions addressed in this article are as follows: "How do psychological type and explanatory style differ between entering baccalaureate students and entering postbaccalaureate students?" and "How do experiences of depression and fatigue differ between these two groups of novice nursing students?" Findings suggest that postbaccalaureate students, although similar in psychological type to baccalaureate students, are significantly less depressed, less fatigued, and less positive in explanatory style than traditional baccalaureate students, indicating a potential need for support in addressing the demands of the roles that they will encounter as nurses.
Subject(s)
Attitude of Health Personnel , Certification/organization & administration , Clinical Competence/standards , Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate/organization & administration , Leadership , Nurse Administrators , Nurse's Role/psychology , Personality , Students, Nursing/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Curriculum , Depression/diagnosis , Depression/psychology , Fatigue/diagnosis , Fatigue/psychology , Habits , Health Services Needs and Demand , Humans , Interprofessional Relations , Judgment , Longitudinal Studies , Middle Aged , Negativism , Nurse Administrators/education , Nurse Administrators/organization & administration , Nurse Administrators/psychology , Nursing Education Research , Personality Inventory , Planning Techniques , ThinkingABSTRACT
New and recent graduates of schools of nursing have limited mathematical skills for medication administration. The purpose of this article is to provide a prescription for change to address the issue of limited math skills for medication administration. The authors recommend three areas of needed change: relationships, practice, and expectations. These three areas require attention from both the hiring agency and the educational institution.
Subject(s)
Clinical Competence , Drug Therapy/nursing , Education, Nursing/methods , Mathematics , Staff Development/methods , Connecticut , Humans , Medication Errors/nursing , Medication Errors/prevention & control , Practice, PsychologicalABSTRACT
The Institute of Medicine's 2000 report drew attention to both U.S. health care agencies and the medication errors that occur within them. However, this attention focused on a more basic and fundamental issue within the medication error concern: nurses' mathematical skills and competence. This article describes a nationwide study assessing processes to validate mathematical skills for medication administration. Practices within educational and acute care institutions are explored, and recommendations for future action are noted with a call for 100% accuracy on all mathematical examinations for medication administration.
