Addressing Nursing Personnel Burnout in Long-Term Care: Implementation of a Gratitude Journal.

Burnout affects health care providers and leads to adverse consequences. A 21-day gratitude journaling activity implemented in a Midwest long-term care setting was a personal, low-cost, and low-tech intervention requiring minimal time commitment to address burnout. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was utilized to assess burnout pre- and post-intervention of a gratitude journal.

Use of an RN-Initiated Protocol for Recognition, Management, and Documentation of Intradialytic Hypotension in Patients with End Stage Kidney Disease on In-Center Hemodialysis: A Quality Improvement Project.

Although intradialytic hypotension (IDH) is the most frequent complication of hemodialysis (HD), there is currently no standardized definition or uniform practice recommendations for response. A quality improvement project included nine registered nurses (RNs) and 96 adult patients receiving HD at a 30-station Midwest urban dialysis clinic. The project focused on development of an evidence-based RN-initiated protocol, RN education, and implementation of the RN-initiated protocol to recognize, treat, and document IDH. IDH was recognized in 7.02% of dialysis treatments, with protocol use doubling from Week 1 to Week 8. Most IDH episodes were resolved after one (36%) or two (49.33%) 10-minute ultrafiltration (UF) pauses with interventions. The use of an RN-initiated IDH protocol standardized care and led to positive patient outcomes in this dialysis clinic.

Development and Assessment of an Interprofessional Education Simulation to Promote Collaborative Learning and Practice.

BACKGROUND: We designed an interprofessional education (IPE) clinical simulation that paired nurse practitioner and pharmacy students. The objective was to evaluate the effect on attitudes of interprofessional collaborative learning and practice. METHOD: Perceptions were assessed using the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised instrument and reflection questions that assessed the simulation's effectiveness in requiring team knowledge and experience from each profession whether the experience improved individual student clinical performance, and how this team approach influenced patient outcomes. RESULTS: Students believed that working with another health profession was educationally beneficial and should be a required experience; they also believed that this collaboration improved patient outcomes and satisfaction. Responses also indicated student ambiguity about their role in interprofessional care, and that clinical rotations were not the ideal setting for first professional interactions with others. CONCLUSION: Students expressed satisfaction and increased awareness of the importance of collaboration to ensure patient safety. Increasing interprofessional education experiences prior to clinical rotations should be considered. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(7):426-429.].

CHIP: Facilitating Interprofessional and Culturally Competent Patient Care Through Experiential Learning in China.

Health care professionals have advocated for educating culturally competent practitioners. Immersion in international experiences has an impact on student cultural competency and interprofessional development. The China Honors Interprofessional Program (CHIP) at a university in the Midwest is designed to increase students' cultural competency and interprofessional development. From 2009 to 2013, a total of 25 professional students including twelve occupational therapy students, ten physical therapy students and three nursing students were enrolled in the programme. Using a one group pre and posttest research design, this study evaluated the impact of CHIP on the participating students. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in the study. Findings of the study revealed that CHIP has impact on students' cultural competency and professional development including gaining appreciation and understanding of the contributions of other healthcare professionals and knowledge and skills in team work. The findings of the study suggested that international immersion experience such as CHIP is an important way to increase students' cultural competency and interprofessional knowledge and skills. Limitations of the study included the small sample in the study, indirect outcome measures and the possible celling effect of the instruments of the study. Future research studies should include a larger and more representative sample, direct outcome measures such as behaviour observation and more rigorous design such as prospective experimental comparison group design. Future research should also examine the long-term effects of international experience on the professional development of occupational therapy students. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.