Using simulated patients as a learning strategy to support undergraduate nurses to develop patient-teaching skills.

BACKGROUND: An increase in the number of patients with long-term conditions has required a greater focus on nurse-led educational interventions to enable patients to develop self-management strategies. However, patient education is frequently taken for granted, and nurses sometimes consider that their undergraduate training does not prepare them to participate in effective patient teaching. AIM: The study aimed to formatively evaluate a simulated role-play scenario facilitated with third-year nursing students to support the development of patient-teaching skills. METHOD: The study combined two approaches to simulation, using high-fidelity and mid-fidelity simulation scenarios sequentially. This enabled students (n=20) to apply the communication strategies learnt to both a skills-based procedural situation and a patient-teaching simulation. A five-item pro forma with four open questions and one closed question was used for formative evaluation. FINDINGS: The results indicated that using a simulated patient to practise patient-teaching skills was perceived by the students to be a valuable method of learning that they could transfer to clinical practice. CONCLUSION: The findings suggested that facilitating learning with a simulated patient is useful in replicating authentic verbal and practical interactions with a patient in practice.

Does ageism still exist in nurse education?

Worldwide demographic changes mean that older people represent a significant group of patients for nurses everywhere. Ageism is increasingly recognised as an issue among healthcare professionals and evidence suggests that problems with quality of care remain. Nursing curricula have to address the needs of an ageing population in a variety of settings, reflect the importance of therapeutic care and explore nursing students' attitudes, in order to provide them with the appropriate skills to meet the needs of older people. This article debates the main factors influencing gerontological content in nursing curricula and suggests that ageism is still evident in nurse education. A variety of strategies are identified to assist in developing appropriate curriculum content.

Biodegradation studies of ionic liquids.

Ionic liquids are highly polar solvents with negligible vapour pressure and low flammability that offer a potentially "green" alternative to volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However in order to confidently label this class of solvents as "green", their affect on the environment must be thoroughly examined. As a result various toxicity, ecotoxicity and biodegradation studies have been carried out on ionic liquids. Although toxicity evaluations of ionic liquids have been widely reported in the literature, biodegradation data are comparatively scarce. In this tutorial review we present an overview of studies into the biodegradability of ionic liquids, including the various methods of biodegradation assessment, trends observed for structurally related ionic liquids, and applications of biodegradable ionic liquids in synthetic chemistry.

Costs of a hepatitis A outbreak affecting homosexual men: Franklin County, Ohio, 1999.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis A is one of the most commonly reported, vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States. Many cases occur in association with community-wide outbreaks, but societal costs to the community are seldom documented. METHODS: Hepatitis A case-patients available for a follow-up interview as part of an outbreak investigation were asked about hospitalization, healthcare costs, missed work, and lost wages associated with their illness, as well as healthcare insurance coverage and sick-leave reimbursement. Average costs were calculated by case-patient age, gender, and hospitalization status for lost wages, and by age and hospitalization status for medical costs, and then assigned to case-patients not re-interviewed to provide an estimate of overall costs. Health departments provided outbreak-associated costs. RESULTS: Between the weeks of November 2, 1998, and May 17, 1999, a total of 136 cases of hepatitis A were reported. Of the 89 (65.4%) case-patients available for interview, 74 (83%) were male; of those, 47 (64%) identified themselves as men who have sex with men (MSM). The average cost of the outbreak per case-patient was $2894 US dollars, of which 51% was associated with lost wages, 40% with medical costs, and 9% with health department costs. Case-patients incurred 44% of total outbreak costs; employers, 29%; healthcare insurers, 18%; and health departments, 9%. CONCLUSIONS: In this community-wide hepatitis A outbreak, case-patients incurred the largest portion of costs, followed by employers, healthcare insurers, and health departments.