Preparing New Nurses During a Pandemic.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty, staff, and administrators at a large research university in the mid-Atlantic part of the country pivoted to move many classes, laboratories, and clinical experiences to a virtual environment to mitigate the risks of COVID-19. This article will highlight 2 exemplars of how faculty at this university provided students with options to learn in-person or online and how faculty managed to provide students with valuable online learning experiences. Through innovative teaching strategies, this university was able to graduate competent nurses when they were most needed by society.

Impact of an Educational Intervention on Organ Donation Attitudes in College-Aged Students.

As the national demand for donated organs continues to rise, the rate of registered donors within the United States has remained stagnant, creating a shortage of viable, transferrable organs. Lack of registered donors can be partially attributed to misconceptions about organ donation, which has led to a population less willing to register as organ donors. The utilization of educational interventions can begin to address common misconceptions and change attitudes to favor organ donation. A quantitative pretest, posttest survey design was utilized in order to assess effectiveness of an educational intervention within the college-aged population. Results suggest that educational interventions are effective in creating positive attitudes about organ donation in college-aged students.

Developing Nurses Through Mentoring: It Starts in Nursing Education.

Faculty mentoring of undergraduate students is an essential and necessary component in helping students achieve exposure and success in cocurricular activities that they may not get in the classroom. It is through these cocurricular activities that faculty can expose students to the realms of various clinical activities, nursing research and education, and various service-related opportunities, such as tutoring and committee work. The intrinsic and extrinsic awards of watching your students succeed and grow into nursing leaders make mentoring worth it. This article outlines the benefits and difficulties experienced by 1 faculty member in his crusade to mentor undergraduate nursing students.

Naive Expectations to Resignation: A Comparison of Life Descriptions of Newly Diagnosed Versus Chronic Persons Living With Stage D HF.

PURPOSE: This study examined life descriptions of persons with stage D heart failure (HF) comparing those newly diagnosed to those with chronic HF. METHODS: A secondary analysis of interviews from 75 participants followed in a longitudinal study of persons with stage D HF was thematically analyzed. There were 24 participants who were recently diagnosed with stage D HF (less than 2 years) and 51 participants with HF longer than 2 years. RESULTS: Both groups shared life descriptions along a continuum, where recently diagnosed participants described naive expectations with hope for improvement, while the chronic group appeared resigned to their fate and the reality of the limitations of living with HF. Four themes illustrated differences between the groups: outlook on life, activity adjustments, understanding of HF, and mood. CONCLUSIONS: Although persons with stage D HF share the same life descriptions, they have differing perspectives of life with HF. Findings from this study can help health-care providers tailor interventions based on the length of time from diagnosis.

Evidence-based practice protocol to improve glucose control in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem in the United States. In adult patients with type 2 DM, what is the effect of adding a follow-up telephone intervention by an APRN on blood glucose control as compared to standard treatment alone? Findings from one systematic review and five randomized control trials were used to support a protocol to elicit improvement in glycemic control.