Palliative Care of Stroke Patients.

Critical care clinicians frequently care for patients with acute brain injury, such as stroke. Regardless of the severity of the neurologic insult, these patients have life-altering deficits that threaten their personal identity and quality of life. The sudden nature of the injury often means that there has been little discussion between patients and their families about life-sustaining treatments, and most patients are unable to speak for themselves because of impaired cognition and communication. Thus, individuals experiencing stroke and their families present clinicians with unique and complex care needs in the acute care setting. Key professional organizations have endorsed the early integration of palliative care into the treatment of patients with stroke and devastating neurologic injury. Implementing interdisciplinary primary or specialty palliative care helps clinicians adopt a patient-centered approach to care and aids in decision-making.

The power of the past: A roadmap for integrating nursing history into the curriculum.

The inclusion of nursing history within the undergraduate and graduate nursing curricula has waxed and waned over the years. The 2021 publication by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, "The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Education," includes the expectation that nursing education curricula will include history content. This article aims to provide guidance to the nurse educator using a nursing history framework and a 5-step approach to integrate history into an already saturated curriculum. Through meaningful integration of nursing history at the course level with intentional alignment to existing course-level objectives, student learning will be enhanced. Student engagement with various historical sources will help students to achieve The Essentials' core competencies across the 10 Domains for Nursing. The various types of historical sources are explained and how to locate appropriate historical sources is included.

A Delphi Study to Establish Research Priorities for Neuroscience Nursing.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Establishing research priorities is essential not only to support evidence-based nursing practice but also to direct research agendas for nursing organizations such as the American Association of Neuroscience Nursing. METHODS: A 6-member Research Agenda Task Force selected potential research priorities based on a literature search of neuroscience nursing research. Using a 2-round, modified Delphi methodology, electronic surveys were distributed to 53 neuroscience nursing experts to gain consensus on the research priorities for neuroscience nursing. Survey data included demographics, agreement with selected gaps in neuroscience nursing research, and impact of selected neuroscience nursing research topics on the field. RESULTS: Twenty-six of 53 experts (49% response rate) participated in round 1, and 30 of 53 experts (57% response rate) participated in round 2. In round 1, the Research Agenda Task Force members revised the list of gaps in neuroscience nursing research to include only the top 39 ranked topics with greater than or equal to 73% agreement, created a new category "Professional Practice Issues," and added 1 additional topic. In round 2, 14 topics were ranked greater than or equal to 70% impactful and identified as the top neuroscience nursing research priorities. CONCLUSION: The results of this study served as an effort for creating research priorities and enhancing research collaboration that focuses on neuroscience nursing. Focusing on gaps in the literature and setting research priorities can ultimately improve patient outcomes. Neuroscience nursing research priorities can be used to inform, guide, and aid nurse scientists, educators, and providers, and to inform agencies that provide research and program funding.

Research Priority Setting: The Current Landscape of Neuroscience Nursing Research.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The American Association of Neuroscience Nurses established a 6-member Research Agenda Task Force in 2019 to identify neuroscience nursing research priorities to lead the field for the next 3 to 5 years. An early step in the process was a literature search to gain an understanding of the current landscape of neuroscience nursing research. METHODS: A search strategy was developed to locate relevant neuroscience nursing research. An experienced medical librarian performed a comprehensive systematic search of multiple databases. Task force members then further refined the search. A separate search was conducted to locate published research by 21 known neuroscience nurse researchers. RESULTS: An initial search located 466 qualitative articles and 1243 quantitative articles, with a further 655 articles published by known neuroscience nurse researchers. All 2364 citations were reviewed by task force members of the working in pairs to screen titles and abstracts for relevance. Nine categories of neuroscience nursing research were identified: quality of life, nursing practice, biomarkers, health promotion, professional development, technology, nursing care outcomes, assessment, and caregivers. Most of the research used descriptive methods, including both quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry, providing a foundation for more rigorous investigation and interventional research. Research following stroke and the critical care setting were most prevalent. DISCUSSION: New and emerging trends in neuroscience nursing research include the use of technology, biomarkers, lay caregivers, strategies, and tools, including measure development for neurological assessment, and the evaluation of nursing practice including the practice environment and advanced practice nurse providers. Gaps were also evident. CONCLUSION: There is a significant need to expand neuroscience nursing in areas of emerging trends and to use rigorous methods to evaluate nursing practice effects on patient outcomes. The results of this search were used to revise the neuroscience nursing priorities last determined in 2011.