Telephone Triage Simulation in an Asynchronous Advanced Practice Nursing Course.

ABSTRACT: The use of simulation in advanced practice nursing programs is widespread; however, few simulations focus on telehealth skills. Those that do typically consist of synchronous activities. This article describes an innovative activity in an asynchronous course using the VoiceThread platform. The activity simulates a telephone triage call a family or pediatric nurse practitioner might receive in actual practice.

Ensuring Safe Sleep in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Review of Informed Development of Clinical Guidelines for Implementation in Practice.

INTRODUCTION: Although general safe sleep guidelines have been established, their utility and implementation have yet to be examined systematically for inpatient populations for application to infants in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) setting. This study aimed to complete a systematic review of inpatient safe sleep practices studies to develop then safe sleep clinical guidelines for implementation in the care of medically complex infants in the PICU. METHOD: This review was registered with PROSPERO and adheres to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses systematic review guidelines. RESULTS: Nineteen articles met the inclusion criteria. A safe sleep guideline algorithm for medically complex infants in the PICU was created for implementation. DISCUSSION: Consistent and comprehensive safe sleep education and modeling by health care professionals in the inpatient setting is an effective technique to reduce the risk of harm and promote safe sleep behaviors in the home setting.

Political prioritization of early childhood education during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparative policy analysis of low- and middle-income countries.

Despite strong evidence of its importance to the welfare of children and societies, early childhood education has been comparatively neglected as a policy priority both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper seeks to understand what factors have contributed to the relative lack of priority for early childhood education in distance learning and school reopening plans by applying a political prioritization framework to the pandemic context in 4 low- and middle-income countries: Ethiopia, Jamaica, Liberia, and Pakistan (Punjab Province). Some aspects of the pre-COVID-19 status quo which disfavored early childhood education have continued, including a lack of cohesive support from civil society and a greater focus by international partners on norm promotion and technical assistance than financing. In other respects, the pandemic put early childhood education at an even greater disadvantage. These include perceptions that early childhood education is less suited to distance delivery than other levels of education, concerns about young children's ability to comply with health protocols, and competition with high-stakes examinations for education ministries' attention. Previous country experience with pandemics (in Liberia) and a strong coordinating entity (in Jamaica) were mitigating factors. These results point to an urgent need to elevate priority for early childhood education in more normal times and to capture the lessons of COVID-19 to improve the resilience of early childhood education in future crises.

Exploring the Protective Effects of Judaism on Risky Behaviors in College Students: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Common risky behaviors among college-aged young adults include risky sexual behaviors and substance use. PURPOSE: This study examines the protective effects of Judaism on students' engagement in risky behaviors, building on a body of research on the protective effects of religious beliefs on risky health behaviors. METHODS: Validated and reliable measures were used to assess religiosity and risky behaviors through anonymous surveys. Data was collected in Fall 2018 from a small cohort (N = 15) of Jewish day school students. RESULTS: Females had overall higher rates of risky behaviors such as drinking or using drugs before sex (27% compared to 13% for males), not using condoms (62% to 0% for males), and higher rates of binge drinking (62% to 20% for males). CONCLUSION: Higher religiosity was more associated with delayed sexual activity than substance use behaviors. Judaism and religiosity were more strongly associated with the male participants than the female. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Since the participants still had low rates of condom use and other high risk behaviors despite speaking with their healthcare providers, the health care community must better educate adolescents and young adults on the health and social consequences of such risky activities, both in formal education programs during middle and high school, and in office visits.

Advancing the nutrition and early childhood development agenda: indicators and guidance.

The importance of early childhood development (ECD) is scientifically established and is increasingly recognized by governments and international organizations. However, progress in protecting and improving ECD is constrained by multisectoral influences on ECD, the multiple sectors and venues for delivering services, the lack of a common fiscal and policy space, and weak or fragmented data and monitoring systems. This paper describes two tools and strategies to strengthen multisectoral, system-wide policy environments for ECD. One is the Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER)-ECD framework for tracking progress toward an integrated ECD system. Developed by the World Bank, SABER-ECD assists governments and their partners to take stock of their existing ECD policies and programs, analyze strengths and areas for improvement using common metrics, and learn from international examples. The other tool is an Agenda-Setting and Commitments framework, based on research in global health and nutrition that can guide national-level actors in their advocacy and strategic efforts to strengthen the integrated ECD system. These represent practical and research-based tools to translate scientific evidence concerning ECD into effective and large-scale actions.

Addressing children's beliefs through Fowler's stages of faith.

Knowledge of child development, including faith development, is important in providing holistic care to the child. Pediatric nurses and nurse practitioners may be inadequately prepared to meet the spiritual needs of children in developmentally appropriate ways. This article demonstrates why it is necessary to asses a child's or an adolescent's religious and spiritual beliefs and when and how a nurse intervenes. Modeled here is one way in which pediatric nurses can effectively combine their knowledge of child development and Fowler's theory of faith development to address the child and adolescent's spiritual needs.

Measuring religiosity/spirituality in diverse religious groups: a consideration of methods.

Minority religious groups continue to grow in the United States, and traditional religious groups are becoming more diverse. The purpose of this paper is to detail the methodology of the measure adaptation and psychometric phase of an ongoing study that is designed to describe the relationship between R/S, emotional extremes, and risk behaviors in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim high school students as they transition to college. Unique challenges associated with measurement, recruitment, and research team dynamics were encountered. These challenges and possible solutions are discussed in the context of conducting research that focuses on religious minority groups.

Trunk posture affects upper extremity function of adults.

This study examined the effects of various seated trunk postures on upper extremity function. 59 adults were tested using the Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test while in three different trunk postures. Significant mean differences between the neutral versus the flexed and laterally flexed trunk postures were noted during selected tasks. Specifically, dominant hand performance during the tasks of feeding and lifting heavy cans was significantly slower while the trunk was flexed and laterally flexed than when performed in the neutral trunk position. Performance of the nondomi nant hand during the tasks of picking up small objects, page turning, as well as the total score was slower while the trunk was flexed compared to performance in the neutral trunk position. These findings support the assumption that neutral trunk posture improves upper extremity performance during daily activities although the effect is not consistent across tasks. Findings are discussed along with limitations and recommendations for research.