A Primer on Understanding Pediatric Health Care Quality Measurement.

Advanced practice registered nurses implement evidence-based care guidelines and assess the quality of care delivered to pediatric and adolescent populations to ensure that the highest standards of care are provided to the patients and their families. Standardized health care quality measures allow for assessment of clinical competence, monitoring of equitable health care distribution, improvement of provider/institutional accountability, development of standards for accreditation and certification, informing of quality improvement efforts, and creation of criteria for provider incentive payments. The purpose of this article is to explain why health care quality measures are established, what agencies oversee the development of meaningful pediatric quality measures, and how these measures inform and improve the care provided by pediatric-focused advanced practice registered nurses.

The Use of Social Media in Interprofessional Education: Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: The implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) activities into health care education is a challenge for many training programs owing to time and location constraints of both faculty and learners. The integration of social media into these IPE activities may provide a solution to these problems. OBJECTIVE: This review of the published literature aims to identify health care IPE activities using social media. METHODS: The authors searched 5 databases (from the beginning coverage date to May 27, 2017) using keywords related to IPE and social media. Teams of 2 authors independently reviewed the search results to identify peer-reviewed, English language papers reporting on IPE activities using social media. They assessed the study quality of identified papers using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument. RESULTS: A total of 8 studies met the review's inclusion criteria. Of these 8 papers, 3 had single-group, posttest-only study design; 4 had single-group, pre- and posttest design; and 1 had nonrandomized 3-group design. Qualitative and quantitative outcome measures showed mixed results with the majority of student feedback being positive. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a need for additional research, this review suggests that the use of social media may aid the implementation of health care IPE.

Health policy engagement among graduate nursing students in the United States.

AIM: The aim was to understand how health policy education is currently being delivered in the United States' graduate nursing programs. METHODS: This exploratory cross-sectional design used an anonymous online survey to target graduate nursing students attending American Association of College of Nursing (AACN) member institutions. RESULTS: Over 75% of the sample (n = 140) reported taking a dedicated health policy course and 71.5% ( n = 131) of the sample responded that a health policy course was required and an equal distribution among master's and doctoral students. There was no significant difference between type of graduate degree sought and the requirement to take a health policy course ( P = 0.37). For students involved in health policy, there was a greater proportion of master's students involved at the state level, than doctorate of nursing practice (DNP) or PhD students ( P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Health policy and advocacy education are important aspects of graduate nursing curriculum and have been integrated into curricula. Graduate nursing students at all levels reported that health policy AACN Essential competencies are being included in their program, either as stand-alone health policy courses or integrated health policy learning activities during matriculation.

Implementation of childhood obesity identification and prevention strategies in primary care: A quality improvement project.

The high incidence and prevalence of childhood obesity, coupled with significant morbidity and financial burden, clearly suggest the need for identification and implementation of effective pediatric obesity prevention strategies in primary care. A solution to this problem includes evidence based clinical guidelines that provide concise, culturally appropriate information on the identification and prevention of childhood obesity in primary care settings. The objective of this quality improvement project was to implement childhood obesity identification and prevention guidelines from evidence-based recommendations into practice. Guidelines were implemented during preventative care visits through the use of a tracking form. The development of the tracking form included input from practice staff resulting in increased fidelity. The tracking form included directions for clear and concise guideline implementation and provided opportunities to record patient BMI, nutritional intake, physical activity, familial obesity prevention education and motivational interviewing and facilitated a practice increase in childhood obesity identification and education. Presence of chart indicators, including nutrition and exercise history, were analyzed to determine the fidelity of the practice change in obesity identification and prevention education. Key outcomes included a significant (p < .0001) practice increase in childhood obesity identification as well as a significant increase (p < .05) in documentation of obesity prevention education through motivational interviewing. Practice change incorporating childhood obesity identification and familial prevention guidelines had positive effects in a pediatric population. Implementation of evidence-based guidelines can result in increased identification of children at risk for childhood obesity and enhanced familial obesity prevention education; leading to the long-term goal of creating healthier lifestyles and decreasing risk factors in a vulnerable population.