Initial psychometric evaluation of the nursing quality and safety self-inventory.

Few instruments are available to measure nursing students' quality and safety competencies. The authors developed and tested the psychometric properties of the Nursing Quality and Safety Self-Inventory (NQSSI), an 18-item, self-rated instrument to measure nursing students' quality and safety knowledge, skills, and attitudes. All pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students (N = 176) enrolled in a leadership and management course at a midwestern school of nursing completed the self-inventory. Construct validity was established with exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring with direct oblimin rotation. The instrument was found to be composed of two subscales, knowledge and attitudes, which explained 53.8% of total variance. The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.93 for the total inventory and ranged from 0.88 to 0.92 for the two subscales. Contrast validity and effectiveness of the NQSSI for measuring nursing students' self-rated quality and safety competencies was supported.

A closer look at academic probation and attrition: what courses are predictive of nursing student success?

The purpose of this retrospective study was to identify undergraduate courses that serve as predictors of success for nursing students completing a BSN program. The sample included records of 327 students placed on probation or dismissed from a Midwest school of nursing between 2002 and 2010. Though previous research has shown that science courses can be used as predictors of nursing student success, our results suggest that non-science courses can serve in this capacity as well. In particular, an across-the-life-span fundamental psychology course was found to be an important predictor in determining whether or not probationary students eventually completed the program. These results suggest that nursing programs need to evaluate their programs not only reviewing students success in nursing courses but also in prerequisites beyond just science courses such as chemistry and biology.

Self-care production experiences in elderly African Americans with hypertension and cognitive difficulty.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore self-care production experiences in older African Americans who, despite some cognitive dysfunction, were able to produce hypertension-related self-care behaviors or blood pressure control successfully. DATA SOURCES: Participants were 10 urban, community-dwelling older African Americans, 60-89 years of age, living in a Midwest region of the United States. A semi-structured interview was conducted in participants homes' using Kvale's "conversational discourse" approach. Oral recordings were transcribed and analyzed for themes and codes. CONCLUSIONS: Elders' experiences with the production of self-care were characterized by three themes: preparation, monitoring, and evaluation. Self-care production was found to be cognitively challenging consistent with the finding that 60% of the participants had difficulty with a cognitive task requiring complex cognitive skills. This finding may explain why the production of self-care became a social phenomenon in which elders demonstrated resourcefulness in seeking assistance from surrounding support systems. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Nurse practitioners can support better health outcomes in older adults with hypertension by using valid and reliable measures for assessing complex cognitive skills, assessing individuals' progress in self-care production, and identifying individuals' use of social and professional supports to produce self-care.