Walking the Walk: Integrating Evidence Into Clinical Experiences.

Professional nurses are called to provide nursing care using an evidence-based approach. Health-care professionals are challenged to break away from old traditions and search for ways to improve health. Evidence-based practice (EBP) must be threaded throughout nursing curricula to produce critically-thinking professional nurses who will be meeting new and significant health-care challenges. Nursing education must be grounded in the translation of current evidence into practice. Nurse educators must acknowledge the obstacles faced when teaching concepts of research to students who have chosen a practice-focused career. The words evidence-based practice may be intimidating to nursing students. Nurse educators must shift this paradigm to invite students to realize that EBP is an integral component of modern health care that bridges the gap between health-care practices and improved patient outcomes. Faculty in a baccalaureate Adult Health course developed a unique approach inviting students to apply evidence to their student clinical experiences. Survey results showed that this innovative approach increased students' "excellent" or "good" understanding toward EBP concepts from pre-implementation scores of 46% to post-implementation scores of 94%. This active learning strategy allows students to "walk the walk" of EBP rather than simply listen to the "talk."

Clinician accountability in a primary care clinic time-interval blood pressure measurements study: Practice implications.

BACKGROUND: Accurate blood pressure measurements (BPM) are important, as clinicians are tasked daily with using such measurements to make clinical diagnoses and patient care judgments. Research studies and controlled trials hold such measurements to a higher standard than everyday clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate difference in BPM outcomes of individuals in a clinic setting when clinicians collect BPM as usual vs BPM after 5- (USPSTF recommendation) and 10- minute (study unique intervention) timed rest interval. METHODS: A repeated-measures design was used to examine individual BPMs at the intervals of baseline, after a 5-minute rest interval post-baseline, and after a 10-minute rest interval post-baseline. Results Pairwise comparisons indicated that baseline SBP was the highest when compared to SBP measured at both 5- and 10-minutes post-baseline. SBP measured at 5-minutes was also significantly higher compared to SBP collected at 10-minutes post-baseline (ps < .05). For DBP, the repeated-measures ANOVA indicated that there was no significant difference across BPMs, F(2,198) = 1.25, p = .29. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study revealed that implementing a 5-minute rest interval before BPMs are taken in a clinic setting produces a "clinically observable" reduction in the overall mean systolic BPs as seen at both 5- and 10-minute BPM intervals. It is important for all healthcare clinicians to recognize the importance of accurate BPM and the need to encourage better regulated BPM standard in everyday practice.

Clinical Track Promotion Guideline Development for Nursing Faculty in a Traditional Research-Focused University.

BACKGROUND: The clinical track is a newer concept for universities traditionally placing a hefty emphasis on research and funding. OBJECTIVE: Guidelines should ensure equitable criteria for promotion of practicing faculty reflect teaching, scholarship, and academic outreach milestones. METHODS: This article describes the process, challenges, and overall experience of developing clinical track promotion guidelines within a research-focused university setting. RESULTS: The department's outdated clinical track promotion guidelines were revised to reflect current roles of clinical faculty. CONCLUSIONS: As DNP and clinically focused advanced practice faculty flood into 4-year academic settings, universities must ensure that criteria for promotion reflects clear and equitable teaching, scholarship, and academic outreach milestones. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: The recent influx of DNP clinical faculty and advanced nursing practice faculty roles requires an overhaul of outdated guidelines.

Transforming the Nursing Classroom into a Clinical Setting.

Providing clinical opportunities for students to gain experience in managing cardiac dysrhythmias is a challenge for nursing faculty. High-risk experiences are often not available for all students or are too life-threatening to entrust to students. Faculty shortages and increasing enrollments add to declines in clinical opportunities. The use of human patient simulation (HPS) has added opportunities to experience high-risk, low-frequency clinical situations. HPS may be employed in the classroom setting to teach content related to dysrhythmia treatments. This innovative approach to HPS utilization engages students and helps them apply theory into clinical nursing practice.

Using High-Fidelity Simulation Scenarios in the Classroom to Engage Learners.

It is well known that active teaching strategies improve student learning outcomes. By using simulation scenarios as a tool to teach systematic decision making in the classroom, faculty allow a large group of students to develop abstract thinking and gain experience in a setting that has traditionally delivered information in a linear format. This article will describe the process of using a high-fidelity simulation scenario as an unfolding case study to teach students how to manage and care for a patient.

A multifaceted progression approach to enhancing student success.

This article describes how a faculty rallied together and developed a positive progression approach to promote student success on standardized specialty and comprehensive examinations, which fosters critical thinking, clinical judgment, student self-assessment, and individualized plans of action. Specific strategies implemented are discussed. Aggregate student data related to course grades, specialty and comprehensive exit examination scores, and NCLEX pass rates support this innovative approach to student success.