Acupuncture as a Treatment Option in Treating Posttraumatic Stress Disorder-Related Tinnitus in War Veterans: A Case Presentation.

Although close associations between tinnitus and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among war veterans has been documented, there is limited research that explores evidence-based, efficacious interventions to treat the condition in this particular population. This article presents a case of three war veterans with PTSD symptoms who received a series of acupuncture treatments for tinnitus with positive outcomes. Even though the article presents cases of only three veterans and was based on self-reports, there were very clear trends on how veterans with tinnitus symptoms responded to acupuncture treatments. Information generated from this case presentation is a good starting place in exploring evidence-based approaches in treating tinnitus symptoms in war veterans with PTSD.

A pilot study of RN-BSN completion students' preferred instructor online classroom caring behaviors.

Definitions of caring include the global concept of showing concern and empathy of others. This may be especially true in the online classroom in the absence of face to face interactions. This quantitative study focused on RN-BSN completion students' preferred online instructor caring behaviors. Online RN-BSN students (N = 100) were invited to participate in the study. The research question was: What are historically black colleges universities nursing students' preferred instructor caring behaviors in the online classroom? All of the respondents (N = 48) agreed that an instructor can create a caring online learning environment, while the vast majority agreed that the presence of a caring environment influenced their success in the course. As ranked by the respondents the three most important items in creating a caring online learning environment were instructors': 1) attention to detail in organization and clarity, 2) prompt and detailed feedback to assignments, and 3) prompt response to students' questions.

The multidisciplinary evaluation and management of cleft lip and palate.

Cleft lip with or without a cleft palate (CLP) and cleft palate alone (CPA) are common birth defects, with a combined birth prevalence of about 1 to 2/1,000. Affected children have a number of medical issues and potential complications, and therefore require a wide variety of healthcare specialists beyond plastic surgeons and dental specialists. For this reason, the best environment in which to deliver this care is a multidisciplinary cleft clinic (MCC) that features a team of healthcare providers, including audiology, pediatric otolaryngology, speech pathology, occupational/feeding therapy, and genetics. In this setting, the many medical issues that these children face are comprehensively addressed in the most convenient manner, as all the specialists can be seen in a single busy day. Furthermore, the referring primary care provider (PCP) will receive a concise letter that documents the team evaluation, including future management plans and recommendations for therapy. Unfortunately, few papers are available in the literature that review the workings of these clinics. In this paper we will provide such an overview, discussing the management issues for children with CLP/CPA, and how these are addressed by members of the MCC.