Teaching Psychomotor Skills in Undergraduate Nursing Education: An Integrative Review.

BACKGROUND: Psychomotor skills, a cognitive and fine motor process, are an essential component to undergraduate nursing education. Currently, no national guidelines exist to guide nursing programs on the best way to educate students to ensure competent and safe practice of psycho-motor skills in the clinical setting. This review sought to determine what methods of education, training, and practice of psychomotor skills enhanced psychomotor skill competency in undergraduate nursing students. METHOD: An integrative review was conducted to determine teaching and practice strategies to support psychomotor skill competence. RESULTS: Four significant categories were identified and included (1) simulation; (2) technology; (3) deliberate practice; and (4) theoretical and collaborative instruction. Overall, simulation and technology were found to be the most effective in psychomotor skill competence. CONCLUSION: Additional research is needed to identify which teaching strategies best support nursing students' long-term knowledge acquisition and competency as they transition into professional practice. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(7):421-426.].

The Student Voice: Perceptions of Durable Learning.

BACKGROUND: Durable learning is the teaching/learning methods that result in retained knowledge that can be transferred to practice. There is limited research on durable learning in nursing education (NE). PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of how learners acquire and retain knowledge. METHODS: Nursing students and recent graduates were recruited from 2 large universities. Focus groups (n = 7) were audio-recorded, and transcripts were analyzed. RESULTS: Thematic analysis of learners' perceptions revealed (1) effective learner-initiated techniques, (2) effective instructor-initiated techniques, (3) learner-initiated techniques that were not effective, and (4) instructor-initiated techniques in the classroom, clinical practice, and simulation that were not effective. CONCLUSION: Additional research is needed to understand faculty perspectives on durable learning techniques and their effectiveness. Findings from student, graduate, and faculty perspectives will guide the development of a validated, reliable tool to evaluate durable learning in NE.

Durable Learning Strategies in Nursing Education: State-of-the-Evidence Review.

BACKGROUND: Health professions (HP) students must achieve durable learning (DL) to transfer and apply knowledge from the classroom to the clinical setting. This review examines the state of the science of classroom-based DL in HP. METHOD: The Joanna Briggs Systematic Review Methodology was used. MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and ERIC databases were searched for articles published from 2006 to 2022. A total of 2,000 titles were identified for review, with 51 studies being selected for inclusion. RESULTS: Multiple classroom-based learning strategies generally reported as being effective were identified, including flipped classroom, educational technology, spaced learning, team-based learning, concept mapping and schema, testing, and case study and problem-based learning. CONCLUSION: Although DL has been proven to be effective in the classroom setting for HP, no one type has been shown to be more effective than others. Additional research is needed within the context of transferring knowledge to clinical settings and in nursing education. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(1):24-31.].

Implementation of a Competency-Based Clinical Tracking Document in an Undergraduate Nursing Program.

ABSTRACT: New nurse graduates are ill prepared to fulfill the roles and responsibilities of being competent, practice-ready registered nurses. This article describes one college of nursing's journey in the creation of a clinical tracking document (CTD) to track, in real time, essential subbehavior actions that assist students in achieving the four main competencies of assessment, communication, critical thinking, and safety listed on the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument. The CTD is an innovative tracking tool used to ensure students are practice-ready and competent upon completion of their nursing program.

Health-Related Data Sources Accessible to Health Researchers From the US Government: Mapping Review.

BACKGROUND: Big data from large, government-sponsored surveys and data sets offers researchers opportunities to conduct population-based studies of important health issues in the United States, as well as develop preliminary data to support proposed future work. Yet, navigating these national data sources is challenging. Despite the widespread availability of national data, there is little guidance for researchers on how to access and evaluate the use of these resources. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to identify and summarize a comprehensive list of federally sponsored, health- and health care-related data sources that are accessible in the public domain in order to facilitate their use by researchers. METHODS: We conducted a systematic mapping review of government sources of health-related data on US populations and with active or recent (previous 10 years) data collection. The key measures were government sponsor, overview and purpose of data, population of interest, sampling design, sample size, data collection methodology, type and description of data, and cost to obtain data. Convergent synthesis was used to aggregate findings. RESULTS: Among 106 unique data sources, 57 met the inclusion criteria. Data sources were classified as survey or assessment data (n=30, 53%), trends data (n=27, 47%), summative processed data (n=27, 47%), primary registry data (n=17, 30%), and evaluative data (n=11, 19%). Most (n=39, 68%) served more than 1 purpose. The population of interest included individuals/patients (n=40, 70%), providers (n=15, 26%), and health care sites and systems (n=14, 25%). The sources collected data on demographic (n=44, 77%) and clinical information (n=35, 61%), health behaviors (n=24, 42%), provider or practice characteristics (n=22, 39%), health care costs (n=17, 30%), and laboratory tests (n=8, 14%). Most (n=43, 75%) offered free data sets. CONCLUSIONS: A broad scope of national health data is accessible to researchers. These data provide insights into important health issues and the nation's health care system while eliminating the burden of primary data collection. Data standardization and uniformity were uncommon across government entities, highlighting a need to improve data consistency. Secondary analyses of national data are a feasible, cost-efficient means to address national health concerns.

The relaxation response: Influence on psychological and physiological responses in patients with COPD.

In patients with COPD, distress is significantly prevalent and can have adverse psychological and physiological effects. The Relaxation Response Meditation Technique (RRMT), a technique that elicits the relaxation response, was developed by Dr. Herbert Benson to counter the fight-or-flight response to decrease psychological and physiological effects. AIM: (1) To assess whether implementing the RRMT decreases anxiety in patients with COPD, (2) to determine whether RRMT reduces the patients' perception of breathlessness, and (3) to investigate whether RRMT improves the physiological responses of patients with COPD. DESIGN: This quasi-experimental study used a pre- and post-test design. The sample (N = 25) consisted of a single group of patients diagnosed in stages 2-4 of COPD at an outpatient pulmonary rehabilitative clinic. METHODS: Inferential statistics were used to determine the psychological and physiological differences pre- and post-intervention utilizing the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Modified Borg Scale, and BP, HR, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation levels. RESULTS: Results indicated a significant mean change in anxiety (p ≤ 0.001), perception of dyspnea (p ≤ 0.001), and a decrease in respiratory rate (p = .001) after implementing the RRMT. There was clinical improvement in systolic and diastolic BPs and HR. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study support the inclusion of the RRMT as part of the pulmonary rehabilitative program to assist patients with COPD in adapting to the negative psychological and physiological responses of distress.