Changes in HIV knowledge and interest among nursing and public health students at a large Midwest University: Outcomes of implementing the National HIV Curriculum.

BACKGROUND: Ending the HIV epidemic requires additional healthcare and public health workers who are competent in HIV prevention and treatment. The National HIV Curriculum was developed to increase competency in HIV among healthcare workers in the US. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of implementing the National HIV Curriculum (NHC) for nursing and public health students. DESIGN: This study employed a single-arm, cohort intervention design. SETTING: This study was conducted at large, public university in the Midwestern United States of America in a state noted for high HIV transmission. PARTICIPANTS: Undergraduate nursing, graduate nursing, and undergraduate public health students participated in this study. METHODS: An online survey of nursing and public health students was conducted following implementation of the NHC at a large, public university in the Midwest. Students were assessed on knowledge and interest of HIV using a bootstrapped paired-samples t-test approach. RESULTS: Participants (N = 175) were enrolled in the undergraduate nursing program (n = 72, 41.14 %), graduate nursing (n = 37, 21.14 %) public health (n = 37, 21.14 %), medicine (n = 10, 5.71 %), and biological, biomedical, and health sciences discipline (n = 19, 10.86 %). Overall, results suggest a consistent gain in knowledge of working with individuals living with HIV of 1.42 points (on a 4-point scale). About half (47.43 %) of all students increased interest to work with individuals living with HIV in the future. CONCLUSION: The NHC increased knowledge and interest in students across a broad range of nursing, public health, medicine, and other disciplines. This study suggests that universities can integrate the curriculum across undergraduate and graduate programs. Students at varying degree levels may benefit from the NHC. Future longitudinal studies should be conducted on the career choices of those students exposed to the NHC.

Familiarity and Use of MyPlate: An Online Focus Group Exploration Among Midwestern K-12 Teachers.

OBJECTIVE: To examine teachers' familiarity and use of MyPlate, including barriers to using it. METHODS: Twenty kindergarten through grade 12 teachers were recruited from 1 urban and suburban school district in the Midwest to participate in virtual focus groups regarding familiarity, use, and barriers to MyPlate. A basic descriptive qualitative approach with thematic analysis was guided by systems thinking. Common categories were coded and agreed on by the authors. RESULTS: Findings included main categories of individual awareness, use in curriculum, and appropriate facilitators of MyPlate. Awareness and use of MyPlate were mixed. Teachers integrated MyPlate in math, history, and other subjects. Barriers included packed curriculum and cultural issues. The facilitators of MyPlate mentioned were health or physical education teachers. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Online focus groups successfully collected formative data on teachers' perspectives toward MyPlate. The technology could be used in future similar research. Enhanced teacher training may improve the integration of MyPlate into schools. School teachers identified major barriers to MyPlate in the classroom, including lack of time and resources. There was mixed feedback on how MyPlate and nutrition may be used in school curricula. Enhanced teacher training may improve the integration of MyPlate into schools.

Nursing Work Environment Staffing Councils: An Alternative to Mandatory Regulated Staffing Ratios.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the self-reported perceptions of the healthy work environment (HWE) of nurses who are members of Nursing Workplace Environment and Staffing Councils (NWESCs). BACKGROUND: In a statewide initiative, NWESCs were established at hospitals throughout the state of New Jersey as an alternative to nurse staffing ratio laws and to provide clinical nurses a voice in determining resources needed for patient care and support an HWE. METHODS: This quantitative descriptive study presents the results of the Healthy Workplace Environment Assessment Tool (HWEAT) and open-ended questions about NWESCs among a sample of 352 nurses. RESULTS: Three years after NWESC implementation, all HWEAT standard mean scores increased and were rated higher than the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses benchmark. There were statistically significant differences in clinical nurses' perceptions of an HWE compared with nurse leaders. Respondents also shared their NWESC's best practices and challenges. Responses to questions identified NWESC best practices and challenges. CONCLUSION: This study offers insight into the improvement in nurses' perceptions of the HWE after the introduction of a statewide NWESCs. Structures such as the NWESCs may provide an alternative to mandated staffing ratios.

Challenges of Preparing Nursing Students for Practice: The Faculty Perspective.

BACKGROUND: A significant challenge facing nursing is new graduate RNs' unreadiness for practice. To better understand the issue, this study presents the challenges nursing faculty encounter in preparing nursing students for clinical practice through semi-structured interviews. METHOD: Eight faculty from a private midwestern university's prelicensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program participated in the study. A modified version of Colaizzi's data analysis method was used to interpret the data. RESULTS: Three main interrelated themes were identified: Facilitating Learning Among Today's Nursing Students, Teaching in an Era of Information Explosion and Health Care Reform, and Providing High-Quality Clinical Education. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the challenges in preparing competent future nurses and offer insight into factors influencing the underpreparation of some new graduate BSN RNs. [J Nurs Educ. 2021;60(4):225-228.].

The courage to speak out: A study describing nurses' attitudes to report unsafe practices in patient care.

AIM: To identify workplace factors that influence patient advocacy among registered nurses (RNs) and their willingness to report unsafe practices. BACKGROUND: A prior study by Black illustrated that 34% of respondents were aware of conditions that may have caused patient harm but had not reported the issue. The most common reasons identified for failing to report issues were fear of retaliation and a belief that nothing would prevail from the reports. METHOD: Using Black's study as a model, reporting data were collected from a sample of RNs actively practicing in acute care hospitals. RESULTS: While reasons for reporting are consistent with Black's study, data suggest that a nurse's experiences and working environment are prime factors in their willingness to report patient care issues. CONCLUSION: Although RNs may not have personally experienced workplace retaliation, fear of retaliation when reporting unsafe patient care practices still exists. Nursing leadership's ability to facilitate a culture of safety by proactively addressing unsafe practices fosters a level of comfort for patient advocacy and willingness to report issues. Education, professional associations and existing protection laws are available resources which contribute to organizational support systems. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The findings of this study are consistent with the literature in that organizations need to create a supportive workplace environment whereby, through collective input and leadership, reporting protocols are in place that empower RNs to report unsafe conditions. Direct care nurses are positioned, especially well to identify and speak up regarding conditions that may result in near misses or actual adverse events. Therefore, it is the responsibility, and duty, of nursing management to create and facilitate reporting systems that will be utilized without fear of retaliation and that will contribute to a culture of safety and patient advocacy.

Parental Self-Efficacy: A Concept Analysis Related to Teen Parenting and Implications for School Nurses.

Levels of parental self-efficacy are correlated with both positive and negative care delivery and developmental outcomes for parents and their infants. School nurses are in a unique position to facilitate parenting self-efficacy in teen parents. Using the concept analysis framework of Walker and Avant, parental self-efficacy is analyzed and elucidated to distinguish the concept's defining attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents. The operational definition of parental self-efficacy arising from this concept review is an individual's belief that he or she is capable of integrating and executing the knowledge and skills necessary to parent their infant. Model, borderline, related, and contrary cases are presented, along with implications for school nursing practice. School nurses are ideally situated to assist teen parents with parental self-efficacy realization tasks.

A Phenomenological Study of Nurse Manager Interventions Related to Workplace Bullying.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to acquire nurse managers' perspectives as to the scope of workplace bullying, which interventions were deemed as effective and ineffective, and what environmental characteristics cultivated a healthy, caring work environment. BACKGROUND: Research has linked workplace bullying among RNs to medical errors, unsafe hospital environments, and negative patient outcomes. Limited research had been conducted with nurse managers to discern their perspectives. METHODS: Six nurse managers from hospital settings participated in in-depth, semistructured interviews. Ray's theory of bureaucratic caring guided the study. RESULTS: These themes emerged: (a) awareness, (b) scope of the problem, (c) quality of performance, and (d) healthy, caring environment. Findings indicated mandated antibullying programs were not as effective as individual manager interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Systems must be in place to hold individuals accountable for their behavior. Communication, collective support, and teamwork are essential to create environments that lead to the delivery of safe, optimum patient care.

Evaluating undergraduate nursing students' self-efficacy and competence in writing: Effects of a writing intensive intervention.

While professional nurses are expected to communicate clearly, these skills are often not explicitly taught in undergraduate nursing education. In this research study, writing self-efficacy and writing competency were evaluated in 52 nontraditional undergraduate baccalaureate completion students in two distance-mediated 16-week capstone courses. The intervention group (n = 44) experienced various genres and modalities of written assignments set in the context of evidence-based nursing practice; the comparison group (n = 8) received usual writing undergraduate curriculum instruction. Self-efficacy, measured by the Post Secondary Writerly Self-Efficacy Scale, indicated significant improvements for all self-efficacy items (all p's = 0.00). Writing competency, assessed in the intervention group using a primary trait scoring rubric (6 + 1 Trait Writing Model(®) of Instruction and Assessment), found significant differences in competency improvement on five of seven items. This pilot study demonstrated writing skills can improve in nontraditional undergraduate students with guided instruction. Further investigation with larger, culturally diverse samples is indicated to validate these results.