Endothelium-independent relaxant effect of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) on the isolated rabbit facial vein

PURPOSE: To identify nursing diagnoses and interventions applicable for post-acute-phase battered women. METHODS: Eight battered women were interviewed twice for 2 hours. Gordon's functional health patterns provided the framework for data collection. FINDINGS: Fifty-three nursing diagnoses and 52 nursing interventions were indicated in the data; 24 nursing diagnoses and 26 nursing interventions were present in all participants' data. CONCLUSIONS: With the use of comprehensive interventions, nurses can make a major contribution to society by enabling battered women to move to a more protected lifestyle.     

Relevance of NANDA and health promotion diagnoses to school nursing. National Association of School Nurses

This is a report of a national survey of 490 members of the National Association of School Nurses which described the relevance of 109 nursing diagnoses approved by NANDA (1992) and 29 health promotion (wellness) diagnoses developed by the authors. The relevance of these 138 nursing diagnoses for school nursing was determined by the percent of participants who checked "Yes" for the diagnostic categories they observed in their practice and for which they provided one or more interventions. More than half of the sample checked "Yes" for 67 NANDA diagnoses; health promotion diagnoses were checked "Yes" by 45% to 89% of the sample. The implications are that NANDA and health promotion diagnoses are relevant to school nursing and could readily be incorporated into practice to facilitate data collection that supports both the funding of school nurses and program development for children, families, and school staff.     

Teaching metaphors of student nurses

This research focused on exploring the metaphors nursing students use to express their experience of university teachers' practice. A social constructivist approach to meaning underlies the process of interpreting student language in this study. The following evolved as major research questions: What are the metaphors students use to describe teaching? How do these metaphors operate? The research concluded that: students readily use metaphors to describe their experiences of teaching within the nursing degree programme; there is a pattern to the choice of metaphors; some of these images function as incremental or constructive metaphors, extending understanding of what it means to teach; others support current understandings and reflect taken-for-granted notions of teaching. Specific metaphors used by students to describe teaching were contextually analysed. A number of them may offer teachers of nursing insight, into their craft. Metaphors such as teacher as umpire, teacher as student, teaching with distance and teaching the big picture may be useful images for teachers to think about to guide their practice.     

The efficacy of individualized computerized testing in nursing education

This study examined the effects of an individualized computerized testing system for baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in health assessment and obstetrics/women's health during a 3-year period. One hundred twenty-seven students participated in the study. The testing software, Pedagogue, was used to generate the computer tests, and the students took all quizzes on-line. The mean scores on computer tests in both courses were as good as, or better than, previous scores on paper-pencil forms of the tests (P < .05).     

A meaningful health assessment course for baccalaureate nursing students

In response to the challenge of teaching health assessment to large groups of entry-level BSN students with minimal experience in the health professions and a faculty belief that theory and practice are best actualized with small groups, a new health assessment course was implemented. Based on a philosophy of student accountability and self-direction in learning, faculty willingness to try new teaching strategies, and using computer testing, a successful course was developed. Students rotated through specific small group clinical labs while preparing with textbooks, study questions, videotapes, and computer-assisted instruction. Evaluation methods based on case application and the use of computer testing technology were implemented for this course. The result was increased satisfaction for the faculty and the students with enhanced application experiences supportive of the clinical practice.     

Development of a perioperative nursing diagnoses flow sheet

Traditionally, health care professionals in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases of care have used perioperative records that focus on the technical aspects of the care provided (eg, blood pressure, pulse measurements; equipment used) and leave room for only short narratives to document nursing care. Such formats often do not document the multitude of activities or interventions perioperative nurses provide. The question raised at the DePaul Health Center, St Louis, was: "Where do we document our nursing diagnoses and plan of care?" The response was to create a nursing diagnosis task force that investigated the feasibility of a form professional nurses could use in all phases of patient care. This investigation led to the development, implementation, and universal use of a perioperative nursing diagnoses flow sheet within the surgical services department.     

Results of NAON's Nursing Diagnosis Survey. A contribution to nursing's minimum data set

Use of nursing diagnoses allows nurses to name and classify the judgments nurses apply to analysis of a patient's assessment data. Such classification systems are an important part of the proposed Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS) (see sidebar on next page). This article describes the findings of NAON's survey of members' (N = 1500) use of nursing diagnoses in the care of patients undergoing surgery and major invasive procedures. The response rate for this survey was 37.5% (n = 563) and found to be representative of NAON's general membership. Seven nursing diagnoses were reported as primarily used during the care of surgical patients. Six nursing diagnoses were reported to be applied in the care of patients undergoing significant invasive procedures. Findings of this study may be used to contribute orthopaedic nurses' unique perspective to the formation of the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS).     

APC mutations in familial adenomatous polyposis families in the Northwest of England

This paper addresses a model for teaching the theory and practice of primary health care to nursing students at a South African university. The legal background for the inclusion of primary health care in undergraduate programmes is explained, as is the practical solution for clinical placements in a rural setting. An explanation is also provided for the development of clinical resources within the clinical field, and the paper concludes with a summary of the students' experience, thus showing how positive attitudes towards primary health care were fostered.     

Clinical experience with recombinant factor VIIa

This paper will critically review the factors that influence the teaching of theory and research to mental health nurses. Following a brief historical review it is asserted that current educational approaches fail to address the complexity and context-dependent nature of mental health nursing practice. The author then argues for a radical approach to education which will enable students and practitioners to engage critically in deconstructing and developing theories that illuminate and help us understand the multiple realities of our post-modern professional world. In conclusion, the author provides an example of a casework-based curriculum that emphasizes the ways in which clinical experience with clients in a range of contexts should be the main focus of knowledge and skill development for the emerging profession of mental health nursing.     

Moving beyond content validation of nursing diagnoses

TOPIC: Studies to establish construct and criterion-related validity of nursing diagnoses. PURPOSE: The overwhelming majority of previous studies addressed content validation by nurse experts. This paper describes strategies to move beyond content validation research to construct and criterion-related validation. SOURCES: The range of studies that should be conducted for development of nursing diagnoses are reviewed with examples drawn from the field of psychology. Existing studies on the diagnoses of ineffective breathing pattern, ineffective airway clearance and impaired gas exchange are used as examples. CONCLUSIONS: Many types of studies are needed for each nursing diagnosis. Increased funding and support for nursing diagnosis research will be facilitated by attention to the accuracy of nurses' diagnoses and outcomes of the diagnostic process.     

The influence of nursing diagnosis on information processing by undergraduate students

PURPOSE: To examine the influence of a nursing diagnosis course on the information processing by undergraduate students. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study conducted with two groups (experimental, n = 15; control, n = 22) of undergraduate nursing students, subjecting only one to a nursing diagnosis course. The students' ability to identify, cluster, and name clusters of relevant data were compared between and within groups. FINDINGS: After the course, the experimental group performed better than the control group in the three activities studied. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that the nursing diagnosis content in teaching favors clinical reasoning to determine the patient's nursing care.     

Transcultural nursing practice described by registered nurses and baccalaureate nursing students

Using Leininger's Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality as a framework, this research examined transcultural practices of nurses and students. A survey was administered to a convenience sample of registered nurses and senior baccalaureate students with 767 usable questionnaires returned. Neither group expressed confidence in their ability to care for culturally-diverse patients. Registered nurses (RNs) reported assessing cultural factors and modifying practices more frequently than did students. Respondents reported their beliefs about transcultural nursing were influenced by being with people of other cultures, their own personal values, and education. Analysis of the open-ended questions revealed two major themes. First, both nurses and students perceive an overwhelming need for transcultural nursing. Second, nurses and students respond to cultural challenges by modifying their care. Modifications are based on language and communication, pain perception and relief, religious and spiritual dimensions, gender and family roles, and other values. Results suggest that nurses and students are aware of culture, recognize that culture influences the care they provide, and modify their health teaching and nursing care based on culture. The use of a conceptual framework to help make modifications in care was not mentioned.     

The impact of Project 2000

The research study described here was commissioned by the English National Board to examine nursing in the context of Project 2000 implementation. The research team explored the impact of Project 2000 on students, managers and practitioners. Students and diplomates were perceived to be patient-oriented and holistic in approach; basic nursing care was identified as a central role of qualified nurses. Perceptions of nursing shifted as the course progressed to include health promotion, and research and theory as a basis for practice. Aspects of the course valued by students included the broader academic input, interpersonal skills, life sciences, supernumerary status and the challenging approach advocated by the course. Students were concerned about the timing of the biological science modules, which often did not coincide with their practice experiences. Students identified poor course organisation and poor teaching skills of some lecturers as areas for concern. Managers and practitioners identified students as potential agents of change who challenged traditional expectations of newly qualified nurses.     

Persistence: the key to nursing diagnosis development

Respiratory system evaluation and diagnosis is one basis of physiological assessment. Nurses perform independently and collaboratively in all areas of respiratory nursing, and there is a need to describe what it is they diagnose and how the diagnosis relates to the selected nursing interventions. Nursing diagnosis is an appropriate method to describe patients' responses to illness. Respiratory nurses in all educational, practice, and professional arenas have an opportunity to be involved in research that validates existing respiratory nursing diagnoses and promotes development of specific diagnoses that patients experience.     

Onychomycosis: strategies to reduce failure and recurrence

Nursing students often do not get the chance to practice the skills they need as nurses prior to graduation. Many of the required skills are difficult to teach using traditional classroom or clinical teaching methods. Peer leadership is one teaching method that may provide alternative learning opportunities for enhancing these professional nursing skills, and it encompasses the notions of peer teaching and peer supervision simultaneously. The purpose of this study was to describe what junior baccalaureate nursing students perceived as the benefits of a peer leadership experience, using Loving's Competence Validation Model as the theoretical framework. Twelve junior nursing students participated during their adult medical-surgical rotation and completed self-evaluations following the peer leadership experience. From analysis of these self-evaluations, responses were categorized into five perceived benefits: practice in prioritizing, enhancement of critical thinking skills, enhancement of technical skills, realization of peers as resources, and development of management skills.     

Assessing the clinical ethical competence of undergraduate medical students

At the University of Newcastle, health law and ethics is taught and assessed in each year of the five-year curriculum. However, the critical question for assessment remains: 'Does teaching ethics have a measurable effect on the clinical activity of medical students who have had such courses?' Those responsible for teaching confront this question each year they sit down to construct their assessment tools. Should they assess what the student knows? Should they assess the student's moral reasoning, that is, what decisions the student makes, and, how these decisions are justified, or should they assess what the student actually does when dealing with patients in the clinical setting, and how he or she does it? From 1982 to 1991, assessment at Newcastle was primarily aimed at determining the quality of the students' ethics knowledge base. This paper describes the strengths and limitations of a purely knowledge-based method of evaluation and why in 1992, we are now attempting to redefine and assess, what we call 'clinical ethical competence' in terms of how students actually apply this knowledge base in a controlled clinical context.     

EFSUMB tutorial: thermal and mechanical indices

According to the most recently available data presented in the Statistical Abstract of the United States 1994 (United States Bureau of the Census, 1994), 17,100 young Americans (15 to 44 years old) died in 1991 due to suicide. At no other time during the life span were suicide rates so high. Suicide among college and university students is estimated by some to be 50% higher than for other Americans of comparable age (Westefeld & Pattilo, 1987). Not only is suicide considered by many authors to be the number one health problem on the nation's campuses (Mathiasen, 1988), but the suicide rate for this population has tripled over the past 25 years (Hardin & Weast, 1989). Professional nursing students could perhaps be at an even higher risk for suicide than other college students. Manicini, Lavecchia, and Clegg point out that "[n]ursing students are more doubtful than other college students about their academic performance. They encounter stress in adjusting to a rigorous program of theory and practice. The reality is often far different from a prospective student's image of it" (cited in Lampkin, Cannon, & Fairchild, 1985, p. 148). Because of the longevity of contact hours spent with nursing students in both lecture and clinical milieus, nursing faculty are in a uniquely favorable position to identify and assess those students who appear to be at risk for suicide. In addition, as most nurse educators provide supportive relationships, rich with caring and trust for their students, distressed students are usually open to talking to a faculty member. If a suicidal risk is found during the assessment interview, the faculty member should then provide an immediate referral for further psychiatric evaluation and intervention. To assist faculty in the quick recall of the essential components of this helping process the acronym S.A.V.E. is used: 1. S: Suicidal behaviors. 2. A: Assessment interview. 3. V: Value student. 4. E: Evaluation-Referral.     

Heart transplantation and the nursing care of transplant patient]

Cultural and religious beliefs in Jordan do not allow male nursing students to practice in the female patients' wards, especially in maternity units. Yet a maternal and infant care nursing course is a required component of Jordan's four-year undergraduate nursing curriculum. Below, how a maternal/infant care course specific for male nursing students with the aim of teaching related but culturally appropriate nursing skills was developed.     

The time-related expression of p53 protein in human skin wounds--a quantitative immunohistochemical analysis

Failure to acknowledge ways of knowing in nursing education curricula other than linear reasoning hinders the development of the full extent of mental abilities brought to learning situations by nursing students. Nurse educators are challenged to develop creative methods to facilitate nursing students' intuitive thinking. In this article, a teaching strategy is described in which graduate students' exemplars of intuition in clinical practice are shared with undergraduate nursing students. Implications of using this teaching approach to demystify the intuitive process and address its legitimacy are discussed.