The Journal of the New York State Nurses' Association最新文献

The faculty practice partnership model provides a framework for collaboration between a practice setting and a university school of nursing. The model created between the Bergen County Department of Heath Services (BCDHS), the Office of Public Health Nursing (PHN) and Pace University's Lienhard School of Nursing (LSN) is one that supports faculty practice and student involvement in population-based activities. The partnership provides BCDHS with the assistance it needs to provide the three core functions of public health: assessment, assurance, and policy development. It provides LSN with a practice site where faculty members are able to maintain their clinical expertise, as well as a site for student clinical experiences and research. This article describes the partnership model and its accomplishments from both practice and educational perspectives.

Health care is more diverse than it has ever been. The point of care can be rural or urban, inpatient or outpatient, individual or community-focused. In this challenging, ever-changing environment, it is critical for nurses to have access to nursing research on the best way to provide care. The New York State Nursing Research Agenda was launched in 2001 as an ongoing action plan to facilitate the conduct, dissemination, and utilization of nursing research in New York. This article describes several initiatives that have been launched to implement that plan. Strategies for local and regional initiatives are outlined. Key to the success of these initiatives is the involvement of nurses at all levels of practice and in all healthcare arenas. All nurses are stakeholders because this is our science and our profession.

When caring for critically ill patients, critical care nurses work with technology every day. Technology and equipment malfunctions can have a profound effect on nurses' practice and self-image. In this article, a descriptive phenomenological methodology was chosen to explicate the experience of seven critical care nurses. While participants realized that machines might malfunction, they experienced surprise, shock, and feelings of being "let down" and inadequate when malfunctions occurred. They questioned their competence and felt malfunctioning technology jeopardized their credibility and professional image. These findings are useful when structuring educational sessions on technology and in facilitating a supportive environment for critical care nurses when technology malfunctions.

Research utilization and evidence-based practice are processes that require nurses to have research knowledge and skills. Yet many nurses are fearful of research and avoid reading nursing research studies or using research in their practice. Members of a hospital's Nursing Research Team developed nursing research self-study modules for use by the nursing staff. The goal of this innovative project was to enhance a nurse's ability to critically read nursing research studies and determine their usefulness for practice. As a result, it is hoped that nurses will be more knowledgeable about research and more comfortable participating in the evidence-based practice and research utilization processes. The development, implementation, and evaluation of nursing research self-study modules are described and implications for nursing practice identified.

Much of prenatal care is based on tradition and expert opinion rather than on sound scientific evidence. With the increased emphasis on providing evidence-based prenatal care, new research-based models are emerging. This article describes two new models of prenatal care delivery and the evidence supporting them. A model of reduced-frequency prenatal visits is adapted from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Expert Panel on Prenatal Care (1989) recommendations that healthy, pregnant women who are at low risk for pregnancy complications may attend fewer visits without negative consequences. Another emerging model of group prenatal care, CenteringPregnancy, integrates group support with prenatal care. It is important that healthcare providers are aware of these models in order to offer the highest quality, evidence-based care to pregnant women.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach that incorporates the best available scientific evidence, clinicians' expertise, and patients' preferences and values. Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt have developed the ARCC (Advancing Research and Clinical practice through close Collaboration) model for the purpose of implementing EBP. A pilot study was conducted to test the ARCC model at two acute-care sites. This article shares information learned from the pilot study about what is necessary for successful implementation of EBP in the acute-care setting. These essentials include identifying EBP champions, redefining nurses' roles to include EBP activities, allocating time and money to the EBP process, and creating an organizational culture that fosters EBP. In addition, practical strategies for implementing EBP are presented to encourage implementation of EBP.

A pilot program in gerontological nursing was developed for senior baccalaureate nursing students but could not be implemented due to lack of student interest. As a consequence, the authors conducted a descriptive survey research study to determine the knowledge base and attitudes of junior and senior baccalaureate nursing students toward older adults. A sample of 55 students was surveyed using two instruments: Palmore's revised Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ 1) and Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (KOP). While neither the junior or senior student group scored high on the FAQ 1, an analysis of variance revealed a significant difference between the groups in overall knowledge about the elderly. The mean KOP score of neither group indicated a high positive attitude toward the elderly and there was no significant difference between the groups in this area. The relationships between participants' demographic characteristics and KOP results also were explored. Findings support research indicating that nursing students often lack knowledge of the elderly and need opportunities to develop positive attitudes toward them. Implications are identified that relate to curriculum development, students, and faculty.

One of the goals of Healthy People 2010 is improved cognitive status of older adults. Preliminary research has identified gardening as an activity that may be cognitively protective. Clarification of gardening as a concept is a first step toward the development of theory that will enable nurses to develop interventions related to gardening. The purpose of this study was to describe the phenomenon of gardening. Using a phenomenological methodology, interviews with five older women were analyzed using Colaizzi's approach. Four themes emerged: "Gardening is challenge and work," "Gardening is connection," "Gardening is continuous learning," and "Gardening is sensory and aesthetic experience." The phenomenon of gardening is analogous to the relationship between a spider and its web, linking internal and external environments and providing support over a lifetime. It appears that the gardening experience, as an evolving lifelong process, sustains older women in their cognitive and spiritual development.

This pilot study explored the relationship between listening to preferred music and the behavioral responses of patients who are physically restrained. Thirty patients, ranging in age from 65 to 93, participated in one of three groups. The first group included patients who were out of restraining devices while listening to preferred music. Patients in the second group were out of restraining devices and not exposed to music. The third group comprised patients who were in restraining devices while listening to preferred music. Listening to preferred music had no significant effect on decreasing patients' negative behaviors or on increasing positive behaviors observed during the intervention phase of the study. The higher mean scores for positive behaviors and lower mean scores for negative behaviors for the first group may indicate some benefits to patients who are out of restraints and listening to preferred music.

Between January and June 2003, voluntary smallpox vaccination of healthcare workers and mandatory vaccination of military personnel was an important public health topic. This paper discusses the attitudes of nurses from two county public health departments in an upper-Midwestern state who were asked to volunteer to take the smallpox vaccine and to prepare to assist in the operation of possible mass immunization clinics. The responses of these healthcare professionals are compared to those of physicians and the general public. The public health nurses in this sample were less likely to view smallpox as a potential biological weapon than was the general public or other healthcare workers studied previously.