NursingConnections最新文献

A vital element of the assessment process is critical thinking; that is, linking assessment data to knowledge. Making links or constructing knowledge is difficult for students because of the complex skill and cognitive load that the assessment process generates and because of students' limited view of the clinical environment. Viewing learning from the cognitive psychological perspective provides insight into knowledge construction and offers suggestions for faculty who teach nursing students.

The concept of self-efficacy has been used widely as a model for examining health-promoting education in such areas as cardiac rehabilitation, smoking cessation, dietary modifications, pulmonary rehabilitation, and compliance with prescribed regimens. Consequently, self-efficacy has emerged as an essential concept in developing and implementing health promotion programs in advanced practice. Self-efficacy refers to an individual's perceived ability to perform a specific behavior. It is the mediator between knowledge and action, and it influences the selection of behavior, the environment in which the behavior occurs, and the amount of effort and perseverance expended on performing the behavior. This paper analyzes the concept of self-efficacy and suggests applications of self-efficacy in advanced-practice nursing.

Since 1994, the American Association for Higher Education Peer Review of Teaching Project has sought to popularize the notion that teaching is both a scholarly activity and community property to be shared with and critiqued by the larger academic community. In order to accomplish these goals, each of the three academic units at the twelve participating universities developed a pilot project that conformed to its own institutional, academic unit, and disciplinary culture. At a large Midwestern university, the academic units of mathematics, history, and nursing developed different projects. Each of these projects took account of the unit's specific culture, and this fact helps to account, in large part, for each project's success.

The purpose of this study was to identify how women described and evaluated their labor and delivery experience and what factors were related to their responses. Sixty Lamaze-prepared, married multigravidae, aged 21 to 37 years, participated in this qualitative field study. Detailed, open-ended tape-recorded interviews were conducted on the postpartum unit of a community hospital or in the women's homes early during the postpartum period. Women evaluated their labor and delivery experience according to how well they perceived they had managed their own childbirth performance. Women who managed well viewed childbirth as positive, whereas women who had difficulty or managed poorly viewed it as both positive and negative. Women who managed well thought their own performance and the nature of labor and delivery (physical aspects) went well; women who had difficulty thought labor and delivery and the performance of others went well, but women who managed poorly had problems identifying anything that went well. There was overall agreement that the baby was the best part of the experience and that pain and pushing were the worst parts. Since women's evaluation of their labor and delivery experience may be related to the quality of their subsequent mothering, it is important to enhance their perceptions of their own performance, and thus their evaluation of the childbirth experience.

Recent literature estimates that there are approximately 2 1/2 million nurses; of these a significant number may exhibit signs of codependency, a behavior pattern that impedes an individual's ability to relate to others on mature level. Codependency develops in dysfunctional family systems and manifests itself in compulsive behaviors that make life painful and work emotionally difficult. Often, constructive communication is difficult as codependent persons tend to feel low self-esteem and low self-worth. Nursing students may exhibit characteristic codependency traits among fellow students in the classroom, in the clinical setting, and in interactions with faculty. Nurse educators, through their own self-awareness, introspection, and knowledge of the behaviors and characteristics of codependency, can facilitate more effective communication with all nursing students to promote healthier interactions and relationships. Techniques to modify one's method of interacting with others have clear potential for improving professional as well as personal relationships.

This exploratory descriptive study examines variables that affect the job satisfaction of psychiatric clinical nurse specialists (CNSs). A convenience sample of 52 psychiatric CNSs revealed a moderate amount of job satisfaction as indicated on the Mueller/McCloskey Satisfaction Scale. CNSs employed outside hospitals and those who had a private practice component to their jobs had greater mean job satisfaction than those who were employed in the hospital setting and did not have a private practice besides this work (p = 0.0188). Hospital executives are urged to look at the structures of their organizations to enhance the job satisfaction of these advanced nurses who work in a hospital.

Even though Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the United States, they face difficulties in accessing the health care system because of perceived health care needs, culture, income, language and lack of health insurance benefits. As a result, children of Hispanic parents suffering from such ailments as viral and bacterial infections, upper respiratory infections and gastroenteritis may not be treated at all or may be treated in the home. It is unclear as to how much a role traditional, cultural practices continue to play in their health care and how long medical treatment may be delayed. The purposes of this exploratory pilot study were to examine the types of cultural health care provided by Mexican-American mothers to their ill children at home, the extent of the child's illness and the time frame involved that determined the mother's need to seek medical attention. The mothers' use of lay healers and/or folk remedies prior to seeking medical attention for their child was also investigated. Implications and recommendations for culturally-relevant and culturally-competent care, and sensitive health education are presented.