Christine Fardellone

Leadership behaviors of frontline staff nurses.

BACKGROUND A recommendation in the Institute of Medicines report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, challenges the nursing profession to enhance nursings leadership role in health care redesign. METHOD This descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study examined the self-perceived leadership behaviors of RNs enrolled in a clinical ladder career pathway. A self-report survey was conducted using the Leadership Practice Inventory and a demographic questionnaire. RESULTS Significant associations between continuous and categorical demographic factors and ladder levels were reported. Nurses with more experience showed fewer leadership behaviors. CONCLUSION Leadership development is necessary for nurses in all areas of practice. The findings from this study provide evidence of the strengths and weaknesses in leadership behaviors of staff clinical RNs who often make frontline decisions for patients.

Leadership initiatives to disseminate the institute of medicine's future of nursing report.

This article discusses the critical role professional nurses will play and the tremendous impact nursing education and leadership development will have on the future of health care, as outlined in the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s report, “The future of nursing: Leading change, and advancing health.” Six doctorate of nursing practice students from Case Western Reserve University analyzed the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report and developed projects to disseminate key components to selected organizations. The students developed two primary initiatives. One initiative involved presenting the report to various professional organizations, including a local chapter of an international honor society, a specialty organization, and a health care organization. The second initiative included interviewing several nurse leaders within a large multihospital health system, and a nursing leader in academia to determine (a) the level of awareness about the IOM report and (b) strategies these leaders have implemented or envisioned to address the report recommendations.

Smoking Marijuana and the lungs

www.thoracic.org C LI P A N D C O P Y The harmful effects of tobacco smoke are well known, but we have less information about the health effects of marijuana. Few research studies have been done since marijuana remains illegal in most countries, and since marijuana can be inhaled in many ways (e.g. water pipes, joints, vaping etc). It is likely that in frequent users (and some less frequent users), marijuana harms the lungs, and that there is not a safe way to smoke marijuana.