Debra M. Wolf

Can Nurses Impact Patient Outcomes Using a Patient-centered Care Model?

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine if nurses, using patient-centered care (PCC), affect patient satisfaction, perceptions of nursing care, and quality outcomes. Background: The Institute of Medicine proposed PCC as 1 of 6 national quality aims, whereas the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services highlighted integration of PCC as 1 of 12 actions for quality improvement. Methods: A total of 116 patients were randomized into an intervention (PCC) or control group. Patients who were to receive PCC were called before admission and cared for by nurses who trained to administer/practice PCC. Control patients received usual care. Both groups completed questionnaires and received postdischarge calls. Length of stay, falls, infections, and adverse events were measured to assess quality of care. Results: No significant differences were found between groups for length of stay, infection, falls, postoperative complications, quality of care, satisfaction level, or perceptions of nursing care. Conclusions: Patient-centered care did not affect patients level of satisfaction or quality of care. However, findings yielded clinically relevant results regarding patient/staff responses.

Mentoring and coaching: a model guiding professional nurses to executive success.

Although many nurses aspire to executive positions, they lack the knowledge, support, and guidance to handle the challenges. To succeed at the executive level, ongoing deliberate skill development coupled with support is crucial across a nurse’s career trajectory. This article introduces a model emphasizing the importance of mentoring and/or coaching for the aspiring executive nurse leader.

Community Hospital Successfully Implements erecord and Cpoe

Despite media attention on converting the nations paper-based medical record systems to electronic systems, few hospitals, and even fewer community hospitals, have done so. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center St. Margaret has converted to a comprehensive electronic health record system, known as eRecord, in a short time. The authors describe key factors that were critical to the success of the conversion, along with positive results on quality of care.

Follow Me, Like Me, Tweet Me! Implementing Social Media Into Occupational Health

Occupational health nurses can advance their professional practices through virtual platforms (e.g., social media and mobile applications). Virtual platforms allow occupational health nurses to disseminate occupational safety and health information efficiently to employees, families, and other stakeholders. Occupational health nurses exchange information with employees, enhancing communication and disseminating appropriate and accurate safety and health information to workers and their families. This article assists occupational health nurses in understanding how to use social media and other mobile applications to enhance their practices.

Reducing Commercial Truck Driver BMI Through Motivational Interviewing and Self-Efficacy:

Obesity is recognized as a national and global health epidemic. Commercial truck drivers (CTDs) have a higher obesity rate and lower life expectancy compared with the general population. CTDs work sedentary jobs with long hours that pose barriers to healthy eating and regular exercise. An evidenced-based practice (EBP) change project that used motivational interviewing (MI) and education regarding diet and exercise over a 4-week period was found to have a positive impact on CTDs behavior. Results revealed an increase in aggregated self-efficacy for weight loss (14.8%, exceeding the benchmark of 11%). For aggregated body mass index (BMI), CTDs lost a mean of 0.65 kg/m2, over a 4-week period which was statistically significant at p = .0001. The results suggest a short-term MI intervention can be effective when implemented as a clinical standard for CTDs.

Boot Camp for Occupational Health Nurses Understanding Social Media

Social media is a buzzword frequently referred to in marketing materials, general media, and personal conversations. Although many refer to the term social media, some individuals do not understand its meaning or how it affects their daily lives at work and home. Since the expansion of the Internet to web 2.0, multiple platforms of communication occur virtually through various social media. Understanding and learning how to use these platforms are essential to stay connected with friends, family, and colleagues; advance connections to professional organizations; and extend educational opportunities. This article presents basic information for occupational health nurses to improve their understanding of social media and how to communicate virtually using different platforms safely and securely.

Nursing professional development specialists as change agents and innovators.

SPECIALISTS AS CHANGE AGENTS AND INNOVATORS As health care continues to evolve given a new era of health reform, health mandates, and changes in health regulations, so must the nursing professional development (NPD) specialist. Reexamining the NPD scope of practice while expanding the existing boundaries, roles, and responsibilities of the NPD specialist was a critical step that the Task Force charged with developing the NPD Scope and Standards of Practice (National Nursing Staff Development Organization and American Nurses Association, 2010) recently completed. As the Task Force began its work, the need for change soon became evident as individual members reflected on their current practice. The individual experiences, strengths, and knowledge levels of each task forcemember were instrumental in identifying the challenges that NPD specialists were facing (e.g., technology integration such as electronic health records or smart pumps at the point of care) and the effect that new regulations were having on the nursing process (e.g., Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services core measures). The Task Force discussed how nurses were being required to change their practice in a manner that was more reactive than proactive. The goal of the Task Force was to provide the NPD specialist with a scope of practice that supported change in a proactive manner that would have an effect on how theNPD specialist facilitated lifelong learning and supported staff competency and proficiency. The Task Force initially noted the fluid boundaries that existed between the practice and the learning environments. Nursing professional development specialists must understand the environment inwhich they educate nursing professionals. For example, a practice environment in which learning may occur may be a hospital or long-term care facility, where other constraints (such as time and/or tasks) will affect the learner’s ability to be open to new content or be able to apply new content to practice. A learning environment could be any in which educational activities take place, such as a virtual classroom, a physical classroom, or a simulation laboratory. The newly defined scope of responsibility for NPD specialists was developed to meet the continuously evolving demands of the practice setting. Based on the environment and the position of an NPD specialist, the scope of responsibility could include career development, educational program management responsibilities, or compliance and leadership.With the integration of electronic health records, for example, many NPD specialists are being asked to support the educational needs of clinicians in making the transition to this new form of documentationwhile also being part of the group that leads the change. The former edition of the Scope and Standards of Nursing Professional Development (ANA, 2000) listed the roles of the staff development specialist, but those roles have changed as nursing has made advances, the venues in which NPD specialists are employed have moved beyond academia or acute care, and the practice has become more multifaceted. Multitasking activities with equal importance is an everyday occurrence. Frequently, the NPD specialist is asked to be an educator as well as a facilitator of a newly defined initiative within a healthcare setting, such as meeting the needs set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to address core measures or leading the nursing staff in implementing evidence-based practice. Today, the NPD specialist is considered an intricate part of the healthcare team, with multiple roles and responsibilities. Nursing professional development specialists need to take a leading role in educational reform. To lead, the nurse in professional development needs to understand the health reform that is guiding change and to be at the forefront of knowledge and technology. With graduate-level preparation, NPD specialists will be better equipped for the lifelong learning environment. Obtaining certification through national programs helps prepare NPD specialists to meet core competencies such as accepting leadership roles and managing projects while evaluating programs for impact and outcomes. Nursing professional development specialists must convey a passion for what they do and for the profession of nursing by guiding nurses (through example) to grow and advance in the profession. As knowledge of the learning process has grown and validation of that process continues tomature and develop, JNSD Scope and Standards

Extending Care: Voice Technology

Since the beginning of time, communication has revolutionized our lives and molded our future. Individuals have always possessed a natural desire to bridge the gaps between each other to communicate more efficiently and effectively than ever before. From prehistory to the twenty-first century, the human race has used its voice to convey thoughts, to inspire, and to imagine. With each passing generation, speech has facilitated the transmission of information and knowledge. Experiences passed on through speech have become increasingly sophisticated over time, allowing humans to adapt to new environments with greater speed and ease.