Julia Shaw-Kokot

An integrative review: fatigue among nurses in acute care settings.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine current research related to nurse fatigue and identify effective prevention strategies. BACKGROUND: Work-related fatigue negatively affects patient safety and nurses’ well-being and increases employer costs. Preventing fatigue and minimizing its negative consequences require knowledge of the contributing factors if effective interventions are to be designed and implemented. METHODS: This review targeted original research (2002-2013) examining fatigue among nurses working in acute care settings. RESULTS: Nurses experience high rates of fatigue. Shifts longer than 12 hours contribute to increased fatigue and errors, but the evidence was inconsistent with regard to age and fatigue level. Individual lifestyle, unit culture, and organization policies influence the prevalence and intensity of work-related fatigue. CONCLUSIONS: Preventing work-related fatigue requires multifaceted approaches involving the organization, the clinical unit, and the individual.

Dissemination of research into clinical nursing literature

AIM The purpose of our study was to describe the dissemination of research into the clinical nursing literature. BACKGROUND The literature provides a means of transferring knowledge from a research study through citations of the work by other authors. DESIGN This was a citation analysis study to explore the dissemination of research into the clinical nursing literature, beginning with the publication of an original research study and including all of the citations to that article through 2009. METHODS The authors searched five academic nursing research journal titles, using CINAHL, for original research reports that had clinical relevance and were published between 1990-1999. The search process yielded a final data set of 28 research articles. For each of the articles, the authors searched three databases, CINAHL, Web of Science(®) and Google Scholar, to determine the citation patterns from the date of publication to August 2009. RESULTS All of the research studies were cited in articles published in clinical journals although there was a wide range in the number of citations, from 3-80. The 28 research articles had a total of 759 citations; 717 (94.5%) of those citations were in articles published in clinical nursing journals. The median length of time between publication of the original study and the first citation was 1.5 years. Some of the studies were still being cited for 18 years after publication of the original work. CONCLUSIONS All of the original research reports examined in this study were cited in articles in clinical journals, disseminating the research beyond the original work to reach clinicians. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Clinical nursing journals keep readers up-to-date and informed about new practices in nursing and serve another important role: they disseminate research that is clinically relevant by publishing original studies and papers that cite research reports.

Patient-reported symptoms and quality of life in adults with acute leukemia: a systematic review.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES Systematically summarize findings from research conducted on adult acute leukemia survivors as they relate to symptoms and quality of life (QOL). 
 DATA SOURCES Systematic review of the literature from 1990–2013 found in the PubMed, PsycINFO®, EMBASE, and CINAHL® databases, as well as manual searches. 
 DATA SYNTHESIS The review identified 16 quantitative studies and 1 qualitative study published from 1990–2013 that used a self-reported QOL or symptom questionnaire. Fatigue was the most commonly assessed and reported symptom, followed by depression. 
 CONCLUSIONS Acute leukemia and its treatment have a significant impact in all QOL domains. Future studies should include longitudinal research, more than one recruitment site, increased minority representation, and home-based exercise interventions as ways to improve all domains of QOL. 
 IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING This review increases awareness of commonly reported symptoms faced by adults with acute leukemia. Oncology nurses are central in monitoring and reporting symptoms to the interdisciplinary team that may contribute to changes in function, with the overall goal of optimizing QOL over time. 


Preparing Staff to Work at a Single Service Desk

This column will describe approaches to staff training for a single service desk–the setting, background, service goals, training objectives, training plans, evaluations, and next steps. Given that the service center is our users’ on-site and off-site gateway to the entire range of library resources and services, developing and implementing effective training has been the library staff’s greatest challenge. Colleagues at other libraries that had previously adopted single service desks told us that training was critical to success and was a major challenge. Evaluations during the first year of operation have proved the need for ongoing training improvements, and it is expected that training will continue to be the number one challenge. We hope that our experiences will help others build staff training and development programs, regardless of the scope of services.

Managing large-volume literature searches in research synthesis studies

BACKGROUND Systematic reviews typically require searching for, retrieving, and screening a large volume of literature, yet little guidance is available on how to manage this volume. PURPOSE We detail methods used to search for and manage the yield of relevant citations for a mixed-methods, mixed research synthesis study focused on the intersection between family life and childhood chronic physical conditions. METHODS We designed inclusive search strings and searched nine bibliographic databases to identify relevant research regardless of methodological origin. We customized searches to individual databases, developed work-arounds for transferring large volumes of citations and eliminating duplicate citations using reference management software, and used this software as a portal to select citations for inclusion or exclusion. We identified 67,555 citations, retrieved and screened 3,617 reports, and selected 800 reports for inclusion. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS Systematic reviews require search procedures to allow consistent and comprehensive approaches and the ability to work around technical obstacles.

Impact factors of nursing journals: what nurses need to know.

Impact factors (IFs) are scores based on the frequency with which articles in a journal have been cited in other journals during a 2-year or 5-year period. Impact factors vary across disciplines and even within fields because of differences in citing behaviors, types of publications, and other factors. Nurses need to understand IFs and the implications for them as authors, particularly in light of the small number of nursing journals with IFs. This article describes journal IFs, the current state of IFs for nursing journals, and considerations in selecting a journal for submission of an article.

Evaluation of heart failure websites for patient education.

Eight of 10 people use the Internet to find health information. Considering the prevalence of heart failure (HF), there are many websites dedicated to patient education, disease management, and symptom prevention of HF. However, some of these websites may not offer accurate and up-to-date information. The purpose of this project was to evaluate websites for use by patients with HF by examining their credibility using Health on the Net standards, content, and readability. Based on the evaluations, 5 websites were identified for use in patient education. All of the websites included essential content on HF, had an average reading level between the eighth and ninth grades, were easily navigated, and offered another supplement to reading such as an audio version. These 5 websites could be recommended by advanced practice nurses and other nurses in the emergency department to patients who want to learn more about HF.

A Systematic Review of Psychometric Properties of Health-Related Quality-of-Life and Symptom Instruments in Adult Acute Leukemia Survivors.

Background: Acute leukemia represents 4% of cancer cases in the United States annually. There are more than 302 000 people living with acute and chronic leukemia in the United States. Treatment has been shown to have both positive and negative effects on health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Objective: The aims of this study were to examine psychometric properties of symptom and HRQOL instruments and to provide implications for the assessment in adults with acute leukemia relevant to clinical practice and future research. Methods: Systematic literature search was conducted from 1990 to 2014 using electronic databases and manual searches. Psychometric studies were considered eligible for inclusion if (1) the psychometric paper was published using at least 1 HRQOL or symptom instrument, and (2) adults with acute leukemia were included in the sample. Studies were excluded if the age groups were not adults, or if the instrument was in a language other than English. Results: Review identified a total of 7 instruments (1 cancer generic HRQOL, 2 symptom related, 3 HRQOL combined with symptom questions, and 1 disease specific). The most commonly used instrument was the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30, followed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Fatigue. Conclusions: An acute leukemia diagnosis can have a significant impact on HRQOL. Our recommendations include using both an HRQOL and symptom instrument to capture patient experiences during and after treatment. Implications for Practice: The availability of comprehensive, valid, and reliable HRQOL and symptom instruments to capture the experiences of adults with acute leukemia during and after treatment is limited.