Richard C. MacIntyre

Complementary and alternative medicine and HIV/AIDS part II: Selected literature review

People with HIV/AIDS are using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to improve general health, prevent opportunistic infections, treat symptoms, and reduce side effects from biomedical treatments. This paper reviews the research and narrative literature on CAM use in people with HIV/AIDS and covers (1) nutrition; (2) exercise; (3) traditional and ethno-medicine; (4) miscellaneous products; and (5) psychosocial interventions.

Common themes in clinical education partnerships.

The concurrent nursing and faculty shortages continue to be critical issues for the nations health care system. As academic nursing programs struggle with maintaining and increasing enrollment in the midst of a faculty shortage, one solution is to expand the facultys capacity through innovative academic-service partnerships. Schools and clinical partners identified as having implemented innovative partnerships were invited to participate in this descriptive study. Site visitations to schools in Florida and Texas were conducted to gain in-depth knowledge of the clinical education model, the academic-service partnership, and the strengths and challenges associated with planning, implementing, and sustaining programs. Four underlying features were common across the successful implementation: supportive relationships, goodness of fit, flexibility, and communication. Consideration of the four features will be useful as nursing programs and their clinical partners are developing, implementing, and evaluating new models for increasing educational capacity and lessening the nursing shortage.

An Analysis of Partnership Performance: The St. Johns Mercy Medical Center–Saint Louis University School of Nursing Dedicated Education Unit Project

The purpose of this article is to analyze the St. Johns Mercy Medical Center (SJMMC)-Saint Louis University School of Nursing (SLUSON) dedicated education unit (DEU) project for partnership effectiveness. The DEU, an innovative and collaborative academic-service partnership, reconceptualizes the role of the faculty and staff nurse in the clinical educational process. In a DEU, the staff nurse provides the clinical instruction to the student, and the faculty member coaches the staff nurse on the teaching-learning process. Rather than explore the effectiveness of the DEU as an innovative clinical pedagogy, this article analyzes the relationship between the academic and service institutions for strategic effectiveness. The analysis is based on themes found across three successful and distinct academic partnerships and other evaluative models from business, government, and alliance research. The themes and models provide the frameworks needed to analyze the SJMMC-SLUSON academic-service partnership for structure, process, and outcomes. This analysis can serve as a guide for the development of academic-service partnership practices to facilitate successful, sustainable, and replicable partnerships that benefit both institutions.

Assessing Protective Factors Against Drug Abuse Among High School Students: Self-Control and the Extended Parallel Process Model

&NA; The aim of this study was to assess determinant behavioral factors for drug abuse among high school students based on the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM). Self‐control components were also assessed. A sample of 176 governmental high school students participated in this survey. Information was collected individually through completion of a researcher‐designed questionnaire. The results suggested that the EPPM theoretical variables of perceived severity and perceived self‐efficacy and an additional variable, self‐control, were related to behavior intentions against substance abuse (r squared = 0. 35; F = 17.99; p = 0. 000). Self‐control, perceived self‐efficacy, and perceived susceptibility were related to attitudes against substance abuse (r squared = 0.27; F = 9.09; p = 0. 000). This study showed that self‐control; attitudes against drug abuse, and peer resistance skills were related to adapting the protection motivation process (X2 = 21.15; P < 0. 001). Including self‐control as a complementary factor within the EPPM could be effective for designing primary drug abuse prevention programs and predicting pre drug abuse related behaviors. More work is needed to determine whether designs for drug abuse resistance education might be improved if measures of self‐control were integrated into EPPM.

Treatment of Anemia in Patients With HIV Infection—Part 2: Guidelines for Management of Anemia

The key treatment goal for managing anemia in patients infected with HIV is to maintain an improved or normal hemoglobin level. Whenever possible, the identification and treatment of the underlying cause of anemia is the primary therapeutic strategy. After excluding other etiologies, the Nursing Guidelines Committee for Anemia in Patients With HIV Infection has recommended that patients with mild asymptomatic anemia (hemoglobin level = 1 g/dl below the lower limit of the normal range) receive nutritional support and more frequent screening. Recombinant human erythropoietin (epoetin alfa) therapy is an appropriate treatment option for patients with symptomatic mild anemia or moderate anemia (hemoglobin level = 2 g/dl below the lower limit of the normal range). An immediate blood transfusion may be required under specific instances for patients with severe anemia (hemoglobin level less than or equal to 8 g/dl).

Treatment of anemia in patients with HIV infection, Part 1: The need for adequate guidelines.

Anemia in HIV-infected individuals, still a common hematologic complication in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era, is associated with shortened survival, increases in the rate of disease progression, and reduction in quality of life. Based on a thorough review of the literature, guidelines were developed for the assessment, diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of anemia in patients with HIV/AIDS by a consensus committee consisting of nurses from academia and clinical practice. A major goal of this committee is to increase awareness within the nursing community of the prevalence of anemia in HIV-infected patients and its impact on their lives. Anemia developed in close to 90% of HIV-infected patients before the introduction of HAART, and it is still found in up to 46% of patients in the HAART era. Another goal is to encourage screening for anemia and the adaptation of a proposed classification system of anemia based on a graded decrease in hemoglobin levels.