Vicki D. Lachman

Managing Nursing Student Incivility in the Classroom, Clinical Setting, and On-Line

The concept of incivility in education is not new; however, it has generated much discussion at national conferences, faculty meetings, and in the press. What is disturbing to some nursing educators is the frequency of incivility being witnessed in daily encounters by faculty who teach students in t

The Benefits of a Leadership Program and Executive Coaching for New Nursing Academic Administrators: One College's Experience

Despite attention given to the nursing shortage and now the nursing faculty shortage, what is perhaps less visible but equally critical are the pending retirements of most of the current cadre of academic nursing administrators in the next decade. With only 2.1% of current deans, directors, and department chairs in 2006 aged 45 years or younger, there may be a pending crisis in leadership development and succession planning in our nursing schools and colleges. This article describes an innovative leadership development program for largely new nursing academic administrators, which combined a formal campus-based leadership symposia and executive coaching. This article is particularly useful and practical in that actual case studies are described (albeit modified slightly to protect the identity of the individual administrator), providing a real-life narrative that rarely makes its way into the nursing academic administration literature. The executive coaching focus is very sparsely used in nursing academia, and this colleges success using this professional development strategy is likely to become a template for other institutions to follow.

Continuing the Dialogue: Reducing Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws from 21 to 18

&NA; The purpose of this paper is to examine both sides of the debate revolving around the issue of reducing the minimum legal drinking age law from age 21 to 18 years of age. Ethical considerations surrounding the issue are offered. The current 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act (MLDA 21) has been shown to save lives. However, in 2008 the major supporters of reducing the minimum legal drinking age laws from 21 to 18 issued a call to dialogue. The Amethyst Initiative and Choose Responsibility have spearheaded opposition to MDLA 21. They call for a public dialogue about the ineffectiveness of MLDA 21 laws; whereas proponents of MLDA 21 laws provide evidence‐based data that the MLDA 21, laws save lives. The authors provide arguments in opposition to reducing the age requirements of the MLDA 21 laws and present ethical considerations that represent both sides of the issues. The authors conclude that in view of the adverse consequences of alcohol‐related traffic injuries/fatalities among youth ages 15–20, continuation of the dialogue is warranted.

Stress Management a Personal and Professional Skill

Stress management helps us survive and thrive as human beings and as professional nurses. This article focuses on developing stress resilient characteristics and changing Type E behavior. Stress management is a combination of traits and skills that if developed and practiced can bring the caretaker effective coping strategies.