Worldwide Nursing Conference (WNC)

It was investigated to determine how effectively an individual would retain and recall information delivered to them approximately 6 months prior to cataract surgery. This information was delivered as part of the informed consent by the Doctor, and the legal consent was signed just prior to the cataract surgery starting.  The questionnaire was given to one group of patients before the surgery, and the same questionnaire was given to another group after the surgery was complete.

To assess the knowledge of primigravida women attending ruralhealth centers andselected hospital regarding the breast changes that they experience during pregnancy. Study design: A descriptive design was used in this study to identify the knowledge of the primigravida women about physiologic breast changes in the pregnancy. Method: A non-probabilitypurposive sampling technique was used to select samples. The data was obtained using Demographic proformaand Knowledge Questionnaire on breast changes. Results: The descriptive statistics showed that183 (89.7%) of primigravida women had poor knowledge regarding the breast changes during pregnancy and only 21 (10.3%) had good knowledge. Clinical implications: As a clinical implicate nurses may adopt the role ofeducatorsin influencing the knowledge of primigravida women regarding pregnancy and changes during pregnancy. She can make women aware about the importance of antenatal care for the woman and child during pregnancy. 

The Healthy Ager Program provides an interprofessional learning experience for health professions students at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas.  Using the Seamless Care Model of Interprofessional Education, faculty paired student teams with community dwelling older adults in order to teach collaboration skills as they provided patient-centered care. Qualitative analysis of student reflection journals revealed that the program met the four core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice as reported by an Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel in 2011 and supports the 2003 Institute of Medicine recommendations for health professions education.

The study describes the health maintenance practices and utilization of complementary and alternative therapies by nurses and nursing students from Canada, Hawaii and American Samoa. Forecasts of an ongoing nursing shortage coupled with a focus on healthy behavior provided an impetus to describe actual practices of self-care and use of alternative therapies. The study addresses the dearth of knowledge in this area. Nurses and students were asked to anonymously complete a two-part survey that enumerated their perspectives on alternative therapies usage and self-care. Indicators of self-care included sleep, nutrition, exercise, and time. Use of alternative therapies is an integral part of self-care for the nurses and students in the three study regions.

Objective: Despite growing evidence in the nursing literature that nurse-physician communication is strongly linked to positive patient outcomes and quality care, inter-professional collaboration remains problematic.  Ineffective nurse-physician communication is still prevalent and the underlying causes seem difficult to change. Background: Upon registration for an annual Nursing conference, participants were asked to provide a few words explaining why: "nurse-physician communication is sub-optimal at times".  Of the 350 conference participants, 187 nurses and physicians chose to respond to this question. Methods: Participant responses were regrouped into themes.  These themes highlight the factors that contribute to ineffective nurse-physician communication. Results: Multiple factors seem to contribute to ineffective nurses-physician communication.  Factors have been regrouped into professional, relational and environmental challenges. Conclusions:  Nurses and physicians are trained to communicate differently.  They also have very little understanding of the roles and responsibilities of one another.  Better communication and collegiality can be fostered via inter-professional exposure. Nursing education should also systematically train nurses to engage in deliberate, structured communication.

Rationalised economic cultures are characterized by a preoccupation with production efficiency and control of business practices through scientific management techniques. Nursing practice is profoundly affected by these techniques and rationalised nurse work environments threaten the well-being of nurses and patients. Healthcare managers pursue cost reduction by increasing productivity while employing the fewest nurses possible. As a result, nurses experience situations throughout their work day in which they lack sufficient time resources to meet all work demands. During these situations, decisions must be made regarding which activities will be completed and which will be left undone.  In economic terms this decision making process is called ‘implicit rationing of nursing care’. In quality and safety terms the end result of these decisions is called “missed careâ€.  Evidence suggests that implicit rationing may play an important role linking inadequate nurse staffing to adverse nurse and patient outcomes. What follows is a description of a network of researchers who have come together to pool ideas and resources to examine relationships between rationalized management practices, nursing care processes (staffing and implicit rationing), nurse sensitive outcomes, and a nations’ ability to address the health of their citizens.

Abstract:  Background—Prescribing of medicines has traditionally been a GP/medically dominated activity within the English National Health Service (NHS). However, since 1994, UK government policies have focused on expanding the prescribing remit to include nurses, pharmacists, podiatrists, physiotherapists and other non-medical health professionals. Such practice is known as Non-Medical Prescribing or NMP in England and Nurse Prescribing in many other countries. It has helped meet the demands on health care and increased the capacity of health services to deliver more accessible and higher quality care to patients. The provision of efficient access to medicines for patients by expanding the role of existing health care professionals has been evidenced to show an improvement in patient experience, patient safety, cost efficiencies and support of multi-disciplinary teams. The results are reduced risk of harm to the patient, enhanced patient experience and better compliance and monitoring of the therapeutic impact of medication and early identification of harms and risks.  Aim and Methods—Little evidence exists on the economic impact of the aforementioned policy. NHS Health Education England in partnership with i5 Health is undertaking a comprehensive economic review that examines the benefits of prescribing by nurses, pharmacists and other non-medical health professionals, in particular the support to patients across care settings. The North West of England has a longstanding history in the use of nurses and pharmacists to prescribe and manage medicines for the benefit of patients and organisations alike. The quantitative impact on patient outcomes and economics is tested through the use of an annual audit in the North West of clinical practice (Clinicians Audit) (n=19,358 patient episodes) and the use of i5 Health’s Big Data analytical capabilities. This paper sets out the clinical and financial impacts based on quantitative outcomes from the latest Clinicians Audit, the reach of Non-Medical Prescribing (NMP) across England and the educational implications for nurse training to reduce risk of poor practice, using case study examples in asthma and diabetes pathways. It sets out further evidence on how pharmacists and nurses use their prescribing skills to improve medication reviews resulting in improved adherence, identification and reduction of drug interactions and side effects and decrease drug wastage. Medication reviews were performed at 79% of appointments recorded in the Clinicians Audit with a reduction of non-adherence rates from 30% down to 6%.  Results and Conclusion—There is a 93% rate of episode completion by nurse prescribers and a positive correlation between NMP utilization and the reduction in surgical procedures e.g. below the-knee diabetic amputations. The study is being conducted by drawing on the work of others, engaging with individuals and focus groups and applying data analysis. It will contribute towards providing healthcare commissioners with a Decision Support System (DSS) to facilitate cost effective service redesign.