Survey of Skin-to-Skin Contact with Obstetrics and Pediatric Nurses

Skin-to-skin, or chest-to-chest, contact (SSC) between newborns and their mothers is known as kangaroo mother care. The physiological and psychological benefits of SSC for infants and mothers are well established. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends practicing SSC for term and preterm newborns. However, in Saudi Arabia, SSC is not practiced as widely as recommended. There is insufficient evidence of the nurses’ knowledge and attitudes regarding SSC in Saudi Arabia. The aims of this study were to describe and determine relationships between knowledge, education, beliefs/attitudes, and the implementation of SSC in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Thank You for Your Time and Kind Suggestion Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive data were collected from 40 nurses using an English-language version of a knowledge, beliefs/attitudes, education, and implementation questionnaire used by others. Results: The mean age of the nurses was 42.4 years (SD = 3.2), with a mean experience of 12 years (SD = 2.1). The mean total score of SSC knowledge was 13.6 (SD = 2.3), the mean of total score of attitudes/beliefs was 12.3 (SD = 3.1), the SSC education mean score was 17.1 (SD = 3.4), and the SSC implementation mean score was 17.0 (SD = 4.1). In total, 55% of the nurses were not sure of the impact of SSC on brain development in neonates, 45% could not interpret infants’ responses during SSC; 67% disagreed that it was the nurses’ responsibility to facilitate SSC, 37.5% were not aware of SSC guidelines, and 47% of the nurses had not received any continuing education on SSC in their units. Pearson correlations revealed a significant association between SSC implementation and nurses’ knowledge level (r = 0.297, p = 0.031), education (r = 0.85, p = 0.015), and beliefs (r = 0.31, p = 0.024). Conclusions: Once nurses have improved their knowledge, education, and beliefs/attitudes, SSC implementation may concomitantly increase. A continuing education program and clear guidelines are needed to promote SSC adoption in practice.

Threat Assessment in Community Colleges

Threat assessment and management in higher education is still in the early stages of development. Little is noted in the research literature about the practices of threat assessment teams in this environment, particularly in community colleges. To fill this knowledge gap, a random national sample of 15% (n = 148) of public community colleges were surveyed as to: (a) threat assessment practices, (b) continuing education needs, and (c) training delivery preferences. Lead threat assessment practitioners were surveyed from those institutions. A total of 113 participants returned a completed survey. This number represented a return rate of 76%. A post hoc power analysis reported an actual power (i.e., 1-β error probability) of 0.84. The professional breakdown of respondents was law enforcement/security (n = 52), college administration (n = 55) and other (n = 6). The vast majority (73%) of the community colleges operated with a formalized threat assessment team, yet 67% of respondents reported fewer than 40 hours of threat assessment training. The leading types of team composition were: (a) employees only (57%), and (b) mix of employees and outside personnel (32%). Most college threat assessment teams addressed more than just students as threat sources (69%). The top continuing education needs reported ranged from legal implications to advanced training of threat assessment and management. Inferential statistical analyses revealed that, in reference to their professional background, threat assessment practitioners similarly rank their: (a) continuing education needs, and (b) training delivery preferences (i.e., in person vs. online). Implications for both research and practice were discussed.

Effectiveness of the “Person First – Please” educational intervention for nurses in older people long-term care –protocol for a cluster RCT v1

Aim. To evaluate effectiveness of “Person First –Please” (PFP) intervention in supporting nurses’ collective competence in Person-centred Care (PCC) in Long-Term Care (LTC) of older people. Design. Cluster randomised controlled trial. Methods. Intervention group comprising nurses working on older people LTC will receive PFP Continuing Education (CE) intervention; control group will work as usual. The primary outcomes are nurses’ individual PCC competence and intervention’s effectiveness for collective competence. Secondary outcomes are PCC climate as perceived by nurses, residents and their families. Measurements are conducted three times (baseline, after PFP intervention and after 6-week follow-up) in both groups. Results. The study will provide evidence of PFP’s effectiveness and its influence on PCC climate of older people LTC. If effective, the educational intervention can be used to improve PCC and quality care for older people. Keywords Person-centred care, older people, long-term care, intervention, continuing education, collective competence

Virtual patient simulation to improve nurses’ relational skills in a continuing education context: a convergent mixed methods study

Background Effective provider-patient communication is crucial to the delivery of high-quality care. Communication roadblock such as righting reflex is widely observed among providers and can lead to relational disengagement. In previous work, nurses felt ill-equipped to communicate effectively with HIV-positive patients to support medication adherence. Providing nurses with continuing education opportunities to improve their relational skills is a major target for optimizing the quality of care. Virtual patient simulation is one promising strategy that needs to be evaluated among graduate nurses. This study aimed to assess the acceptability of a virtual patient simulation to improve nurses’ relational skills in a continuing education context. Methods We conducted a convergent mixed methods study by combining a quantitative pre-experimental, one-group post-test design and a qualitative exploratory study. We used convenience and snowball sampling approaches to select registered nurses (n = 49) working in Quebec, Canada. Participants completed an online sociodemographic questionnaire, consulted the automated virtual patient simulation (informed by motivational interviewing), and filled out an online post-test survey. Descriptive statistics (mean, SD, median, interquartile range) were used to present quantitative findings. From the 27 participants who completed the simulation and post-test survey, five participated in a focus group to explore their learning experience. The discussion transcript was subjected to thematic analysis. At the final stage of the study, we used a comparison strategy for the purpose of integrating the quantitative and qualitative results. Results Nurses perceived the simulation to be highly acceptable. They rated the global system quality and the technology acceptance with high scores. They reported having enjoyed the simulation and recommended other providers use it. Four qualitative themes were identified: motivations to engage in the simulation-based research; learning in a realistic, immersive, and non-judgmental environment; perceived utility of the simulation; and perceived difficulty in engaging in the simulation-based research. Conclusions The simulation contributed to knowledge and skills development on motivational interviewing and enhanced nurses’ self-confidence in applying relational skills. Simulation holds the potential to change practice, as nurses become more self-reflective and aware of the impact of their relational skills on patient care. Trial registration ISRCTN18243005, retrospectively registered on July 3 2020.

Assessment of stigma and prejudice in the organization of care networks for drug users

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess stigma and prejudice in the organization of the Psychosocial Care Network for drug users. Methods: this is a qualitative study, developed through Empowerment Assessment. The survey was conducted in a municipality in Rio Grande do Sul, with 42 network workers. For data collection, participant observation, semi-structured interviews and open forum were used. For data analysis, thematic analysis was used. Results: the network’s mission involved a proposal for care without prejudice and judgments for drug users. It was identified that the composition of the network with training in multidisciplinary residency and psychiatry facilitates achieving the mission, and among the difficulties, the challenges to overcome prejudice were analyzed. Strategies for continuing education, seminars, and user empowerment in the community are suggested. Final considerations: stigma and prejudice need to be problematized in the networks for the organization of more inclusive and rehabilitating psychosocial care.

Micro Credentialing in the Landscape of Higher Education

Focusing on micro credentials, which are shorter, industry-specific courses designed to demonstrate competencies in a specific skillset, this chapter aims to contribute by analyzing and assessing the use of micro credentialing in the higher educational landscape. The chapter will begin with an overview of micro course, focusing on their history and current use in higher educational institutions. Next, the chapter will assess the strengths, limitations, and impacts of micro courses. Finally, the chapter will conclude with a reflection on the lessons universities can learn from the existing structures of micro course programing with the aim of providing administrators, instructors, and educators insights into the impacts these courses could have on broader continuing education programs.