Type your narrative-style documentation for each section of the assignment into the corresponding dialogue boxes below. When you are ready to submit your documentation, ‘Save As’ with this title format: “[LastName_FirstName] Shadow Health Documentation Template – Comprehensive – NURS 6512”
Comprehensive Assessment
Vitals
Health History
Identifying Data
General Survey
Reason for Visit
History of Present Illness
Medications
Allergies
Medical History
Health Maintenance
Family History
Social History
Mental Health History
Review of Systems – General
Objective
Comprehensive Assessment Tina Jones Shadow Health Transcript, Subjective, Objective & Documentation
This comprehensive shadow health assessment of Tina Jones enables the student to master the art of patient data collection, with head to toe history taking and physical assessment.
The process is highly involving, time-consuming and may require one to complete in different sessions, yet the goal is to be able to assess a patient in one sitting, taking as minimal time as possible. We can help you complete this and other shadow health assessments as and when needed, with excellent scores assured.
Hello, my name is Tammy. I will be conducting an interview and a physical exam.
Greet
07/22/20 5:37 PM EDT
Hey.
What is your name?
Question
07/22/20 5:37 PM EDT
Tina Jones.
What is your date of birth?
Question
07/22/20 5:37 PM EDT
February 17th.
How old are you?
Question
07/22/20 5:43 PM EDT
I’m 28.
What brings you into the clinic today?
Question
07/22/20 5:43 PM EDT
I came in because I’m required to have a recent physical exam for the health insurance at my new job.
Do you have any current health problem?
Question
07/22/20 5:44 PM EDT
I don’t have anything specific going on today. I mean, I still have asthma and diabetes, but both of those are under control. I’m taking good care of my health these days.
What is your new job?
Question
07/22/20 5:44 PM EDT
I’m going to be an Accounting Clerk at Smith, Stevens, Stewart, Silver & Company. I’ll be helping a more experienced accountant with her clients, and then eventually I’ll get more responsibility, and build my own client list. I start in two weeks–I’m really excited!
That is great.
Empathize
07/22/20 5:45 PM EDT
Thanks.
When was your last physical exam?
Question
07/22/20 5:45 PM EDT
Let’s see . . . I had two doctor’s appointments earlier this year. About five months ago, I came in here for a check-up, and the nurse practitioner got me on metformin. Then a few weeks later I saw a gynecologist for a pap smear.
What did your gynecologist say?
Question
07/22/20 5:45 PM EDT
She said everything looked good, except that I had PCOS, which the nurse here had said was possible. She started me on birth control, and it seems to be helping things.
How often do you take birth control?
Question
07/22/20 5:48 PM EDT
I take it every morning, with breakfast.
What is the name of the birth control pill you took?
Question
07/22/20 5:49 PM EDT
They’re called Yaz.
Has your menstrual cycle improved since taking Yaz?
Question
07/22/20 5:50 PM EDT
Now that I’m on the pill I’m getting my period every month.
That is great. I am glad you are having your period every month.
Empathize
07/22/20 5:50 PM EDT
Thanks.
How long have you had asthma?
Question
07/22/20 5:51 PM EDT
I’ve had asthma a long time. . . since I was really little.
What age were you diagnosed with asthma?
Question
07/22/20 5:51 PM EDT
My doctor told me when I was pretty little… I think I was about two and a half? I used to have a lot of trouble with asthma attacks back then.
I am sorry about the experience.
Empathize
07/22/20 5:52 PM EDT
Thanks.
How do you manage your asthma?
Question
07/22/20 5:52 PM EDT
I try to avoid things that give me breathing problems, but when my asthma starts to act up, I just use my inhaler.
What are your triggers for asthma?
Question
07/22/20 5:53 PM EDT
Being around cats is the worst, but dust and running up stairs can make my breathing bad, too. I haven’t had a full asthma attack in years, though.
It is important to stay away from triggers.
Educate
07/22/20 5:54 PM EDT
Thanks for telling me.
What happens when you are around dust?
Question
07/22/20 5:54 PM EDT
I used to have a reaction when I was in a dusty house for a long time. . . I would get allergies, like sneezing and stuff, and then my asthma would act up. But that hasn’t happened since I got my daily inhaler.
What inhaler do you use?
Question
07/22/20 5:59 PM EDT
The daily inhaler is Flovent, and the rescue inhaler is Proventil.
How often do you use Flovent?
Question
07/22/20 6:00 PM EDT
Twice a day.
When did you most recently use the Flovent inhaler?
Question
07/22/20 6:01 PM EDT
I use my Flovent inhaler two times a day.
When did you last use your inhaler?
Question
07/22/20 6:03 PM EDT
I used my Flovent inhaler this morning–I have to take it twice a day. My albuterol. . . I’ve maybe used it twice since I came in with those asthma problems. Once three months ago, and before that it had been months, too.
How much Albuterol do you use?
Question
07
I have a few friends I’ve known since middle or high school, and we’re all pretty close. Plus I have my friends from church.
What is your relationship like with your family?
Question
07/22/20 7:39 PM EDT
Things are pretty good between all of us–we’re a tight knit family. I think we’re pretty special, the way we all get along.
That is great.
Empathize
07/22/20 7:39 PM EDT
Thanks.
Are you involved in church?
Question
07/22/20 7:39 PM EDT
Yeah. We go to First Baptist, and we do a lot with our church community. We socialize before and after church, and I go to Bible study on Wednesdays, too.
Are you feeling stressed?
Question
07/22/20 7:40 PM EDT
I’m feeling really good lately. . . not stressed at all.
How do you cope with stress?
Question
07/22/20 7:40 PM EDT
I’ve realized that I got overwhelmed with everything back when I had those sleep problems. Just coming in and talking to someone here about it helped a little because I felt like I was doing something. So I’ve been trying to address problems as they come when I can, and that helps. That, plus the stuff I’ve always done–attending church, especially–is all working well for me.
Thanks.
Are you feeling depressed?
Question
07/22/20 7:41 PM EDT
No, I’m actually feeling really good these days.
How do you feel about your life?
Question
07/22/20 7:41 PM EDT
I’m starting my new job in two weeks, and I’m excited about that. I’m going to be an Accounting Clerk at this nice accounting firm. I’m hoping I’ll learn a lot in that position, and within a couple of years, I’ll get promoted and be given new responsibilities. I always want to learn new things and improve my job.
Are you feeling anxious?
Question
07/22/20 7:41 PM EDT
I guess I had anxiety back when I was having those sleep problems. . . I’ve been feeling much better lately, though.
Do you have sleeping problems?
Question
07/22/20 7:42 PM EDT
I’m sleeping a lot better now, which is a relief.
Good to hear.
Empathize
07/22/20 7:42 PM EDT
Thanks.
How many hours are you sleeping a night?
Question
07/22/20 7:42 PM EDT
I’m usually asleep by 11:30, and I wake up at 8, about 8 or 9 hours a night.
That is great.
Empathize
07/22/20 7:42 PM EDT
Thanks.
Have you ever smoked tobacco?
Question
07/22/20 7:43 PM EDT
No. I think it’s gross.
Have you ever used cocaine?
Question
07/22/20 7:43 PM EDT
No way, I have no interest in that. That stuff can mess you up.
Have you ever used heroin?
Question
07/22/20 7:49 PM EDT
Uh, no.
Have you ever used illegal drugs?
Question
07/23/20 3:17 PM EDT
Well, I used to smoke pot. . . but I don’t do that anymore.
What was the last time you smoked pot?
Question
07/23/20 3:17 PM EDT
I haven’t smoked pot since I was twenty or twenty-one.
Do you have any family history of mental illness?
Question
07/23/20 3:18 PM EDT
No. They’re crazy, but nobody’s diagnosed with anything.
Have you had suicidal thoughts?
Question
07/23/20 3:19 PM EDT
No, I’ve never done that.
Any new family medical history report?
Question
07/23/20 3:20 PM EDT
My mom has some issues; I think some of my grandparents did, too.
How old is your mom?
Question
07/23/20 3:21 PM EDT
Mom is 50.
What medical problems does your mum have?
Question
07/23/20 3:21 PM EDT
Mom has high cholesterol and blood pressure, I think. She seems to be doing okay though.
What medical problems did your father have?
Question
07/23/20 3:22 PM EDT
He had high blood pressure and cholesterol, and diabetes too…the same kind as me.
How old is your brother?
Question
07/23/20 3:24 PM EDT
He’s almost 27.
Does he have any medical issues? (Clarified to Does your younger sister have health problems?.)
Question
07/23/20 3:25 PM EDT
She’s pretty healthy. She has asthma too, but she rarely has attacks. (Clarified to if my younger sister has health problems.)
Does your brother have health issues? (Clarified to Does your brother have medical problems?.)
Question
07/23/20 3:25 PM EDT
No, I don’t think so. He’s a little big, maybe. (Clarified to if my brother has health issues.)
How old is your maternal grandmother?
Question
07/23/20 3:26 PM EDT
Nana was 73 when she died of a stroke about five years ago. I think she had high blood pressure and cholesterol, too.
How old is your maternal grandfather?
Question
07/23/20 3:27 PM EDT
Poppa died of a heart attack when he was 80. . . he had some blood pressure and cholesterol issues when he was alive, too.
Any medical history for your paternal grandmother?
Question
07/23/20 3:30 PM EDT
She takes some blood pressure pills and has high cholesterol, but Granny’s doing great for 82.
Does your dad’s father have health issues?
Question
07/23/20 3:30 PM EDT
Grandpa Jones had colon cancer, and that caused all kinds of problems for him. Plus, he had high blood pressure and…I’m pretty sure he had diabetes.
Have you had any recent illnesses?
Question
07/23/20 3:31 PM EDT
No. . . the last time I was sick was when I was having those heartburn problems a while ago.
Any fever?
Question
07/23/20 3:32 PM EDT
I haven’t had a fever.
Any chills?
Question
07/23/20 3:32 PM EDT
Nope, no chills.
Any acne?
Question
07/23/20 3:32 PM EDT
I took something for my acne. . . tetracycline, I think, back in high school. Since then I’ve just washed my face, I haven’t used anything special. But my zits have gotten better, and I think it’s because I’m on birth control now.
Has your body hair improved?
Question
07/23/20 3:32 PM EDT
I think I have a little less body hair than I used to.
Do your eyes feel itchy?
Question
07/23/20 3:33 PM EDT
They haven’t been itchy lately at all.
Are you having any redness in your eyes?
Question
07/23/20 3:33 PM EDT
My eyes haven’t been red lately. . . not since I came in with those allergies a while ago.
Are your eyes dry?
Question
07/23/20 3:34 PM EDT
My eyes don’t feel dry.
Do you have any pain in your eyes?
Question
07/23/20 3:34 PM EDT
I haven’t had any eye problems lately–I went to the eye doctor a few months ago and got these glasses; she checked everything out and said it looked good.
Are you having any ear problems?
Question
07/23/20 3:34 PM EDT
My ears feel fine.
Any changes in your hearing?
Question
07/23/20 3:36 PM EDT
My hearing is good.
Any ear pain?
Question
07/23/20 3:36 PM EDT
My ears feel fine.
Ear drainage? (Clarified to Do you have drainage from your ears?.)
Question
07/23/20 3:36 PM EDT
Nothing is coming out of my ears. (Clarified to if I have ear drainage.)
Any changes in your sense of smell?
Question
07/23/20 3:46 PM EDT
No.
Any nose bleeds?
Question
07/23/20 3:47 PM EDT
Nope, my nose isn’t bleeding at all.
Any sinus pressures?
Question
07/23/20 3:47 PM EDT
My sinuses have been fine.
Has your sense of taste changed?
Question
07/23/20 3:47 PM EDT
No, I think my sense of taste is fine.
Are you having dry mouth?
Question
07/23/20 3:48 PM EDT
My mouth hasn’t been dry.
ANY pain in your mouth?
Question
07/23/20 3:48 PM EDT
No, my mouth feels fine.
ANY sore throat?
Question
07/23/20 3:49 PM EDT
No, it’s fine.
Any issue with your gums?
Question
07/23/20 3:49 PM EDT
My gums have been fine.
Any issue with your tongue?
Question
07/23/20 3:49 PM EDT
My tongue feels fine.
Any difficulties when swallowing?
Question
07/23/20 3:50 PM EDT
I can swallow fine.
SORE throat?
Question
07/23/20 3:50 PM EDT
No, it’s fine.
Any voice changes?
Question
07/23/20 3:50 PM EDT
My voice has been fine.
Any swollen lymph nodes?
Question
07/23/20 3:52 PM EDT
My lymph nodes seem fine.
Are you having any nausea?
Question
07/23/20 3:52 PM EDT
No, I haven’t been nauseous at all.
Any vomiting?
Question
07/23/20 3:53 PM EDT
No.
ANY pain in the abdomen?
Question
07/23/20 3:53 PM EDT
I haven’t really had any stomach problems since I came in with them a while ago.
Any constipation?
Question
07/23/20 3:53 PM EDT
I don’t have that problem.
Any diarrhea?
Question
07/23/20 3:54 PM EDT
I haven’t had any problems with diarrhea.
Excessive flatulence?
Question
07/23/20 3:54 PM EDT
I haven’t been having any gas lately. I had a little when I first started metformin, but I found out I could eat yogurt to help it, and it seems to have worked.
flatulence is one of the side effect of metformin
Educate
07/23/20 3:55 PM EDT
Thanks for telling me.
Any food intolerance
Question
07/23/20 3:56 PM EDT
I can eat just about anything.
Any burning sensation when you urinate?
Question
07/23/20 3:56 PM EDT
No, it doesn’t burn when I pee.
Any blood in your urine?
Question
07/23/20 3:57 PM EDT
No! That doesn’t sound like it would be good.
Are you having any pain right now?
Question
07/23/20 3:57 PM EDT
I don’t have any pain anywhere.
Any vaginal discharge?
Question
07/23/20 3:58 PM EDT
My discharge is normal, I think. . . I have a little, and it’s kind of clear, sometimes white-ish.
Any vaginal itching?
Question
07/23/20 3:58 PM EDT
No, it feels normal.
Do you have any problem with your breasts?
Question
07/23/20 3:59 PM EDT
No, my breasts feel fine.
Any pain in the breasts?
Question
07/23/20 3:59 PM EDT
No, my breasts feel fine.
Are you having any dizziness/
Question
07/23/20 3:59 PM EDT
I haven’t been getting dizzy at all.
Any lightheadedness?
Question
07/23/20 4:00 PM EDT
No, I don’t really get lightheaded.
Any tingling?
Question
07/23/20 4:00 PM EDT
Nope, no tingling.
Any loss of balance?
Question
07/23/20 4:00 PM EDT
My balance is fine.
Any changes in sensation?
Question
07/23/20 4:00 PM EDT
I haven’t noticed any changes.
Any seizures?
Question
07/23/20 4:01 PM EDT
No, I’ve still never had problems with seizures, fortunately.
Do you have memory problems?
Question
07/23/20 4:01 PM EDT
I think my memory has been fine.
Any muscle pain?
Question
07/23/20 4:01 PM EDT
My muscles have felt great, especially since I started exercising more.
Joint pain?
Question
07/23/20 4:02 PM EDT
My joints always seem fine.
Any muscle weakness?
Question
07/23/20 4:02 PM EDT
No, I haven’t felt weak at all.
Any swelling?
Question
07/23/20 4:03 PM EDT
Nothing is swollen.
Performed pulse oximetry
Exam Action
07/24/20 10:01 AM EDT
Performed spirometry
Exam Action
07/24/20 10:01 AM EDT
Inspected scalp
Exam Action
07/24/20 10:01 AM EDT
Inspected scalp
Exam Action
07/24/20 10:01 AM EDT
Inspected hair on scalp
Exam Action
07/24/20 10:01 AM EDT
Inspected scalp
Exam Action
07/24/20 10:01 AM EDT
Inspected right eyebrow and orbital area
Exam Action
07/24/20 10:02 AM EDT
Inspected left eyebrow and orbital area
Exam Action
07/24/20 10:02 AM EDT
Inspected mouth: Oral mucosa moist.
Exam Action
07/24/20 10:02 AM EDT
Subjective Data Collection: 50 of 50 (100.0%)
Hover To Reveal…
Hover over the Patient Data items below to reveal important information, including Pro Tips and Example Questions.
Finding: Reports needing a pre-employment physical
Pro Tip: Initially establishing a chief complaint allows the patient to express their reason for seeking care, primary concerns, or condition they are presenting with.
Example Question: Can I confirm that you are here for a physical?
Finding: Reports no current acute health problems
Pro Tip: Initially establishing a chief complaint allows the patient to express their reason for seeking care, primary concerns, or condition they are presenting with.
Finding: Asked about last visit to a healthcare provider
Finding: Last visit to a healthcare provider was 4 months ago
Pro Tip: Establishing a timeline for which healthcare providers Tina has seen will allow you to develop a comprehensive health history.
Example Question: When did you see a healthcare provider?
Finding: Reason for last visit was annual gynecological exam
Pro Tip: Establishing a timeline for which healthcare providers Tina has seen will allow you to develop a comprehensive health history. Asking Tina why she saw a healthcare provider might indicate any recent health concerns or problems.
Example Question: Why did you see a healthcare provider?
Finding: Last general physical examination was 5 months ago when she was prescribed metformin and daily inhaler
Pro Tip: Establishing a timeline for which healthcare providers Tina has seen will allow you to develop a comprehensive health history.
Example Question: When was your last physical exam?
Finding: Asked about current prescription medications
Finding: Reports taking diabetes medication
Pro Tip: The medications that a patient takes indicate their health concerns or problems, health literacy, and current treatment plans. Asking Tina if she has been taking medication for her diabetes will indicate her treatment plan and the degree to which she is following it.
Example Question: Have you been taking medication for your diabetes?
Finding: Reports using a daily inhaler
Pro Tip: The medications that a patient takes indicate their health concerns or problems, health literacy, and current treatment plans. Asking Tina if she still has her inhaler will indicate her treatment plan and the degree to which she is following it.
Example Question: Do you use a daily inhaler?
Finding: Reports taking prescription birth control pills
Pro Tip: The medications that a patient takes indicate their health concerns or problems, health literacy, and current treatment plans.
Example Question: Are you taking any form of birth control?
Finding: Followed up about diabetes medication
Finding: Medication is metformin
Pro Tip: Follow up questions about Tina’s medication history will help you to understand her treatment plan and recent health history.
Example Question: What is the name of your diabetes medication?
Finding: Started taking metformin 5 months ago
Pro Tip: Follow up questions about Tina’s medication history and timeline will help you to understand her treatment plan and recent health history.
Example Question: How long have you been taking metformin?
Finding: Reports that eating probiotic yogurt helps with side effects and they have abated over time
Pro Tip: Follow up questions about Tina’s medication history and timeline will help you to understand her treatment plan and recent health history.
Example Question: Have you noticed any side effects from the metformin?
Finding: Followed up on metformin frequency and dose
Finding: Reports taking metformin twice daily
Pro Tip: Follow up questions about Tina’s medication history and timeline will help you to understand her treatment plan and recent health history.
Example Question: How many times a day do you take metformin?
Finding: Metformin dose is 850 mg
Pro Tip: Follow up questions about Tina’s medication history and timeline will help you to understand her treatment plan and recent health history.
Example Question: What is the dose of your metformin?
Finding: Asked about asthma medication
Finding: Reports using Flovent inhaler twice daily
Pro Tip: Asthma exacerbation can result in increased wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. Asking if Tina’s been using her inhaler more frequently since exacerbation can indicate how she’s been treating her symptoms since exacerbation.
Example Question: How often do you use your daily inhaler?
Finding: Has a Proventil rescue inhaler
Pro Tip: A patient’s medication reveals a current treatment plan and healthcare access. Asking Tina if she has a rescue inhaler for her asthma will indicate her treatment plan and the degree to which she complies with it.
Example Question: Do you have a rescue inhaler?
Finding: Last use of Proventil inhaler was three months ago
Pro Tip: Soliciting a shallow history of a patient’s medication history can reveal recent exacerbation. Asking Tina when she last used her inhaler will indicate when her symptoms most recently required medical treatment.
Example Question: When did you last use your rescue inhaler?
Finding: Has used Proventil inhaler twice in the last year
Pro Tip: Asthma exacerbation can result in increased wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. Asking if Tina’s been using her inhaler more frequently since exacerbation can indicate how she has been treating her symptoms since exacerbation.
Example Question: How often do you use your rescue inhaler?
Finding: Followed up about birth control prescription
Finding: I started taking birth control 4 months ago
Pro Tip: The medication a patient takes indicates their health literacy, treatment plan, and access to healthcare. Asking Tina how long ago she started taking birth control establishes a timeline of her current treatment plan.
Example Question: How long ago did you start taking birth control?
Finding: Reason for birth control was to manage PCOS symptoms
Pro Tip: The medication a patient takes indicates their health literacy, treatment plan, and access to healthcare. Asking Tina why she started taking birth control will allow Tina to express any concerns or problems in her own words.
Example Question: Why did you decide to start taking birth control?
Finding: Birth control type is Yaz (Drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol)
Example Question: What type of birth control do you use?
Finding: Takes birth control pill daily
Pro Tip: Follow up questions about Tina’s birth control prescription can help you to understand how effectively she complies with her treatment plan.
Example Question: How often do you take your birth control pill?
Finding: Takes birth control pill at the same time every day
Pro Tip: Follow up questions about Tina’s birth control prescription can help you to understand how effectively she complies with her treatment plan.
Example Question: Do you take your pill at the same time every day?
Finding: Reports no skipped days
Pro Tip: Follow up questions about Tina’s birth control prescription can help you to understand how effectively she complies with her treatment plan.
Example Question: Have you missed any days of your birth control pill?
Finding: Asked about current non-prescription medications
Finding: Reports rare Advil use for cramps
Pro Tip: The medication a patient takes indicates their health literacy, treatment plan, and access to healthcare. Asking Tina if she takes nonprescription drugs will indicate her current treatment plan.
Example Question: Do you take Advil?
Finding: Reports no OTC herbal products
Pro Tip: The medication a patient takes indicates their health literacy, treatment plan, and access to healthcare. Asking Tina if she takes herbal products will indicate her current treatment plan.
Example Question: Do you use any herbal products?
Finding: Reports no OTC vitamins
Pro Tip: The medication a patient takes indicates their health literacy, treatment plan, and access to healthcare. Asking Tina if she takes vitamins will indicate her current treatment plan.
Example Question: Do you take any vitamins?
Finding: Reports no OTC supplements
Pro Tip: The medication a patient takes indicates their health literacy, treatment plan, and access to healthcare. Asking Tina if she takes supplements will indicate her current treatment plan.
Example Question: Do you take any supplements?
Finding: Asked about allergies
Finding: Confirms allergies
Pro Tip: Discerning what is making Tina’s asthma worse can point to possible triggers like environmental factors, bodily positions, allergies, or movement that may have a bearing on Tina’s breathing. Asking Tina what triggers her allergies will indicate, in part, Tina’s health literacy.
Example Question: Can you confirm your allergies?
Finding: Reports no new allergies
Pro Tip: Discerning whether anything is making Tina’s asthma worse can point to possible new triggers like environmental factors, bodily positions, or movements that may have a bearing on Tina’s breathing.
Example Question: Have you noticed any new allergies?
Finding: Followed up on seasonal allergies
Finding: Reports no recent seasonal allergy symptoms
Pro Tip: Discerning whether anything is making Tina’s asthma worse can point to possible triggers like environmental factors, bodily positions, or movements that may have a bearing on Tina’s breathing.
Example Question: Have you been having seasonal allergies?
Finding: Reports no current medication for allergies
Pro Tip: Tina’s response to a question about managing her allergies will reveal the severity of her symptoms, her health literacy, and the way she’s complied with previous treatment plans.
Example Question: Are you taking any medication for your allergies?
Finding: Asked about diabetes
Finding: Reports managing diabetes with diet and exercise in addition to medication
Pro Tip: Tina’s response to a question about managing her diabetes will reveal the severity of her symptoms, her health literacy, and the way she is complied with previous treatment plans.
Example Question: How are you managing your diabetes?
Finding: Asked about blood glucose monitoring
Finding: Reports checking blood sugar once a day
Pro Tip: Tina’s response to a question about managing her diabetes will reveal the severity of her symptoms, her health literacy, and the way she’s complied with previous treatment plans.
Example Question: How often do you monitor your blood glucose?
Finding: Checks sugar in the morning
Pro Tip: Tina’s response to a question about managing her diabetes will reveal the severity of her symptoms, her health literacy, and the way she is complied with previous treatment plans.
Example Question: When do you check your blood glucose?
Findng: Blood sugar number is usually around 90
Pro Tip: Tina’s response to a question about managing her diabetes will reveal the severity of her symptoms, her health literacy, and the way she’ complied with previous treatment plans.
Example Qestion: What is your average blood sugar number?
Finding: Reports having adequate supplies
Objective Data Collection: 70 of 73 (95.9%)
Hover To Reveal…
Hover over the Patient Data items below to reveal important information, including Pro Tips.
Found: Indicates an item that you found.
Available: Indicates an item that is available to be found.
Category
Scored Items
Experts selected these examinations as essential components of objective data collection for this patient.
Patient Data
Thorough examinations will yield better patient data. The following actions reveal the objective data of the patient’s case.
Finding: Scattered pustules on face and facial hair on upper lip
Pro Tip: Inspecting the facial skin for the presence of discoloration, lesions, or abnormal hair growth assesses for underlying medical problems.
Finding: Head is normocephalic, atraumatic
Pro Tip: Because your patient may have unknowingly hit her head during her fall, giving special attention to your observation of the size and the shape of your patient’s head can identify any indications of trauma.
Finding: Normal scalp hair distribution
Pro Tip: It’s important to inspect your patient’s hair for distribution, color, and texture because abnormal hair growth or characteristics can indicate underlying health problems.
Finding: Acanthosis nigricans noted on neck
Pro Tip: Skin changes are common in patients with uncontrolled diabetes. A thorough inspection should be conducted of your patient’s skin, especially in folds around the neck, axilla, and groin.
Finding: Inspected eyebrows and orbital area
Finding: Right eye: equal hair distribution on lashes and eyebrows, lids without lesions, no ptosis or edema
Pro Tip: Examining the external eye for hair distribution, coloration, edema, lesions, and ptosis identifies abnormalities that can indicate infection or underlying conditions.
Finding: Left eye: equal hair distribution on lashes and eyebrows, lids without lesions, no ptosis or edema
Pro Tip: Examining the external eye for hair distribution, coloration, edema, lesions, and ptosis identifies abnormalities that can indicate infection or underlying conditions.
Finding: Palpated scalp
Finding: No masses
Pro Tip: Female hair loss can indicate an underlying health problem or skin infection. Inspecting the scalp and hair for texture, distribution, and quantity helps to identify lesions or masses.
Finding: Palpated sinuses
Finding: No frontal sinus tenderness
Pro Tip: Palpating the frontal sinuses checks for sinusitis.
Finding: No maxillary sinus tenderness
Pro Tip: Palpating the maxillary sinuses checks for sinusitis.
Finding: Palpated jaw
Finding: No clicks, full ROM
Pro Tip: Palpating the jaw checks for crepitus can identify TMJ or injury.
Finding: Palpated lymph nodes
Finding: No axillary lymphadenopathy
Pro Tip: Palpating the lymph nodes helps to identify characteristics relaying information about inflammation, infection, and malignancy.
Finding: No supraclavicular lymphadenopathy
Pro Tip: Palpating the lymph nodes helps to identify characteristics relaying information about inflammation, infection, and malignancy.
Finding: Palpated thyroid
Finding: Thyroid smooth without nodules, no goiter
Pro Tip: Palpating the thyroid gland for size, shape, and consistency, and noting any nodules or tenderness, helps to identify signs of a thyroid disorder.
Finding: Inspected eyelids and conjunctiva
Finding: Upper eyelids: conjunctiva pink, no lesions, white sclera
Pro Tip: Inspecting the conjunctiva and sclera for color changes, swelling, and increased vascularity helps to identify an infection or underlying condition.
Finding: Lower eyelids: conjunctiva pink, no lesions, white sclera
Pro Tip: Inspecting the conjunctiva and sclera for color changes, swelling, and increased vascularity helps to identify an infection or underlying condition.
Finding: Tested PERRL with penlight
Finding: Right pupil: equal, round, reactive to light
Pro Tip: When inspecting the pupils for size, shape, symmetry, and reaction to light, unequal or unreactive pupils can indicate significant underlying health problems.
Finding: Left pupil: equal, round, reactive to light
Pro Tip: When inspecting the pupils for size, shape, symmetry, and reaction to light, unequal or unreactive pupils can indicate significant underlying health problems.
Finding: Tested eye movements
Finding: Normal convergence
Pro Tip: This test accommodation assesses the eye’s ability to focus on close objects.
Finding: EOMs intact bilaterally, no nystagmus
Pro Tip: For this examination, the patient should look in the six cardinal fields without moving her head. Lag, nystagmus, and deviations may indicate neurologic conditions.
Finding: Tested peripheral vision
Finding: Peripheral vision intact in both eyes, all fields
Finding: Inspected interior eyes with ophthalmoscope
Finding: Mild retinopathic changes on right
Pro Tip: Patients with diabetes are at risk for diabetic retinopathy. By visualizing the fundus, you can look for any retinopathic changes.
Finding: Left fundus with sharp disc margins, no hemorrhages
Finding: Palpated abdomen – deep
Finding: Right upper quadrant: no masses, guarding or rebound
Pro Tip: Performing deep palpation determines the shape, consistency, tenderness, and pulsations of abdominal masses.
Finding: Right lower quadrant: no masses, guarding or rebound
Pro Tip: Performing deep palpation determines the shape, consistency, tenderness, and pulsations of abdominal masses.
Finding: Left upper quadrant: no masses, guarding or rebound
Pro Tip: Performing deep palpation determines the shape, consistency, tenderness, and pulsations of abdominal masses.
Finding: Left lower quadrant: no masses, guarding or rebound
Pro Tip: Performing deep palpation determines the shape, consistency, tenderness, and pulsations of abdominal masses.
Finding: Palpated organs
Finding: Liver: palpable 1 cm below right costal margin
Pro Tip: Palpating the liver identifies enlargement, displacement, tenderness, and consistency, which can indicate important health problems.
Finding: Spleen: not palpable
Pro Tip: Palpating the spleen identifies enlargement or displacement, which can indicate several serious health conditions.
Finding: Right kidney: not palpable, no masses
Pro Tip: Healthy kidneys are not usually palpable. Attempting to palpate the kidney helps determine enlargement or tenderness.
Finding: Left kidney: not palpable, no masses
Pro Tip: Healthy kidneys are not usually palpable. Attempting to palpate the kidney helps determine enlargement or tenderness.
Musculoskeletal
Finding: Inspected neck
Finding: Neck without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Inspected upper extremities
Finding: Right shoulder without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Right arm without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Right elbow without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Right wrist and hand without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Left shoulder without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Left arm without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Left elbow without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Left wrist and hand without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Fingernails: no ridges or abnormalities in nails, pink nailbeds
Pro Tip: Nail appearance suggests the status of respiratory and vascular function and the presence of nutrient deficiencies or diseases. This is especially important to assess in your patient because diabetics are at risk for peripheral vascular disease.
Finding: Inspected hips
Finding: Hips without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Inspected lower extremities
Finding: Right leg without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Right knee without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Right ankle without swelling, masses, deformity, or discoloration
Pro Tip: A thorough inspection of your patient’s affected ankle aids in the estimation of the extent of tissue injury and disability.
Finding: Right foot without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: Wound appearance relates information about the extent of injury or infection, as well as healing status.
Finding: Left leg without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Left knee without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: A comprehensive musculoskeletal exam includes the inspection of all joints and muscle groups for swelling, masses, discoloration, and deformity.
Finding: Left ankle without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: The inspection of your patient’s unaffected ankle provides a comparison to the affected side and aids in the assessment for possible unknown injury inflicted during the fall.
Finding: Left foot without swelling, masses, or deformity
Pro Tip: Your ptient has diabetes and may unknowingly have wounds on her unindicated foot due to possible neuropathy.
Finding: Toenails: no ridges or abnormalities in nails, pink nailbeds
Pro Tip: Nail appearance suggests the status of respiratory and vascular function and the presence of nutrient deficiencies or diseases. This is especially important to assess in your patient because diabetics are at risk for peripheral vascular disease.
Finding: Tested ROM for upper extremities
Finding: Right and left shoulders: full ROM
Pro Tip: Assessing range of motion of each major joint noting any limitations in mobility, pain, or crepitation can identify joint disease or injury. The assessment should also include the comparison of bilateral sides.
Finding: Right and left elbows: full ROM
Pro Tip: Assessing range of motion of each major joint noting any limitations in mobility, pain, or crepitation can identify joint disease or injury. The assessment should also include the comparison of bilateral sides.
Finding: Right and left wrists: full ROM
Pro Tip: Assessing range of motion of each major joint noting any limitations in mobility, pain, or crepitation can identify joint disease or injury. The assessment should also include the comparison of bilateral sides.
Finding: Tested ROM for spine
Finding: Rotate left: full ROM
Pro Tip: Assessing range of motion of each major joint noting any limitations in mobility, pain, or crepitation can identify joint disease or injury. The assessment should also include the comparison of bilateral sides.
Finding: Rotate right: full ROM
Pro Tip: Assessing range of motion of each major joint noting any limitations in mobility, pain, or crepitation can identify joint disease or injury. The assessment should also include the comparison of bilateral sides.
Finding: Extension: full ROM
Pro Tip: Assessing range of motion of each major joint noting any limitations in mobility, pain, or crepitation can identify joint disease or injury.
Finding:
Flexion: full ROM
Documentation / Electronic Health Record
Vitals
Student Documentation
Model Documentation
128/82 mm Hg (97.3 MAP) HR 78 SpO2 99% RR 15 Temperature 37.2 c Weight 84 kgs
• Height: 170 cm
• Weight: 84 kg
• BMI: 29.0
• Blood Glucose: 100
• RR: 15
• HR: 78
• BP:128 / 82
• Pulse Ox: 99%
• Temperature: 99.0 F
Health History
Student Documentation
Model Documentation
Identifying Data & Reliability
The patient is a 28-year-old female who presented for a pre-employment physical exam. She provided the health information freely during the interview. Ms. Jones’ speech is clear and coherent
Ms. Jones is a pleasant, 28-year-old African American single woman who presents for a pre-employment physical. She is the primary source of the history. Ms. Jones offers information freely and without contradiction. Speech is clear and coherent. She maintains eye contact throughout the interview.
General Survey
Ms. Jones appears alert and oriented She is appropriately dressed She appears to be in good health
Ms. Jones is alert and oriented, seated upright on the examination table, and is in no apparent distress. She is well-nourished, well-developed, and dressed appropriately with good hygiene.
Reason for Visit
Ms. Jones visited to have a physical exam for the health insurance at her new workplace
“I came in because I’m required to have a recent physical exam for the health insurance at my new job.”
Ms. Jones reported that she recently got a job at a new place and she is required to obtain a physical examination. She does not have any acute concerns She was diagnosed with PCOS and oral contraceptives were prescribed She had type 2 diabetes and asthma She reports positive lifestyle modifications
Ms. Jones reports that she recently obtained employment at Smith, Stevens, Stewart, Silver & Company. She needs to obtain a pre-employment physical prior to initiating employment. Today she denies any acute concerns. Her last healthcare visit was 4 months ago, when she received her annual gynecological exam at Shadow Health General Clinic.
Ms. Jones states that the gynecologist diagnosed her with polycystic ovarian syndrome and prescribed oral contraceptives at that visit, which she is tolerating well. She has type 2 diabetes, which she is controlling with diet, exercise, and metformin, which she just started 5 months ago. She has no medication side effects currently. She states that she feels healthy, is taking better care of herself than in the past and is looking forward to beginning the new job.
Medications
Metformin 850 PO BID Flovent 2 puffs 88 mcg/spray BID Albuterol 90 mcg/spray MDI 2 puffs Q4H Drospirenone PO QD
• Fluticasone propionate, 110 mcg 2 puffs BID (last use: this morning)
• Metformin, 850 mg PO BID (last use: this morning)
• Drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol PO QD (last use: this morning)
• Ibuprofen 600 mg PO TID prn (menstrual cramps: last taken 6 weeks ago)
Allergies
Allergic to cats and dust Allergic to penicillin Denies any food or latex allergy
• Penicillin: rash
• Denies food and latex allergies
• Allergic to cats and dust. When she is exposed to allergens, she states that she has runny nose, itchy and swollen eyes, and increased asthma symptoms.
Medical History
Diagnosed with asthma at 2 1/2 years Diagnosed with diabetes at age 24 years Last asthma exacerbation 3 months ago Diagnosed with PCOS four months ago and take Yaz Has a history of hypertension
Asthma diagnosed at age 2 1/2. She uses her albuterol inhaler when she is around cats. Her last asthma exacerbation was three months ago, which she resolved with her inhaler. She was last hospitalized for asthma in high school. Never intubated. Type 2 diabetes diagnosed at age 24. She began metformin 5 months ago and initially had some gastrointestinal side effects which have since dissipated. She monitors her blood sugar once daily in the morning with average readings being around 90. She has a history of hypertension which normalized when she initiated diet and exercise. No surgeries. OB/GYN: Menarche, age 11. First sexual encounter at age 18, sex with men, identifies as heterosexual. Never pregnant. Last menstrual period 2 weeks ago. Diagnosed with PCOS four months ago. For the past four months (after initiating Yaz) cycles regular (every 4 weeks) with moderate bleeding lasting 5 days. Has new male relationship, sexual contact not initiated. She plans to use condoms with sexual activity. Tested negative for HIV/AIDS and STIs four months ago.
Neurological
Student Documentation
Model Documentation
Subjective
Denies any dizziness, light-headedness, loss of sensation, tingling, numbness Denies any seizures or sense of disequilibrium
Reports no dizziness, light-headedness, tingling, loss of coordination or sensation, seizures, or sense of disequilibrium.
Objective
Normal graphesthesia, stereognosis and rapid alternating movements bilaterally Tests of cerebellar function normal DRTs and equal bilaterally in upper and lower extremities Reduced sensation to monofilament in bilateral plantar surfaces
Normal graphesthesia, stereognosis, and rapid alternating movements bilaterally. Tests of cerebellar function normal. DTRs 2+ and equal bilaterally in upper and lower extremities. Decreased sensation to monofilament in bilateral plantar surfaces.
Skin, Hair & Nails
Student Documentation
Model Documentation
Subjective
Reports improved acne due to use of oral contraceptives Facial and body hair improved Denies any nail or hair changes
Reports improved acne due to oral contraceptives. Skin on neck has stopped darkening and facial and body hair has improved. She reports a few moles but no other hair or nail changes.
Scattered pustules on face Facial hair on upper lip Acanthosis nigricans on posterior neck Nails free of any abnormalities or ridges
Scattered pustules on face and facial hair on upper lip, acanthosis nigricans on posterior neck. Nails free of ridges or abnormalities.
References on Comprehensive Assessment Tina Jones Shadow Health Transcript
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium. NURS 6512 Week 9 SHADOW HEALTH DOCUMENTATION
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. NURS 6512 Week 9 SHADOW HEALTH DOCUMENTATION
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. NURS 6512 Week 9 SHADOW HEALTH DOCUMENTATION
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. NURS 6512 Week 9 SHADOW HEALTH DOCUMENTATION
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium. NURS 6512 Week 9 SHADOW HEALTH DOCUMENTATION
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
Using the Data,Information,Knowledge and Wisdom Continuum
Using the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom Continuum
Stanley Okeyemi
Walden University
NURS 6051: Transforming Nursing and Healthcare through Technology
December 25th, 2016
The purpose of this paper is to develop a research question relevant to my area of practice, and then relate how the information gathered would progress through the Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom continuum.
According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2015), the foundation of research and many tasks we perform in nursing starts with the collection of data. Data represents the basis of collective information nurses depends on to propel their actions to interventions. We can somewhat correlate this instance to the nursing process, whereby the diagnosing, planning, implementing, and evaluating steps in this process, is preceded by an assessment. An assessment can be termed a collection of data objectively and subjectively used to generate an idea of the intervention necessary for us to make on a patient. For the purpose of this paper, the goal is to finally use this raw data, to attain knowledge and Wisdom.
Developing a Clinical Question and Data Collection
Safety and time management are two essential factors that nurses pay or need to pay attention to in delivering quality care to patients. One of the safety measures that nurses are less scrutinized for in an occurrence is patient falls. Compared to other safety measures implemented in a clinical setting that nurses are reprimanded for, such as medication errors, unprofessional conduct, abuse, neglect and a host of other negative work ethics, patient falls has acquired less attention of accountability on caregivers. Although, many falls in hospitals are underreported due to fear, ignorance, or inefficient time of nurses to undergo the post-fall procedures which could average about 30 minutes to one hour on the floor where I currently work for, but may vary on other floors and institutions. The topic I came up with, and would like to explore for this paper is fall awareness and communication on continuous care routine. The clinical question I formulated for this topic was; does Q-shift fall risk assessment, and effective communication minimizes falls among the patient population? To locate some data for this topic, the literature search was limited to keyword searches on falls, patient safety, nursing, and communication. The Data –base used was CINAHL Plus with the Full-Text database in the Walden University Library. To transform this data into information, one needs to process and arrange it into more manageable structures, while interpreting the meanings of individual data points (Laureate, 2012a). The step of acquiring data was carefully and systematically carried out to be sure about the facts generated from the articles I selected.
The Transformation of Data to Information
The goal of medical institutions shoots to ensure and improve quality care and patient safety. According to the Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert 55, any patient of any age or physical ability can be at risk for a fall due to physiological changes due to a medical condition, medications, surgery, procedures, or diagnostic testing that can leave them weakened or confused. Many research articles and reports reveal that patient falls have been an alarming rate. Lopez, Gerling, Cary, and Kanak (2010) in their work, stated that “patient falls are adverse events that are largely preventable. The magnitude of adverse events in US hospitals was described in the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report of healthcare errors, which estimated that 48 000 to 98 000 patient deaths occur yearly due to preventable medical errors”. These authors recognize fall as a healthcare error that is predictable, and simple patient risk assessment tools can predict over 70%. It is estimated that 15-30% of patient falls causes fractures requiring a cast, traction or surgery, but these estimates do not include other serious injuries and, in some cases, death related to falls (Lopez, Gerling, Cary, and Kanak 2010). Sand-Jecklin and Sherman (2014), stated the Joint Commission identified miscommunication as one of the responsible factors for sentinel events, with a majority of miscommunications occurring during the handoff of a patient to another nurse. Adopting a fall awareness and communication on continuous care management routine ensures that accurate information about a patient is passed on to another nurse, thus providing an opportunity for the caregivers to render the best quality care to patients entrusted to their care.
The Progression of Information to Knowledge
According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2015), Knowledge is the fusion of information gathered to detect and formalize a relationship. With these information collected about the estimated deaths and fractures occurring from falls, and also the predictability of the event, not also forgetting my personal experiences with fall preventions and outcomes, it is now knowledgeable to me that falls cannot be eradicated, but can be contained and reduced with better communication among caregivers and completing a Q-shift fall assessment risk. In developing knowledge about an issue, one must recognize patterns, contrasts, abnormalities, and historical facts, based on the juxtaposition of separate sets of information (Laureate Education, 2012a). During my research, brainstorming played a key factor in analyzing what would be beneficial for a therapeutic outcome of patients prone to falls, while also considering some factors that might impact nurses in successfully performing this task to expectation, like for instance, in the work of Lopez, Gerling, Cary, and Kanak (2010), on fall prevention, it was stated that “throughout this study the nurses reported high levels of temporal demand, effort, and frustration in their workload. One component of workload is staffing”.
The Progression of Knowledge to Wisdom
According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2015), Wisdom is the appropriate application of knowledge to the management and solution of human problems.” With substantial evidence gathered from the data, information, and knowledge phase, progressing to wisdom, I conclude that Q-shift fall risk assessment and effective communication reduces falls among patient population due to some simple rectifiable factors in conjunction with some complex systematic ones. Lopez, Gerling, Cary, and Kanak (2010) in their work to reduce falls stated, some of the factors identified can be rectified rather simply, as in the case of standardizing hand-offs between nurses and nurse assistants. Other factors such as limitations in the physical environment, lack of capability in the MIS, ineffective bed alarms, and unique aspects of nursing workload are more systemic and require complex solutions. These factors were narrowed down and complimented, as I reviewed the article of Neiman, Rannie, Thrasher, Terry, and Kahn (2011), stating that incorporating the fall-risk assessment into an existing electronic nursing documentation system likely enhances the acceptance of and compliance with the risk assessment tool and interventions.
Summary
McGonigle and Mastrian (2015) states, an understanding of the interaction between nurses and technology makes it possible for nurses to generate knowledge, and transform that knowledge into their daily nursing practice The concept of managing and communicating data, information, knowledge, and wisdom continuum as a guide for nursing research plays a significant role in nurse intervention in informatics. According to Godlock (2016), although all inpatient falls may not be preventable, impact can be made by raising situational awareness, increasing mutual support, engaging leaders, encouraging open communication, and providing frontline staff education and involvement. The wisdom to bring into meaning the elements gathered from the inception of group data for my research topic has brought into light that Q-shift fall risk assessment and effective communication minimizes falls among patient population, hence promoting a safer nursing practice.
References
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge
(3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012a). Data, information, knowledge, and
Wisdom continuum. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Sentinel Event Alert 55: Preventing falls and fall-related injuries in health care facilities
Lopez, K. D., Gerling, G. J., Cary, M. P., & Kanak, M. F. (2010). Cognitive work analysis to
evaluate the problem of patient falls in an inpatient setting. Journal Of The American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA, 17(3), 313-321. doi:10.1136/jamia.2009.000422
Sand-Jecklin, K., & Sherman, J. (2014). A quantitative assessment of patient and nurse outcomes
of bedside nursing report implementation. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 23(19/20), 2854-2863. doi:10.1111/jocn.12575
Neiman, J., Rannie, M., Thrasher, J., Terry, K., & Kahn, M. G. (2011). Development,
implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive fall risk program. Journal For Specialists In Pediatric Nursing, 16(2), 130-139. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6155.2011.00277.x
Godlock, G. (2016). Implementation of an Evidence-Based Patient Safety Team to Prevent Falls in Inpatient Medical Units. MEDSURG Nursing, 25(1), 17-23.
NURS 6051 transforming nursing and healthcare through technology
Assignment: Application: Using the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom Continuum
Have you ever gone online to search for a journal article on a specific topic? It is amazing to see the large number of journals that are available in the health care field. When you view the library in its entirety, you are viewing untapped data. Until you actually research for your particular topic, there is little structure. Once you have narrowed it down, you have information and once you apply the information, you have knowledge. Eventually, after thoughtful research and diligent practice, you reach the level of wisdom—knowledge applied in meaningful ways.
Are there areas in your practice that you believe should be more fully explored? The central aims of nursing informatics are to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. This continuum represents the overarching structure of nursing informatics. In this Assignment, you develop a research question relevant to your practice area and relate how you would work through the progression from data to information, knowledge, and wisdom. To prepare:
Review the information in Figure 6–2 in Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge.
Consider what you currently know about this topic. What additional information would you need to answer the question?
Using the continuum of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom, determine how you would go about researching your question.
Explore the available databases in the Walden Library. Identify which of these databases you would use to find the information or data you need.
Once you have identified useful databases, how would you go about finding the most relevant articles and information?
Consider how you would extract the relevant information from the articles.
How would you take the information and organize it in a way that was useful? How could you take the step from simply having useful knowledge to gaining wisdom?
By Day 7 of Week 4
Write a 4-page paper that addresses the following: MUST BE APA FORMAT
Summarize the question you developed, and then relate how you would work through the four steps of the data, information, knowledge, wisdom continuum. Be specific.
Identify the databases and search words you would use.
Relate how you would take the information gleaned and turn it into useable knowledge.
Can informatics be used to gain wisdom? Describe how you would progress from simply having useful knowledge to the wisdom to make decisions about the information you have found during your database search.
Your paper must also include a title page, an introduction, a summary, and a reference page
American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Springs, MD: Author.
“Metastructures, Concepts, and Tools of Nursing Informatics”
This chapter explores the connections between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom and how they work together in nursing informatics. It also covers the influence that concepts and tools have on the field of nursing.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Chapter 6, “Overview of Nursing Informatics”
This chapter defines the foundations of nursing informatics (NI). The authors specify the disciplines that are integrated to form nursing informatics, along with major NI concepts.
Brokel, J. (2010). Moving forward with NANDA-I nursing diagnoses with Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act Legislation: News updates. International Journal of Nursing Terminologies & Classifications, 21(4), 182–185.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
In this news brief, the author describes the initiatives that NANDA-I will implement to remain abreast of the HITECH legislation of 2009. The author explains two recommendations for the federal government’s role in managing vocabularies, value sets, and code sets throughout the health care system.
Matney, S., Brewster, P. J., Sward, K. A., Cloyes, K. G., & Staggers, N. (2011). Philosophical approaches to the nursing informatics data-information-knowledge-wisdom framework. Advances in Nursing Science, 34(1), 6–18.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article proposes a philosophical foundation for nursing informatics in which data, information, and knowledge can be synthesized by computer systems to support wisdom development. The authors describe how wisdom can add value to nursing informatics and to the nursing profession as a whole.
Rutherford, M. A. (2008). Standardized nursing language: What does it mean for nursing practice? OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 13(1). Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/vol132008/No1Jan08/ArticlePreviousTopic/StandardizedNursingLanguage.html
The author of this article provides justification for the use of a standardized nursing language, which will be necessary for incorporating electronic documentation into the health care field. The author defines standardized language in nursing, describes how such a language can be applied in a practice setting, and discusses the benefits of using a standardized language.
Westra, B. L., Subramanian, A., Hart, C. M., Matney, S. A., Wilson, P. S., Huff, S. M., … Delaney, C. W. (2010). Achieving “meaningful use” of electronic health records through the integration of the Nursing Management Minimum Data Set. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 40(7–8), 336–343.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article explains the nursing management minimum data set (NMMDS), which is a research-based minimum set of standard data for nursing management and administration. The article describes how the NMMDS can be used to minimize the burden on health care administrators and increase the value of electronic health records within the health care system.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Who We Are
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. Using the Data,Information,Knowledge and Wisdom Continuum
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
Assignment 2: Middle Range or Interdisciplinary Theory Evaluation
As addressed this week, middle range theories are frequently used as a framework for exploring nursing practice problems. In addition, theories from other sciences, such as sociology and environmental science, have relevance for nursing practice. For the next few weeks you will explore the use of interdisciplinary theories in nursing.
This Assignment asks you to evaluate two middle range or interdisciplinary theories and apply those theories to a clinical practice problem. You will also create a hypothesis based upon each theory for an evidence-based practice project to resolve a clinical problem.
Note: This Assignment will serve as your Major Assessment for this course.
To prepare:
Review strategies for evaluating theory presented by Fawcett and Garity in this week’s Learning Resources (see under list of Required Readings and attached pdf file)
Select a clinical practice problem that can be addressed through an evidence-based practice project. Note: You may continue to use the same practice problem you have been addressing in earlier Discussions and in Week 7 Assignment 1.
Consider the middle range theories presented this week, and determine if one of those theories could provide a framework for exploring your clinical practice problem. If one or two middle range theories seem appropriate, begin evaluating the theory from the context of your practice problem.
Formulate a preliminary clinical/practice research question that addresses your practice problem. If appropriate, you may use the same research question you formulated for Assignment #4.
Write a 10- to 12-page paper (including references) in APA format and a minimum of 8 references or more, using material presented in the list of required readings to consider interdisciplinary theories that may be appropriate for exploring your practice problem and research question (refer to the sample paper attached as “Assignment example”). Include the level one headings as numbered below:
1) Introduction with a purpose statement (e.g. The purpose of this paper is…)
2) Briefly describe your selected clinical practice problem.
3) Summarize the two selected theories. Both may be middle range theories or interdisciplinary theories, or you may select one from each category.
4) Evaluate both theories using the evaluation criteria provided in the Learning Resources.
5) Determine which theory is most appropriate for addressing your clinical practice problem. Summarize why you selected the theory. Using the propositions of that theory, refine your clinical / practice research question.
6) conclusion
MY PRACTICE PROBLEM IS AS FOLLOWED:
P: Patients suffering from Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
I: Who are involved in diabetic self-care programs
C: Compared to those who do not participate in self-care programs
O: Are more likely to achieve improved glycemic control
THE THEORIES USED FOR THIS MODEL ARE:
Dorothea Orem Self-Care Theory and The Self-Efficacity in nursing Theory by Lenz & Shortridge-Baggett, or the Health Promotion Model by Pender, Murdaugh & Parson (Pick 2)
Required Readings
McEwin, M., & Wills, E.M. (2014). Theoretical basis for nursing. (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health.
Chapter 10, “Introduction to Middle Range Nursing Theories”
Chapter 10 begins the exploration of middle range theories and discusses their development, refinement, and use in research.
Chapter 11, “Overview of Selected Middle Range Nursing Theories”
Chapter 11 continues the examination of middle range theories and provides an in-depth examination of a select set of theories
· Chapter 15, “Theories from the Biomedical Sciences”
Chapter 15 highlights some of the most commonly used theories and principles from the biomedical sciences and illustrates how they are applied to studies conducted by nurses and in nursing practice.
· Chapter 16, “Theories, Models, and Frameworks from Administration and Management”
Chapter 16 presents leadership and management theories utilized in advanced nursing practice.
· Chapter 18, “Application of Theory in Nursing Practice”
Chapter 18 examines the relationship between theory and nursing practice. It discusses how evidence-based practice provides an opportunity to utilize research and theory to improve patient outcomes, health care, and nursing practice.
Gray, J.R., Grove, S.K., & Sutherland, S. (2017). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier.
Chapter 6, “Objectives, Questions, Variables, and Hypotheses”
Chapter 6 guides nurses through the process of identifying research objectives, developing research questions, and creating research hypotheses.
· Review Chapter 2, “Evolution of Research in Building Evidence-Based Nursing Practice”
· Chapter 19, “Evidence Synthesis and Strategies for Evidence-Based Practice”
This section of Chapter 19 examines the implementation of the best research evidence to practice.
Fawcett, J., & Garity, J. (2009). Chapter 6: Evaluation of middle-range theories. Evaluating Research for Evidence-Based Nursing. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: F. A. Davis.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This book chapter evaluates the use and significance of middle-range theories in nursing research and clinical practice.
DeSanto-Madeya, S., & Fawcett, J. (2009). Toward Understanding and Measuring Adaptation Level in the Context of the Roy Adaptation Model. Nursing Science Quarterly, 22(4), 355–359.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This article describes how the Roy Adaptation Model (RAM) is used to guide nursing practice, research, and education in many different countries.
Jacelon, C., Furman, E., Rea, A., Macdonald, B., & Donoghue, L. (2011). Creating a professional practice model for postacute care: Adapting the Chronic Care Model for long-term care. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 37(3), 53–60.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This article addresses the need to redesign health care delivery to better meet the needs of individuals with chronic illness and health problems.
Murrock, C. J., & Higgins, P. A. (2009). The theory of music, mood and movement to improve health outcomes. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 65 (10), 2249–2257. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2009.05108.x
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This article discusses the development of a middle-range nursing theory on the effects of music on physical activity and improved health outcomes.
Amella, E. J., & Aselage, M. B. (2010). An evolutionary analysis of mealtime difficulties in older adults with dementia. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(1/2), 33–41. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2009.02969.x
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This article presents findings from a meta-analysis of 48 research studies that examined mealtime difficulties in older adults with dementia.
Frazier, L., Wung, S., Sparks, E., & Eastwood, C. (2009). Cardiovascular nursing on human genomics: What do cardiovascular nurses need to know about congestive heart failure? Progress in Cardiovascular Nursing, 24(3), 80–85.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This article discusses current genetics research on the main causes of heart failure.
Mahon, S. M. (2009). Cancer Genomics: Cancer genomics: Advocating for competent care for families. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 13(4), 373–3 76.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This article advocates for nurses to stay abreast of the rapid changes in cancer prevention research and its application to clinical practice.
Mayer, K. H., Venkatesh, K. K. (2010). Antiretroviral therapy as HIV prevention: Status and prospects. American Journal of Public Health, 100(10), 1867–1 876. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.184796
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This article provides an in-depth examination of potential HIV transmission prevention.
Pestka, E. L., Burbank, K. F., & Junglen, L. M. (2010). Improving nursing practice with genomics. Nursing Management, 41(3), 40–44. doi: 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000369499.99852.c3
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This article provides an overview of genomics and how nurses can apply it in practice.
Yao, L., & Algase, D. (2008). Emotional intervention strategies for dementia-related behavior: A theory synthesis. The Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 40(2), 106–115.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
This article discusses a new model that was developed from empirical and theoretical evidence to examine intervention strategies for patients with dementia.
Fineout-Overholt, E., Williamson, K., Gallagher-Ford, L., Melnyk, B., & Stillwell, S. (2011). Following the evidence: Planning for sustainable change. The American Journal Of Nursing, 111(1), 54–60.
This article outlines the efforts made as a result of evidence-based practice to develop rapid response teams and reduce unplanned ICU admissions.
Kleinpell, R. (2010). Evidence-based review and discussion points. American Journal of Critical Care, 19(6), 530–531.
This report provides a review of an evidence-based study conducted on patients with aneurismal subarachnoid hemorrhage and analyzes the validity and quality of the research.
Koh, H. (2010). A 2020 vision for healthy people. The New England Journal Of Medicine, 362(18), 1653–1656.
This article identifies emerging public health priorities and helps to align health-promotion resources, strategies, and research.
Moore, Z. (2010). Bridging the theory-practice gap in pressure ulcer prevention. British Journal of Nursing, 19(15), S15–S18.
This article discusses the largely preventable problem of pressure ulcers and the importance of nurses being well-informed of current prevention strategies.
Musker, K. (2011). Nursing theory-based independent nursing practice: A personal experience of closing the theory-practice gap. Advances In Nursing Science, 34(1), 67–77.
This article discusses how personal and professional knowledge can be used in concert with health theories to positively influence nursing practice.
Roby, D., Kominski, G., & Pourat, N. (2008). Assessing the barriers to engaging challenging populations in disease management programs: The Medicaid experience. Disease Management & Health Outcomes, 16(6), 421–428.
This article explores the barriers associated with chronic illness care and other factors faced by disease management programs for Medicaid populations.
Sobczak, J. (2009). Managing high-acuity-depressed adults in primary care. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 21(7), 362–370. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7599.2009.00422.x
This article discusses a method found which positively impacts patient outcomes used with highly-acuity-depressed patients.
Thorne, S. (2009). The role of qualitative research within an evidence-based context: Can metasynthesis be the answer? International Journal of Nursing Studies, 46(4), 569–575. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2008.05.001
The article explores the use of qualitative research methodology with the current evidence-based practice movement.
Optional Resources
McCurry, M., Revell, S., & Roy, S. (2010). Knowledge for the good of the individual and society: Linking philosophy, disciplinary goals, theory, and practice. Nursing Philosophy, 11(1), 42–52.
Calzone, K. A., Cashion, A., Feetham, S., Jenkins, J., Prows, C. A., Williams, J. K., & Wung, S. (2010). Nurses transforming health care using genetics and genomics. Nursing Outlook, 58(1), 26–35. doi: 10.1016/j.outlook.2009.05.001
McCurry, M., Revell, S., & Roy, S. (2010). Knowledge for the good of the individual and society: Linking philosophy, disciplinary goals, theory, and practice. Nursing Philosophy, 11(1), 42–52.
This chapter focuses on the theory (T) component of conceptual-theoretical-empirical (C-T-E) structures for research.
Chapter 6
Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories
KEYWORDS
Axiom
Deductive Reasoning
Explicit Middle-Range Theory
Hypothesis
Implicit Middle-Range Theory
Inductive Reasoning
Internal Consistency
Middle-Range Theory
Parsimony
Postulate
Premise
Reasoning
Semantic Clarity
Semantic Consistency
Significance
Social Significance
Structural Consistency
Testability
Theorem
Theoretical Significance
Recall from Chapter 2 that the T component of a C-T-E structure is the middle-range theory that was generated or tested by research. In that chapter, we defined a theory as a set of relatively concrete and specific concepts and propositions that are derived from the concepts and propositions of a conceptual model. We also pointed out that a middle-range theory guides research by providing the focus for the specific aims for the research. In Chapter 3 you began to learn where to look for information about the middle-range theory in research reports (Box 6–1) and what information you could expect to find (Box 6–2).
BOX 6-1
Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories: Where Is the Information?
Content about the middle-range theory may be found in every section of the research report.
BOX 6-2
Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories: What Is the Information?
The name of the middle-range theory
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 73
74 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
In Chapter 4, you began to learn how to determine how good the available information about the theory is. More specifically, in Chapter 4 we presented a framework for evaluation of the different components of C-T-E structures for theory-generating research and theory- testing research.
In this chapter, you will learn more about what middle-range theories are and how to evaluate them to determine how good the information about the T component for theory-generating research and theory-testing research is. After explaining how to identify a middle-range theory, we discuss in detail the four criteria in the framework identified in Chapter 4 for evaluating the T component of C-T-E structures—significance, internal consistency, parsimony, and testability— and provide examples that should help you better understand how to apply the criteria as you read research reports. Application of the criteria will facilitate your evaluation of how good the informa- tion about the middle-range theory provided in the research report is.
HOW IS THE MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY IDENTIFIED?
We believe that generating or testing a middle-range theory is the main reason for research. Consequently, a vast number of middle-range theories exist. Sometimes, the name of the middle-range theory is stated explicitly in the research report, but sometimes the middle-range theory is not stated explicitly and is only implied.
Explicit Middle-Range Theories
A review of research guided by seven different nursing conceptual models yielded more than 50 explicitly named middle-range theories that were directly derived from the conceptual models. The theories and the conceptual models from which they were derived are listed in Table 6–1 on the CD that comes with this book.
The conceptual frames of reference for three other explicit middle-range nursing theories were extracted from publications about the theories (Fawcett, 2005b). Although none of the theories were derived from a nursing conceptual model, statements reflecting some of the nursing metaparadigm concepts—human beings, environment, health, and nursing—were identified. The theories and relevant citations are:
1. Orlando’s Theory of the Deliberative Nursing Process (Orlando, 1961; Schmieding, 2006)
2. Peplau’s Theory of Interpersonal Relations (Peplau, 1952, 1997) 3. Watson’s Theory of Human Caring (Watson, 1985, 2006)
The conceptual origins of many other explicitly named middle-range nursing theories are not yet clear; examples are listed in Table 6–2, which is included on the CD that comes with this book. Some explicitly named middle-range theories that are tested by nurse researchers come from other disciplines; examples are given in Table 6–3 on the CD. Additional information about the theories listed in Tables 6–2 and 6–3 can be found in Marriner Tomey and Alligood (2006), Peterson and Bredow (2004), Smith and Liehr (2003), and/or Ziegler (2005).
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 74
Although the conceptual frame of reference for the theories listed in Table 6–3 typically is not mentioned in the published research report, one such theory—the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)—was linked with Neuman’s Systems Model and with Orem’s Self-Care Framework by Villarruel and her colleagues (2001). They explained that the linkage placed the TPB within a nursing context and provided direction for a program of nursing research that could progress from “an explanation of the antecedents of behavioral actions to a prediction of the effects of nursing interventions on behavioral actions that are directed toward health promotion and dis- ease prevention” (p. 160). They also explained that linkage of the TPB to a nursing conceptual model is needed if effects of interventions are to be studied, because interventions are not part of the TPB.
Implicit Middle-Range Theories
When the middle-range theory is implicit—that is, when it is not explicitly named—you may want to make up a name to increase your understanding of the theory. Finding the information
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 75
BOX 6-3
Naming an Implicit Middle-Range Theory
Example from a Theory-Generating Research Report
Study purpose
The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify patients’ perceptions of fatigue during chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s disease.
Results
Analysis of the patients’ responses to an open-ended questionnaire revealed three categories of fatigue—exhausted, sleepy, and tired.
Possible names for the middle-range theory
• Perceptions of Fatigue Theory
• Theory of Categories of Chemotherapy Fatigue
Example from a Theory-Testing Research Report
Study purpose
The purpose of this experimental study was to determine the effect of exercise on chemotherapy- related fatigue.
Hypothesis
An increase in exercise will decrease chemotherapy-related fatigue.
Possible names for the middle-range theory
• Theory of the Effects of Exercise on Fatigue
• Exercise and Fatigue Theory
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 75
76 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
in a research report that may be used to identify a name for the theory can be challenging or even frustrating. Sometimes, the statement of the study purpose or aims can be used as the basis for the name of the theory. Or, you may have to rely on the categories or themes and their defini- tions in reports of theory-generating research and the study variables, definitions of variables, and hypotheses in reports of theory-testing research. Examples from fictitious studies are given in Box 6–3. (Recall that we discussed categories, themes, variables, definitions, and hypotheses in Chapter 2, and we identified where to look for the content of the T compo- nent in Chapters 3 and 4.)
HOW IS THE CRITERION OF SIGNIFICANCE OF A MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY APPLIED?
The criterion of significance of a middle-range theory draws attention to the importance of the theory to society and to the advancement of knowledge within a discipline. We call the importance of the theory to society its social significance, and the importance of the theory to advancement of knowledge its theoretical significance.
Application of the criterion of significance helps you determine whether enough informa- tion about social significance and theoretical significance is given in the research report. Enough information means that you can understand just how important the theory is to society and how the theory has filled a gap in or extended existing knowledge. The same amount of infor- mation about social significance and theoretical significance should be included in reports of both theory-generating research and theory-testing research.
The criterion of significance is met when you can answer yes to two questions:
• Is the middle-range theory socially significant? • Is the middle-range theory theoretically significant?
Is the Middle-Range Theory Socially Significant?
The criterion of significance requires the middle-range theory to be socially significant. That means the theory is about people experiencing a health condition that currently is regarded as having some practical importance by the general public and members of one or more dis- ciplines. The social significance of a middle-range theory is obvious when the theory focuses on a health condition, such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, that is experienced by a rel- atively large number of people. Social significance is also obvious when the theory focuses on a health condition that is experienced by a relatively small number of people but has a large impact on the quality of people’s lives, such as spinal cord injury or mental illness. In other words, social significance is concerned with whether the health condition experienced by people is regarded as having a considerable actual or potential impact on desired lifestyle. The social significance of a middle-range theory typically is explained in a few sentences about the incidence of a particular health condition (Cowen, 2005). An example of social significance from Newman’s (2005) study of correlates of functional status of caregivers of children in body casts is given in Box 6–4.
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 76
Is the Middle-Range Theory Theoretically Significant?
The criterion of significance also requires the middle-range theory to be theoretically signif- icant. That means the theory offers new insights into the experiences of people who have a certain health condition. The theoretical significance of a nursing theory typically is explained in a concise summary of “what is known, what is not known, and how the results from [the research] advance . . . knowledge” (Cowen, 2005, p. 298). In other words, the information given in the research report about theoretical significance should tell you that the research focuses on the next meaningful step in the development of a theory about people with a certain health condition. Sometimes, a researcher will write that the research was conducted because nothing was known about the research topic. Such a statement does not meet the criterion of significance because it is possible that the topic is trivial and, there- fore, the research is trivial. An example of an explanation of theoretical significance from Newman’s study of correlates of functional status of caregivers of children in body casts is given in Box 6–5.
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 77
BOX 6-4
Example of Statement of Social Significance
The number of children who are placed in body casts each year is unknown. Observations in orthopedic clinics, however, indicate that a relatively small number of children are so treated. Mothers, fathers, and others who care for children in body casts face challenges that disrupt their usual pattern of daily living (Newman, 2005, p. 416).
(In this example, although a large number of children do not have a health condition requir- ing a body cast, their caregivers face considerable challenges.)
BOX 6-5
Example of Statement of Theoretical Significance
Developmental needs of the child, specific care requirements related to the body cast, and changes in parental functional status, health, psychological feelings, and family needs comprise typical challenges that must be faced by caregivers (Newman, 1997b; Newman & Fawcett, 1995). Previous studies of functional status during normal life transitions and serious illness have revealed that alterations in performance of usual role activities are influenced by demographic, health, psychological, and family variables (Tulman & Fawcett, 1996, 2003). This pilot study extended the investigation of correlates of functional status by examining the relation of personal health and self-esteem to functional status of caregivers of children in body casts [from] birth up to 3 years of age and [from] 3 to 12 years of age. The pilot study also provided data to determine the feasibility of a large-scale study. The long-term goal of the research is to assist caregivers to attain optimal functional status while caring for children in body casts (Newman, 2005, p. 416).
(In this example, the first two sentences tell you what is already known and include citations to previous research. The remaining three sentences tell you how the study extends knowledge, why it was conducted, and the long-term goal of the research.)
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 77
78 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
BOX 6-6
Example of Semantic Clarity of a Middle-Range Theory Concept
• Concept: Self-esteem
• Constitutive definition: Self-esteem “is defined as the caregiver’s feelings of personal worth and value” (Newman, 2005, p. 417).
• Operational definition: Self-esteem was measured by Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Newman, 2005).
HOW IS THE CRITERION OF INTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF A MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY APPLIED?
Internal consistency draws attention to the comprehensibility of the middle-range theory. Application of the criterion of internal consistency helps determine whether enough information about the theory concepts and propositions is given in the research report. Enough informa- tion means that you can identify each concept and how the concepts are described and linked. The same amount of information about internal consistency should be included in reports of both theory-generating research and theory-testing research.
The criterion of internal consistency is met when you can answer yes to three questions:
• Is each concept of the middle-range theory explicitly identified and clearly defined? • Are the same term and same definition used consistently for each concept? • Are the propositions of the middle-range theory reasonable?
Is Each Middle-Range Theory Concept Explicitly Identified and Clearly Defined?
The criterion of internal consistency requires every concept of the theory to be explicitly iden- tified and clearly defined. This requirement, which is called semantic clarity (Chinn & Kramer, 2004; Fawcett, 1999), is met when each concept can be identified and both theoret- ical and operational definitions for each concept are included in the research report. An exam- ple from Newman’s (2005) study of correlates of functional status of caregivers of children in body casts is given in Box 6–6. (Recall from Chapter 2 that a constitutive definition provides meaning for a concept, and an operational definition indicates how the concept was measured.)
Semantic clarity requires that even concepts that are generally understood in everyday language must be clearly defined when used in theories. As Chinn and Kramer (2004) pointed out,
Words like stress and coping have general common language meanings, and they also have specific theoretic meanings. . . . If words with multiple meanings are used in the- ory and not defined, a person’s everyday meaning of the term, rather than what is meant in the theory, often is assumed; therefore, clarity is lost. (p. 110)
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 78
Are the Same Term and Same Definition Used Consistently for Each Middle-Range Theory Concept?
Semantic clarity is enhanced when the same term and same constitutive definition are used for each concept throughout the research report. The requirement for use of the same term and same constitutive definition is called semantic consistency (Chinn & Kramer, 2004; Fawcett, 1999). Although requiring use of the same term for the same concept may seem obvious, some- times a researcher uses different labels for the same concept. For example, a researcher may reduce clarity by referring to both self-esteem and self-confidence in the same research report, although the theory focuses only on self-esteem. Chinn and Kramer (2004) explained,
Normally, varying words to represent similar meanings is a writing skill that can be used to avoid overuse of a single term. But, in theory, if several similar concepts are used interchangeably when one would suffice, . . . the clarity of the [concept] is reduced rather than improved. (p. 110)
A researcher also may reduce clarity by using different constitutive definitions for the same concept. For example, if self-esteem is defined as “feelings of personal worth and value,” that concept should not also be defined as “feelings of self-confidence” in the same research report. Different definitions of the same concept that are explicit are, as Chinn and Kramer (2004) noted, “fairly easy to uncover” (p. 111). In contrast, when a different definition is not explicit but only implied, the inconsistency may be more difficult to identify. Suppose, for example, that a researcher explicitly defined self-esteem as “feelings of personal worth and value” and then wrote about caregivers’ feeling self-confident when bathing a child in a body cast. It would be difficult to know whether the researcher was referring to the caregivers’ self- esteem or another concept when discussing feelings of self-confidence.
Sometimes a researcher may use more than one operational definition for the same concept. If all of the operational definitions identify instruments that measure the same constitutive def- inition of the concept, the requirement of semantic consistency is met. For example, using the constitutive definition given in Box 6–6, a researcher might operationally define self-esteem as measured by both Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale and a Personal Worth and Value Questionnaire that asks caregivers to rate their feelings of personal worth and value on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 equivalent to feelings of very low personal worth and value and 10 equiva- lent to feelings of very high personal worth and value.
However, if the instruments identified in the operational definitions measure different constitutive definitions of the concept, the requirement of semantic consistency is not met. For example, again using the constitutive definition of self-esteem given in Box 6–6, a researcher might operationally define self-esteem as measured by the Personal Worth and Value Questionnaire, as well as a Self-Confidence Inventory, which measures self-esteem con- stitutively defined as “feelings of self-confidence.”
Are the Middle-Range Theory Propositions Reasonable?
The criterion of internal consistency also requires the propositions of the theory to be reasonable. This requirement is called structural consistency (Chinn & Kramer, 2004;
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 79
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 79
Fawcett, 1999). Propositions are reasonable when they follow the rules of inductive or deduc- tive reasoning. Reasoning is defined as “the processing and organizing of ideas in order to reach conclusions” (Burns & Grove, 2007, p. 16).
Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning encompasses a set of particular observations and a general conclu- sion. This type of reasoning is “a process of starting with details of experience and moving to a general picture. Inductive reasoning involves the observation of a particular set of instances that belong to and can be identified as part of a larger set” (Liehr & Smith, 2006, p. 114). Inductive reasoning is most often found in reports of theory-generating research. Observations typically are quotations from study participants or are made by the researcher; the conclusion usually is referred to as a category or theme. The general form of inductive reasoning and an example from a fictitious study are given in Box 6–7.
Flaws in Inductive Reasoning
Flaws in inductive reasoning occur when a relevant observation is excluded (Kerlinger & Lee, 2000). For example, suppose that a researcher observed many white swans and con- cluded that all swans are white. The flaw would be discovered when another observation revealed a black swan. Or, suppose that a nurse observed that several people with a medical diagnosis of depression cried a lot and concluded that all people who cry are depressed. The flaw would be discovered when another observation revealed that people who were happy also cried. Consequently, when you evaluate the structural consis- tency of a middle-range theory in a theory-generating research report, consider whether the report includes a sufficient number and variety of observations to support each conclusion.
80 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
BOX 6-7
Inductive Reasoning
General form: Proceeds from the particular to the general Observation: A is an instance of x. Observation: B is an instance of x. Observation: C is an instance of x. Conclusion: A, B, and C make up x.
Example Observation: Doing household chores is a usual activity that is performed less frequently when a person is ill. Observation: Visiting friends is a usual activity that is performed less frequently when a person is ill. Observation: Exercising is a usual activity that is performed less frequently when a person is ill. Conclusion: All usual activities are performed less frequently when a person is ill.
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 80
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 81
BOX 6-8
Deductive Reasoning
General form: Proceeds from the general to the particular Premise: If x is related to y, and Premise: if y is related to z, Hypothesis: then x is related to z.
Example Premise: If personal health status is related to self-esteem, and Premise: if self-esteem is related to functional status, Hypothesis: then personal health status is related to functional status.
Example constructed from Newman (2005).
Deductive Reasoning
Deductive reasoning encompasses a set of general propositions and a particular conclusion. This type of reasoning is “a process of starting with the general picture . . . and moving to a specific direction” (Liehr & Smith, 2006, p. 114). The general propositions of deductive rea- soning typically are referred to as premises, axioms, or postulates; the particular conclusion is called a theorem or hypothesis. Premises, axioms, and postulates typically are drawn from literature reviews of previous research and are regarded as empirically adequate statements that do not have to be empirically tested again. A theorem or hypothesis, in contrast, must be test- ed by research. Deductive reasoning is most often found in reports of theory-testing research. The general form of deductive reasoning and an example constructed from Newman’s (2005) study of correlates of functional status of caregivers of children in body casts are given in Box 6–8.
Flaws in Deductive Reasoning
Flaws in deductive reasoning occur when there is an error in a general proposition. Suppose, for example, that a researcher started with the premise that personal health status was related to functional status without providing any supporting research findings, added a premise that functional status was related to self-esteem, and then hypothesized that personal health status was related to self-esteem. The deduction in this example is flawed because the initial premise (personal health status is related to functional status) cannot be regarded as empirically ade- quate prior to testing the statement by conducting research. Although sets of deductive rea- soning statements such as those seen in Box 6–8 are not usually found in research reports, the researcher should provide sufficient support for each hypothesis by citing relevant previous research as part of a critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature. Consequently, when you evaluate the structural consistency of a middle-range theory in a theory-testing research report, consider whether the report includes sufficient information to support any premises and each hypothesis.
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 81
HOW IS THE CRITERION OF PARSIMONY OF THE MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY APPLIED?
Parsimony draws attention to the number of concepts and propositions that make up a middle-range theory. Application of the criterion of parsimony helps you determine whether the middle-range theory is stated as concisely as possible. The same standard of simplicity should be used to evaluate theories that were generated or tested.
The criterion of parsimony is met when you can answer yes to one question:
• Is the middle-range theory stated concisely?
Is the Middle-Range Theory Stated Concisely?
Parsimony requires that a middle-range theory be made up of as few concepts and propositions as necessary to clearly convey the meaning of the theory. Glanz (2002) referred to parsimony as “selective inclusion” of concepts (p. 546). Walker and Avant (2005) explained, “A parsimonious theory is one that is elegant in its simplicity even though it may be broad in its content” (p. 171).
The criterion of parsimony should not be confused with oversimplification of the content needed to convey the meaning of the theory. A theory should not be stated so simply that its meaning is lost. “Parsimony that does not capture the essential features of the [theory] is false economy” (Fawcett, 1999, p. 93). In other words, “A parsimonious theory explains a complex [thing] simply and briefly without sacrificing the theory’s content, structure, or completeness” (Walker & Avant, 2005, p. 172).
A challenge in theory-generating research is to include all relevant data that were collected in one or just a few meaningful categories, rather than a large number of categories, subcategories, and sub-subcategories. For example, a researcher who regards household chores, visiting friends, and exercising as usual activities will present a much more parsimonious theory than a researcher who regards each of those activities as a separate category.
A challenge in theory-testing research is to determine whether the middle-range theory becomes more parsimonious as the result of testing. For example, Tulman and Fawcett (2003) found that several concepts and propositions of their Theory of Adaptation During Childbearing were not supported by their research. They concluded, “The collective quantitative results of our study revealed a somewhat more parsimonious version of the theory” (p. 151). Sometimes, a research report will include diagrams depicting the connections between the middle-range theory concepts before and after testing. Such diagrams can be helpful visual aids to evaluation of parsimony. Figure 6–1 depicts an example from a correlational study of the relations between type of cesarean birth and perception of the birth experience, perception of the birth experience and responses to cesarean birth, and type of childbirth and responses to cesarean birth (Fawcett et al., 2005).
As can be seen in the diagram, the middle-range theory before testing includes links between type of cesarean birth (unplanned and planned) and perception of the birth experi- ence, perception of the birth experience and responses to cesarean birth, and type of cesarean birth and responses to cesarean birth (see Figure 6–1 part A). After testing, the theory includes
82 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 82
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 83
Perception of the Birth Experience
Responses to Cesarean Birth
Type of Cesarean Birth
A. The Theory Before Testing
Perception of the Birth Experience
Responses to Cesarean Birth
Type of Cesarean Birth
B. A More Parsimonious Theory After Testing
Figure 6-1. Diagrams of middle-range theory propositions before and after testing.
links only between perception of the birth experience and responses to cesarean birth, and type of cesarean birth and responses to cesarean birth (see Figure 6–1 part B). After testing, the the- ory is more parsimonious because no support was found for a link between type of cesarean birth and perception of the birth experience.
HOW IS THE CRITERION OF TESTABILITY OF THE MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY APPLIED?
Testability draws attention to whether the middle-range theory can be empirically tested. Application of the criterion of testability helps you determine whether enough information about the measurement of theory concepts is given in the research report. Enough informa- tion means that you can identify how each concept was operationally defined and how any associations between concepts were determined. The same amount of information about testa- bility should be included in reports of both theory-generating research and theory-testing research.
The criterion of testability is met when you can answer yes to two questions:
• Was each concept measured? • Were all assertions tested through some data analysis technique?
Was Each Concept Measured?
The criterion of testability requires each middle-range theory concept to be empirically observ- able—that is, measurable. The operational definition of the concept identifies the way in which it was measured. A diagram of the C-T-E structure for the research will help you to answer this question. If the research report does not include a C-T-E structure diagram, you can try to
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 83
84 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
BOX 6-9
Applying the Criterion of Testability for Theory- Generating Research
Conceptual Model
Roy’s Adaptation Model
Conceptual Model Concept
Role function mode
Proposition Linking the Conceptual Model Concept to the Empirical Indicator
Development of the Usual Activities Interview Schedule was guided by the role function mode of adaptation.
Operational Definition
Content analysis of data from the Usual Activities Interview Schedule revealed one category, which was labeled “usual activities of ill people.”
Middle-Range Theory Concept
Usual activities of ill people
Descriptive Research Design 30 People Who Had Self-Reported Illness
Usual Activities Interview Schedule Content Analysis
Usual Activities of Ill People
Roy’s Adaptation Model
Role Function Mode
Conceptual Model
Middle-Range Theory
Empirical Research Methods
C-T-E structure for a theory-generating study.
draw one from the written information included in the report. The diagram will enable you to determine whether each concept is connected to an instrument or experimental conditions.
The example in Box 6–9 contains information from a fictitious theory-generating research report. The written information and the C-T-E diagram indicate that the criterion of testability was met. Suppose, however, that another category was mentioned in the report, such as special activities of ill people, and that no information about how the data used to generate the special activities category was given. In that instance, the diagram would not be complete and the cri- terion of testability would not have been met.
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 84
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 85
BOX 6-10
Applying the Criterion of Testability for Theory- Testing Research
Conceptual Model
Roy’s Adaptation Model
Conceptual Model Concepts
• Physiological mode
• Self-concept mode
• Role function mode
Propositions Linking the Conceptual Model and Middle-Range Theory Concepts
• The physiological mode was represented by personal health.
• The self-concept mode was represented by self-esteem.
• The role function mode was represented by functional status.
Middle-Range Theory Concepts
• Personal health
• Self-esteem
• Functional status
Operational Definitions
Personal health was measured by the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ). Self-esteem was measured by Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Functional status was measured by the Inventory of Functional Status–Caregiver of a Child in a Body Cast (IFSCCBC).
PHQ
Physiological Mode
Personal Health
Self-Concept Mode
Self-Esteem
RSES
Role Function Mode
Functional Status
IFSCCBC
Roy’s Adaptation Model
Correlational Research Design Correlational Statistics 30 Parents of Children in Body Casts
Conceptual Model
Middle-Range Theory
Empirical Research Methods
C-T-E structure for a theory-testing study.
Example constructed from Newman (2005).
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 85
The example in Box 6–10 contains information found in Newman’s (2005) theory-testing research report. Although Newman did not include a C-T-E structure diagram, it was easily constructed from the written information in the conceptual framework and instruments subsections of the report. The written information and diagram reveal that the criterion of testability was met. Suppose, however, that Newman had not included an operational defini- tion for one of the concepts. In that instance, the diagram would not be complete and the cri- terion of testability would not have been met.
Were All Assertions Tested Through Some Data Analysis Technique?
The criterion of testability requires each assertion made by the middle-range theory propo- sitions to be measurable through some data analysis technique. Although most theory- generating research focuses on the description of a health-related experience in the form of one or a few concepts that are not connected to one another, some theory-generating research reports include propositions that state an association between two concepts. Suppose, for example, that a researcher generated a theory of usual activities of ill people from data col- lected from a group of chronically ill people and a group of acutely ill people. Suppose also that the researcher looked at the list of usual activities for each group, concluded that acute- ly ill people performed different usual activities than chronically ill people, and included a proposition stating that there is an association between the type of illness and the type of usual activities performed. In this example, a proposition stating an association between two concepts—type of illness and usual activities—was generated simply through visual inspec- tion of the data.
Theory-testing research, in contrast, frequently involves use of statistical procedures to sys- tematically test associations between two or more concepts. In theory-testing research, propo- sitions stating associations between concepts, especially when the names of the instruments used to measure the concepts (i.e., the empirical indicators) are substituted for the names of the concepts, are referred to as hypotheses. Each hypothesized association between concepts is tested using a statistical procedure to determine if there is an association between scores from the instruments used to measure the concepts.
The example in Box 6–11 gives the information you should look for in the research report to determine whether the proposition was testable.
Hypothesis Testing
Theory-testing research involves tests of hypotheses. Sometimes, the hypothesis is explicit, and sometimes it is implicit. Explicit hypotheses are, of course, easy to identify because they are labeled as such. For example, a researcher may state that the purpose of the study was to test a particular hypothesis, or a few hypotheses will be listed in the research report. You can iden- tify any implicit hypotheses by systematically examining the research findings and listing all the statistical procedures mentioned in the report. For example, examination of Newman’s
86 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 86
(2005) research report revealed that she used a correlation coefficient to test the implicit hypothesis of a relation between scores on the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and scores on the Inventory of Functional Status–Caregiver of a Child in a Body Cast (IFSCCBC).
Hypotheses should be falsifiable (Popper, 1965; Schumacher & Gortner, 1992). That means that the way in which the hypothesis is stated should allow the researcher to conclude that the hypothesis was rejected if the data do not support the assertion made in the hypoth- esis. For example, suppose that a researcher hypothesized that all mothers and fathers have high, medium, or low scores on the IFSCCBC and high, medium, or low scores on the PHQ. The hypothesis cannot be falsified because it does not eliminate any logically or practically possible results. In contrast, the hypothesis that all mothers and fathers have medium scores on the PHQ and low scores on the IFSCCBC can be falsified because it asserts that the moth- ers and fathers will not have high or low scores on the PHQ and will not have high or medium scores on the IFSCCBC.
In addition, it is not correct to conclude that a hypothesis was partially supported. For example, suppose that a researcher hypothesized that both mothers’ and fathers’ scores on the PHQ were related to their scores on the IFSCCBC and that the results indicated that the hypothesis was supported only by the data from the mothers. It would not be correct to con- clude that the hypothesis was partially supported because the mothers’ data supported the hypothesis. Rather, the correct conclusion is that the hypothesis is rejected.
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 87
BOX 6-11
Example of Testability of a Proposition Stating an Association Between Two Concepts
Middle-Range Theory Concepts
• Personal health
• Functional status
Proposition
There is a relation between personal health and functional status.
Operational Definitions
• Personal health was measured by the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ).
• Functional status was measured by the Inventory of Functional Status–Caregiver of a Child in a Body Cast (IFSCCBC).
Hypothesis
There is a relation between scores on the PHQ and scores on the IFSCCBC.
Statistical Procedure
A Pearson coefficient of correlation was used to determine the correlation between scores from the PHQ and the IFSCCBC.
Example constructed from Newman (2005).
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 87
Conclusion
In this chapter, you continued to learn about how to determine how good the information about a middle-range theory given in a research report is. Specifically, you learned how to evaluate the T component of C-T-E structures using the criteria of significance, internal consistency, parsi- mony, and testability. The questions to ask and answer as you evaluate the middle-range theory are listed in Box 6–12. Application of these four criteria should help you to better understand the link between the T and E components of C-T-E structures. The learning activities for this chapter will help you increase your understanding of the four criteria and their application to the contents of research reports.
References
Full citations for all references cited in this chapter are provided in the Reference section at the end of the book.
Learning Activities
Activities to supplement what you have learned in this chapter, along with practice examina- tion questions, are provided on the CD that comes with this book.
88 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
BOX 6-12
Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories: How Good Is the Information?
Significance
• Is the middle-range theory socially significant?
• Is the middle-range theory theoretically significant?
Internal Consistency
• Is each concept of the middle-range theory explicitly identified and clearly defined?
• Are the same term and same definition used consistently for each concept?
• Are the propositions of the middle-range theory reasonable?
Parsimony
• Is the middle-range theory stated concisely?
Testability
• Was each concept measured?
• Were all assertions tested through some data analysis technique?
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 88
This chapter focuses on the theory (T) component of conceptual-theoretical-empirical (C-T-E) structures for research.
Chapter 6
Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories
KEYWORDS
Axiom
Deductive Reasoning
Explicit Middle-Range Theory
Hypothesis
Implicit Middle-Range Theory
Inductive Reasoning
Internal Consistency
Middle-Range Theory
Parsimony
Postulate
Premise
Reasoning
Semantic Clarity
Semantic Consistency
Significance
Social Significance
Structural Consistency
Testability
Theorem
Theoretical Significance
Recall from Chapter 2 that the T component of a C-T-E structure is the middle-range theory that was generated or tested by research. In that chapter, we defined a theory as a set of relatively concrete and specific concepts and propositions that are derived from the concepts and propositions of a conceptual model. We also pointed out that a middle-range theory guides research by providing the focus for the specific aims for the research. In Chapter 3 you began to learn where to look for information about the middle-range theory in research reports (Box 6–1) and what information you could expect to find (Box 6–2).
BOX 6-1
Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories: Where Is the Information?
Content about the middle-range theory may be found in every section of the research report.
BOX 6-2
Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories: What Is the Information?
The name of the middle-range theory
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 73
74 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
In Chapter 4, you began to learn how to determine how good the available information about the theory is. More specifically, in Chapter 4 we presented a framework for evaluation of the different components of C-T-E structures for theory-generating research and theory- testing research.
In this chapter, you will learn more about what middle-range theories are and how to evaluate them to determine how good the information about the T component for theory-generating research and theory-testing research is. After explaining how to identify a middle-range theory, we discuss in detail the four criteria in the framework identified in Chapter 4 for evaluating the T component of C-T-E structures—significance, internal consistency, parsimony, and testability— and provide examples that should help you better understand how to apply the criteria as you read research reports. Application of the criteria will facilitate your evaluation of how good the informa- tion about the middle-range theory provided in the research report is.
HOW IS THE MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY IDENTIFIED?
We believe that generating or testing a middle-range theory is the main reason for research. Consequently, a vast number of middle-range theories exist. Sometimes, the name of the middle-range theory is stated explicitly in the research report, but sometimes the middle-range theory is not stated explicitly and is only implied.
Explicit Middle-Range Theories
A review of research guided by seven different nursing conceptual models yielded more than 50 explicitly named middle-range theories that were directly derived from the conceptual models. The theories and the conceptual models from which they were derived are listed in Table 6–1 on the CD that comes with this book.
The conceptual frames of reference for three other explicit middle-range nursing theories were extracted from publications about the theories (Fawcett, 2005b). Although none of the theories were derived from a nursing conceptual model, statements reflecting some of the nursing metaparadigm concepts—human beings, environment, health, and nursing—were identified. The theories and relevant citations are:
1. Orlando’s Theory of the Deliberative Nursing Process (Orlando, 1961; Schmieding, 2006)
2. Peplau’s Theory of Interpersonal Relations (Peplau, 1952, 1997) 3. Watson’s Theory of Human Caring (Watson, 1985, 2006)
The conceptual origins of many other explicitly named middle-range nursing theories are not yet clear; examples are listed in Table 6–2, which is included on the CD that comes with this book. Some explicitly named middle-range theories that are tested by nurse researchers come from other disciplines; examples are given in Table 6–3 on the CD. Additional information about the theories listed in Tables 6–2 and 6–3 can be found in Marriner Tomey and Alligood (2006), Peterson and Bredow (2004), Smith and Liehr (2003), and/or Ziegler (2005).
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 74
Although the conceptual frame of reference for the theories listed in Table 6–3 typically is not mentioned in the published research report, one such theory—the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)—was linked with Neuman’s Systems Model and with Orem’s Self-Care Framework by Villarruel and her colleagues (2001). They explained that the linkage placed the TPB within a nursing context and provided direction for a program of nursing research that could progress from “an explanation of the antecedents of behavioral actions to a prediction of the effects of nursing interventions on behavioral actions that are directed toward health promotion and dis- ease prevention” (p. 160). They also explained that linkage of the TPB to a nursing conceptual model is needed if effects of interventions are to be studied, because interventions are not part of the TPB.
Implicit Middle-Range Theories
When the middle-range theory is implicit—that is, when it is not explicitly named—you may want to make up a name to increase your understanding of the theory. Finding the information
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 75
BOX 6-3
Naming an Implicit Middle-Range Theory
Example from a Theory-Generating Research Report
Study purpose
The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify patients’ perceptions of fatigue during chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s disease.
Results
Analysis of the patients’ responses to an open-ended questionnaire revealed three categories of fatigue—exhausted, sleepy, and tired.
Possible names for the middle-range theory
• Perceptions of Fatigue Theory
• Theory of Categories of Chemotherapy Fatigue
Example from a Theory-Testing Research Report
Study purpose
The purpose of this experimental study was to determine the effect of exercise on chemotherapy- related fatigue.
Hypothesis
An increase in exercise will decrease chemotherapy-related fatigue.
Possible names for the middle-range theory
• Theory of the Effects of Exercise on Fatigue
• Exercise and Fatigue Theory
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 75
76 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
in a research report that may be used to identify a name for the theory can be challenging or even frustrating. Sometimes, the statement of the study purpose or aims can be used as the basis for the name of the theory. Or, you may have to rely on the categories or themes and their defini- tions in reports of theory-generating research and the study variables, definitions of variables, and hypotheses in reports of theory-testing research. Examples from fictitious studies are given in Box 6–3. (Recall that we discussed categories, themes, variables, definitions, and hypotheses in Chapter 2, and we identified where to look for the content of the T compo- nent in Chapters 3 and 4.)
HOW IS THE CRITERION OF SIGNIFICANCE OF A MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY APPLIED?
The criterion of significance of a middle-range theory draws attention to the importance of the theory to society and to the advancement of knowledge within a discipline. We call the importance of the theory to society its social significance, and the importance of the theory to advancement of knowledge its theoretical significance.
Application of the criterion of significance helps you determine whether enough informa- tion about social significance and theoretical significance is given in the research report. Enough information means that you can understand just how important the theory is to society and how the theory has filled a gap in or extended existing knowledge. The same amount of infor- mation about social significance and theoretical significance should be included in reports of both theory-generating research and theory-testing research.
The criterion of significance is met when you can answer yes to two questions:
• Is the middle-range theory socially significant? • Is the middle-range theory theoretically significant?
Is the Middle-Range Theory Socially Significant?
The criterion of significance requires the middle-range theory to be socially significant. That means the theory is about people experiencing a health condition that currently is regarded as having some practical importance by the general public and members of one or more dis- ciplines. The social significance of a middle-range theory is obvious when the theory focuses on a health condition, such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, that is experienced by a rel- atively large number of people. Social significance is also obvious when the theory focuses on a health condition that is experienced by a relatively small number of people but has a large impact on the quality of people’s lives, such as spinal cord injury or mental illness. In other words, social significance is concerned with whether the health condition experienced by people is regarded as having a considerable actual or potential impact on desired lifestyle. The social significance of a middle-range theory typically is explained in a few sentences about the incidence of a particular health condition (Cowen, 2005). An example of social significance from Newman’s (2005) study of correlates of functional status of caregivers of children in body casts is given in Box 6–4.
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 76
Is the Middle-Range Theory Theoretically Significant?
The criterion of significance also requires the middle-range theory to be theoretically signif- icant. That means the theory offers new insights into the experiences of people who have a certain health condition. The theoretical significance of a nursing theory typically is explained in a concise summary of “what is known, what is not known, and how the results from [the research] advance . . . knowledge” (Cowen, 2005, p. 298). In other words, the information given in the research report about theoretical significance should tell you that the research focuses on the next meaningful step in the development of a theory about people with a certain health condition. Sometimes, a researcher will write that the research was conducted because nothing was known about the research topic. Such a statement does not meet the criterion of significance because it is possible that the topic is trivial and, there- fore, the research is trivial. An example of an explanation of theoretical significance from Newman’s study of correlates of functional status of caregivers of children in body casts is given in Box 6–5.
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 77
BOX 6-4
Example of Statement of Social Significance
The number of children who are placed in body casts each year is unknown. Observations in orthopedic clinics, however, indicate that a relatively small number of children are so treated. Mothers, fathers, and others who care for children in body casts face challenges that disrupt their usual pattern of daily living (Newman, 2005, p. 416).
(In this example, although a large number of children do not have a health condition requir- ing a body cast, their caregivers face considerable challenges.)
BOX 6-5
Example of Statement of Theoretical Significance
Developmental needs of the child, specific care requirements related to the body cast, and changes in parental functional status, health, psychological feelings, and family needs comprise typical challenges that must be faced by caregivers (Newman, 1997b; Newman & Fawcett, 1995). Previous studies of functional status during normal life transitions and serious illness have revealed that alterations in performance of usual role activities are influenced by demographic, health, psychological, and family variables (Tulman & Fawcett, 1996, 2003). This pilot study extended the investigation of correlates of functional status by examining the relation of personal health and self-esteem to functional status of caregivers of children in body casts [from] birth up to 3 years of age and [from] 3 to 12 years of age. The pilot study also provided data to determine the feasibility of a large-scale study. The long-term goal of the research is to assist caregivers to attain optimal functional status while caring for children in body casts (Newman, 2005, p. 416).
(In this example, the first two sentences tell you what is already known and include citations to previous research. The remaining three sentences tell you how the study extends knowledge, why it was conducted, and the long-term goal of the research.)
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 77
78 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
BOX 6-6
Example of Semantic Clarity of a Middle-Range Theory Concept
• Concept: Self-esteem
• Constitutive definition: Self-esteem “is defined as the caregiver’s feelings of personal worth and value” (Newman, 2005, p. 417).
• Operational definition: Self-esteem was measured by Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Newman, 2005).
HOW IS THE CRITERION OF INTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF A MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY APPLIED?
Internal consistency draws attention to the comprehensibility of the middle-range theory. Application of the criterion of internal consistency helps determine whether enough information about the theory concepts and propositions is given in the research report. Enough informa- tion means that you can identify each concept and how the concepts are described and linked. The same amount of information about internal consistency should be included in reports of both theory-generating research and theory-testing research.
The criterion of internal consistency is met when you can answer yes to three questions:
• Is each concept of the middle-range theory explicitly identified and clearly defined? • Are the same term and same definition used consistently for each concept? • Are the propositions of the middle-range theory reasonable?
Is Each Middle-Range Theory Concept Explicitly Identified and Clearly Defined?
The criterion of internal consistency requires every concept of the theory to be explicitly iden- tified and clearly defined. This requirement, which is called semantic clarity (Chinn & Kramer, 2004; Fawcett, 1999), is met when each concept can be identified and both theoret- ical and operational definitions for each concept are included in the research report. An exam- ple from Newman’s (2005) study of correlates of functional status of caregivers of children in body casts is given in Box 6–6. (Recall from Chapter 2 that a constitutive definition provides meaning for a concept, and an operational definition indicates how the concept was measured.)
Semantic clarity requires that even concepts that are generally understood in everyday language must be clearly defined when used in theories. As Chinn and Kramer (2004) pointed out,
Words like stress and coping have general common language meanings, and they also have specific theoretic meanings. . . . If words with multiple meanings are used in the- ory and not defined, a person’s everyday meaning of the term, rather than what is meant in the theory, often is assumed; therefore, clarity is lost. (p. 110)
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 78
Are the Same Term and Same Definition Used Consistently for Each Middle-Range Theory Concept?
Semantic clarity is enhanced when the same term and same constitutive definition are used for each concept throughout the research report. The requirement for use of the same term and same constitutive definition is called semantic consistency (Chinn & Kramer, 2004; Fawcett, 1999). Although requiring use of the same term for the same concept may seem obvious, some- times a researcher uses different labels for the same concept. For example, a researcher may reduce clarity by referring to both self-esteem and self-confidence in the same research report, although the theory focuses only on self-esteem. Chinn and Kramer (2004) explained,
Normally, varying words to represent similar meanings is a writing skill that can be used to avoid overuse of a single term. But, in theory, if several similar concepts are used interchangeably when one would suffice, . . . the clarity of the [concept] is reduced rather than improved. (p. 110)
A researcher also may reduce clarity by using different constitutive definitions for the same concept. For example, if self-esteem is defined as “feelings of personal worth and value,” that concept should not also be defined as “feelings of self-confidence” in the same research report. Different definitions of the same concept that are explicit are, as Chinn and Kramer (2004) noted, “fairly easy to uncover” (p. 111). In contrast, when a different definition is not explicit but only implied, the inconsistency may be more difficult to identify. Suppose, for example, that a researcher explicitly defined self-esteem as “feelings of personal worth and value” and then wrote about caregivers’ feeling self-confident when bathing a child in a body cast. It would be difficult to know whether the researcher was referring to the caregivers’ self- esteem or another concept when discussing feelings of self-confidence.
Sometimes a researcher may use more than one operational definition for the same concept. If all of the operational definitions identify instruments that measure the same constitutive def- inition of the concept, the requirement of semantic consistency is met. For example, using the constitutive definition given in Box 6–6, a researcher might operationally define self-esteem as measured by both Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale and a Personal Worth and Value Questionnaire that asks caregivers to rate their feelings of personal worth and value on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 equivalent to feelings of very low personal worth and value and 10 equiva- lent to feelings of very high personal worth and value.
However, if the instruments identified in the operational definitions measure different constitutive definitions of the concept, the requirement of semantic consistency is not met. For example, again using the constitutive definition of self-esteem given in Box 6–6, a researcher might operationally define self-esteem as measured by the Personal Worth and Value Questionnaire, as well as a Self-Confidence Inventory, which measures self-esteem con- stitutively defined as “feelings of self-confidence.”
Are the Middle-Range Theory Propositions Reasonable?
The criterion of internal consistency also requires the propositions of the theory to be reasonable. This requirement is called structural consistency (Chinn & Kramer, 2004;
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 79
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 79
Fawcett, 1999). Propositions are reasonable when they follow the rules of inductive or deduc- tive reasoning. Reasoning is defined as “the processing and organizing of ideas in order to reach conclusions” (Burns & Grove, 2007, p. 16).
Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning encompasses a set of particular observations and a general conclu- sion. This type of reasoning is “a process of starting with details of experience and moving to a general picture. Inductive reasoning involves the observation of a particular set of instances that belong to and can be identified as part of a larger set” (Liehr & Smith, 2006, p. 114). Inductive reasoning is most often found in reports of theory-generating research. Observations typically are quotations from study participants or are made by the researcher; the conclusion usually is referred to as a category or theme. The general form of inductive reasoning and an example from a fictitious study are given in Box 6–7.
Flaws in Inductive Reasoning
Flaws in inductive reasoning occur when a relevant observation is excluded (Kerlinger & Lee, 2000). For example, suppose that a researcher observed many white swans and con- cluded that all swans are white. The flaw would be discovered when another observation revealed a black swan. Or, suppose that a nurse observed that several people with a medical diagnosis of depression cried a lot and concluded that all people who cry are depressed. The flaw would be discovered when another observation revealed that people who were happy also cried. Consequently, when you evaluate the structural consis- tency of a middle-range theory in a theory-generating research report, consider whether the report includes a sufficient number and variety of observations to support each conclusion.
80 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
BOX 6-7
Inductive Reasoning
General form: Proceeds from the particular to the general Observation: A is an instance of x. Observation: B is an instance of x. Observation: C is an instance of x. Conclusion: A, B, and C make up x.
Example Observation: Doing household chores is a usual activity that is performed less frequently when a person is ill. Observation: Visiting friends is a usual activity that is performed less frequently when a person is ill. Observation: Exercising is a usual activity that is performed less frequently when a person is ill. Conclusion: All usual activities are performed less frequently when a person is ill.
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 80
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 81
BOX 6-8
Deductive Reasoning
General form: Proceeds from the general to the particular Premise: If x is related to y, and Premise: if y is related to z, Hypothesis: then x is related to z.
Example Premise: If personal health status is related to self-esteem, and Premise: if self-esteem is related to functional status, Hypothesis: then personal health status is related to functional status.
Example constructed from Newman (2005).
Deductive Reasoning
Deductive reasoning encompasses a set of general propositions and a particular conclusion. This type of reasoning is “a process of starting with the general picture . . . and moving to a specific direction” (Liehr & Smith, 2006, p. 114). The general propositions of deductive rea- soning typically are referred to as premises, axioms, or postulates; the particular conclusion is called a theorem or hypothesis. Premises, axioms, and postulates typically are drawn from literature reviews of previous research and are regarded as empirically adequate statements that do not have to be empirically tested again. A theorem or hypothesis, in contrast, must be test- ed by research. Deductive reasoning is most often found in reports of theory-testing research. The general form of deductive reasoning and an example constructed from Newman’s (2005) study of correlates of functional status of caregivers of children in body casts are given in Box 6–8.
Flaws in Deductive Reasoning
Flaws in deductive reasoning occur when there is an error in a general proposition. Suppose, for example, that a researcher started with the premise that personal health status was related to functional status without providing any supporting research findings, added a premise that functional status was related to self-esteem, and then hypothesized that personal health status was related to self-esteem. The deduction in this example is flawed because the initial premise (personal health status is related to functional status) cannot be regarded as empirically ade- quate prior to testing the statement by conducting research. Although sets of deductive rea- soning statements such as those seen in Box 6–8 are not usually found in research reports, the researcher should provide sufficient support for each hypothesis by citing relevant previous research as part of a critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature. Consequently, when you evaluate the structural consistency of a middle-range theory in a theory-testing research report, consider whether the report includes sufficient information to support any premises and each hypothesis.
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 81
HOW IS THE CRITERION OF PARSIMONY OF THE MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY APPLIED?
Parsimony draws attention to the number of concepts and propositions that make up a middle-range theory. Application of the criterion of parsimony helps you determine whether the middle-range theory is stated as concisely as possible. The same standard of simplicity should be used to evaluate theories that were generated or tested.
The criterion of parsimony is met when you can answer yes to one question:
• Is the middle-range theory stated concisely?
Is the Middle-Range Theory Stated Concisely?
Parsimony requires that a middle-range theory be made up of as few concepts and propositions as necessary to clearly convey the meaning of the theory. Glanz (2002) referred to parsimony as “selective inclusion” of concepts (p. 546). Walker and Avant (2005) explained, “A parsimonious theory is one that is elegant in its simplicity even though it may be broad in its content” (p. 171).
The criterion of parsimony should not be confused with oversimplification of the content needed to convey the meaning of the theory. A theory should not be stated so simply that its meaning is lost. “Parsimony that does not capture the essential features of the [theory] is false economy” (Fawcett, 1999, p. 93). In other words, “A parsimonious theory explains a complex [thing] simply and briefly without sacrificing the theory’s content, structure, or completeness” (Walker & Avant, 2005, p. 172).
A challenge in theory-generating research is to include all relevant data that were collected in one or just a few meaningful categories, rather than a large number of categories, subcategories, and sub-subcategories. For example, a researcher who regards household chores, visiting friends, and exercising as usual activities will present a much more parsimonious theory than a researcher who regards each of those activities as a separate category.
A challenge in theory-testing research is to determine whether the middle-range theory becomes more parsimonious as the result of testing. For example, Tulman and Fawcett (2003) found that several concepts and propositions of their Theory of Adaptation During Childbearing were not supported by their research. They concluded, “The collective quantitative results of our study revealed a somewhat more parsimonious version of the theory” (p. 151). Sometimes, a research report will include diagrams depicting the connections between the middle-range theory concepts before and after testing. Such diagrams can be helpful visual aids to evaluation of parsimony. Figure 6–1 depicts an example from a correlational study of the relations between type of cesarean birth and perception of the birth experience, perception of the birth experience and responses to cesarean birth, and type of childbirth and responses to cesarean birth (Fawcett et al., 2005).
As can be seen in the diagram, the middle-range theory before testing includes links between type of cesarean birth (unplanned and planned) and perception of the birth experi- ence, perception of the birth experience and responses to cesarean birth, and type of cesarean birth and responses to cesarean birth (see Figure 6–1 part A). After testing, the theory includes
82 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 82
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 83
Perception of the Birth Experience
Responses to Cesarean Birth
Type of Cesarean Birth
A. The Theory Before Testing
Perception of the Birth Experience
Responses to Cesarean Birth
Type of Cesarean Birth
B. A More Parsimonious Theory After Testing
Figure 6-1. Diagrams of middle-range theory propositions before and after testing.
links only between perception of the birth experience and responses to cesarean birth, and type of cesarean birth and responses to cesarean birth (see Figure 6–1 part B). After testing, the the- ory is more parsimonious because no support was found for a link between type of cesarean birth and perception of the birth experience.
HOW IS THE CRITERION OF TESTABILITY OF THE MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY APPLIED?
Testability draws attention to whether the middle-range theory can be empirically tested. Application of the criterion of testability helps you determine whether enough information about the measurement of theory concepts is given in the research report. Enough informa- tion means that you can identify how each concept was operationally defined and how any associations between concepts were determined. The same amount of information about testa- bility should be included in reports of both theory-generating research and theory-testing research.
The criterion of testability is met when you can answer yes to two questions:
• Was each concept measured? • Were all assertions tested through some data analysis technique?
Was Each Concept Measured?
The criterion of testability requires each middle-range theory concept to be empirically observ- able—that is, measurable. The operational definition of the concept identifies the way in which it was measured. A diagram of the C-T-E structure for the research will help you to answer this question. If the research report does not include a C-T-E structure diagram, you can try to
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 83
84 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
BOX 6-9
Applying the Criterion of Testability for Theory- Generating Research
Conceptual Model
Roy’s Adaptation Model
Conceptual Model Concept
Role function mode
Proposition Linking the Conceptual Model Concept to the Empirical Indicator
Development of the Usual Activities Interview Schedule was guided by the role function mode of adaptation.
Operational Definition
Content analysis of data from the Usual Activities Interview Schedule revealed one category, which was labeled “usual activities of ill people.”
Middle-Range Theory Concept
Usual activities of ill people
Descriptive Research Design 30 People Who Had Self-Reported Illness
Usual Activities Interview Schedule Content Analysis
Usual Activities of Ill People
Roy’s Adaptation Model
Role Function Mode
Conceptual Model
Middle-Range Theory
Empirical Research Methods
C-T-E structure for a theory-generating study.
draw one from the written information included in the report. The diagram will enable you to determine whether each concept is connected to an instrument or experimental conditions.
The example in Box 6–9 contains information from a fictitious theory-generating research report. The written information and the C-T-E diagram indicate that the criterion of testability was met. Suppose, however, that another category was mentioned in the report, such as special activities of ill people, and that no information about how the data used to generate the special activities category was given. In that instance, the diagram would not be complete and the cri- terion of testability would not have been met.
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 84
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 85
BOX 6-10
Applying the Criterion of Testability for Theory- Testing Research
Conceptual Model
Roy’s Adaptation Model
Conceptual Model Concepts
• Physiological mode
• Self-concept mode
• Role function mode
Propositions Linking the Conceptual Model and Middle-Range Theory Concepts
• The physiological mode was represented by personal health.
• The self-concept mode was represented by self-esteem.
• The role function mode was represented by functional status.
Middle-Range Theory Concepts
• Personal health
• Self-esteem
• Functional status
Operational Definitions
Personal health was measured by the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ). Self-esteem was measured by Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Functional status was measured by the Inventory of Functional Status–Caregiver of a Child in a Body Cast (IFSCCBC).
PHQ
Physiological Mode
Personal Health
Self-Concept Mode
Self-Esteem
RSES
Role Function Mode
Functional Status
IFSCCBC
Roy’s Adaptation Model
Correlational Research Design Correlational Statistics 30 Parents of Children in Body Casts
Conceptual Model
Middle-Range Theory
Empirical Research Methods
C-T-E structure for a theory-testing study.
Example constructed from Newman (2005).
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 85
The example in Box 6–10 contains information found in Newman’s (2005) theory-testing research report. Although Newman did not include a C-T-E structure diagram, it was easily constructed from the written information in the conceptual framework and instruments subsections of the report. The written information and diagram reveal that the criterion of testability was met. Suppose, however, that Newman had not included an operational defini- tion for one of the concepts. In that instance, the diagram would not be complete and the cri- terion of testability would not have been met.
Were All Assertions Tested Through Some Data Analysis Technique?
The criterion of testability requires each assertion made by the middle-range theory propo- sitions to be measurable through some data analysis technique. Although most theory- generating research focuses on the description of a health-related experience in the form of one or a few concepts that are not connected to one another, some theory-generating research reports include propositions that state an association between two concepts. Suppose, for example, that a researcher generated a theory of usual activities of ill people from data col- lected from a group of chronically ill people and a group of acutely ill people. Suppose also that the researcher looked at the list of usual activities for each group, concluded that acute- ly ill people performed different usual activities than chronically ill people, and included a proposition stating that there is an association between the type of illness and the type of usual activities performed. In this example, a proposition stating an association between two concepts—type of illness and usual activities—was generated simply through visual inspec- tion of the data.
Theory-testing research, in contrast, frequently involves use of statistical procedures to sys- tematically test associations between two or more concepts. In theory-testing research, propo- sitions stating associations between concepts, especially when the names of the instruments used to measure the concepts (i.e., the empirical indicators) are substituted for the names of the concepts, are referred to as hypotheses. Each hypothesized association between concepts is tested using a statistical procedure to determine if there is an association between scores from the instruments used to measure the concepts.
The example in Box 6–11 gives the information you should look for in the research report to determine whether the proposition was testable.
Hypothesis Testing
Theory-testing research involves tests of hypotheses. Sometimes, the hypothesis is explicit, and sometimes it is implicit. Explicit hypotheses are, of course, easy to identify because they are labeled as such. For example, a researcher may state that the purpose of the study was to test a particular hypothesis, or a few hypotheses will be listed in the research report. You can iden- tify any implicit hypotheses by systematically examining the research findings and listing all the statistical procedures mentioned in the report. For example, examination of Newman’s
86 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 86
(2005) research report revealed that she used a correlation coefficient to test the implicit hypothesis of a relation between scores on the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and scores on the Inventory of Functional Status–Caregiver of a Child in a Body Cast (IFSCCBC).
Hypotheses should be falsifiable (Popper, 1965; Schumacher & Gortner, 1992). That means that the way in which the hypothesis is stated should allow the researcher to conclude that the hypothesis was rejected if the data do not support the assertion made in the hypoth- esis. For example, suppose that a researcher hypothesized that all mothers and fathers have high, medium, or low scores on the IFSCCBC and high, medium, or low scores on the PHQ. The hypothesis cannot be falsified because it does not eliminate any logically or practically possible results. In contrast, the hypothesis that all mothers and fathers have medium scores on the PHQ and low scores on the IFSCCBC can be falsified because it asserts that the moth- ers and fathers will not have high or low scores on the PHQ and will not have high or medium scores on the IFSCCBC.
In addition, it is not correct to conclude that a hypothesis was partially supported. For example, suppose that a researcher hypothesized that both mothers’ and fathers’ scores on the PHQ were related to their scores on the IFSCCBC and that the results indicated that the hypothesis was supported only by the data from the mothers. It would not be correct to con- clude that the hypothesis was partially supported because the mothers’ data supported the hypothesis. Rather, the correct conclusion is that the hypothesis is rejected.
Chapter 6 ■ Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories 87
BOX 6-11
Example of Testability of a Proposition Stating an Association Between Two Concepts
Middle-Range Theory Concepts
• Personal health
• Functional status
Proposition
There is a relation between personal health and functional status.
Operational Definitions
• Personal health was measured by the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ).
• Functional status was measured by the Inventory of Functional Status–Caregiver of a Child in a Body Cast (IFSCCBC).
Hypothesis
There is a relation between scores on the PHQ and scores on the IFSCCBC.
Statistical Procedure
A Pearson coefficient of correlation was used to determine the correlation between scores from the PHQ and the IFSCCBC.
Example constructed from Newman (2005).
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 87
Conclusion
In this chapter, you continued to learn about how to determine how good the information about a middle-range theory given in a research report is. Specifically, you learned how to evaluate the T component of C-T-E structures using the criteria of significance, internal consistency, parsi- mony, and testability. The questions to ask and answer as you evaluate the middle-range theory are listed in Box 6–12. Application of these four criteria should help you to better understand the link between the T and E components of C-T-E structures. The learning activities for this chapter will help you increase your understanding of the four criteria and their application to the contents of research reports.
References
Full citations for all references cited in this chapter are provided in the Reference section at the end of the book.
Learning Activities
Activities to supplement what you have learned in this chapter, along with practice examina- tion questions, are provided on the CD that comes with this book.
88 Part 2 ■ Evaluation of Conceptual Models and Theories
BOX 6-12
Evaluation of Middle-Range Theories: How Good Is the Information?
Significance
• Is the middle-range theory socially significant?
• Is the middle-range theory theoretically significant?
Internal Consistency
• Is each concept of the middle-range theory explicitly identified and clearly defined?
• Are the same term and same definition used consistently for each concept?
• Are the propositions of the middle-range theory reasonable?
Parsimony
• Is the middle-range theory stated concisely?
Testability
• Was each concept measured?
• Were all assertions tested through some data analysis technique?
1489_Ch06_073-088.qxd 7/8/08 2:25 PM Page 88
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Who We Are
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. Assignment 2: Middle Range or Interdisciplinary Theory Evaluation
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
Explain the importance of following the essentials of Master’s in Education in nursing in a clinical nurse practitioner program such as the Florida national university. Please select one of the essentials and expand as to why the selected essential is crucial in succeeding in the program (Essentials I-IX)
Minimum of 250 words. Make sure you provide appropriate reference and utilize APA style
The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing.
They are listed below:
I. Background for Practice from Sciences and Humanities
II. Organizational and Systems Leadership
III. Quality Improvement and Safety
IV. Translating and Integrating Scholarship into Practice
V. Informatics and Healthcare Technologies
VI. Health Policy and Advocacy
VII. Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes
VIII. Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving Health
IX. Master’s-Level Nursing Practice
What is the purpose of AACN master’s essentials and how do you think it will impact your practice moving forward?
The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing
The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing reflect the profession’s continuing call for imagination, transformative thinking, and evolutionary change in graduate education. The extraordinary explosion of knowledge, expanding technologies, increasing diversity, and global health challenges produce a dynamic environment for nursing and amplify nursing’s critical contributions to health care. Master’s education prepares nurses for flexible leadership and critical action within complex, changing systems, including health, educational, and organizational systems. Master’s education equips nurses with valuable knowledge and skills to lead change, promote health, and elevate care in various roles and settings. Synergy with these Essentials, current and future healthcare reform legislation, and the action-oriented recommendations of the Initiative on the Future of Nursing (IOM, 2010) highlights the value and transforming potential of the nursing profession.
These Essentials are core for all master’s programs in nursing and provide the necessary curricular elements and framework, regardless of focus, major, or intended practice setting. These Essentials delineate the outcomes expected of all graduates of master’s nursing programs. These Essentials are not prescriptive directives on the design of programs. Consistent with the Baccalaureate and Doctorate of Nursing Practice Essentials, this document does not address preparation for specific roles, which may change and emerge over time. These Essentials also provide guidance for master’s programs during a time when preparation for specialty advanced nursing practice is transitioning to the doctoral level.
Master’s education remains a critical component of the nursing education trajectory to prepare nurses who can address the gaps resulting from growing healthcare needs. Nurses who obtain the competencies outlined in these Essentials have significant value for current and emerging roles in healthcare delivery and design through advanced nursing knowledge and higher level leadership skills for improving health outcomes. For some nurses, master’s education equips them with a fulfilling lifetime expression of their mastery area. For others, this core is a graduate foundation for doctoral education. Each preparation is valued.
Introduction
The dynamic nature of the healthcare delivery system underscores the need for the nursing profession to look to the future and anticipate the healthcare needs for which nurses must be prepared to address. The complexities of health and nursing care today make expanded nursing knowledge a necessity in contemporary care settings. The transformation of health care and nursing practice requires a new conceptualization of master’s education. Master’s education must prepare the graduate to:
• Lead change to improve quality outcomes,
• Advance a culture of excellence through lifelong learning,
• Build and lead collaborative interprofessional care teams,
• Navigate and integrate care services across the healthcare system,
• Design innovative nursing practices, and
• Translate evidence into practice.
Graduates of master’s degree programs in nursing are prepared with broad knowledge and practice expertise that builds and expands on baccalaureate or entry-level nursing practice. This preparation provides graduates with a fuller understanding of the discipline of nursing in order to engage in higher level practice and leadership in a variety of settings and commit to lifelong learning. For those nurses seeking a terminal degree, the highest level of preparation within the discipline, the new conceptualization for master’s education will allow for seamless movement into a research or practice-focused doctoral program (AACN, 2006, 2010).
The nine Essentials addressed in this document delineate the knowledge and skills that all nurses prepared in master’s nursing programs acquire. These Essentials guide the preparation of graduates for diverse areas of practice in any healthcare setting.
• Essential I: Background for Practice from Sciences and Humanities o Recognizes that the master’s-prepared nurse integrates scientific findings
from nursing, biopsychosocial fields, genetics, public health, quality improvement, and organizational sciences for the continual improvement of nursing care across diverse settings.
• Essential II: Organizational and Systems Leadership o Recognizes that organizational and systems leadership are critical to the
promotion of high quality and safe patient care. Leadership skills are needed that emphasize ethical and critical decision making, effective working relationships, and a systems-perspective.
• Essential III: Quality Improvement and Safety o Recognizes that a master’s-prepared nurse must be articulate in the
methods, tools, performance measures, and standards related to quality, as well as prepared to apply quality principles within an organization.
• Essential IV: Translating and Integrating Scholarship into Practice
o Recognizes that the master’s-prepared nurse applies research outcomes within the practice setting, resolves practice problems, works as a change agent, and disseminates results.
• Essential V: Informatics and Healthcare Technologies
o Recognizes that the master’s-prepared nurse uses patient-care technologies to deliver and enhance care and uses communication technologies to integrate and coordinate care.
• Essential VI: Health Policy and Advocacy o Recognizes that the master’s-prepared nurse is able to intervene at the
system level through the policy development process and to employ advocacy strategies to influence health and health care.
• Essential VII: Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes
o Recognizes that the master’s-prepared nurse, as a member and leader of interprofessional teams, communicates, collaborates, and consults with other health professionals to manage and coordinate care.
• Essential VIII: Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving Health
o Recognizes that the master’s-prepared nurse applies and integrates broad, organizational, client-centered, and culturally appropriate concepts in the planning, delivery, management, and evaluation of evidence-based clinical prevention and population care and services to individuals, families, and aggregates/identified populations.
• Essential IX: Master’s-Level Nursing Practice o Recognizes that nursing practice, at the master’s level, is broadly defined
as any form of nursing intervention that influences healthcare outcomes for individuals, populations, or systems. Master’s-level nursing graduates must have an advanced level of understanding of nursing and relevant sciences as well as the ability to integrate this knowledge into practice. . Nursing practice interventions include both direct and indirect care components.
Master’s Education in Nursing and Areas of Practice Graduates with a master’s degree in nursing are prepared for a variety of roles and areas of practice. Graduates may pursue new and innovative roles that result from health reform and changes in an evolving and global healthcare system. Some graduates will pursue direct care practice roles in a variety of settings (e.g., the Clinical Nurse Leader, nurse educator). Others may choose indirect care roles or areas of practice that focus on aggregate, systems, or have an organizational focus, (e.g. nursing or health program management, informatics, public health, or clinical research coordinator). In addition to developing competence in the nine Essential core areas delineated in this document, each graduate will have additional coursework in an area of practice or functional role. This coursework may include more in-depth preparation and competence in one or two of the Essentials or in an additional/ supplementary area of practice. For example, more concentrated coursework or further development of the knowledge and skills embedded in Essential IV (Translational Scholarship for Evidence-Based Practice) will prepare the nurse to manage research projects for nurse scientists and other healthcare researchers working in multi-professional research teams. More in-depth preparation in Essential II (Organizational and System Leadership) will provide knowledge useful for nursing management roles.
In some instances, graduates of master’s in nursing programs will seek to fill roles as educators. As outlined in Essential IX, all master’s-prepared nurses will develop competence in applying teaching/learning principles in work with patients and/or students across the continuum of care in a variety of settings. However, as recommended in the Carnegie Foundation report (2009), Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation, those individuals, as do all master’s graduates, who choose a nurse educator role require preparation across all nine Essential areas, including graduate-level clinical practice content and experiences. In addition, a program preparing individuals for a nurse educator role should include preparation in curriculum design and development, teaching methodologies, educational needs assessment, and learner-centered theories and methods. Master’s prepared nurses may teach patients and their families and/or student nurses, staff nurses, and variety of direct-care providers. The master’s prepared nurse educator differs from the BSN nurse in depth of his/her understanding of the nursing discipline, nursing practice, and the added pedagogical skills. To teach students, patients, and caregivers regarding health promotion, disease prevention, or disease management, the master’s-prepared nurse educator builds on baccalaureate knowledge with graduate- level content in the areas of health assessment, physiology/pathophysiology, and pharmacology to strengthen his/her scientific background and facilitate his/her understanding of nursing and health-related information. Those master’s students who aspire to faculty roles in baccalaureate and higher degree programs will be advised that additional education at the doctoral level is needed (AACN, 2008).
Context for Nursing Practice
Health care in the United States and globally is changing dramatically. Interest in evolving health care has prompted greater focus on health promotion and illness prevention, along with cost-effective approaches to high acuity, chronic disease management, care coordination, and long-term care. Public concerns about cost of health care, fiscal sustainability, healthcare quality, and development of sustainable solutions to healthcare problems are driving reform efforts. Attention to affordability and accessibility of health care, maintaining healthy environments, and promoting personal and community responsibility for health is growing among the public and policy makers.
In addition to broad public mandates for a reformed and responsive healthcare system, a number of groups are calling for changes in the ways all health professionals are educated to meet current and projected needs for contemporary care delivery. The Institute of Medicine (IOM), an interprofessional healthcare panel, described a set of core competencies that all health professionals regardless of discipline will demonstrate: 1) the provision of patient-centered care, 2) working in interprofessional teams, 3) employing evidence-based practice, 4) applying quality improvement approaches, and 5) utilizing informatics (IOM, 2003).
Given the ongoing public trust in nursing (Gallup, 2010), and the desire for fundamental reorganization of relationships among individuals, the public, healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals, graduate education for nurses is needed that is wide in scope and breadth, emphasizes all systems-level care and includes mastery of practice knowledge and skills. Such preparation reflects mastery of higher level thinking and conceptualization skills than at the baccalaureate level, as well as an understanding of the interrelationships among practice, ethical, and legal issues; financial concerns and comparative effectiveness; and interprofessional teamwork.
Master’s Nursing Education Curriculum
The master’s nursing curriculum is conceptualized in Figure 1 and includes three components:
1. Graduate Nursing Core: foundational curriculum content deemed essential for all students who pursue a master’s degree in nursing regardless of the functional focus.
2. Direct Care Core: essential content to provide direct patient services at an advanced level.
3. Functional Area Content: those clinical and didactic learning experiences identified and defined by the professional nursing organizations and certification bodies for specific nursing roles or functions.
This document delineates the graduate nursing core competencies for all master’s graduates. These core outcomes reflect the many changes in the healthcare system occurring over the past decade. In addition, these expected outcomes for all master’s degree graduates reflect the increasing responsibility of nursing in addressing many of the gaps in health care as well as growing patient and population needs.
Master’s nursing education, as is all nursing education, is evolving to meet these needs and to prepare nurses to assume increasing accountabilities, responsibilities, and leadership positions. As master’s nursing education is re-envisioned and preparation of individuals for advanced specialty nursing practice transitions to the practice doctorate these Essentials delineate the foundational, core expectations for these master’s program graduates until the transition is completed.
Figure 1: Model of Master’s Nursing Curriculum
* All master’s degree programs that prepare graduates for roles that have a component of direct care practice are required to have graduate level content/coursework in the following three areas: physiology/pathophysiology, health assessment, and pharmacology. However, graduates being prepared for any one of the four APRN roles (CRNA, CNM, CNS, or CNP), must complete three separate comprehensive, graduate level courses that meet the criteria delineated in the 2008 Consensus Model for APRN Licensure, Accreditation, Certification and Education. (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education/pdf/APRNReport.pdf). In addition, the expected outcomes for each of these three APRN core courses are delineated in The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (pg. 23-24) (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/DNP/pdf/Essentials.pdf). + The nursing educator is a direct care role and therefore requires graduate-level content in the three Direct Care Core courses. All graduates of a master’s nursing program must have supervised practice experiences that are sufficient to demonstrate mastery of the Essentials. The term “supervised” is used broadly and can include precepted experiences with faculty site visits. These learning experiences may be accomplished through diverse teaching methods, including face-to-face or simulated methods.
In addition, development of clinical proficiency is facilitated through the use of focused and sustained clinical experiences designed to strengthen patient care delivery skills, as well as system assessment and intervention skills, which will lead to an enhanced understanding of organizational dynamics. These immersion experiences afford the student an opportunity to focus on a population of interest or may focus on a specific role. Most often, the immersion experience occurs toward the end of the program as a culminating synthesis experience.
The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing
Essential I: Background for Practice from Sciences and Humanities
Rationale
Master’s-prepared nurses build on the competencies gained in a baccalaureate nursing program by developing a deeper understanding of nursing and the related sciences needed to fully analyze, design, implement, and evaluate nursing care. These nurses are well prepared to provide care to diverse populations and cohorts of patients in clinical and community-based systems. The master’s-prepared nurse integrates findings from the sciences and the humanities, biopsychosocial fields, genetics, public health, quality improvement, health economics, translational science, and organizational sciences for the continual improvement of nursing care at the unit, clinic, home, or program level. Master’s-prepared nursing care reflects a more sophisticated understanding of assessment, problem identification, design of interventions, and evaluation of aggregate outcomes than baccalaureate-prepared nursing care.
Students being prepared for direct care roles will have graduate-level content that builds upon an undergraduate foundation in health assessment, pharmacology, and pathophysiology. Having master’s-prepared graduates with a strong background in these three areas is seen as imperative from the practice perspective. It is recommended that the master’s curriculum preparing individuals for direct care roles include three separate graduate-level courses in these three content areas. In addition, the inclusion of these three separate courses facilitates the transition of these master’s program graduates into the DNP advanced-practice registered-nurse programs.
Master’s-prepared nurses understand the intersection between systems science and organizational science in order to serve as integrators within and across systems of care. Care coordination is based on systems science (Nelson et al., 2008). Care management incorporates an understanding of the clinical and community context, and the research relevant to the needs of the population. Nurses at this level use advanced clinical reasoning for ambiguous and uncertain clinical presentations, and incorporate concerns of family, significant others, and communities into the design and delivery of care. Master’s-prepared nurses use a variety of theories and frameworks, including nursing and ethical theories in the analysis of clinical problems, illness prevention, and health promotion strategies. Knowledge from information sciences, health communication, and health literacy are used to provide care to multiple populations. These nurses are able to address complex cultural issues and design care that responds to the needs of multiple populations, who may have potentially conflicting cultural needs and preferences. As healthcare technology becomes more sophisticated and its use more widespread, master’s-prepared nurse are able to evaluate when its use is appropriate for diagnostic, educational, and therapeutic interventions. Master’s-prepared nurses use improvement science and quality processes to evaluate outcomes of the aggregate of patients, community members, or communities under their care, monitor trends in clinical data, and understand the implications of trends for changing nursing care.
The master’s-degree program prepares the graduate to:
1. Integrate nursing and related sciences into the delivery of advanced nursing care to diverse populations.
2. Incorporate current and emerging genetic/genomic evidence in providing advanced nursing care to individuals, families, and communities while accounting for patient values and clinical judgment. 3. Design nursing care for a clinical or community-focused population based on biopsychosocial, public health, nursing, and organizational sciences. 4. Apply ethical analysis and clinical reasoning to assess, intervene, and evaluate advanced nursing care delivery.
5. Synthesize evidence for practice to determine appropriate application of interventions across diverse populations.
6. Use quality processes and improvement science to evaluate care and ensure patient safety for individuals and communities.
7. Integrate organizational science and informatics to make changes in the care environment to improve health outcomes. 8. Analyze nursing history to expand thinking and provide a sense of professional heritage and identity.
Sample Content
• Healthcare economics and finance models • Advanced nursing science, including the major streams of nursing scientific
development • Scientific bases of illness prevention, health promotion, and wellness • Genetics, genomics, and pharmacogenomics • Public health science, such as basic epidemiology, surveillance, environmental
science, and population health analysis and program planning • Organizational sciences
• Systems science and integration, including microsystems, mesosystems, and macro- level systems
• Chaos theory and complexity science • Leadership science • Theories of bioethics • Information science • Quality processes and improvement science • Technology assessment • Nursing Theories Essential II: Organizational and Systems Leadership
Rationale
Organizational and systems leadership are critical to the promotion of high quality and safe patient care. Leadership skills are needed that emphasize ethical and critical decision making. The master’s-prepared nurse’s knowledge and skills in these areas are consistent with nursing and healthcare goals to eliminate health disparities and to promote excellence in practice. Master’s-level practice includes not only direct care but also a focus on the systems that provide care and serve the needs of a panel of patients, a defined population, or community.
To be effective, graduates must be able to demonstrate leadership by initiating and maintaining effective working relationships using mutually respectful communication and collaboration within interprofessional teams, demonstrating skills in care coordination, delegation, and initiating conflict resolution strategies. The master’s- prepared nurse provides and coordinates comprehensive care for patients–individuals, families, groups, and communities–in multiple and varied settings. Using information from numerous sources, these nurses navigate the patient through the healthcare system and assume accountability for quality outcomes. Skills essential to leadership include communication, collaboration, negotiation, delegation, and coordination.
Master’s-prepared nurses are members and leaders of healthcare teams that deliver a variety of services. These graduates bring a unique blend of knowledge, judgment, skills, and caring to the team. As a leader and partner with other health professionals, these nurses seek collaboration and consultation with other providers as necessary in the design, coordination, and evaluation of patient care outcomes.
In an environment with ongoing changes in the organization and financing of health care, it is imperative that all master’s-prepared nurses have a keen understanding of healthcare policy, organization, and financing. The purpose of this content is to prepare a graduate to provide quality cost-effective care; to participate in the implementation of care; and to assume a leadership role in the management of human, fiscal, and physical healthcare resources. Program graduates understand the economies of care, business principles, and how to work within and affect change in systems.
The master’s-prepared nurse must be able to analyze the impact of systems on patient outcomes, including analyzing error rates. These nurses will be prepared with knowledge and expertise in assessing organizations, identifying systems’ issues, and facilitating organization-wide changes in practice delivery. Master’s-prepared nurses must be able to use effective interdisciplinary communication skills to work across departments identifying opportunities and designing and testing systems and programs to improve care. In addition, nurse practice at this level requires an understanding of complexity theory and systems thinking, as well as the business and financial acumen needed for the analysis of practice quality and costs.
The master’s-degree program prepares the graduate to:
1. Apply leadership skills and decision making in the provision of culturally responsive, high-quality nursing care, healthcare team coordination, and the oversight and accountability for care delivery and outcomes.
2. Assume a leadership role in effectively implementing patient safety and quality improvement initiatives within the context of the interprofessional team using effective communication (scholarly writing, speaking, and group interaction) skills.
3. Develop an understanding of how healthcare delivery systems are organized and financed (and how this affects patient care) and identify the economic, legal, and political factors that influence health care.
4. Demonstrate the ability to use complexity science and systems theory in the design, delivery, and evaluation of health care.
5. Apply business and economic principles and practices, including budgeting, cost/benefit analysis, and marketing, to develop a business plan.
6. Design and implement systems change strategies that improve the care environment.
7. Participate in the design and implementation of new models of care delivery and coordination.
Sample Content
• Leadership, including theory, leadership styles, contemporary approaches, and strategies (organizing, managing, delegating, supervising, collaborating, coordinating) • Data-driven decision-making based on an ethical framework to promote culturally responsive, quality patient care in a variety of settings, including creative and imaginative strategies in problem solving • Communication–both interpersonal and organizational–including elements and channels, models, and barriers • Conflict, including conflict resolution, mediation, negotiation, and managing conflict • Change theory and social change theories • Systems theory and complexity science • Healthcare systems and organizational relationships (e.g., finance, organizational structure, and delivery of care, including mission/vision/philosophy and values) • Healthcare finance, including budgeting, cost/benefit analysis, variance analysis, and marketing • Operations research (e.g., queuing theory, supply chain management, and systems designs in health care) • Teams and teamwork, including team leadership, building effective teams, and nurturing teams Essential III: Quality Improvement and Safety
Rationale
Continuous quality improvement involves every level of the healthcare organization. A master’s-prepared nurse must be articulate in the methods, tools, performance measures, culture of safety principles, and standards related to quality, as well as prepared to apply quality principles within an organization to be an effective leader and change agent.
The Institute of Medicine report (1998) To Err is Human defined patient safety as “freedom from accidental injury” and stated that patients should not be at greater risk for accidental injury in a hospital or healthcare setting than they are in their own home. Improvement in patient safety along with reducing and ultimately eliminating harm to patients is fundamental to quality care. Skills are needed that assist in identifying actual or potential failures in processes and systems that lead to breakdowns and errors and then redesigning processes to make patients safe.
Knowledge and skills in human factors and basic safety design principles that affect unsafe practices are essential. Graduates of master’s-level programs must be able to analyze systems and work to create a just culture of safety in which personnel feel comfortable disclosing errors—including their own—while maintaining professional accountability. Learning how to evaluate, calculate, and improve the overall reliability of processes are core skills needed by master’s-prepared nurses.
Knowledge of both the potential and the actual impact of national patient safety resources, initiatives, and regulations and the use of national benchmarks are required. Changes in healthcare reimbursement with the introduction of Medicare’s list of “never events” and the regulatory push for more transparency on quality outcomes require graduates to be able to determine if the outcomes of standards of practice, performance, and competence have been met and maintained.
The master’s-prepared nurse provides leadership across the care continuum in diverse settings using knowledge regarding high reliability organizations. These organizations achieve consistently safe and effective performance records despite unpredictable operating environments or intrinsically hazardous endeavors (Weick, 2001). The master’s-prepared nurse will be able to monitor, analyze, and prioritize outcomes that need to be improved. Using quality improvement and high reliability organizational principles, these nurses will be able to quantify the impact of plans of action.
The master’s-degree program prepares the graduate to:
1. Analyze information about quality initiatives recognizing the contributions of individuals and inter-professional healthcare teams to improve health outcomes across the continuum of care.
2. Implement evidence-based plans based on trend analysis and quantify the impact on quality and safety.
3. Analyze information and design systems to sustain improvements and promote transparency using high reliability and just culture principles.
4. Compare and contrast several appropriate quality improvement models.
5. Promote a professional environment that includes accountability and high-level communication skills when involved in peer review, advocacy for patients and families, reporting of errors, and professional writing.
6. Contribute to the integration of healthcare services within systems to affect safety and quality of care to improve patient outcomes and reduce fragmentation of care.
7. Direct quality improvement methods to promote culturally responsive, safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered care.
8. Lead quality improvement initiatives that integrate socio-cultural factors affecting the delivery of nursing and healthcare services.
Sample Content
• Quality improvement models differentiating structure, process, and outcome indicators • Principles of a just culture and relationship to analyzing errors • Quality improvement methods and tools: Brainstorming, Fishbone cause and effect diagram, flow chart, Plan, Do Study, Act (PDSA), Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA),Find, Organize, Clarify, Understand, Select-Plan, Do, Check, Act (FOCUS-PDCA), Six Sigma, Lean • High-Reliability Organizations (HROs) / High-reliability techniques • National patient safety goals and other relevant regulatory standards (e.g., CMS core measures, pay for performance indicators, and never events) • Nurse-sensitive indicators • Data management (e.g., collection tools, display techniques, data analysis, trend analysis, control charts) •Analysis of errors (e.g., Root Cause Analysis [RCA], Failure Mode Effects Analysis [FMEA], serious safety events) • Communication (e.g., hands-off communication, chain-of-command, error disclosure) • Participate in executive patient safety rounds • Simulation training in a variety of settings (e.g., disasters, codes, and other high-risk clinical areas) • RN fit for duty/impact of fatigue and distractions in care environment on patient safety Essential IV: Translating and Integrating Scholarship into Practice
Rationale
Professional nursing practice at all levels is grounded in the ethical translation of current evidence into practice. Fundamentally, nurses need a questioning/inquiring attitude toward their practice and the care environment.
The master’s-prepared nurse examines policies and seeks evidence for every aspect of practice, thereby translating current evidence and identifying gaps where evidence is lacking. These nurses apply research outcomes within the practice setting, resolve practice problems (individually or as a member of the healthcare team), and disseminate results both within the setting and in wider venues in order to advance clinical practice. Changing practice locally, as well as more broadly, demands that the master’s-prepared nurse is skilled at challenging current practices, procedures, and policies. The emerging sciences referred to as implementation or improvement sciences are providing evidence about the processes that are effective when making needed changes where the change processes and context are themselves evidence based (Damschroder et al., 2009; Sobo, Bowman, & Gifford, 2008; van Achterberg, Schoonhoven, & Grol, 2008). Master’s- prepared nurses, therefore, must be able to implement change deemed appropriate given context and outcome analysis, and to assist others in efforts to improve outcomes.
Master’s-prepared nurses lead continuous improvement processes based on translational research skills. The cyclical processes in which these nurses are engaged includes identifying questions needing answers, searching or creating the evidence for potential solutions/innovations, evaluating the outcomes, and identifying additional questions.
Master’s-prepared nurses, when appropriate, lead the healthcare team in the implementation of evidence-based practice. These nurses support staff in lifelong learning to improve care decisions, serving as a role model and mentor for evidence- based decision making. Program graduates must possess the skills necessary to bring evidence-based practice to both individual patients for whom they directly care and to those patients for whom they are indirectly responsible. Those skills include knowledge acquisition and dissemination, working in groups, and change management.
The master’s-degree program prepares the graduate to:
1. Integrate theory, evidence, clinical judgment, research, and interprofessional perspectives using translational processes to improve practice and associated health outcomes for patient aggregates.
2. Advocate for the ethical conduct of research and translational scholarship (with particular attention to the protection of the patient as a research participant).
3. Articulate to a variety of audiences the evidence base for practice decisions, including the credibility of sources of information and the relevance to the practice problem confronted.
4. Participate, leading when appropriate, in collaborative teams to improve care outcomes and support policy changes through knowledge generation, knowledge dissemination, and planning and evaluating knowledge implementation.
5. Apply practice guidelines to improve practice and the care environment.
6. Perform rigorous critique of evidence derived from databases to generate meaningful evidence for nursing practice.
Sample Content:
• Research process • Implementation/Improvement science • Evidence-based practice:
� Clinical decision making � Critical thinking � Problem identification � Outcome measurement
• Translational science: � Data collection in nursing practice � Design of databases that generate meaningful evidence for nursing practice � Data analysis in practice � Evidence-based interventions � Prediction and analysis of outcomes � Patterns of behavior and outcomes � Gaps in evidence for practice � Importance of cultural relevance
• Scholarship: � Application of research to the clinical setting � Resolution of clinical problems � Appreciative inquiry � Dissemination of results
• Advocacy in research • Research ethics • Knowledge acquisition • Group process • Management of change • Evidence-based policy development in practice • Quality improvement models/methodologies • Safety issues in practice • Innovation processes Essential V: Informatics and Healthcare Technologies
Rationale
Informatics and healthcare technologies encompass five broad areas:
• Use of patient care and other technologies to deliver and enhance care;
• Communication technologies to integrate and coordinate care;
• Data management to analyze and improve outcomes of care;
• Health information management for evidence-based care and health education; and
• Facilitation and use of electronic health records to improve patient care.
Knowledge and skills in each of these four broad areas is essential for all master’s- prepared nurses. The extent and focus of each will vary depending upon the nurse’s role, setting, and practice focus.
Knowledge and skills in information and healthcare technology are critical to the delivery of quality patient care in a variety of settings (IOM, 2003a). The use of technologies to deliver, enhance, and document care is changing rapidly. In addition, information technology systems, including decision-support systems, are essential to gathering evidence to impact practice. Improvement in cost effectiveness and safety depend on evidence-based practice, outcomes research, interprofessional care coordination, and electronic health records, all of which involve information management and technology (McNeil et al., 2006). As nursing and healthcare practices evolve to better meet patient needs, the application of these technologies will change as well. As the use of technology expands, the master’s-prepared nurse must have the knowledge and skills to use current technologies to deliver and coordinate care across multiple settings, analyze point of care outcomes, and communicate with individuals and groups, including the media, policymakers, other healthcare professionals, and the public. Integral to these skills is an attitude of openness to innovation and continual learning, as information systems and care technologies are constantly changing, including their use at the point of care.
Graduates of master’s-level nursing programs will have competence to determine the appropriate use of technologies and integrate current and emerging technologies into one’s practice and the practice of others to enhance care outcomes. In addition, the master’s-prepared nurse will be able to educate other health professionals, staff, patients, and caregivers using current technologies and about the principles related to the safe and effective use of care and information technologies.
Graduates ethically manage data, information, knowledge, and technology to communicate effectively with healthcare team, patients, and caregivers to integrate safe and effective care within and across settings. Master’s-prepared nurses use research and clinical evidence to inform practice decisions.
Master’s-degree graduates are prepared to gather, document, and analyze outcome data that serve as a foundation for decision making and the implementation of interventions or strategies to improve care outcomes. The master’s-prepared nurse uses statistical and epidemiological principles to synthesize these data, information, and knowledge to evaluate and achieve optimal health outcomes.
The usefulness of electronic health records and other health information management systems to evaluate care outcomes is improved by standardized terminologies. Integration of standardized terminologies in information systems supports day-to-day nursing practice and also the capacity to enhance interprofessional communication and generate standardized data to continuously evaluate and improve practice (American Nurses Association, 2008). Master’s-prepared nurses use information and communication technologies to provide guidance and oversight for the development and implementation of health education programs, evidence-based policies, and point-of-care practices by members of the interdisciplinary care team.
Health information is growing exponentially. Health literacy is a powerful tool in health promotion, disease prevention, management of chronic illnesses, and quality of life–all of which are hallmarks of excellence in nursing practice. Master’s-prepared nurses serve as information managers, patient advocates, and educators by assisting others(including patients, students, caregivers and healthcare professionals) in accessing, understanding, evaluating, and applying health-related information. The master’s-prepared nurse designs and implements education programs for cohorts of patients or other healthcare providers using information and communication technologies.
The master’s-degree program prepares the graduate to:
1. Analyze current and emerging technologies to support safe practice environments, and to optimize patient safety, cost-effectiveness, and health outcomes.
2. Evaluate outcome data using current communication technologies, information systems, and statistical principles to develop strategies to reduce risks and improve health outcomes.
3. Promote policies that incorporate ethical principles and standards for the use of health and information technologies.
4. Provide oversight and guidance in the integration of technologies to document patient care and improve patient outcomes.
5. Use information and communication technologies, resources, and principles of learning to teach patients and others.
6. Use current and emerging technologies in the care environment to support lifelong learning for self and others.
Sample Content
• Use of technology, information management systems, and standardized terminology
• Use of standardized terminologies to document and analyze nursing care outcomes
• Bio-health informatics • Regulatory requirements for electronic data monitoring systems • Ethical and legal issues related to the use of information technology, including
copyright, privacy, and confidentiality issues • Retrieval information systems, including access, evaluation of data, and
application of relevant data to patient care • Statistical principles and analyses of outcome data • Online review and resources for evidence-based practice • Use and implementation of technology for virtual care delivery and monitoring • Electronic health record, including policies related to the implementation of and
use to impact care outcomes • Complementary roles of the master’s-prepared nursing and information
technology professionals, including nurse informaticist and quality officer • Use of technology to analyze data sets and their use to evaluate patient care
outcomes • Effective use of educational/instructional technology • Point-of-care information systems and decision support systems
Essential VI: Health Policy and Advocacy
Rationale
The healthcare environment is ever-evolving and influenced by technological, economic, political, and sociocultural factors locally and globally. Graduates of master’s degree nursing programs have requisite knowledge and skills to promote health, help shape the health delivery system, and advance values like social justice through policy processes and advocacy. Nursing’s call to political activism and policy advocacy emerges from many different viewpoints. As more evidence links the broad psychosocial, economic, and cultural factors to health status, nurses are compelled to incorporate these factors into their approach to care. Most often, policy processes and system-level strategies yield the strongest influence on these broad determinants of health. Being accountable for improving the quality of healthcare delivery, nurses must understand the legal and political determinants of the system and have the requisite skills to partner for an improved system. Nurses’ involvement in policy debates brings our professional values to bear on the process (Warner, 2003). Master’s-prepared nurses will use their political efficacy and competence to improve the health outcomes of populations and improve the quality of the healthcare delivery system.
Policy shapes healthcare systems, influences social determinants of health, and therefore determines accessibility, accountability, and affordability of health care. Health policy creates conditions that promote or impede equity in access to care and health outcomes. Implementing strategies that address health disparities serves as a prelude to influencing policy formation. In order to influence policy, the master’s-prepared nurse needs to work within and affect change in systems. To effectively collaborate with stakeholders, the master’s-prepared nurse must understand the fiscal context in which they are practicing and make the linkages among policy, financing, and access to quality health care. The graduate must understand the principles of healthcare economics, finance, payment methods, and the relationships between policy and health economics.
Advocacy for patients, the profession, and health-promoting policies is operationalized in divergent ways. Attributes of advocacy include safeguarding autonomy, promoting social justice, using ethical principles, and empowering self and others (Grace, 2001; Hanks, 2007; Xiaoyan & Jezewski, 2006). Giving voice and persuasion to needs and preferred direction at the individual, institution, state, or federal policy level is integral for the master’s-prepared nurse.
The master’s-degree program prepares the graduate to:
1. Analyze how policies influence the structure and financing of health care, practice, and health outcomes.
2. Participate in the development and implementation of institutional, local, and state
and federal policy. 3. Examine the effect of legal and regulatory processes on nursing practice,
healthcare delivery, and outcomes. 4. Interpret research, bringing the nursing perspective, for policy makers and
stakeholders.
5. Advocate for policies that improve the health of the public and the profession of nursing.
Sample Content
• Policy process: development, implementation, and evaluation • Structure of healthcare delivery systems • Theories and models of policy making • Policy making environments: values, economies, politics, social • Policy-making process at various levels of government • Ethical and value-based frameworks guiding policy making
• General principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics, accounting, and marketing strategies.
• Globalization and global health • Interaction between regulatory processes and quality control • Health disparities • Social justice • Political activism • Economics of health care
Essential VII: Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes
Rationale
In a redesigned health system a greater emphasis will be placed on cooperation, communication, and collaboration among all health professionals in order to integrate care in teams and ensure that care is continuous and reliable. Therefore, an expert panel at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified working in interdisciplinary teams as one of the five core competencies for all health professionals (IOM, 2003).
Interprofessional collaboration is critical for achieving clinical prevention and health promotion goals in order to improve patient and population health outcomes (APTR, 2008; 2009). Interprofessional practice is critical for improving patient care outcomes and, therefore, a key component of health professional education and lifelong learning (American Association of Colleges of Nursing & the Association of American Medical Colleges, 2010).
The IOM also recognized the need for care providers to demonstrate a greater awareness to “patient values, preferences, and cultural values,” consistent with the Healthy People 2010 goal of achieving health equity through interprofessional approaches (USHHS, 2000). In this context, knowledge of broad determinants of health will enable the master’s graduate to succeed as a patient advocate, cultural and systems broker, and to lead and coordinate interprofessional teams across care environments in order to reduce barriers, facilitate access to care, and improve health outcomes. Successfully leading these teams is achieved through skill development and demonstrating effective communication, planning, and implementation of care directly with other healthcare professionals (AACN, 2007).
Improving patient and population health outcomes is contingent on both horizontal and vertical health delivery systems that integrate research and clinical expertise to provide patient-centered care. Inherently the systems must include patients’ expressed values, needs, and preferences for shared decision making and management of their care. As members and leaders of interprofessional teams, the master’s-prepared nurse will actively communicate, collaborate, and consult with other health professionals to manage and coordinate care across systems.
The master’s-degree program prepares the graduate to:
1. Advocate for the value and role of the professional nurse as member and leader of interprofessional healthcare teams.
2. Understand other health professions’ scopes of practice to maximize contributions
within the healthcare team. 3. Employ collaborative strategies in the design, coordination, and evaluation of
patient-centered care.
4. Use effective communication strategies to develop, participate, and lead interprofessional teams and partnerships.
5. Mentor and coach new and experienced nurses and other members of the
healthcare team.
6. Functions as an effective group leader or member based on an in-depth understanding of team dynamics and group processes.
Sample Content
• Scopes of practice for nursing and other professions • Differing world views among healthcare team members • Concepts of communication, collaboration, and coordination • Conflict management strategies and principles of negotiation • Organizational processes to enhance communication • Types of teams and team roles • Stages of team development • Diversity of teams • Cultural diversity • Patient-centered care • Change theories • Multiple-intelligence theory • Group dynamics • Power structures • Health-work environments
Essential VIII: Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving Health
Rationale
Globally, the burden of illness, communicable disease, chronic disease conditions, and subsequent health inequity and disparity, is borne by those living in poverty and living in low-income and middle-income countries (Beaglehole et al., 2007; Gaziano et al., 2007; WHO, 2008). Similarly, in the U.S. population, health disparities continue to affect disproportionately low-income communities, people of color, and other vulnerable populations (USHHS, 2006).
The implementation of clinical prevention and population health activities is central to achieving the national goal of improving the health status of the population of the United States. Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors continue to account for over 50 percent of preventable deaths in the U.S., yet prevention interventions remain under-utilized in healthcare settings. In an effort to address this national goal, Healthy People 2010 supported the transformation of clinical education by creating an objective to increase the proportion of schools of medicine, nursing, and other health professionals that have a basic curriculum that includes the core competencies in health promotion and disease prevention (Allan et al., 2004; USHHS, 2000). In the Healthy People 2010 Midcourse Review, health disparities are not declining overall, reiterating the necessity to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of disease prevention and health promotion efforts (USHHS, 2006). Cognizant of these trends and successive health outcome data, it will be necessary to re-evaluate these data and for nursing to re-assess its leadership role and responsibility toward improving the population’s health.
The Healthy People Curriculum Task Force developed the Clinical Prevention and Population Health Curriculum Framework, which identifies four focal areas, including individual and population-oriented preventive interventions. This curriculum guides the development and evaluation of educational competencies expected of health professionals in clinical prevention and population health, and endorsed by clinical professional associations, including AACN (Allan, 2004; APTR, 2009).
As the diversity of the U.S. population increases, it is crucial that the health system provides care and services that are equitable and responsive to the unique cultural and ethnic identity, socio-economic condition, emotional and spiritual needs, and values of patients and the population (IOM, 2001; 2003). Nursing leadership within health systems is required to design and ensure the delivery of clinical prevention interventions and population-based care that promotes health, reduces the risk of chronic illness, and prevents disease. Acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary to meet this demand is essential for nursing practice (Allan et al., 2004; Allan et al., 2005).
The master’s-prepared nurse applies and integrates broad, organizational, patient- centered, and culturally responsive concepts into daily practice. Mastery of these concepts based on a variety of theories is essential in the design and delivery (planning, management, and evaluation) of evidence-based clinical prevention and population care and services to individuals, families, communities, and aggregates/clinical populations nationally and globally.
The master’s-degree program prepares the graduate to:
1. Synthesize broad ecological, global and social determinants of health; principles of genetics and genomics; and epidemiologic data to design and deliver evidence- based, culturally relevant clinical prevention interventions and strategies.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of clinical prevention interventions that affect
individual and population-based health outcomes using health information technology and data sources.
3. Design patient-centered and culturally responsive strategies in the delivery of
clinical prevention and health promotion interventions and/or services to individuals, families, communities, and aggregates/clinical populations.
4. Advance equitable and efficient prevention services, and promote effective
population-based health policy through the application of nursing science and other scientific concepts.
5. Integrate clinical prevention and population health concepts in the development of
culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate health education, communication strategies, and interventions.
Sample Content
• Environmental health • Epidemiology • Biostatistical methods and analysis • Disaster preparedness and management • Emerging science of complementary and alternative medicine and therapeutics • Ecological model of the social determinants of health • Teaching and learning theories • Health disparities, equity and social justice • Program planning, design, and evaluation • Quality improvement and change management • Health promotion and disease prevention • Application of health behavior modification • Health services financing • Health information management
• Ethical frameworks • Interprofessional collaboration • Theories and applications of health literacy and health communication • Genetics/genomic risk assessment for vulnerable populations • Organization of clinical, public health, and global systems • Frameworks for community and political engagement, advocacy, and
empowerment • Frameworks for addressing global health and emerging health issues • Nursing Theories
Essential IX: Master’s-Level Nursing Practice
Rationale
Essential IX describes master’s-level nursing practice at the completion of the master’s program in nursing. Nursing practice at the master’s level is broadly defined as any form of nursing intervention that influences healthcare outcomes for individuals, populations, or systems. Master’s-level nursing graduates must have an expanded level of understanding of nursing and related sciences built on the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice. Master’s-prepared nurses have developed a deeper understanding of the nursing profession based on reflective practices and continue to develop their own plans for lifelong learning and professional development.
Nursing-practice interventions include both direct and indirect care components. As a practice discipline, clinical care is the core business of nursing practice whether the graduate is focused on the provision of care to individuals, population-focused care, administration, informatics, education or health policy. Master’s nursing education prepares graduates to implement safe, quality care in a variety of settings and roles.
This Essential includes the practice-focused outcomes for all master’s-prepared nurses. Master’s level nursing practice builds upon the practice competencies delineated in the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice (AACN, 2008). Master’s-prepared nurses possess a mastery level of understanding of nursing theory, science and practice. Recent and evolving trends in health care require integration of key concepts into all master’s-prepared nursing practice. This includes concepts related to quality improvement, patient safety, economics of health care, environmental science, epidemiology, genetics/genomics, gerontology, global healthcare environment and perspectives, health policy, informatics, organizations and systems, communication, negotiation, advocacy, and interprofessional practice.
Master’s nursing education prepares graduates to influence the delivery of safe, quality care to diverse populations in a variety of settings and roles. The realities of a global society, expanding technologies, and an increasingly diverse population require these nurses to master complex information, to coordinate a variety of care experiences, to use technology for healthcare information and evaluation of nursing outcomes, and to assist diverse patients with managing an increasingly complex system of care. The master’s- prepared nurse is accountable for assessing the impact of research and advocates for participants, personnel, and systems integrity. As master’s-prepared nurses practicing in any setting or role, graduates must understand the foundations of care and the art and science of nursing practice as it relates to individuals, families, and clinical populations within an increasingly complex healthcare system. The extraordinary explosion of knowledge in the field also requires an increased emphasis on lifelong learning.
Essential IX specifies the foundational practice competencies that cut across all areas of practice and are seen as requisite for all master’s level nursing practice. Master’s-degree nursing programs provide learning experiences that are based in a variety of settings. These learning experiences will be integrated throughout the master’s program of study, to provide additional practice experiences beyond those acquired in a baccalaureate or entry-level nursing program.
The master’s-degree program prepares the graduate to:
1. Conduct a comprehensive and systematic assessment as a foundation for decision making.
2. Apply the best available evidence from nursing and other sciences as the
foundation for practice. 3. Advocate for patients, families, caregivers, communities and members of the
healthcare team. 4. Use information and communication technologies to advance patient education,
enhance accessibility of care, analyze practice patterns, and improve health care outcomes, including nurse sensitive outcomes.
5. Use leadership skills to teach, coach, and mentor other members of the healthcare
team.
6. Use epidemiological, social, and environmental data in drawing inferences regarding the health status of patient populations and interventions to promote and preserve health and healthy lifestyles.
7. Use knowledge of illness and disease management to provide evidence-based care
to populations, perform risk assessments, and design plans or programs of care. 8. Incorporate core scientific and ethical principles in identifying potential and
actual ethical issues arising from practice, including the use of technologies, and in assisting patients and other healthcare providers to address such issues.
9. Apply advanced knowledge of the effects of global environmental, individual and
population characteristics to the design, implementation, and evaluation of care.
10. Employ knowledge and skills in economics, business principles, and systems in the design, delivery, and evaluation of care.
11. Apply theories and evidence-based knowledge in leading, as appropriate, the
healthcare team to design, coordinate, and evaluate the delivery of care. 12. Apply learning, and teaching principles to the design, implementation, and
evaluation of health education programs for individuals or groups in a variety of settings.
13. Establish therapeutic relationships to negotiate patient-centered, culturally
appropriate, evidence-based goals and modalities of care. 14. Design strategies that promote lifelong learning of self and peers and that
incorporate professional nursing standards and accountability for practice. 15. Integrate an evolving personal philosophy of nursing and healthcare into one’s
nursing practice.
Sample Content
• Principles of leadership, including horizontal and vertical leadership • Effective use of self • Advocacy for patients, families, and the discipline • Conceptual analysis of the master’s-prepared nurse’s role(s) • Principles of lateral integration of care • Clinical Outcomes Management, including the measurement and analysis of patient
outcomes • Epidemiology • Biostatistics • Health promotion and disease reduction/ prevention management for patients and
clinical populations • Risk assessment • Health literacy • Principles of mentoring, coaching and counseling • Principles of adult learning • Evidence-based practice:
o Clinical decision making and judgment o Critical thinking o Problem Identification o Outcome measurement
• Care environment management • Team coordination, including delegation, coaching, interdisciplinary care, group
process • Negotiation, understanding group dynamics, conflict resolution • Healthcare reimbursement and reform and how it impacts practice • Resource allocation • Use of healthcare technologies to improve patient care delivery and outcomes • Healthcare finance and socioeconomic principles • Principles of quality management/risk reduction/patient safety • Informatics principles and use of standardized language to document care and
outcomes of care • Educational strategies • Learning styles • Cultural competence/awareness • Global health care environment, international law, geopolitics, and geo-economics • Nursing and other scientific theories • Appreciative inquiry • Reflective practices
Clinical/Practice Learning Expectations for Master’s Programs
All graduates of a master’s nursing program must have supervised clinical experiences, which are sufficient to demonstrate mastery of the Essentials. The term “supervised” is used broadly and can include precepted experiences with faculty site visits. These learning experiences may be accomplished through diverse teaching methodologies, including face-to-face and simulated means. The primary goals of clinical learning experiences are the opportunities to:
• Lead change to improve quality care outcomes,
• Advance a culture of excellence through lifelong learning
• Build and lead collaborative interprofessional care teams,
• Navigate and integrate care services across the healthcare system,
• Design innovative nursing practices, and
• Translate evidence into practice.
Mastery in nursing practice is acquired by the student through a series of applied learning experiences designed to allow the learner to integrate cognitive learning with the
affective and psychomotor domains of nursing practice. The clinical/practice experiences allow the learner to experiment and acquire competence with new knowledge and skills. These experiences provide the opportunity for delivery of services or programs of wide diversity and focus and may occur in multiple settings including hospitals, community settings, public health departments, primary care practice offices, integrated health care systems, and an array of other settings.
The clinical experience is an opportunity to integrate didactic learning, promote innovative thinking, and test new potential solutions to clinical/practice or system issues. Therefore, the development of new skills and practice expectations can be facilitated through the use of creative learning opportunities in diverse settings. These learning opportunities may include experiences in business, industries, and with disciplines that are recognized as innovators in safety, quality, finance, management, or technology. Through these experiences, the student may develop an appreciation and use the wisdom from other industries and disciplines in nursing practice that can occur through application of knowledge or evidence developed in other industries.
These learning experiences also can occur using simulation designed as a mechanism for verifying early mastery of new levels of practice or designed to create access to data or health care situations that are not readily accessible to the student. These experiences may include simulated mass casualty events, simulated database problems, simulated interpersonal communication scenarios, and other new emerging learning technologies. The simulation is an adjunct to the learning that will occur with direct human interface or human experience learning.
Development of mastery also is facilitated through the use of focused and sustained clinical experiences, which provide the learner with the opportunity to master the patient care delivery skills as well as the system assessment and intervention skills which require an understanding of organizational dynamics. These immersion experiences afford the student an opportunity to focus on a population of interest and a specific role. Most often, the immersion experience occurs toward the end of the program as a culminating synthesis experience for the program. In some instances, the master’s student may engage in a clinical experience at the student’s employing agency. This arrangement requires a systematic assessment of that setting’s ability to allow the student to engage in new practice activities, framed by the learning objectives of the program, and overseen or supervised by a mentor/preceptor or faculty member. This type of learning experience will be designed to assist the learner to acquire master’s-degree nursing knowledge and practice master’s-degree roles.
Supervised clinical experiences will be verified and documented. One example of such documentation is the use of a professional portfolio. This portfolio may also provide a foundation or template for the graduate’s future professional career trajectory and experiences.
Summary
The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing serves to transform nursing education and is critical to the innovations needed in health care. Due to the ever-changing and complex healthcare environment, this document emphasizes that the master’s-prepared nurse will be able to: 1) lead change for quality care outcomes; 2) advance a culture of excellence through lifelong learning; 3) build and lead collaborative interprofessional care teams; 4) navigate and integrate care services across the healthcare system; 5) design innovative nursing practices; and 6) translate evidence into practice. Master’s degree nursing programs prepare graduates with enhanced nursing knowledge and skills to address the evolving needs of the healthcare system.
Essentials I-IX delineate the outcomes expected of graduates of master’s nursing programs. Achievement of these outcomes will enable graduates to lead and practice in complex healthcare systems in a variety of direct and/or indirect care roles. The breadth of knowledge, the extent of experiential learning, and therefore the time needed to accomplish each Essential will vary, and each Essential does not require a separate course for achievement of the outcomes.
Clinical experiences in master’s programs are opportunities to integrate didactic learning, promote innovative thinking and test new potential solutions to clinical/practice or system issues. Therefore, the development of new skills and practice expectations can be facilitated through the use of creative learning opportunities in diverse settings. In addition, the extraordinary explosion of knowledge in the healthcare field requires the master’s-prepared nurse to have an increased emphasis on lifelong learning and professional development.
Glossary
Administration: Administration comprises working with and through others to achieve the mission, values, and vision of an organization. Administration is an executive function within an organization and has ultimate accountability for defining and achieving the organization’s strategic plan. Administration designates responsibility for implementing organizational goals. (Council on Graduate Education for Administration in Nursing, 2010)
Advanced Nursing Practice: Any form of nursing intervention that influences health care outcomes for individuals or populations, including the direct care of individual patients, management of care for individuals and populations, administration of nursing and health care organizations, and the development and implementation of health policy (AACN, 2004).
Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN): a nurse: 1. who has completed an accredited graduate-level education program preparing him/her for one of the four recognized APRN roles; 2. who has passed a national certification examination that measures APRN, role and population-focused competencies and who maintains continued competence as evidenced by recertification in the role and population through the national certification program; 3. who has acquired advanced clinical knowledge and skills preparing him/her to provide direct care to patients, as well as a component of indirect care; however, the defining factor for all APRNs is that a significant component of the education and practice focuses on direct care of individuals; 4. whose practice builds on the competencies of registered nurses (RNs) by demonstrating a greater depth and breadth of knowledge, a greater synthesis of data, increased complexity of skills and interventions, and greater role autonomy; 5. who is educationally prepared to assume responsibility and accountability for health promotion and/or maintenance as well as the assessment, diagnosis, and management of patient problems, which includes the use and prescription of pharmacologic and non- pharmacologic interventions; 6. who has clinical experience of sufficient depth and breadth to reflect the intended license; and 7. who has obtained a license to practice as an APRN in one of the four APRN roles: certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), certified nurse-midwife (CNM), clinical nurse specialist (CNS), or certified nurse practitioner (CNP). (APRN Consensus Model, 2008) Advocacy: Defending or maintaining a cause or proposal on behalf of the patient, client, or profession to achieve societal or other goals (Interprofessional Professionalism Collaborative, 2008) Aggregate(s): A community or a group of individuals defined by shared characteristics such as, age, culture, diagnosis, gender, geography, or values (adapted from Allan et al., 2004). Altruism: A concern for the welfare and well being of others. In professional practice, altruism is reflected by the nurse’s concern and advocacy for the welfare of patients, other nurses, and other healthcare providers (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008, p. 27). Autonomy: The right to self-determination. Professional practice reflects autonomy when the nurse respects patients’ rights to make decisions about their health care (AACN, 2008, p. 27).
Care Coordination: Ensures patients receive well-coordinated care across all healthcare organizations, settings, and levels of care (National Priorities Partnership, 2008).
Clinical Practice: The care of individuals or families, irrespective of setting.
Clinical Prevention: Health promotion and risk reduction/illness prevention for individuals, families, aggregates, or clinical populations (Allan et al, 2004).
Clinical Preventive Services: Screening, vaccination, counseling, or other preventive service delivered to one patient at a time by a healthcare practitioner in an office, clinic, healthcare system, or other practice environment (adapted from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). See also Community Preventive Services.
Community Preventive Services: Interventions that provide or increase the provision of preventive services such as screening, education, counseling, or other programs to groups of people, in community settings, healthcare systems, or other practice environments (adapted from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). See also Clinical Preventive Services.
Culturally Responsive: Culturally responsive refers to being cognizant of patients’ norms, beliefs, language, and behaviors that not only shape the meaning of their health but also their health-seeking and health-related behaviors. The constructs reinforce the idea that each practitioner should be engaged continuously in self reflection about their own personal beliefs, norms, behaviors and language and how together they guide their perceptions, beliefs, and interactions with patients. The culturally responsive practitioner focuses on the importance of building upon each patient’s personal strengths as well as available resource and supports which provide the foundational underpinning of these respective strengths. The culturally responsive practitioner also engages in a dynamic, respectful, and reciprocal dialogue with each person irrespective of their race, ethnicity, gender, social position, sexual orientation, immigration status, and educational level (Ring et al, 2009).
Delivery: The planning, management, and evaluation of evidence-based practice and clinical care across healthcare settings.
Direct Care/ Indirect Care:
Direct care refers to nursing care provided to individuals or families that is intended to achieve specific health goals or achieve selected health outcomes. Direct care may be provided in a wide range of settings, including acute and critical care, long term care, home health, community-based settings, and educational settings (AACN, 2004, 2006; Suby, 2009; Upenieks, Akhavan, Kotlerman et al., 2007).
Indirect care refers to nursing decisions, actions, or interventions that are provided through or on behalf of individuals, families, or groups. These decisions or interventions create the conditions under which nursing care or self care may occur. Nurses might use administrative decisions, population or aggregate health planning, or policy development to affect health outcomes in this way. Nurses who function in administrative capacities are responsible for direct care provided by other nurses. Their administrative decisions create the conditions under which direct care is provided. Public health nurses organize care for populations or aggregates to create the conditions under which care and improved health outcomes are more likely. Health policies create broad scale conditions for delivery of nursing and health care (AACN, 2004, 2006; Suby, 2009; Upenieks, Akhavan, Kotlerman et al., 2007).
Diverse populations: Diversity is an all-inclusive concept, and includes differences in race, color, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status (refugee, sojourner, immigrant, or undocumented), religion, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability/disability, political beliefs, social and economic status, education, occupation, spirituality, marital and parental status, urban versus rural residence, enclave identity, and other attributes of groups of people in society (Giger et al., 2007; Purnell & Paulanka, 2008). Ethics: The rules or principles that govern right conduct (Kozier & Erb, 2007). Evidenced-based Practice: The integration of best research evidence, clinical research, and patient values in making decisions about the care of individual patients (IOM, 2003). Genetics: Study of individual genes and their impact on relatively rare single-gene disorders (Guttmacher & Collins, 2002). Genomics: Study of all the genes in the human genome together, including their interactions with each other, the environment, and the influence of other psychosocial and cultural factors (Guttmacher & Collins, 2002). Health Disparities: Health disparities are differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of disease and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the United States (National Institutes of Health, 2002- 2006). The definition of health disparities assumes not only a difference in health but a difference in which disadvantaged social groups—who have persistently experienced social disadvantage or discrimination—systematically experience worse health or greater health risks than more advantaged social groups (Braveman, 2006). Consideration of who is considered to be within a health disparity population has policy and resource implications (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2009).
Health Education Programs: Any program designed to educate individuals, families, groups, communities, health professionals to improve health outcomes.
Health Equity: A basic principle that all people have a right to health. Health equity concerns those differences in population health that can be traced to unequal economic and social conditions and are systemic and avoidable and thus inherently unjust and unfair (Brennan, Baker, & Meltzer, 2008). Health Literacy: The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000b).
High-Reliability Organizations (HRO): Organizations or systems that operate in hazardous conditions but have fewer than their fair share of adverse events (Weick, 2001; Reason, 2001). Commonly discussed examples include air traffic control systems, nuclear power plants, and naval aircraft carriers (LaPorte, 1988; Roberts, 1990). It is worth noting that, in the patient safety literature, HROs are considered to operate with nearly failure-free performance records, not simply better than average ones. These organizations achieve consistently safe and effective performance records despite unpredictable operating environments or intrinsically hazardous endeavors. Some common features of HROs include:
• Preoccupation with failure—the acknowledgment of the high-risk, error-prone nature of an organization’s activities and the determination to achieve consistently safe operations.
• Commitment to resilience—the development of capacities to detect unexpected threats and contain them before they cause harm, or bounce back when they do.
• Sensitivity to operations—an attentiveness to the issues facing workers at the frontline. This feature comes into play when conducting analyses of specific events but also in connection with organizational decision making. Management units at the frontline are given some autonomy in identifying and responding to threats, rather than adopting a rigid top-down approach.
• A culture of safety—the atmosphere in which individuals feel comfortable drawing attention to potential hazards or actual failures without fear of censure from management (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2009).
Horizontal and Vertical Health Delivery Systems: Health systems are comprised of a “horizontal system” focused on integrated resource sharing health services, providing prevention and care for prevailing health problems, and of “vertical systems” focused on disease specific interventions for specific health conditions (World Health Organization, 2010).
Human Dignity: Respect for the inherent worth and uniqueness of individuals and populations. In professional practice, concern for human dignity is reflected when the
nurse values and respects all patients and colleagues (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008, p. 28).
Informatics: The use of information and technology to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision making (Quality and Safety Education for Nurses, 2010). Integrity: Acting in accordance with an appropriate code of ethics and accepted standards of practice. Integrity is reflected in professional practice when the nurse is honest and provides care based on an ethical framework that is accepted within the profession (AACN, 2008, p. 28).
Interprofessional: Working across healthcare professions to cooperate, collaborate, communicate, and integrate care in teams to ensure that care is continuous and reliable. The team consists of the patient, the nurse, and other healthcare providers as appropriate (IOM, 2003)
Just Culture: This phrase was popularized in the patient safety lexicon by a report (Marx, 2001) that outlined principles for achieving a culture in which frontline personnel are comfortable disclosing errors—including their own—while maintaining professional accountability. The examples in the report relate to transfusion safety, but the principles clearly generalize across domains within health care organizations. Traditionally, healthcare’s culture has held individuals accountable for all errors or mishaps that befall patients under their care. By contrast, a just culture recognizes that individual practitioners should not be held accountable for system failings over which they have no control. A just culture also recognizes many individual or “active” errors represent predictable interactions between human operators and the systems in which they work. However, in contrast to a culture that touts “no blame” as its governing principle, a just culture does not tolerate conscious disregard of clear risks to patients or gross misconduct. In summary, a just culture recognizes that competent professionals make mistakes and acknowledges that even competent professionals will develop unhealthy norms but has zero tolerance for reckless behavior (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2009).
Leadership: Leadership is the process of influencing others toward the attainment of one or more goals. Leadership comprises two types: formal and informal. Formal leadership occurs through official titular designations within an organization or society. Informal leadership occurs when the perceptions and actions of others are influenced by individuals without such official organizational or societal designations. Leadership is not limited to the accomplishment of organizational goals (Council on Graduate Education for Administration in Nursing, 2010).
Liberal Education: A comprehensive sets of aims and outcomes that are essential both for a globally engaged democracy and for a dynamic, innovation-fueled economy (American Association of Colleges &Universities, 2007).
Management: Management is the process of aligning resources with needs to attain specific goals. Management includes planning, organizing, motivating, monitoring, and evaluating human and material resources. Although management usually refers to a mid- level formal leadership function within an organization, it is also the process used at any level to align and allocate resources (Council on Graduate Education for Administration in Nursing, 2010).
Metaparadigm: Represents the worldview of a discipline (the most global perspective that subsumes more specific views and approaches to the central concepts with which it is concerned). There is considerable agreement that nursing’s metaparadigm consists of the central concepts of person, environment, health, and nursing (Powers & Knapp, 1990, p. 87).
Macrosystem: Actions taken by senior leaders who are responsible for organization-wide performance (Nelson et al, 2007, p.205). Mesosystem: Actions taken by the midlevel leaders who are responsible for large clinical programs, clinical support services, and administrative services (Nelson et al., 2007, p.205) Microsystem: Clinical Microsystems are the small, functional frontline units that provide most health care to most people (Nelson et al., 2007, p.3). Nursing Science: A basic science that is the substantive, discipline-specific knowledge that focuses on the human-universe-health process articulated in nursing frameworks and theories. The discipline-specific knowledge resides within schools of thought that reflect differing philosophical perspectives that give rise to ontological, epistemological, and methodological processes for the development and use of knowledge concerning nursing’s unique phenomenon of concern (Parse et al., 2000). Organizational Science: An interdisciplinary field of inquiry focusing on employee and organizational health, well-being, and effectiveness. Organizational Science is both a science and a practice, founded on the notion that enhanced understanding leads to applications and interventions that benefit the individual, work groups, the organization, the customer, the community, and the larger society in which the organization operates (University of North Carolina, 2009).
Patient: The term refers to the recipient of a healthcare service or intervention at the individual, family, community, aggregate/population level. Further, patients may function in independent, interdependent, or dependent roles, and may seek or receive nursing
interventions related to disease prevention, health promotion, or health maintenance, as well as illness and end-of-life care. Depending on the context or setting, patients may, at times, more appropriately be termed clients, consumers, or clients of nursing services (AACN, 1998, p. 2). Population: Refers to a set of persons having a common personal or environmental characteristic. The common characteristic might be anything thought to relate to health, such as age, race, sex, social class, medical diagnosis, level of disability, exposure to a toxin, or participation in a health-seeking behavior, such as smoking cessation. It is the researcher or health practitioner who identifies the characteristic and set of persons that make up this population (Maurer & Smith, 2004). Population-based Health: Inclusive of aggregates, community, and/or clinical populations that consider the environmental, occupational, and cultural, socio-economic and other dimensions of health (Allan et al., 2004), and derives evidence from population level data and statistics (Starfield, Hyde, Gervas, & Heath, 2007).
Professionalism: The consistent demonstration of core values evidenced by nurses working with other professionals to achieve optimal health and wellness outcomes in patients, families, and communities by wisely applying principles of altruism, excellence, caring, ethics, respect, communication, and accountability (Interprofessional Professionalism Collaborative, 2008). Professionalism involves accountability for one’s self and nursing practice, including continuous professional engagement and lifelong learning. As discussed in the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nursing (2005, p.16), “The nurse is responsible for individual nursing practice and determines the appropriate delegation of tasks consistent with the nurse’s obligation to provide optimum patient care.” Also, inherent in accountability is responsibility for individual actions and behaviors, including civility. In order to demonstrate professionalism, civility must be present. Civility is a fundamental set of accepted behaviors for a society/culture upon which professional behaviors are based (Hammer, 2003; American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008). Quality Improvement (QI): In health care, QI refers to giving patients the appropriate care at the appropriate time and place with the appropriate mix of information and supporting resources. In many cases, healthcare systems are overly cumbersome, fragmented, and indifferent to patients’ needs. Quality improvement tools range from those that simply make recommendations but leave decision-making largely in the hands of individual practitioners (e.g., practice guidelines) to those that prescribe patterns of care (e.g., critical pathways). Typically, QI efforts are strongly rooted in evidence-based procedures and rely extensively on data collected about processes and outcomes (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2009).
39
Risk Management/Risk Mitigation: A managed program or effort directed at reducing risk, avoiding accidents, and making effective use of purchased insurance (American Nurses Association, 2009). Self Mastery: The intentional growth and development of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual being. It allows for flexibility; comfort with chaos, ambiguity, and uncertainty; and the ability to let go of control. The journey of self-mastery increases our capacity to support and move others beyond fear (Viney & Rivers, 2007). Social Justice: This concept relates to upholding moral, legal, and humanistic principles. This value is reflected in professional practice when assuring equal treatment under the law and equal access to quality health care (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2007). Social Justice is acting in accordance with fair treatment regardless of economic status, race, ethnicity, age, citizenship, disability, or sexual orientation” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008, p. 28).
Translational research: Translational research includes two areas of translation. One is the process of applying discoveries generated during research in the laboratory, and in preclinical studies, to the development of trials and studies in humans. The second area of translation concerns research aimed at enhancing the adoption of best practices in the community. Values: Something of worth; a belief held dearly by a person (Kozier & Erb, 2007).
Vulnerable Populations: Refers to social groups with increased relative risk (e.g., exposure to risk factors) or susceptibility to health-related problems. Vulnerability is evidenced in higher comparative mortality rates, lower life expectancy, reduced access to care, and diminished quality of life (UCLA School of Nursing, 2008).
References
Advanced Practice Consensus Work Group & National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (2008). Consensus model for regulation of APRNs: Licensure, accreditation, certification, & education. Retrieved August 3, 2010 from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2009). AHRQ patient safety network Glossary. Retrieved June 20, 2009, http://www.psnet.ahrq.gov/glossary.aspx#J
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2009). The guide to clinical preventive services 2009: Recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services task force. Retrieved December 06, 2009, from http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/USpstfix.htm.
Aiken, L. H, Clarke, S. P., Cheung, R. B., Sloane, D. M., & Silber, J. H. (2003). Education levels of hospital nurses and surgical patient mortality. Journal of the American Medical Association, 290(12), 1617-1623.
Allan, J., Agar Barwick, T., Cashman, S., Cawley, J. F., Day, C., Douglass, C. W. et al. (2004). Clinical prevention and population health. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 27(5), 470-481.
Allan, J., Stanley, J., Crabtree, M., Werner, K., & .Swenson, M. (2005). Clinical prevention and population health curriculum framework: The nursing perspective. Journal of Professional Nursing, 21(5), 259-267.
Alliance for Nursing Informatics. (2010). ANI and the TIGER initiative. Retrieved July 29, 2010, from http://www.allianceni.org/tiger.asp.
American Academy of Nurses. (2009). Nurses transforming health care using genetics and Genomics. Washington, DC: Author.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2004). Position statement on the practice doctorate in nursing. Washington, DC: Author.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). Essentials of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. Washington, DC: Author.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2007). White paper on the education and role of the clinical nurse leader™. Washington, DC: Author.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. Washington, DC: Author.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). Position statement on the preferred vision of the professoriate in baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs. Washington, DC: Author American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2009). Toolkit of resources for cultural competent education for baccalaureate nurses. Washington, DC: Author.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing, (2010). Establishing a culturally competent master’s and doctorally prepared nursing workforce. Washington, DC: Author.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing and Association of American Medical Colleges. (2010). Lifelong learning in medicine and nursing, Final conference report. Retrieved August 2, 2010, from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/pdf/MacyReport.pdf.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing, (2010). Position statement on the research- focused doctoral programming in nursing: pathways to excellence. Washington, DC: Author.
American Association for the History of Nursing (2001). Position paper on history in the curriculum. Access at http://www.aahn.org/position.html
American Nurses Association. (2005). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Silver Spring, MD: Author
American Nurses Association. (2009). The nursing risk management series: Common insurance and legal terms. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from http://www.nursingworld.org/mods/archive/mod311/cerm2at1.htm
APRN Joint Dialogue Group (2008). Consensus Model for APRN Regulation: Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, & Education. Retrieved February 2, 2011, from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/pdf/APRNReport.pdf (page 7)Association for Prevention Teaching and Research. (2009). Clinical prevention and population health curriculum framework. Retrieved August 3, 2010, from http://www.atpm.org/CPPH_Framework/index.html
Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2007). College learning for the new global century: A report from the national leadership council for Liberal Education & America’s Promise. Washington, DC: Author.
Bakken, S. (2006). Informatics for patient safety: A nursing research perspective. Annual Review of Nursing Research, 24, 219-254.
Bakken, S., Stone, P., & Larson, E. (2007). A nursing informatics research agenda for 2008-18: Contextual influences and key components. Nursing Outlook, 56(5), 206-214.
Bartels, J. E. (2005). Educating nurses for the 21st century. Nursing and Health Sciences, 7, 221-225.
Beaglehole, R., Ebrahim, S., Reddy, S., Voute, J., & Leeder. S. (2007). Prevention of chronic disease: A call to action. Lancet, 370, 2152-2157.
Benner, P., Sutphen, M., Leonard, V., & Day, L. (2009). Educating nurses: A call for radical transformation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Braveman, P. (2006). Health disparities and health equity: Concepts and measurement. Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 167-194.
Brennan Ramirez, L. K., Baker, E. A., & Meltzer, M. (2008). Promoting health equity: A
resource to help communities address social determinants of health. Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Brown, S.J. (2009). Evidenced-based nursing: The research-practice connection. Norwich, VT: Jones & Bartlett.
The California Endowment. (2003). Principles and recommended standards for cultural competence education of health care professionals. Woodland, CA: Author.
Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (2010). What is translational research? Retrieved August 3, 2010, from http://ccts.uth.tmc.edu/what-is-translational- research
Center for Vulnerable Population Research, UCLA School of Nursing. (2008). Who are
vulnerable populations? Retrieved August 18, 2008, from http://www.nursing.ucla.edu/orgs/cvpr/whoarevulnerable.html
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. (2009). The guide to community preventive services glossary. Retrieved December 06, 2009 from http://www.thecommunityguide.org/about/glossary.html.
Consensus Panel on Genetic/Genomic Nursing Competencies. (2009). Essentials of genetic and genomic nursing: Competencies, curricula guidelines, and outcome indicators, 2nd Ed. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.
Cronenwett, L., Sherwood, G., Barnsteiner, J., Disch, J., Johnson, J., Mitchell, P. et al. (2007). Quality and safety education for nurses. Nursing Outlook, 55(3), 122-131.
Cronenwett, L., Sherwood, G., Pohl, J., Barnsteiner, J., Moore, S., Sullivan, et al. (2009). Quality and safety education for advanced nursing practice. Nursing Outlook, 57(6), 338-348.
Damschroder, L., Aron, D., Keith, R., Kirsh, S., Alexander, J., & Lowery, J. (2009). Fostering implementation of health services research findings into practice: A consolidated framework for advancing implementation science, Implementation Science, 4, 50-64.
Donabedien, A. (1983). Quality assessment and monitoring. Evaluation & the Health Profession, 6(3), 363-375.
Fazzi, R., Agoglia, R., & Mazza, G. (2006). Briggs National Quality Improvement Hospitalization reduction. Caring, 25(2), 70-75.
Gallup Poll. (2006). Honesty/ethics in professions. Retrieved August 18, 2008, from http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=1654&pg=1
Gaziano, T., Galea, G., & Reddy, K. S. (2007). Scaling up for interventions for chronic disease prevention: The evidence. Lancet, 370, 1939-1946.
Giger, J., Davidhizar, R., Purnell, L., Harden, J., Phillips, J., & Strickland, O. (2007). American Academy of Nursing Expert Panel Report: Developing cultural competence to eliminate health disparities in ethnic minorities and other vulnerable populations. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 18(2), 95-102.
Grace, P. J. (2001). Professional advocacy: Widening the scope of accountability. Nursing Philosophy, 2(2), 151-162.
Greco, K. E., & Salveson, C. (2009). Identifying genetics and genomics nursing competencies common among published recommendations. Journal of Nursing Education, 48(10), 557-565.
Greenhalgh, T., Robert, G., Macfarlane, F., Bate, P., & Kyriakidou, O. (2004). Diffusion of innovations in service organizations: Systematic review and recommendations. The Milbank Quarterly, 82(4), 581-629.
Guttmacher, A., & Collins, F. (2002). Genomic medicine a primer. New England Journal
of Medicine, 347, 1512-20.
Hammer, D. (2003). Civility and professionalism. In A. Berger (Ed.), Promoting Civility in Pharmacy Education (pp.7191). Binghamton: Pharmaceutical Products Press.
Hanks, R.G. (2007). Barriers to nursing advocacy: A concept analysis. Nursing Forum 42(4), 171-178.
Hebda, T., & Calderone, T.L. (2010). What nurse educators need to know about the TIGER initiative. Nurse Educator, 35(2), 56-60.
Hughes, R. G., & Blegen, M. (2008). Medication administration safety. In R.G. Hughes (Ed.), Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Institute for Health Metrics. (2007). Incentives for quality care—Is this the future? Retrieved from http://www.healthmetrics.org/eNews/index.html.
Institute of Medicine. (2000). To err is human: Building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Institute of Medicine (2001). Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Institute of Medicine. (2003). Health professions education: A bridge to quality. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Institute of Medicine. (2004). Keeping patients safe: Transforming the work environment of nurses. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Institute of Medicine. (2005). Building a better delivery system: A new engineering/health care partnership. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Institute of Medicine. (2008). Retooling for an aging America: Building the healthcare workforce. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Institute of Medicine. (2009). Redesigning continuing education in the health professions. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Institute of Medicine. (2010). Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative on the future of nursing, at the Institute of Medicine. Retrieved on February 16, 2010, from http://www.iom.edu/Activities/Workforce/Nursing.aspx
Interprofessional Professionalism Collaborative. (2008). Interprofessional professionalism: What’s all the fuss? [PowerPoint slides]. Presented at the American Physical Therapy Meeting on February 7, 2008, in Nashville, TN.
Klein, J. (1990). Interdisciplinarity, history, theory and practice. Detroit, MI: Wayne
State University Press.
45
Kozier, B., & Erb, G. (2007). Fundamentals of nursing: Concepts, process, and practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
LaPorte, T. R. (1988). The United States air traffic system: Increasing reliability in the midst of rapid growth. In R. Mayntz & T.P. Hughes (Eds.), The Development of large technical systems (pp. 215-244). Boulder: Westview Press.
Malloch, K., & Porter O’Grady, T. (2009). The Quantum Leader: Applications for the New World of Work (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Marx, D. (2001) Patient safety and the “just culture:” A primer for health care
executives. New York, NY: Columbia University.
Maurer, F., & Smith, C. M. (2004). Community/public health nursing. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
May, K. M., Phillips, L. R., Ferketich, S. L., & Verran, J. A. (2003). Public health nursing: The generalist in a specialized environment. Public Health Nursing, 20(4), 252-259.
McCormick, K., Delaney, C., Brennan, P., Effken, J., Kendrick, K., Murphy, J. et al. (2007). Guideposts of the future – An agenda for nursing informatics. Journal of American Medical Informatics Association, 14, 19-24.
McDaniel, A., & Delaney, C. (2007). Training scientists in the nursing informatics research agenda. Nursing Outlook, 55(2), 115-116.
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2005). Evidence-based practice in nursing and
healthcare: A guide to best practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Mitchell, P. H., Belza, B., Schaad, D. C., Robins, L. S., Gianola, F. J., Odegaard, P. S. et al. (2006). Working across the boundaries of health professions disciplines in education, research, and service: The University of Washington experience. Academic Medicine, 81(10), 891-896.
National Institutes of Health. (2002-2006). Strategic research plan and budget to reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities, Vol. 1, fiscal years 2002-2006. Retrieved August 3, 2010, from http://ncmhd.nih.gov/our_programs/strategic/pubs/VolumeI_031003EDrev.pdf
National Institutes of Health. (2009). Family history and improving health [PDF document]. Retrieved from panel statement: http://consensus.nih.gov/2009/familyhistorystatement.htm
National Priorities Partnership. (2008). National priorities and goals: Aligning our efforts to transform america’s healthcare. Washington, DC: National Quality Forum.
National Research Council. (2005). Advancing the nation’s health needs: NIH research training programs. Washington. DC: National Academies Press.
Nelson, E., Batalden, P., & Godfrey, M. (2007). Quality by design: a clinical microsystems approach. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Nelson, E. C., Godfrey, M. M., Batalden, P. B., Berry, S. A., Bothe, A. E., McKinley,
K.E. et al. (2008). Clinical microsystems, Part 1. The building blocks of health systems. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 34(7), 367-378.
O’Connell, M. B., Korner, E. J., Rickles, N. M., & Sias, J. J. (2007). Cultural competence in health care and its implications for pharmacy Part 1 Overview of key concepts in multicultural health care. Pharmacotherapy, 27(7), 1062-1079.
O’Daniel, M, & Rosenstein, A. (2008). Professional communication and team collaboration. In R.G. Hughes (Ed.), Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Parse, R. R., Barrett, E., Bourgeois, M., Dee, V., Egan, E., Germain, C. et al. (2000). Nursing theory-guided practice: A definition. Nursing Science Quarterly, 13, 177.
Payler, J., Meyer, E., & Humphris, D. (2008). Pedagogy for interdisciplinary education— what do we know and how can we evaluate it? Health and Social Care, 7(2), 64- 78.
Prows, C. A., & Prows, D. R. (2004). Medication selection by genotype: how genetics is changing drug prescribing and efficacy. American Journal of Nursing, 104(5), 60- 71.
Porter-O’Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2007). Quantum leadership: A resource for health care innovation, 2nd ed. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Porter-O’Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2009). Innovation leadership: Creating the
landscape of health care. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Powers, B.A., Knapp, T.R. (1990). A dictionary of nursing theory and research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Purnell, L. D., & Paulanka, B. J. (2008). Transcultural health care: A culturally
competent approach, 3rd ed. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.
Quality and Safety Education for Nurses. (2010). Graduate competency KSAs. Retrieved May 28, 2010, from http://www.qsen.org/ksas_graduate.php#informatics.
Quam, L., Smith, D., & Yach, D. (2006). Rising to the global challenge of the chronic disease epidemic. Lancet, 368, 1221-1223.
Reason, J. (2000). Human error: models and management. BMJ, 320, 768-770.
Ring, J., Nyquist, J., Mitchell, S., (2009). Curriculum for culturally responsive care: the step-by-step guide for cultural competence training. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing
Rindfleisch, T. (1997). Privacy, information technology and healthcare. New York: ACM Press.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2009). Glossary of health care quality terms. Retrieved June 30, 2009, from http://www.rwjf.org/qualityequality/glossary.jsp
Roberts, K. H. (1990). Managing high reliability organizations. California Management Review, 32, 101-113.
Schim, S. M., Benkert, R., Bell, S. E., Walker, D. S., & Danforth, C.A. (2006). Social justice: Added metaparadigm concept for urban health nursing. Public Health Nursing, 24(1), 73-80.
Sobo, E., Bowman, C., & Gifford, A. (2008). Behind the scenes in health care improvement: The complex structures and emergent strategies of implementation science. Social Science and Medicine, 67(10), 1530-1540.
Suby, C. (2009). Indirect care: The measure of how we support our staff. Creative Nursing, 15(2), 98-103. DOI: 10.1891/1078-4535.15.2.98.
Spenceley, S. M., Reutter, L., & Allen, M. N. (2006). The road less traveled: Nursing advocacy at the policy level. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 7(3), 180-194.
Stanley, J.M. (2008). AACN Shaping a Future Vision for Nursing. In B.A. Moyer & R.A. Wittman-Price (Eds.), Nursing Education: Foundations for Practice Excellence. (pp. 299-310). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.
Starfield, B., Hyde, J., Gervas, J., & Heath, I. (2008). The concept of prevention: A good idea gone astray? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 62, 580–583.
United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2000). Healthy people 2010. McLean, VA: International Medical Publishing.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000b). Plain language: A promising strategy for clearly communicating health information and improving health literacy. Retrieved August 18, 2008, from http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/plainlanguage/PlainLanguage.htm
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2006). Healthy people 2010 midcourse Review. Retrieved December 8, 2009, from http://www.healthypeople.gov/Data/midcourse/pdf/ExecutiveSummary.pdf.
University of North Carolina at Charlotte. (2009). Organizational science. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from http://orgscience.uncc.edu.
Upenieks, V.V., Akhavan, J., Kotlerman, J., Esser, J., & Ngo, M.J. (2007). Value-added care: A new way of assessing staffing ratios and workload variability. Journal of Nursing Administration, 37(5), 243-252.
van Achterberg, T., Schoonhoven, L., & Grol, R. (2008). Nursing implementation science: How evidence-based nursing requires evidence-based implementation, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 40(4), 302-310.
Viney, M., & Rivers, N. (2007). Frontline managers lead an innovative improvement model. Nursing Management, 38, 10.
Warner, J. R. (2003). A phenomenological approach to political competence: Stories of nurse activities. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 4(2), 135-143.
Weick K. E., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2001). Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
World Health Organization. (2008). 2008-2013 Action plan for the global strategy for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. Retrieved December 8, 2009, from http://www.who.int/nmh/Actionplan-PC-NCD-2008.pdf.
World Health Organization. (2010). Vertical-horizontal synergy of the health workforce. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 83, 4.
Xiaoyan, B., & Jezewski, M. A. (2006). Developing a mid-range theory of patient advocacy through concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 57(1), 101- 110.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Who We Are
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, affordable, plagiarism-free paper
Discussion: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – Family Settings Versus Individual Settings
Individual vs. Family CBT
Cognitive behavioral therapy is short-term psychotherapy that emphasizes the need for attitude change in order to maintain and promote behavior modification (Nichols, 2014). Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has been found to be effective in a broad range of disorders. CBT can be done as an individual treatment or in a family setting. Individual CBT has a broadly defined framework with an emphasis on harm-reduction, especially with clients that have anxiety and substance abuse (Wheeler, 2014).
Cognitive-behavioral therapy for families is also brief and is solution-focused. Family CBT is focused on supporting members to act and think in a more adaptive manner, along with learning to make better decisions to create a friendlier, calmer family environment (Nichols, 2014). An example from practicum is a male (T.M) that participates in individual CBT once a week and family CBT once a week. T.M is struggling with alcoholism.
He originally presented for individual CBT because he had been “told by his wife” that he had a problem with alcohol. He reported that he drank “a few vodka drinks” three times a week but none for six weeks. Individual CBT therapy is a collaborative process between the therapist and client that takes schemas and physiology into consideration when deciding the plan of care (Wheeler, 2014). We worked with him using open-ended questions to assist with obtaining cognitive and situational information. He would become angry easily and it was a felt that he was not being truthful about his alcohol use. Each time he was questioned about it, the story would change. He attended two individual sessions and it was then recommended he begin family CBT with his significant other (S.M) because “things were not going well at home.”
With family CBT, cognitions, emotions, and behaviors are seen as having a mutual influence on one another (Nichols, 2014). The first session was stressful, to say the least. T.M began talking about his alcohol use. S.M interrupted and said, “what about that one-time last month at the hotel. You were seeing things.” He became defensive, raised his voice, and said, “I was drugged. It had nothing to do with drinking.” She then looked down and was tearful. When he left the room to use the bathroom, S.M questioned if he could be tested for alcohol. This led the therapist to believe that T.M’s last use was not six weeks ago.
T.M’s automatic thoughts were that his alcoholism was not a problem in the marriage or in life. One of the core principles in using CBT for SUDs is that the substance of abuse serves as a reinforcement of behavior (McHugh et al., 2010). Over time, the positive and negative reinforcing agents become associated with daily activities. CBT tries to decrease these effects by improving the events associated with abstinence or by developing skills to assist with reduction (McHugh et al., 2010).
It was noticed that when T.M was alone, his stories would change. But when his wife was in the room, he would look at her while he spoke to ensure what he was saying was accurate. The therapist informed the client that it would be appropriate to continue individual therapy and family CBT once a week with the recommendation of joining the ready for change group. The CBT model for substance use states that, when a person is trying to maintain sobriety or reduce substance use, they are likely to have a relapse (Morin et al., 2017).
Ready for change meetings was recommended because like this week’s media showed, clients may relate to others that are going through similar situations. Getting T.M to realize that his alcohol use is a problem, is the primary goal currently. This example was shared because it shows the difficulties that may be encountered with psychotherapy and that both individual and family may be needed to ensure that goals are met. Some challenges that counselors face when using CBT in the family setting are wondering if the structure of the session and if the proper techniques were effective (Ringle et al., 2015). Evaluating and consulting with peers may also assist with meeting client and family goals. References
McHugh, R. K., Hearon, B. A., & Otto, M. W. (2010). Cognitive behavioral therapy for substance use disorders. The Psychiatric clinics of North America, 33(3), 511-25. doi:10.1016/j.psc.2010.04.012
Morin, J., Harris, M., & Conrod, P. (2017, October 05). A Review of CBT Treatments for Substance Use Disorders. Oxford Handbooks Online. Ed. Retrieved fromhttp://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935291.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935291-e-57.
Nichols, M. (2014). The essentials of family therapy (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Patterson, T. (2014). A Cognitive-Behavioral Systems Approach to Family Therapy. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 25(2), 132–144. /orders/doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1080/08975353.2014.910023
Ringle, V. A., Read, K. L., Edmunds, J. M., Brodman, D. M., Kendall, P. C., Barg, F., & Beidas, R. S. (2015). Barriers to and Facilitators in the Implementation of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Youth Anxiety in the Community. Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 66(9), 938-45. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201400134
Wheeler, K. (Ed.). (2014). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to
guide for evidence-based practice. New York, NY: Springer.
POST 2
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one of the most effective psychotherapy approaches, whether it be used in group, family, or individual treatment. It is important to understand the purpose of it what its process consists off. It can be used to treat different mental health conditions, ranging from addiction to more severe illnesses. Its approach is to work with the patient into strategizing ways to change unhealthy thoughts and behaviors. Throughout the process, the patient not only learns solving skills, but also to re-evaluate and learn how to understand other’s perspectives, skill that helps build their confidence.
Some believe group therapy is more effective than individual therapy, as established by Kellett, Clarke, and Matthews (2007, p. 211). It has been established that CBT in general can be effective, but based on the Johnson Family Session video, it leads me to believe that either group/family or individual would be effective depending on the condition that is being treated. It is clear from the video that the girl who had been sexually assaulted at the fraternity does not believe talking or sharing her experience, even if it is with other girls who went through the same experience, will help in any way. She still has some internal issues that need to be addressed individually in order to make progress and get her to a place where she can participate in group/family therapy with an awareness that it will help her and purpose to it. Another important aspect of having a client be committed to the treatment is that research has showed “Poor compliance can adversely affect the remaining group members who may become worried or insecure” (Söchting, Lau, Ogrodniczuk, 2018, p. 185).
An example during practicum that supports my belief is the case of a terminally ill patient who had been recommended comfort care through hospice. She was ready to do so, understood and accepted her prognosis, but her daughters and husband were in denial. Every time they participated in a family session the patient held back on her wishes and verbalized whatever their wishes were as if they were her own. When treated as an individual client, she would express her concerns of not being able to “disappoint and abandon my family”. She had suffered all her life from anxiety, insecurities, severe depression, and low self-esteem. Those were issues that should have been addressed individually before she could fully engage in a family session in a healthy and productive way, if she would’ve had the time. CBT would have still been the choice of treatment for individual therapy for this client, as evidenced by Driessen et al. who stated it “is the psychotherapy method with the best evidence-base in the treatment of depression” (2017, p. 654). Not being fully engaged in the program, or believing the treatment will not help, or having other issues that need to be addressed on an individual basis, are all challenges presented in a family setting when relying on CBT.
References
Kellett, S., Clarke, S., & Matthews, L. (2007). Delivering Group Psychoeducational CBT in
Primary Care: Comparing Outcomes with Individual CBT and Individual
Psychodynamic-Interpersonal Psychotherapy. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46(2).
Söchting, I., Lau, M., & Ogrodniczuk, J. (2018). Predicting Compliance in Group CBT Using the
Group Therapy Questionnaire. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68(2).
Driessen,E., Van, H. L., Peen, J., Don, F. J., Twisk, J. W. R., Cuijpers, P., & Dekker, J. J. M.
(2017). Cognitive-Behavioral Versus Psychodynamic Therapy for Major Depression:
Secondary Outcomes of a Randomized Clinical Trial. Journal of Consulting Clinical
Psychology, 85)7).
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Who We Are
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. Discussion: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – Family Settings Versus Individual Settings
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Discussion: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – Family Settings Versus Individual Settings
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
NURS 6051 Assignment: The Nurse Leader As Knowledge Worker
The term “knowledge worker” was first coined by management consultant and author Peter Drucker in his book, The Landmarks of Tomorrow (1959). Drucker defined knowledge workers as high-level workers who apply theoretical and analytical knowledge, acquired through formal training, to develop products and services. Does this sound familiar?
Nurses are very much knowledge workers. What has changed since Drucker’s time are the ways that knowledge can be acquired. The volume of data that can now be generated and the tools used to access this data have evolved significantly in recent years and helped healthcare professionals (among many others) to assume the role of knowledge worker in new and powerful ways.
In this Assignment, you will consider the evolving role of the nurse leader and how this evolution has led nurse leaders to assume the role of knowledge worker. You will prepare a PowerPoint presentation with an infographic (graphic that visually represents information, data, or knowledge. Infographics are intended to present information quickly and clearly.) to educate others on the role of nurse as knowledge worker.
Reference: Drucker, P. (1959). The landmarks of tomorrow. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
To Prepare:
Review the concepts of informatics as presented in the Resources.
Consider how knowledge may be informed by data that is collected/accessed.
The Assignment:
Explain the concept of a knowledge worker.
Define and explain nursing informatics and highlight the role of a nurse leader as a knowledge worker.
Develop a simple infographic to help explain these concepts.
NOTE: For guidance on infographics, including how to create one in PowerPoint, see “How to Make an Infographic in PowerPoint” presented in the Resources.
Your PowerPoint should Include the hypothetical scenario you originally shared in the Discussion Forum. Include your examination of the data that you could use, how the data might be accessed/collected, and what knowledge might be derived from that data. Be sure to incorporate feedback received from your colleagues’ responses.
hypothetical scenario originally shared in the discussion forum is:
Nursing, as with all other professional fields, has seen an amazing speed in which technological changes in the last 25 years. Information systems provide limitless possibilities for learning and exploring, connecting and bringing the world to within reach. For nursing, the widening range of available technology enables the opportunities for research and reform unproven clinical practices to evidence-based practices. Nursing informatics is synthesis of nursing science, information science, computer science, and cognitive science for the purpose of managing, disseminating, and enhancing healthcare data, information, knowledge, and wisdom to improve collaboration and decision making provide high quality patient care; and advance the profession of nursing.( McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017).
Nursing Informatics also needs to stay updated on policies and processes, so they know how to correctly build them in the systems. Technology in hospitals are ever growing, which means that nursing informatics is just scratching the surface and will continue to grow over the year. Sweeny, 2017 define informatics as “the integration of healthcare sciences, computer science, information science and cognitive science to assist in the management of healthcare information” (p. 223). The future development of nursing capabilities in data science will essentially lead to an entirely new cadre of nursing informatics specialists whose work will focus on deriving new nursing knowledge from not only electronic health record data, but also the data from sensor and remote monitoring technologies, patient portals and mobile apps described above. The implications of omics data such as genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics, being included as part of the electronic health record in the near future, should be taken into account. Nurse informatics specialists will be pivotal in assisting to identify potential ethical and practice implications in the use of these data. The future development of nursing capabilities in data science will essentially lead to an entirely new cadre of nursing informatics specialists whose work will focus on deriving new nursing knowledge from not only electronic health record data, but also the data from sensor and remote monitoring technologies, patient portals and mobile apps described above. The implications of omics data such as genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics, being included as part of the electronic health record in the near future, should be taken into account.
According to Nagle et al,(2017) Nurse informatics specialists will be pivotal in assisting to identify potential ethical and practice implications in the use of these data. Using The future development of nursing capabilities in data science will essentially lead to an entirely new cadre of nursing informatics specialists whose work will focus on deriving new nursing knowledge from not only electronic health record data, but also the data from sensor and remote monitoring technologies, patient portals and mobile apps described above. The implications of omics data such as genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics, being included as part of the electronic health record in the near future, should be taken into account. Nurse informatics specialists will be pivotal in assisting to identify potential ethical and practice implications in the use of these data.
A clarified scenario is patient admission to the hospital, patients with a medical or surgical condition may not be identified as having a substance abuse problem. Nurses need to be able to recognize alcohol withdrawal syndrome and start appropriate interventions within the first 24 hours. Otherwise, such complications as seizures and substance withdrawal delirium may arise. Most hospitals have implemented this practice by including it in initial nursing assessments by checking the vital signs every three hours. But because not all patients are identified on admission as having the potential for alcohol withdrawal, you must stay alert for signs and symptoms. These may arise 4 to 12 hours after the patient’s last drink and may emerge while the patient’s still intoxicated. Many patients with long-term alcohol dependence don’t allow their blood alcohol level (BAL) to drop below a comfortable level, so withdrawal may begin when BAL is still in the intoxication range.autonomic hyperactivity (such as sweating or a pulse faster than 100 beats/minute), increased hand tremor, insomnia, nausea or vomiting transient visual, tactile, or auditory hallucinations or illusions, psychomotor agitation, anxiety, grand mal seizures. Consider the rapid action on the patient, nurses relied on the immediate data and information that the patient as shown during the initial rapid assessment to deliver appropriate care to the patient. Message send to on call- doctors via telehealth. Using the technology like the pulse oximeter and blood pressure machine and breathalyzer with assist with the support of the delivery care.
References:
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; National Institutes of Health. Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician’s Guide and Related Professional Support Resources. www.niaaa.nih.gov/Publications/EducationTrainingMaterials/Pages/guide.aspx. Accessed May 15, 2012.
Nagle, L. M., Sermeus, W., & Junger, A. (2017). Evolving Role of the Nursing Informatics Specialist. Studies In Health Technology And Informatics, 232, 212–221. Retrieved from /orders/ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=/orders/search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mnh&AN=28106600&site=eds-live&scope=site
Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare informatics.(1)Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21 Resources:
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Chapter 1, “Nursing Science and the Foundation of Knowledge” (pp. 7–19)
Chapter 2, “Introduction to Information, Information Science, and Information Systems” (pp. 21–33)
Chapter 3, “Computer Science and the Foundation of Knowledge Model” (pp. 35–62)
Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare informatics. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1). Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases. Rubric:
Develop a 5- to 6-slide PowerPoint presentation that addresses the following:
· Explain the concept of a knowledge worker.
· Define and explain nursing informatics and highlight the role of a nurse leader as a knowledge worker.–
Levels of Achievement:Excellent 32 (32%) – 35 (35%) The presentation clearly and accurately explains the concept of a knowledge worker.
The presentation clearly and accurately defines and explains nursing informatics with a detailed explanation of the role of the nurse leader as a knowledge worker.
Includes: 3 or more peer-reviewed sources and 2 or more course resources.Good 28 (28%) – 31 (31%) The presentation explains the concept of a knowledge worker.
The presentation defines and explains nursing informatics with an explanation of the role of the nurse leader as a knowledge worker.
Includes: 2 peer-reviewed sources and 2 course resources.Fair 25 (25%) – 27 (27%) The presentation inaccurately or vaguely explains the concept of a knowledge worker.
The presentation inaccurately or vaguely defines and explains nursing informatics with an inaccurate or vague explanation of the role of the nurse leader as a knowledge worker.
Includes: 1 peer-reviewed sources and 1 course resources.Poor 0 (0%) – 24 (24%) The presentation inaccurately and vaguely explains the concept of a knowledge worker or is missing.
The presentation inaccurately and vaguely defines and explains nursing informatics with an inaccurate and vague explanation of the role of the nurse leader as a knowledge worker or is missing.
Includes: 1 or fewer resources.Feedback:
· Develop a simple infographic to help explain these concepts.–
Levels of Achievement:Excellent 14 (14%) – 15 (15%) The presentation provides an accurate and detailed infographic that helps explain the concepts related to the presentation.Good 12 (12%) – 13 (13%) The presentation provides an infographic that helps explain the concepts related to the presentation.Fair 11 (11%) – 11 (11%) The presentation provides an infographic related to the concepts of the presentation that is inaccurate or vague.Poor 0 (0%) – 10 (10%) The infographic provided in the presentation related to the concepts of the presentation is inaccurate and vague, or is missing.Feedback:
· Present the hypothetical scenario you originally shared in the Discussion Forum. Include your examination of the data you could use, how the data might be accessed/collected, and what knowledge might be derived from the data. Be sure to incorporate feedback received from your colleagues’ replies.–
Levels of Achievement:Excellent 32 (32%) – 35 (35%) The presentation clearly and thoroughly includes the hypothetical scenario originally shared in the Discussion Forum, including a detailed and accurate examination of the data used, how the data might be accessed/collected, and the knowledge that could be derived from the data.Good 28 (28%) – 31 (31%) The presentation includes the hypothetical scenario originally shared in the Discussion Forum, including an accurate examination of the data used, how the data might be accessed/collected, and the knowledge that could be derived from the data.Fair 25 (25%) – 27 (27%) The presentation includes the hypothetical scenario originally shared in the Discussion Forum, including an examination of the data used, how the data might be accessed/collected, and the knowledge that could be derived from the data that is vague or inaccurate.Poor 0 (0%) – 24 (24%) The presentation includes the hypothetical scenario originally shared in the Discussion Forum, including an examination of the data used, how the data might be accessed/collected, and the knowledge that could be derived from the data that is vague and inaccurate, or is missing.Feedback:
Written Expression and Formatting – Paragraph Development and Organization:
Paragraphs make clear points that support well developed ideas, flow logically, and demonstrate continuity of ideas. Sentences are carefully focused–neither long and rambling nor short and lacking substance.–
Levels of Achievement:Excellent 5 (5%) – 5 (5%) Paragraphs and sentences follow writing standards for flow, continuity, and clarity.Good 4 (4%) – 4 (4%) Paragraphs and sentences follow writing standards for flow, continuity, and clarity 80% of the time.Fair 3.5 (3.5%) – 3.5 (3.5%) Paragraphs and sentences follow writing standards for flow, continuity, and clarity 60%- 79% of the time.Poor 0 (0%) – 3 (3%) Paragraphs and sentences follow writing standards for flow, continuity, and clarity < 60% of the time.Feedback:
Written Expression and Formatting – English writing standards:
Correct grammar, mechanics, and proper punctuation–
Levels of Achievement:Excellent 5 (5%) – 5 (5%) Uses correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation with no errors.Good 4 (4%) – 4 (4%) Contains a few (1-2) grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.Fair 3.5 (3.5%) – 3.5 (3.5%) Contains several (3-4) grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.Poor 0 (0%) – 3 (3%) Contains many (≥ 5) grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors that interfere with the reader’s understanding.Feedback:
Written Expression and Formatting – The paper follows correct APA format for title page, headings, font, spacing, margins, indentations, page numbers, running head, parenthetical/in-text citations, and reference list.–
Levels of Achievement:Excellent 5 (5%) – 5 (5%) Uses correct APA format with no errors.Good 4 (4%) – 4 (4%) Contains a few (1-2) APA format errors.Fair 3.5 (3.5%) – 3.5 (3.5%) Contains several (3-4) APA format errors.Poor 0 (0%) – 3 (3%) Contains many (≥ 5) APA format errors.Feedback: Total Points: 100
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Who We Are
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. NURS 6051 Assignment: The Nurse Leader As Knowledge Worker
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
Childhood obesity poses serious health problems in the US as the number of overweight and obese population increases at a rapid pace every year. The effects of this problem have arrested the attention of policymakers, societal members, and government agencies. This has resulted in ranking childhood obesity as a national health concern. The adverse impacts of this disease go beyond the health realms to include economic burden on both personal and national budgets. While there are numerous risk factors and various evidence-based interventions to address this challenge, no single approach is consistently efficacious in curbing the disease. Consequently, it is imperative that efficacious initiatives and policies be developed to address the never-ending problem of childhood obesity. Multidisciplinary approaches are often broad and cut across all dimensions of personal health problems. Instead of placing emphasis solely on biomedical models, health care professionals should also seek to promote behavior change among obesity patients and their family members. A PICOT statement can be utilized as an effective tool to seek interventions of addressing childhood obesity.
PICOT Statement
Population
In the US, obesity prevalence is highest among children aged from 6 to 11 years (Cheung et al. 2016). The disease has tripled among this age group from 4.2 percent to 15.3 percent from 1963 to 2012. In the last three decades, increased cases of obesity prevalence have been noted among children of all ages, although the differences in obesity prevalence have been recorded in terms of age, race, ethnicity, and gender (Cheung et al. 2016). In this respect, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families and some racial and ethnic minorities experience the higher median score on obesity than the dominant white population. Higher obesity rates are often recorded among blacks and Hispanics compared to whites. For instance, a survey on girls in the Southwest revealed that the yearly cases of obesity stood at 4.5 percent among Blacks, 2 percent among Hispanics, and 0.7 percent among white girls aged from 13 to 17 years (Cheung et al. 2016). For low-income earners, American Indians rank highest at 6.3 percent, followed closely by Hispanics at 5.5 percent.
Intervention
Evidence-based interventions that seek to reduce childhood obesity incidences in the country should target two major areas: prevention and treatment. High-quality RCT has been proven as one of the most effective preventative intervention, especially in schools (Reilly, 2006). Such interventions involve making changes on the school curriculum by introducing and improving physical education, changing school meal provisions, and reducing the television viewing hours. Schools should also engage in promotional campaigns that encourage walking form home to school (Ickes, McMullen, Haider & Sharma, 2014). This intervention has been successful in most cases involving girls in the sense that the risks of becoming obese are significantly lowered. Treatment interventions should be limited to motivated families and communities, in which the child and parents perceive obesity as a problem. From a theoretical perspective, treatments should be continued for longer periods such as months to years. Diets should be modified, especially with the use of regimen such as traffic light diet. Television viewing habits should also be reduced (Ickes et al. 2014). Furthermore, treatment should be aimed at encouraging families to self-monitor their lifestyle. Finally, more time should be offered for consulting with family members.
Comparison
Being a member of a multidisciplinary team, the nurse practitioner performs the task of offering standardized care and advocacy support for healthy community environments. In addition, the nurse helps to ensures that there is proper coverage, access to, and incentives for regular obesity prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment (Vine et al. 2013). There is also need to promote active living and healthy eating at work. Finally, focus should be on promoting healthy living during weight gain. There is also need to expand the role of health care providers, in childhood obesity prevention.
Outcome
When a nurse is involved as one of the primary members in the multidisciplinary team approach, the child should be guaranteed of better continuity of care. The outcomes of interventions should include reduced obesity risks and curriculum adjustments for sustainable change to make it cost-effective (Ross et al. 2010). The curriculum modifications should be generalizable. One of the leading causes of failure of previous interventions is that they targeted modifications at the micro levels. This means that targeting individual children, families, or schools make it harder to have positive outcomes or impacts on the many other influences on weight status that affect the environment at the macro levels. Obesity control efforts that are successful should require a more macro-environmental strategy in addition to the micro level behavioral adjustments.
Time
Obesity treatment and management should be a process that takes months to years. This is because the focus should not just be on the individual level, but also on the general behavioral patterns of a person’s family, friends, and society at large (Ross et al. 2010). Therefore, interventions should be multidisciplinary and aim at changing the behavior of the patient by promoting long term positive outcomes. Precautions to monitor blood pressure can be done every two weeks or on a monthly basis. Medications such as sibutramine can be utilized for periods of up to one year. However, its use should be discontinued in patients whose weight loss stabilizes at less than five percent of their initial body weight.
References
Cheung, P. C., Cunningham, S. A., Narayan, K. M., & Kramer, M. R. (2016). Childhood Obesity Incidence in the United States: A Systematic Review. Childhood obesity (Print), 12(1), 1–11. /orders/doi.org/10.1089/chi.2015.0055
Ickes, M. J., McMullen, J., Haider, T., & Sharma, M. (2014). Global school-based childhood obesity interventions: a review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 11(9), 8940–8961. /orders/doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110908940
Reilly J. J. (2006). Obesity in childhood and adolescence: evidence based clinical and public health perspectives. Postgraduate medical journal, 82(969), 429–437. /orders/doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.2005.043836
Ross, M. M., Kolbash, S., Cohen, G. M., & Skelton, J. A. (2010). Multidisciplinary treatment of pediatric obesity: nutrition evaluation and management. Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 25(4), 327–334. /orders/doi.org/10.1177/0884533610373771
Vine, M., Hargreaves, M. B., Briefel, R. R., & Orfield, C. (2013). Expanding the role of primary care in the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity: a review of clinic- and community-based recommendations and interventions. Journal of obesity, 2013, 172035. /orders/doi.org/10.1155/2013/172035
Details: A PICOT starts with a designated patient population in a particular …..(childhood obesity)
A PICOT starts with a designated patient population in a particular clinical area and identifies clinical problems or issues that arise from clinical care. The intervention should be an independent, specified nursing change intervention. The intervention cannot require a provider prescription. Include a comparison to a patient population not currently receiving the intervention, and specify the timeframe needed to implement the change process.
In a paper of 500-750 words, clearly identify the clinical problem and how it can result in a positive patient outcome.
Make sure to address the following on the PICOT statement:
1. Evidence-Based Solution
2. Nursing Intervention
3. Patient Care
4. Health Care Agency
5. Nursing Practice
solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, you are required to retrieve and assess a minimum of 8 peer-reviewed articles. an abstract is not required, CITE WEBSITE SOURCE.
NRS-490 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval
According to the American Heart Association (2018), one third of the children and adolescents are affected by obesity in the United States. Going into the millennium, its prevalence had tripled so much so that it is regarded as the number one health concerns among parents today. In other parts of the world, the problem is rapidly growing, and it affects middle class and low-income countries alike. A research conducted by Karnik & Kanekar (2012) estimated that over 41 million children in Africa and Asia under the age of five were found to be obese. Of these, it has been estimated that over 116,000 die each year. Comment by Melissa Reedy: This is a little awkward as written but contains great information, perhaps write it as a more of a comparative type of paragraph where you are introducing the issue of obesity in America but comparing to the fact that it is also an issue worldwide
Children with obesity have a higher risk of getting serious diseases like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Diabetes type II, coronary heart disease, respiratory and stroke problems (Hales, Carroll, Fryar & Ogden, 2017). Additionally, most of them grow up with the condition, which results to more health issues that are psychological in nature, including low self-esteem, negative body image and sometimes depression. It is also true that excessive body weight is greatly associated with earlier risk of obesity-related induced disease and death in adulthood (Cunningham, Kramer & Narayan, 2014).
The occurrence of obesity in the United states of American can be attributed to the availability of “good- tasting” food with high calorie. Furthermore, these foods are not expensive, yet their health effects are disastrous. This, accompanied with a lack of physical activity and inactive behavior results to childhood obesity. All these factors are imparted by family characteristics and environmental factors. For instance, if parents cultivate the culture of eating junk food at home from a young age, chances are that their child will become obese. Watching TV and other inactive activities should also be discouraged lest children become dormant. Advertisements that encourage the consumption of junk food also attracts children into poor eating habits. It is also important to note that genetic factors of the family can also contribute to child obesity (Ebbeling, Pawlak, & Ludwig, 2002) Comment by Melissa Reedy: Capitalize Comment by Melissa Reedy: Calories and then comma Comment by Melissa Reedy: In
The impact of Child obesity goes beyond health-related issues as it can negatively impact the child’s social status. More often it brings anxiety, self- esteem and depression because obese children tend to be more vulnerable than the normal kids in school (Ludwig, 2018). It is also associated with eating disorders such as Bulimia Nervosa. All these affect the health of the child, its wellbeing and leads to poor performance because of the low quality of life the child is experiencing (Reilly, & Kelly, 2011). Comment by Melissa Reedy: No capitalization Comment by Melissa Reedy: I don’t know that I would use normal here because really what defines normal? Comment by Melissa Reedy: A child is not an it
Clearly, so much needs to be done to address this issue. First, environmental change is inevitable, and perhaps the key and solution to obesity in children. Instead of having vending machines in schools that are full of ‘junk’ foods, parents and schools should opt for healthier food options, emphasize on physical activities and constantly remind kids about the effects of unhealthy eating habits. The government should set tighter rules and regulation on advertisements of fast-foods by limiting them. All said and done, obtaining and maintaining an appropriate body weight is extremely important and the best way to achieve this is by doing it gradually. Children and adolescents should measure their weight relative to their height using the Body Mass Index (BMI) (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2014).
In conclusion, families and the health care professionals should understand that childhood obesity is a serious issue in the society today. We ought to know that there is no approved medication for childhood obesity in American, for fact, the American association of pediatrician deter the use of such medication to control the weight in children. The current efforts to help tame it cannot be disregarded, but more needs to be done. Its effects are long lasting, meaning that it is threatening the future of millions of children that can easily be avoided. All healthcare practitioners should therefore join hands and fight it with all available means such as educating parents on how to promote healthy lifestyle for a greater future (Bleich, Segal, Wilson, & Wang, 2013).
Dami remember to include this in this paper:
1. The problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need that will be the focus of the project-you have well defined the issue and yes, some solutions but not YOUR solution-remember this is YOUR project-you need to define your problem and come up a solution to this problem that YOU are going to implement.
2. The setting or context in which the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need can be observed-you need to give a specific setting-do you work in a school where you are noticing and increase in childhood obesity and you are going to tackle making the vending machines have more healthy choices?? You need to define your setting
3. A description providing a high level of detail regarding the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need.
4. Impact of the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need on the work environment, the quality of care provided by staff, and patient outcomes.
5. Significance of the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need and its implications to nursing.
6. A proposed solution to the identified project topic-you need to be specific to what you are going to do for your proposed issue.
References
Bleich, S. N., Segal, J., Wu, Y., Wilson, R., & Wang, Y. (2013). Systematic review of community-based childhood obesity prevention studies. Pediatrics, 132(1), e201-e210.
Cunningham, S. A., Kramer, M. R., & Narayan, K. V. (2014). Incidence of childhood obesity in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(5), 403-411.
Ebbeling, C. B., Pawlak, D. B., & Ludwig, D. S. (2002). Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure. The lancet, 360(9331), 473-482.
Hales, C. M., Carroll, M. D., Fryar, C. D., & Ogden, C. L. (2017). Prevalence of obesity among adults and youth: United States, 2015-2016. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.
Han, J. C., Lawlor, D. A., & Kimm, S. Y. (2010). Childhood obesity. The Lancet, 375(9727), 1737-1748.
Karnik, S., & Kanekar, A. (2012). Childhood obesity: a global public health crisis. International journal of preventive medicine, 3(1), 1.
Ludwig, D. S. (2018). Epidemic Childhood Obesity: Not Yet the End of the Beginning. Pediatrics, e20174078.
Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. Jama, 311(8), 806-814.
Reilly, J. J., & Kelly, J. (2011). Long-term impact of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence on morbidity and premature mortality in adulthood: systematic review. International journal of obesity (2005), 35(7), 891–898. /orders/doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2010.222
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Who We Are
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. Formulate a PICOT statement for your capstone project
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Formulate a PICOT statement for your capstone project
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Formulate a PICOT statement for your capstone project
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
NURS 6051 Discussion: Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists Samples Included
NURS 6051 Discussion: Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists Sample 1
Nurse informaticists routinely make sure all systems are maintained, and able to be utilized properly (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017, p. 313). Within the Washington Health System, the nurse informaticists help with the orientation of new staff members. All workers who will be utilizing the computers go through their orientation. This orientation helps workers learn the computer system utilized and how to log on to the computer. They provide direct supervision while the staff performs tasks on the computer. There is a packet of step-by-step instructions on how to access and chart in the Sunrise computer system. These individuals interact directly with those who will be using the computers for their job. When the organization implements new technology nurse informaticists are on the floor, directly showing nurses how it operates. This direct observation helps nurses feel more comfortable with new technology and provides resources for questions. Nurse informaticists are focused on creating solutions to improve overall patient care (Mosier et al., 2019). They are responsible for making technology user friendly and without errors. Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists
One new technology advancement that we have had issues with is the ViTrac. When staff calls the technical support for the hospital, they try to address the issue over the phone. It would be easier if we could show them the issues we are experiencing. Having a person come over in person is less frustrating and many individuals feel heard. This is one strategy to improve the relationships between the different departments.
Technology is always changing. Healthcare especially, is seeing advancements in technology to help better care for the patient. The use of mobile phone and telehealth is becoming more common. Health apps are being utilized to help lower readmission rates for designated diseases (Ng et al., 2018). Nursing informaticists play a key role in the development and execution of healthcare-based technology. This specialty is becoming more essential every year as technology advances. We need these individuals to help advance technology services we can provide to patients. As new technology is developed every year, this role is crucial. I believe the advancement of new technologies will expand the current professional interactions. It will allow for physicians to remotely connect with other professionals to better care for the patient. The evolution of this role allows for more professional interactions to occur. It will also cause many professional interactions to occur remotely. While this aspect can be positive in many ways, the lack of actual in person communication is lost. Especially during these times, many people need some form of human interaction after quarantining for months. Nurse informaticists are a great tool for advancing healthcare and improving care for patients.
References
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Mosier, S., Roberts, W. D., & Englebright, J. (2019). A system-level method for developing nursing informatics and solutions: The role of executive leadership. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(11), 543-548.10.1097/NNA.0000000000000815
Ng, Y. C., Alexander, S., & Frith, K. H. (2018). Integration of mobile health applications in health information technology initiatives: Expanding opportunities for nurse participation in population health. Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 36(5), 209-213. 10.1097/CIN.0000000000000445
response post
I agree that nursing informatics is a necessary tool for the advancement of the quality of care and the nursing profession in its’ entirety. Recently, we have seen a huge shift in the healthcare with telehealth coming to the forefront due to the Affordable Care Act and more recently the coronavirus pandemic. There are several advantages to providing services remotely such as: convenience, cost savings, the ability to provide care to those who are immunocompromised or with mobility issues, and accessibility for those that live in rural areas.
According to Harvard Health, almost three-quarters of Americans surveyed said the pandemic has made them more eager to try virtual care, and one in four Americans over the age of 50 have had a virtual health visit during the first three months of the pandemic (2020). Telehealth is an umbrella term that covers telemedicine and a variety of nonphysician services, including telenursing and telepharmacy (Weinstein et al., 2014). Telehealth fundamentally changes the way patient care is delivered. Telephonic or virtual nursing allows nurses to monitor and deliver care to patients remotely. Nurse informaticists combine clinical and technical expertise to determine how to best meet the needs of the patient and organization. Nurse informaticists are critical in the success of telehealth as they play a significant role in the design and implementation of the systems utilized as well as the education of healthcare workers regarding the technology and biometric data that is used in order to treat patients virtually. As the population’s life expectancy continues to grow, the role of telehealth will become increasingly important as will the ability to utilize the technology in order to assess, communicate, and provide care for out patients virtually.
Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists Sample 2
Information about Covid-19 is being intensely scrutinized throughout not only the healthcare organization that I work for, but also throughout the world, in an attempt to coordinate a massive response to try to contain the spread of the disease. Data is being gathered by multiple professions and disciplines and analyzed with the intention of sharing the resulting knowledge with people and agencies responsible for making decisions regarding steps to take to protect the public from the disease. Data that is being collected and shared on a regular basis at my place of work includes results from weekly staff and patient Covid-19 testing, daily staff and patient symptom reports, daily bed counts, and patient temperatures and vital signs each shift. Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists The information is gathered by nurses on the inpatient unit, it is shared verbally and electronically with doctors, administrators, building supervisors, and public health officials to make decisions regarding patient care and staffing.
One way to improve the efficient distribution of the information that is gathered on the inpatient unit would be to ensure that information is shared between disciplines and professions with compatible organizational approaches (Nordsteien & Bystrom, 2018). Nursing on the inpatient unit needs to be aware of what specific information is being requested, and it must be reported in a manner that is accessible and easily understood by those requesting it. Providing unnecessary information will only slow the analysis of information and delay effective interventions (Skiba, 2017) Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists.
As nursing informatics continues to evolve into a nursing specialty, nurse’s interactions with other professionals will take on a collaborative role in the quest for improved patient outcomes. Knowledge will be created from data, analyzed, shared among professions, and incorporated into the practice of multiple disciplines (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017).
References
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning. Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists
Nordsteien, A., & Bystrom, K. (2018). Transitions in workplace information practices and culture: The influence of newcomers on information use in healthcare. Journal of Documentation, 74(4), 827–843. www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
Skiba, D. J. (2017). Nursing informatics education: From automation to connected care. In Forecasting informatics competencies for nurses in the future of connected health (pp. 9–19). IMIA; IOS Press. /orders/doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-738-2-9 Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists
Discussion: Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists
Nature offers many examples of specialization and collaboration. Ant colonies and bee hives are but two examples of nature’s sophisticated organizations. Each thrives because their members specialize by tasks, divide labor, and collaborate to ensure food, safety, and general well-being of the colony or hive. Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists
Of course, humans don’t fare too badly in this regard either. And healthcare is a great example. As specialists in the collection, access, and application of data, nurse informaticists collaborate with specialists on a regular basis to ensure that appropriate data is available to make decisions and take actions to ensure the general well-being of patients.
In this Discussion, you will reflect on your own observations of and/or experiences with informaticist collaboration. You will also propose strategies for how these collaborative experiences might be improved. Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists
To Prepare:
Review the Resources and reflect on the evolution of nursing informatics from a science to a nursing specialty.
Consider your experiences with nurse Informaticists or technology specialists within your healthcare organization.
By Day 3 of Week 3
Post a description of experiences or observations about how nurse informaticists and/or data or technology specialists interact with other professionals within your healthcare organization. Suggest at least one strategy on how these interactions might be improved. Be specific and provide examples. Then, explain the impact you believe the continued evolution of nursing informatics as a specialty and/or the continued emergence of new technologies might have on professional interactions. Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialistsv
By Day 6 of Week 3
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, offering one or more additional interaction strategies in support of the examples/observations shared or by offering further insight to the thoughts shared about the future of these interactions.
Information technology is transforming the health care field with a plethora of new tools, software, and devices. This transformation has especially affected nurses, which is why health care information technology is often referred to as “nursing informatics.”
Nursing informatics is used in practice settings to help organize and apply data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. The continuum of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom shows how nurses use facts to make decisions and provide care. This continuum provides insight for how nursing informatics contribute to different levels of understanding, decision-making, and evidence-based practice.
The lowest level on the continuum is data. The term “data” refers to discrete sets of details related to a specific situation, patient, or population. You can think of data as isolated islands of facts that any observer would be able to view and objectively identify.
The next level on the continuum, directly above data, is information. Information is the result of processing and organizing data into more manageable structures, and interpreting the meanings of individual data points. Information systems, such as electronic health records (EHRs), compile data and support nurses at the information level of the continuum.
After information, the next level up is knowledge. Knowledge arises when information is synthesized into formal relationships and interconnections. Knowledge involves recognizing patterns and abnormalities based on separate sets of information. Nursing informatics that operate at the knowledge level are called decision-support systems.
Finally, the highest level of the continuum is wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge to addressing clinical problems and complex patient health issues with compassion and regard for ethics and quality of life.
Let’s explore a clinical example of how data, information, knowledge, and wisdom build on each other. Consider a 48-year-old male patient of average height who is slightly overweight. The patient’s recent blood test indicates that he has impaired glucose tolerance and slightly high cholesterol. All of these initial facts about the patient represent data.
The nurse discusses the results of the blood test with the patient, and invites him to return for a follow-up visit. The second blood test indicates higher glucose levels and the same high cholesterol. These serialized blood test results represent information.
The nurse then takes this information, refers to the patient’s electronic health record, and discovers that the patient has a family history of diabetes. This data, added to the information from the blood tests, allows the nurse to determine that the patient has type 2 diabetes. This diagnosis is knowledge.
Finally, the nurse uses wisdom to determine the most appropriate strategy for addressing this patient’s diabetes. Because the patient does not have a personal history with diabetes and is relatively young, the nurse discusses lifestyle interventions to manage his glucose levels. If after six months, the patient’s glucose is not within the normal range, the nurse and the physician will consider medications and other treatment options.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Who We Are
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. NURS 6051 Discussion: Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
The Systems Development Life Cycle And The Nurse Informaticist
The Systems Development Life Cycle and the Nurse Informaticist
The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is a model for planning and implementing change within an organization. It is important for many individuals to be represented in the process, especially the end users of the system or the employees who must live with the change. As informatics become more and more widespread throughout the health care field, collaboration between information technology (IT) professionals and health care practitioners is becoming increasingly important. The nurse informaticist is able to combine the perspective of the information technology side with the clinical nursing perspective.
While the titles and specific responsibilities of nurse informaticists vary across organizations and practice settings, the fundamental purpose of the role remains the same. Nurse informaticists synthesize their knowledge of how technology can improve health care with an understanding of clinical practice and workflow. This is why nurse informaticists can be instrumental in facilitating the SDLC for informatics in health care. For this Discussion, you examine the relationship between the nurse informaticist and the use of the SDLC.
To prepare:
Review the information in this week’s Learning Resources on the SDLC and the role of the nurse informaticist. Reflect on Chapter 1 of the Dennis, Wixom, and Roth course text and consider how the information about the systems analyst role translates into nursing and health care.
Consider a recent change in your organization related to the implementation of a new technology or system. How was this change handled? What was the general SDLC process? Who was involved, and what were the outcomes?
Identify whether your organization (or one with which you are familiar) has a formal title or position for the nurse informaticist. This position may be called by a different name, such as nurse informatics specialist or informatics analyst, so be sure to review the position description.
If your organization has a position for the nurse informaticist, what are the responsibilities of that position? If your organization does not have such a position, conduct research in the Walden Library and at credible online sources on the role of the nurse informaticist.
Reflect on the role of the nurse informaticist in the overall health care field. How is this position connected to the SDLC? Assess the benefits of having this specialized position within health care organizations and involving the nurse informaticist in the SDLC.
Post by tomorrow 8/30/16 550 words in APA format with a minimum of 3 references from the list provided under Required Readings. Apply the level 1 headings as numbered below:
1) A description of how the systems development life cycle is utilized in your organization (Hospital), or in one with which you are familiar, and assess its effectiveness.
2) Assess the role of the nurse informaticist in your organization. If the nurse informaticist is not a current position within your organization, provide a description of the generally accepted role of the nurse informaticist based on this week’s Learning Resources and your own research.
3) Explain why it is important for the nurse informaticist to be involved in the SDLC process and the overall organizational benefits of having such involvement. Required Readings Dennis, A., Wixom, B. H., & Roth, R. M. (2015). Systems analysis and design (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Chapter 1, “The Systems Analyst and Information Systems Development” (pp. 1–34)
In this chapter, the authors clarify the relationship between systems analysts and information systems development. The chapter also covers the basic business applications of information systems.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Chapter 10, “Systems Development Life Cycle: Nursing Informatics and Organizational Decision Making”
Chapter 11, “Administrative Information Systems”
Quality, organizational decision making is a requisite to successful advancements in technology. This chapter explores how workplaces respond to the necessity for improved information systems.
Anderson, C., & Sensmeier, J. (2011). Nursing informatics scope of practice expands, salaries increase. Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 29(5), 319–320.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article assesses the growing need for informaticists in the health care industry. The combination of clinical and information technology experience that informaticists possess makes them invaluable in assisting in the health care industry’s transition into a heavier use of information systems.
Houston, S. M. (2012). Nursing’s role in IT projects. Nursing Management, 43(1), 18–19.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
The societal advancements of information technology (IT) are major factors in the governance of health care organizations. This article gives an overview of how nurse informaticists blend their clinical know-how with IT to improve workflow and patient care.
McLane, S., & Turley, J. P. (2011). Informaticians: How they may benefit your healthcare organization. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(1), 29–35.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Nursing informaticists help guide the implementation of information systems into health care organizations. The authors of this article evaluate how informaticists effect change in management and improve meaningful use in nursing practice.
Prestigiacomo, J. (2012). The rise of the senior nurse informaticist. Healthcare Informatics, 29(2), 38–43.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
The author of this article highlights the conditions of the health care industry and its growing reliance on data-driven decision making. Nurse informaticists are important in this transition, playing a major role in the development and utilization of electronic health records (EHRs).
Warm, D., & Thomas, B. (2011). A review of the effectiveness of the clinical informaticist role. Nursing Standard, 25(44), 35–38.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Health care organizations rely heavily on information management and technology for organizational maintenance and patient care. This article examines the clinical informaticist’s role in facilitating the implementation of health information technology and spearheading clinical risk management.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Who We Are
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. The Systems Development Life Cycle And The Nurse Informaticist
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
SOCW 6202 Discussion: Trends in Addiction Treatment
SOCW 6202 Discussion: Trends in Addiction Treatment
Helping professionals entering the addiction profession are doing so on the cusp of a new era. Significant changes are taking place in treatment approaches, technology, funding, public policy, and perceptions of addiction and recovery.
Underlying these trends is the emergence of a paradigm shift in the way addiction and recovery are perceived. The new paradigm grasps the chronic nature of addiction. It uses long-term approaches that address all areas of one’s life with the goal of improving the quality of life throughout the lifespan. As a helping professional, you should stay abreast of trends in addiction treatment and understand how they impact your profession.
For this Discussion, research and find two articles from academic journals that discuss future trends in the treatment of addictions.
Provide a 400-word discussion Post
– Provide a brief description of two current and two future trends that you found in your research in the treatment of addiction.
– Explain what impact these trends may have on the field of addiction treatment and social change.
– Support your response using the resources and the following current literature.Must contain at least 3 references and citations.
Required Readings
Doweiko, H. E. (2019). Concepts of chemical dependency (10th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage.
· Chapter 27, “The Substance Use Disorders As a Disease of the Human Spirit” (pp. 376-388)
· Chapter 35, “Support Groups to Promote and Sustain Recovery” (pp. 493-505)
· Chapter 38, “The Debate Over Legalization” (pp. 543-555)
Social perceptions might have changed attitudes towards addiction. The redefining of addiction encompasses more than just drugs and alcohol. As new understandings of treatment and prevention of addiction evolve, this leads to new trends in the profession.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
· Analyze the impact of trends on addiction treatment
· Create addiction treatment plans for case studies
Learning Resources
Required Readings
Document: Instructions for Scholar Practitioner Project (SPP) Case Study (PDF)
Use this document to complete the Scholar Practitioner Project.
Document: SPP Treatment Plan Template (Word document)
Use this document to complete the Scholar Practitioner Project.
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2012e). Final counseling session. [Video file]. Retrieved from /orders/class.waldenu.edu.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 3 minutes.
Accessible player
Discussion: Trends in Addiction Treatment
Helping professionals entering the addiction profession are doing so on the cusp of a new era. Significant changes are taking place in treatment approaches, technology, funding, public policy, and perceptions of addiction and recovery.
Underlying these trends is the emergence of a paradigm shift in the way addiction and recovery are perceived. The new paradigm grasps the chronic nature of addiction. It uses long-term approaches that address all areas of one’s life with the goal of improving the quality of life throughout the lifespan. As a helping professional, you should stay abreast of trends in addiction treatment and understand how they impact your profession.
For this Discussion, research and find two articles from academic journals that discuss future trends in the treatment of addictions.
Provide a 400-word discussion Post
· Provide a brief description of two current and two future trends that you found in your research in the treatment of addiction.
· Explain what impact these trends may have on the field of addiction treatment and social change.
· Support your response using the resources and the following current literature. Must contain at least 3 references and citations.
Required Readings
Doweiko, H. E. (2019). Concepts of chemical dependency (10th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage.
· Chapter 27, “The Substance Use Disorders As a Disease of the Human Spirit” (pp. 376-388)
· Chapter 35, “Support Groups to Promote and Sustain Recovery” (pp. 493-505)
· Chapter 38, “The Debate Over Legalization” (pp. 543-555)
Heinrich, C. J., & Cummings, G. R. (2014). Adoption and diffusion of evidence‐based addiction medications in substance abuse treatment. Health services research, 49(1), 127-152.
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment for Persons With Co-Occurring Disorders. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 42. DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 05-3922. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2005.
Vanderplasschen, W., Vandevelde, S., De Ruysscher, C., Vandevelde, D., & Broekaert, E. (2017). In search of evidence-based treatment in TCs for addictions: 40 years of research in TC De Kiem (Belgium). Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 12(2-3), 177-195.
Madson, M., & Schumacher, J. (2010). Motivational interviewing and alcohol. Healthcare Counselling & Psychotherapy Journal, 10(4), 13–17.
SOCW 6202 Week 11 Discussion Reponses -Trends in Addiction Treatment
Responsed to colleague’s posting that addressed different trends in Addiction Treatment than those you described. Agree or disagree with the colleague’s position on the current and future trends in the treatment of addiction.
Colleague #1
Current trends:
There are a number of trends within the addiction recovery and treatment field. One of the most utilized modalities within the field of addiction recovery may be cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT seeks to teach those recovering from addiction and other mental illness to find connections between their thoughts, feelings and even their actions or behaviors (Kiluk & Carroll, 2013). The cognitive behavioral approach often encourages those participating in the treatment to identify, and challenge potential thinking errors that may be contributing to their current addiction, or even mental illness.
Another widely used treatment trend is the 12-step program. This program is one that is based on peer support groups that meet together regularly to provide support, guidance and care as each individual works the program as a whole (AAWS, 2012). The basic assumption of the intervention model is that people can help one another achieve and maintain abstinence from substances, and healing cannot come about until one surrenders to a higher power (AAWS, 2012). This is a widely spread program that is estimated to be used by the majority of treatment centers throughout the country (Doweiko, 2019).
Future trends:
There have been a number of developments and shifts within the field of addiction recovery therapy. It seems that societal trends, to a certain extent, may have some sort of impact on the trends as they develop as well. For example, there has been more of an emphasis placed on holistic health, and holistic treatment in a number of fields. This trend may be seen being implemented into the field of substance abuse treatment, and recovery as well.
Drake (2020) suggests that holistic care should be integrated into a multidisciplinary approach within the substance abuse field. The concept of incorporating a registered dietician to the multidisciplinary approach supports the “moniker” of providing a holistic approach to those in substance abuse disorder treatment. Implementing this style of holistic care is said to improve the overall quality of treatment and recovery. It has been reported that those with substance use disorders have become well quicker, fewer symptoms, and sustain recovery longer when they follow principles of quality nutrition (Drake, 2020).
Similarly, there have been various studies implementing the Integrative Body Mind Spirit (I-BMS) intervention among those with substance use disorders. This intervention utilizes Western practices in congruence with Eastern philosophies, as well as techniques (Rentala et al., 2020) There are a number of specific interventions utilized within this particular program that all seek to foster a deeper connection between body, mind and spirit. One of the most commonly used interventions is meditation. This particular intervention seeks to: (1) foster clients’ capacity to recognize and attend to current experiences as well as to differentiate them from past possibly traumatic experiences so that clients shave increase ability to uncouple current physical/psychological sensation from trauma-based emotional and behavioral responses, (2) enhance clients’ ability to stay physiologically calm, which constitutes a necessary condition for clients to engage beneficially in treatment, and (3) enhance clients’ self-regulating abilities so they make choices that are responsive and beneficial to their current needs and situations (Lee et al., 2009). Utilizing this particular type of approach could bring about a number of quality and long lasting changes within the individual.
Another trend that seems to be arising is computer based interventions. For example, there has been a computer-assisted delivery program that has been developed in regards to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT4CBT). One study found that this particular approach to CBT had effective results when utilized in addiction treatment (Carroll et al., 2015). This approach may broaden the availability of CBT, even within more challenging populations.
Summary:
Trends in social work are privy to change, develop and shift as time progresses. In the more specific field of addiction recovery and treatment, this concept does not necessarily change. As time progresses, research develops and the need to the clientele change, so must the way in which treatment is approached.
Colleague #2
Current Trends in Addiction Treatment
An important emerging trend in treatment of addiction is for facilities to offer an array of services other than offering only one path for clients to follow because there are many ways people can recover from addiction. To get the most out of treatment, it must be personalized to the individual’s needs. Why? For one thing, people get addicted to many things or substances that have different effect on the body and mind, second, the cause and history of addiction is varies from person to person, and third, everyone has different goals, values, and motivations. There are new types of trends in the psychological, medical and holistic fields being used to make treatment more effective other than those used in the past such as CBT, DBT, or EMDR. A newer trend is virtual reality therapy, which is used as a form of exposure therapy.
Another trend is Holistic Therapy Techniques which are a combination of Western and Eastern medicines. “Yoga, acupuncture, and meditation are relatively new to Westerners, they have been used in Eastern countries for thousands of years”. Western therapists take inspiration from other fields to create effective therapies such as adventure therapy/exercise, acupuncture, animal therapy, horticulture, and art/music therapy” (Sunder, 2021).
Still another trend is evolving to finds ways to alleviate pain from withdrawal symptoms, diminish cravings, and remove biological dependency on substances such as: “The Bridge device, Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, Neurofeedback, Ibogaine, Biochemical restoration and nutrition, and Hallucinogenic substances. All of these ar medical innovations in the addiction recovery field” (Sunder, 2021).
Finally, in the opioid epidemic, researchers have come up with new drugs to help heroin and opiate addicts recover form the physical effects of addiction which include “Zubsolv, Probuphine, Lofexidine hydrochloride, Naltrexone” (Sunder, 2021).
Future Trends
A future trend in the treatment of substance abuse is technology assisted care. A number of studies to design and test computerized systems to assist and augment in-person clinical provided treatment and help support recovery management are on the rise. The NIDA and SAMSHA are collaborating on a product to help substance abuse treatment program in adopting and implementing technology assisted care. Another trend is computer-based CBT training which was applied to cocaine addicts and those on methadone maintenance. “Results were that the most impressive result appears to be the proportion of patient who were able to achieve sustained abstinence from cocaine: 36 percent for CBT4CBT versus 17 percent for the treatment as usual group” (Luo, 2019).
Addiction treatment has changed and continues to evolve. There are newer drugs of abuse of emerging, clinical practices shifting and emphasis on disease/recovery management models, concepts of addiction, relapse, and recovery are being clarified at a time when: (1) patient profiles are changing, (2) basic assumptions about addiction treatment are being questioned, and (3) improvements in evidence-based practices are available including the use of new technologically based protocols. (Coon, n.d.)
References
Coon, B. (n.d.). The Future of Addiction Treatment Trends and Best Practices. file:///C:/Users/Deborah%20Edwards/Downloads/the-future-of-addiction-treatment-trends-and-best-practices-brian-coon-ma-lcas-ccs.pdf
We are a professional custom writing website. If you have searched for a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help with your coursework.
Do you handle any type of coursework?
Yes. We have posted our previous orders to display our experience. Since we have done this question before, we can also do it for you. To make sure we do it perfectly, please fill out our Order Form. Filling the order form correctly will assist our team in referencing, specifications, and future communication.
Is it hard to Place an Order?
1. Click on “Order Now” on the main Menu and a new page will appear with an order form to be filled.
2. Fill in your paper’s requirements in the “PAPER INFORMATION” section and the system will calculate your order price/cost.
3. Fill in your paper’s academic level, deadline, and the required number of pages from the drop-down menus.
4. Click “FINAL STEP” to enter your registration details and get an account with us for record-keeping and then, click on “PROCEED TO CHECKOUT” at the bottom of the page.
5. From there, the payment sections will show, follow the guided payment process and your order will be available for our writing team to work on it.
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. SOCW 6202 Discussion: Trends in Addiction Treatment
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with the APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage over-utilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Master’s level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in Loud-cloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. SOCW 6202 Discussion: Trends in Addiction Treatment
We will process your orders through multiple stages and checks to ensure that what we are delivering to you, in the end, is something that is precise as you envisioned it. All of our essay writing service products are 100% original, ensuring that there is no plagiarism in them. The sources are well-researched and cited so it is interesting. Our goal is to help as many students as possible with their assignments, i.e. our prices are affordable and services premium.
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper