Employer attitudes and practices toward breastfeeding mothers are discouraging overall. Mothers who believe that breastfeeding while employed cannot be done without a considerable amount of additional work and stress may not even consider breastfeeding. Although it is known that lower income women tend not to breastfeed while employed, the relationship between type of employment and sustaining breastfeeding has not been clearly explained. Many women identify employment as a barrier to breastfeeding. Some elements of a workplace environment supportive of breastfeeding have been identified, including private space with a locking door (other than a bathroom stall), time to express milk at work, and adequate refrigeration. In relation to employers, monetary reasons (i.e., decreased productivity) are most frequently cited for not supporting breastfeeding. Only a small percentage of the research on employed breastfeeding mothers has focused on the workplace. Further research is needed to determine how breastfeeding can be beneficial to the mother, the infant, and the employer.

No description available.

Occupational health nurses' ability to use email efficiently and effectively enhances their professionalism, responsiveness, and overall communications. Poorly written emails can damage the reputations of nurses and their organizations. Knowing when not to communicate by email is as important as being able to write effective emails. Many safeguards can be employed to prevent or minimize confusion and strengthen email communications. Names and addresses must be checked, appropriate subject lines used, and humor applied conscientiously. All emails should be proofread prior to sending, and replies must be carefully considered. Simple, colorless email backgrounds make downloading quicker. Sharp, clear fonts are easier on the eyes. Direct and defined requests and confirmations augment communication. Once "Send" is pressed, the email is out of the sender's control. Lack of network security, forwarding by others, and potential confidentiality breaches can lead to legal or public relations controversies. Email is an important business tool. Occupational health nurses must be competent in the skills of effective email communication, as it is an integral part of business and health care.

Effective communication is essential to practice and can result in improved interpersonal relationships at the workplace. Effective communication is shaped by basic techniques such as open-ended questions, listening, empathy, and assertiveness. However, the relationship between effective communication and successful interpersonal relationships is affected by intervening variables. The variables of gender, generation, context, collegiality, cooperation, self-disclosure, and reciprocity can impede or enhance the outcome of quality communication. It is essential for occupational health nurses to qualitatively assess the degree to which each of these concepts affects communication and, in turn, relationships at work.

Teamwork among occupational health and safety professionals, management, and employees is vital to solving today's complex problems cost-effectively. No single discipline can meet all the needs of workers and the workplace. However, teamwork can be time-consuming and difficult if attention is not given to the role of the team leader, the necessary skills of team members, and the importance of a supportive environment. Bringing team members together regularly to foster positive relationships and infuse them with the philosophy of strength in diversity is essential for teams to be sustained and work to be accomplished. By working in tandem, occupational health and safety professionals can become the model team in business and industry delivering on their promise of a safe and healthy workplace for America's work force.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the concept of moral turpitude and related terms as they are used in the process of licensing professional nurses. The researchers reviewed applications for licensure and nurse practice acts or rules and regulations for nursing for the 50 states and Washington, DC. Terms such as moral turpitude, moral character, and morality are used by approximately half of the states and, when used, are not usually defined. Agreement among states on uniform definitions and standards of nursing practice can be a step toward aligning practice acts, bringing consistency to disciplinary actions, and informing the public about the profession’s standards for practice.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The flipped classroom continues to garner increasing interest in nursing education; however, few research studies fully document faculty experiences with its implementation. This study's purpose was to explore undergraduate nurse educators’ transition from traditional teacher-centered, content-driven strategies to the flipped classroom and describe perceived successes and challenges during the process. A qualitative approach using interpretive description gave voice to a purposive sample of sixteen undergraduate nurse educators across the United States and Canada. Semistructured interviews, audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, yielded a set of experiential themes. Participants revealed marked challenges as they rethought classroom design in relation to evidence-based educational principles, and met a surprising level of resistance from students and faculty colleagues. Still, faculty observations reflected increased student problem solving, self-determination and a greater correlation between teacher-made and standardized test scores. Participants advocated continued integration of flipped classrooms into nursing curricula and recommended greater collegial and administrative support from academic environments.