Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1989.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

This study examined the research productivity of a selected group of nurse educators in the United States. Research productivity was defined as: (1) the number of past research studies conducted in relation to degree requirements, (2) the number of past research studies conducted which were not in connection with degree requirements, (3) the number of research studies that have been published, and (4) the number of ongoing research studies. The major findings and conclusions of the study are: 1. Nurse educators holding doctorates and those holding the rank of Professor are the profession's most productive researchers. 2. The majority of the present research studies is being conducted by faculty in graduate rather than undergraduate nursing programs. Many nursing programs are providing support for faculty research. However, as a collective, the research support provided by educational institutions is minimal, and only 50 per cent of the institutions use research productivity as a criterion measure for the evaluation of faculty. 3. The majority of the research has been done in connection with degree requirements. However, 72 per cent of the nurse educators who hold doctorates report that they have conducted additional research studies in the past, and 65 per cent of them report ongoing research studies. 4. Past involvement and present involvement in nursing practice research was reported to a greater degree than the literature findings would indicate. 5. The publication plans of nurse educators show a sharp increase over their previous publication records. 6. Descriptive research is the study type chosen by the majority of nurse educators, both in the past and at the present time. 7. Priority areas listed for future research by nurse educators included clinical research in all areas, studies that will enable better prediction of student success in nursing education, and studies related to the entry into practice issue. 8. Little interest could be found in the development of nursing theories or the application of specific theories to practice.

Background: Clinical reasoning is the ability to reason as a clinical situation changes and is an essential component of competence in nursing practice. However, some traditional teaching and learning strategies do not always facilitate the development of the desired clinical reasoning skills in nursing students. Problem statement: Nurse educators at a military nursing college in Gauteng are predominantly utilising traditional teacher-centred teaching and learning strategies. The concern is that if students are predominantly taught by means of traditional teacher-centred strategies this may not contribute to the development of the desired clinical reasoning skills required for nursing practice. To improve educational practices to promote the development of student nurses' clinical reasoning skills, the researcher conducted an action research study. Aim: The aim of the study was to facilitate a process of change towards improving educational practices in order to promote the development of undergraduate student nurses' clinical reasoning skills. Methodology: Action research was used to conduct the research study by means of three phases. During Phase 1: the Baseline phase, data was collected by means of unstructured interviews with nurse educators and head of departments to explore and describe the challenges experienced by nurse educators in utilising alternative educational practices. During Phase 2: the Action Research Process phase, an action research group was established to co-construct an action plan to address the identified challenges. Four action research cycles each comprising four steps, namely plan, act, observe and reflect was implemented. Phase 3, the Evaluation of the Action Research Process phase, evaluated the outcomes of the action research process by means of the World Café data collection method. Qualitative data from Phase 2 was analysed using the steps outlined in Saldaña (2013). The activities conducted during the action research group workshops were recorded and minutes were kept. Data from the World Café was analysed using the creative hermeneutic data analysis method as suggested by Boomer and McCormack (2010). Findings: The challenges encountered by nurse educators were explored and the following four main themes emerged: educational practices; clinical learning environment; military learning environment; and role players in the teaching and learning environment. The challenges were prioritised by the action research group into four strategies: teaching, learning and assessment strategies; the clinical learning environment; continuous professional development; and support and selection of students and nurse educators. An action plan was co-constructed during Phase 2 by the action research group participants. The project was evaluated by the action research group as successful. The action research process contributed to the professional development of the nurse educators and resulted in the utilisation of more student-centred teaching, learning and assessment strategies. Conclusions: An action plan was developed to improve educational practices at the South African Military Health Service Nursing College. The researcher also developed a conceptual framework to promote clinical reasoning skills. Addressing nurse educator challenges in collaboration and empowering them with the means, opportunity and skill to utilise studentcentred teaching and learning strategies may contribute to the development of undergraduate student nurses' clinical reasoning skills. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Nursing Science / PhD / Unrestricted

An exploratory study was conducted on 25 male and female patients who were admitted to a 29-bed surgical unit of a 450-bed general hospital, for diagnostic testing. The purpose of the study was to answer the following questions: (1) What situations does the patient perceive as helping him feel comfortable while he is experiencing the diagnostic regime? (2) What situations does the patient perceive as making him feel uncomfortable while he is experiencing the diagnostic regime? (3) What coping responses does the patient utilize in adapting to discomfort promoting situations during the diagnostic regime? The data for the study were collected through the utilization of a structured questionnaire for the initial visit and taped interviews with the selected patients. During the interviews, particular emphasis was placed upon exploring the patients' concerns by the use of Orlando's Open-Ended Interview Technique and a modified version of the Critical Incident Technique. The results were then categorized into themes of patient responses, tabulated, and analyzed. The results of the study revealed that the situations the patient perceived as promoting comfort or discomfort were dependent upon two significant variables: (1) The degree to which the patient's personal value system needs were met during the diagnostic regime; (2) The patient's ability to mobilize adaptive coping responses to deal with the stresses created by the diagnostic regime. The coping responses utilized by the patients in adapting to discomfort promoting experiences in hospital were numerous and highly diversified. It was noted that the patients' ability to cope adaptively was primarily influenced by their evaluation of what was happening to them. In turn, this evaluation was affected by their past experience, their present biopsychosocial state, and the duration of the uncomfortable experience. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

The healthcare workforce throughout the world is experiencing a shortage of healthcare workers and various strategies, processes and programs exist today of which nursing manager’s use to not only recruit nursing staff, but to retain these scarce resources. This research aims specifically to examine how career anchors and job compatibility influences the levels of job satisfaction of professional nurses. This study measured career anchors and job satisfaction to determine whether those whose job type and career anchor matched reported higher satisfaction than those whose job type and career anchor did not match. Results suggested that significant differences exist between functional nurses and managerial nurses. Specifically, the nursing group placed importance on lifestyle and service/dedication to a cause, while the managerial group places importance on functional competence and lifestyle. Finally, results indicated that job type and career anchor compatibility on their own might not be adequate predictors of job satisfaction. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Cancer among Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) is disproportionately higher than the overall Canadian population. Many Indigenous Peoples have difficulty accessing care and do not receive culturally safe care due to a longstanding history of marginalization and colonization. The role of a nurse navigator (NN) was developed to improve continuity of care and overall health outcomes for Indigenous Peoples; however, limited research exists on what a NN does or how they are perceived. Using constructivist case study methodology, this thesis explored the experiences of a NN working in a large tertiary care hospital in Ontario, Canada, and the processes the NN used to support Indigenous cancer patients in a culturally safe manner. Six in-depth semi-structured interviews were performed with health care providers and managers, and shadowing of a NN occurred over two weeks allowing direct observations of the NN that was captured in field notes and reflective journaling. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed; all data was entered into NVIVO 12 qualitative software and coded thematically. Analysis revealed the NN to be an important complement to clinical care and key resource to navigating the health care system, providing mechanisms for building trust, and raising awareness of Indigenous historical and cultural contexts. The NN practiced non-conventional, patient-centered approaches that included engaging with the land and arts, interpreting healthcare information, advocating for and aiding autonomy over healthcare. All participants felt the NN had a positive influence on health and wellbeing. Thesis results inform healthcare delivery and nursing practice to improve quality of care and outcomes for Indigenous cancer patients.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The growing and aging population has created an increased demand for health care, resulting in a need for hundreds of thousands more nurses across the United States. As a result, additional nurse faculty are needed to teach the next generation of nurses. However, nurses who enter the faculty role in academia often come from various professional backgrounds with different educational preparation that may not equate to success with the tripartite faculty role of teaching, scholarship, and service. As a way to retain and develop novice faculty, mentoring relationships and programs are promoted as an intervention for career and psychosocial development within academia. Mentoring is an interpersonal process built on mutual trust and friendship to create a professional and personal bond. Mentoring relationships can help develop selfconfidence, productivity, and career satisfaction among nurse faculty members. Effective mentoring relationships can ease the transition into academia and provide a vital foundation for productive academic careers. However, the interpersonal process that is the hallmark of mentoring can differ between a mentor and protégé, leading to vast differences in quality and effectiveness. Although mentoring is widely recommended, little is known about the process of mentoring relationships in academia or how novice nurse faculty utilize mentoring to transition into academia. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study is to uncover a theoretical framework that describes how mentoring relationships, as experienced by novice nurse faculty, unfold. Charmaz's method of grounded theory was used to interview full-time novice nurse faculty (N = 21) with three years or less in the faculty role from nursing programs across the United States. The grounded theory theoretical framework, Creating Mentorship Pathways to Navigate Academia captures the process of mentoring as experienced by novice nurse faculty within academia. The theoretical framework contains five main phases as described by novice nurse faculty being assigned a formal mentor, not having mentoring needs met, seeking an informal mentor, connecting with mentor, and doing the work of mentoring. Participants created mentorship pathways through both formal and informal mentoring relationships to navigate academia by acquiring knowledge, meeting expectations, and functioning in the role as a faculty member.

Many healthcare organizations are investigating the reasons for nurse turnover and seeking ways to retain the nurses they already employ. The primary deliverable of the DNP project was a nurse retention plan. In order to devise the plan, the DNP student conducted a literature review, collected qualitative data from representative nursing staff members, and assembled an expert panel of senior leaders to secure permissions to implement the nurse retention plan. The purpose of the project was to develop a nurse retention plan for the emergency department and propose it to an expert panel of nursing administration at the project site. The concepts of nursing satisfaction, theory of human capital, nurse dissatisfaction, and nurse turnover were used for this DNP project. At the practicum site, 36.7% of the emergency department nurses (n =22) participated in the DNP student's focus groups. Coding was used and the themes that emerged from the focus groups were that nurses feel stuck and want the opportunity to advance, there was a lack of communication and pay was a determining factor regarding whether nurses plan to stay employed in the project site's emergency department. Recommendations to decrease voluntary nursing turnover included more flexible scheduling, forming a scheduling committee in the department, providing for more nursing autonomy, and the sharing of emergency department staff throughout the health system all of which were accepted by the expert panel for evaluation and implementation. This project contributes to positive social change, as nurse satisfaction and decreased nursing turnover has been linked to increased patient satisfaction and better patient outcomes.

Within the context of healthcare delivery, human lives are at risk when health care professionals fail to communicate effectively. Audits by The Joint Commission from 1995 to 2005 revealed that 65% of sentinel events occurred as a result of staff miscommunication, prompting the requirement that standardized handoff tools be deployed. Therefore, this project was completed to improve safety in the hospital through implementation of a standardized tool that could enhance the quality of nurse handoff communication. Mohorek & Webb's (2015) linear model of communication, which emphasizes the importance of encoding, transmission, and decoding in the communication process, provided the framework for this project. Participants included 11 registered nurses (RNs) and 14 licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) who completed the pre-and-post intervention survey using the Handover Evaluation Scale. The RNs reflected significant difference in improvement in the perceived quality of handoff following the implementation of standardized handoff tool: pre-test (M = 66.91, SD = 7.27) compared to post-test (M = 80.91, SD = 7.45); t(10) = -5.09, p = 0.000. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant change noted with the LVN group before implementation of standardized handoff tool: pre-test (M = 70.71, SD = 9.72) compared to post- test implementation (M = 73.57, SD = 7.73); t(13) = -1.06, p = 0.309. The findings resulting from this project suggest that there are important differences in provider types when using standardized handoff tools and that more attention to this dynamic is warranted. The social change mandate of protecting the safety of patients is enhanced through effective communication among nurses and was demonstrated in the project.