The purposes of this descriptive study were to identify and describe criteria used to identify students at-risk for withdrawal or failure, and strategies in place to assist and retain students. Data were collected regarding admission policies, retention strategies, assistance programs, and perceptions of the administrators regarding the effectiveness of retention and assistance strategies. A survey method of data collection was conducted using an instrument developed by the researcher for the study. A stratified random sample of 156 NLNAC accredited associate and baccalaureate degree nursing programs was carried out and program administrators were sent the survey for voluntary, anonymous participation. The study sample consisted of the 57 programs whose surveys were returned. Retention/ Assistance Programs. Similar percentages of associate and baccalaureate degree programs reported having retention/assistance programs. Programs were found more prevalent at private, secular institutions; at smaller programs; and in the Central region. A Pearson correlation determined no relationship between the existence of an organized assistance program with NCLEX-RN pass rate or retention rate. Retention/Assistance Strategies. Strategies reported available in the nursing program most often were academic advising of nursing and pre-nursing students, academic assistance in the form of a skills lab and computer access, and early notification to students when they are failing. Comparison of the mean NCLEX-RN pass rate and the mean retention rate with 29 strategies was conducted using Pearson correlation coefficients. Analysis determined a positive and statistically significant relationship between pass rate on NCLEX-RN and the presence and perceived effect of a cultural diversity program, grading options, and early notification to students when they are failing. Positive, statistically significant relationships were determined between retention rates and the presence and perceived effect of childcare, academic advising of nursing and pre-nursing students, early notification to students when they are failing, and faculty office hours. Administrators' Perceptions. Program administrators perceived the strategies financial aid, academic assistance to reinforce course content, academic advising of nursing students, and faculty mentors to have the greatest effect on student retention. Additional survey responses revealed a strong academic background and financial aid were strategies reported by administrators to affect both success and failure. Advising, orientation, and academic preparation were ranked by administrators as the top factors contributing to student retention and success. They ranked academic/cognitive variables and outside responsibilities as the top factors leading to student withdrawal or failure.

Factors other than academic ones are important in the selection of the members of any profession, and in nursing it could quite well be that those non-academic elements are rather weighted in determining the success or failure of student nurses because of the very nature of their work. This thesis will look at academic as well as other factors that may influence the success of student nurses.

Nurse educators believe that their graduates are well-prepared for entry level positions in nursing. In the acute healthcare setting, new graduates are placed on virtually every type of nursing unit, including critical care. Employers have developed formal orientations to familiarize new graduate nurses new with the institution and its policies and procedures and to teach the things employers believe new RNs need to know but do not, either because they were never taught the material or they have not retained it. The purposes of this project were to (a) examine the evidence relative to a disconnect between nursing education and nursing practice, (b) design a formal residency program for new graduates based on the evidence, and (c) implement and evaluate the residency program. Based on the evidence, a 16-week new nurse residency was developed in which Residents were each assigned both a Preceptor and Mentor to assist their progress. Weekly educational offerings were targeted at specific competency deficits identified by Residents, Preceptors and Mentors at the beginning of the residency program. Seven out of the original 10 Residents completed the Residency. Pre-residency, the Residents were very confident of their clinical skills and abilities and this was unchanged post-residency. The Preceptors and Mentors were much less confident of the clinical skills and abilities of the Residents pre-residency. Post-residency, the confidence level of the Preceptors and Mentors was improved, but significantly so only for the Mentors. It is imperative that nursing administrators be aware of the discrepancy between the confidence new nurses have in their own skills and the perceptions of the nurses who work side by side with them on a daily basis. Residencies for new graduate nurses are costly. Nursing administrators must make the determination if the benefits outweigh the costs. They may find the results of not having a residency are far more costly.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a practice-based dermoscopy training program for dermatology healthcare providers in order to improve their technique of performing clinical skin exams for the early detection of melanomas. The overall incidence of melanoma continues to rise. More than 75% of all skin cancer deaths are from melanoma. Advanced melanoma spreads to lymph nodes and internal organs and can result in death. One American dies from melanoma almost every hour (American Cancer Society [ACS], 2009). Early diagnosis and excision are essential to reduce morbidity and to improve patient survival. This one-group before-and-after study design utilized a convenience sample of three dermatology healthcare providers (DHPs). The primary investigator conducted a retrospective review of the pathology logs for each provider. The time frame for the review was a three-month period in 2010, which represented the same time frame that the study was conducted in 2011. The DHPs participated in a four-hour training workshop that included pattern analysis recognition using dermoscopy. Following the workshop, each DHP was given a DermLite 3Gen DL100 to use in practice when performing clinical skin examinations. All DHPs completed a data collection sheet to document their pattern of decision making with and without a DermLite. The outcome of interest was the use of dermoscopy by DHPs to demonstrate an increased detection of melanoma when compared to naked-eye examination. The outcome was evaluated 12 weeks post-workshop training. There were 120 evaluations made with the DermLite as compared to the naked eye. The overall agreement was 0.52, AC1 coefficient (95% CI) was 0.36 (0.30, 0.42), p < .001, and kappa coefficient (95% CI) was 0.27 (0.20, 0.43), p < .001. Overall, the risk of lesion under exam being suspicion for skin cancer was higher on 27.5% (33 out of 120) of the evaluations and lower on 20.8% (25 out of 120) evaluations. The risk of lesion was evaluated the same on 51.7% (62 out of 120) of the evaluations. This is an indication of “Poor” agreement between the two methods. The diagnosis and disposition made using DermLite compared to naked-eye results for both coefficients provided an “Intermediate to Good” agreement between the two methods in assigning diagnosis and disposition. This indicates that there is no difference between DermLite and naked-eye evaluations. More studies are needed in order to provide better evidence on the value of dermoscopy in clinical practice at the Dermatology and Laser Center. Future projects should be more explicit regarding the methods used and lesion selection in order to better understand the benefits of dermoscopy.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Shoulder pain was constantly reported as a problematic symptom causing dysfunction and quality of life interference after neck dissection in head and neck cancer patients. Due to a lack of conceptual framework and inconsistency of instrument selection, a comparison among previous studies was almost impossible, making it difficult to understand the phenomenon. The current study applied the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing Symptom Management Model. The purposes of the study were to (a) describe the symptom experience of shoulder pain at 1 month after neck dissection, (b) describe the relationships among symptom experience of shoulder pain, functional status, and quality of life, and (c) identify the contextual variables, concurrent symptoms, and/or adherence predicting symptom experience of shoulder pain, functional status, and/or quality of life. This was a descriptive study with a convenience sample of head and neck cancer patients. The data were collected via a medical record review, a self-administered survey, and a physical examination. The data from 29 patients were entered for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and multiple regressions. At 1 month after surgery, 62% of patients reported they had shoulder pain at some point within a week. Their shoulder pain was from mild to moderate. Fifty-nine percent complained that shoulder pain bothered them about the moderated level. In the final model, symptom experience, shoulder pain, was significantly correlated with one outcome, active shoulder abduction, but not the other, total quality of life, generic quality of life, and head and neck quality of life. Active shoulder abduction was significantly correlated with three quality of life measures. Adding significant predictors of symptom experience and outcomes into the final model, there is a potential that the model would be useful to guide treatment strategies. Treatment for myofascial pain of the levator scapulae could relieve shoulder pain after neck dissection and improve head and neck quality of life. Those with level V dissection were high risk populations of developing shoulder pain. Risk factors of quality of life, which were depression, loss of sensation, and radiation would describe how an intervention could change or unchange the patient’s life.

Health related absenteeism was identified as a problem in the schools in the Molopo region, needing a multi-disciplinary approach which included the parents. A conceptual framework on absenteeism was used as a guideline for the descriptive research design. Using a convenience sampling technique 426 absentees, 22 teachers and 2 school nurses filled in three separate questionnaires in ten schools selected to determine the extent of absenteeism due to health related and other problems, the control measures taken and the awareness of school personnel. Health problems were identified as the main reasons for absenteeism. Inadequate communication between the schools and parents as well as lack of guidelines on the control of absenteeism, were other problems identified. Recommendations made related to the provision of school health services that promote the health status of the pupils based on Primary Health Care principles, parental involvement in school health matters and the formulation of policies aimed at controlling absenteeism in schools. / Health Sciences / M.A. (Nursing Science)

Luis Calandre Ibáñez (Cartagena 23/3/1890-Madrid 29/9/1961), estudió Medicina en Madrid, siendo discípulo de Cajal, Achúcarro y Madinaveitia en Madrid y de Nicolai y Benda en Alemania. Realizó estudios de Histología sobre la esructura de la fibra cardiaca, para comprender mejor la fisiopatología del corazón, campo de su especial dedicación, siendo uno de los introductores de la electrocardiografía en España, estudiando especialmente los trastornos del ritmo basándose en ella.Fundó y dirigió el Laboratorio de Anatomía Microscópica de la Residencia de Estudiantes (1914-1931). Fue Jefe del Servicio de Cardiología del Hospital Central de la Cruz Roja y Director del Hospital de Carabineros durante la guerra civil (1937.1939). Publicó más de setenta artículos en revistas especializadas y ocho libros de contenido científico. Fundó y dirigió la revista "Archivos de Cardiología y Hematología" (1920-1936). Desarrolló una intensa labor social, política y cultural y al finalizar la guerra civil fue procesado y condenado padeciendo el exilio interior y el olvido científico. / Luis Calandre Ibáñez (Cartagena 1890-Madrid 1961), studied medicine in Madrid, where he was a disciple of Cajal, Achúcarro and Madinaveitia and then of Nicolai and Benda in Germany. He specialised in cardiac physiopathology, and studied histology on the struc Civil war. He published more than seventy articles in specialist journals and eightscientificbooks. He founded and directed the journal "Archivos de Cardiología y Hematología" (1920-1936). Intensely involved in social, political and cultural activities, he was tried and sentenced at the

Health related absenteeism was identified as a problem in the schools in the Molopo region, needing a multi-disciplinary approach which included the parents. A conceptual framework on absenteeism was used as a guideline for the descriptive research design. Using a convenience sampling technique 426 absentees, 22 teachers and 2 school nurses filled in three separate questionnaires in ten schools selected to determine the extent of absenteeism due to health related and other problems, the control measures taken and the awareness of school personnel. Health problems were identified as the main reasons for absenteeism. Inadequate communication between the schools and parents as well as lack of guidelines on the control of absenteeism, were other problems identified. Recommendations made related to the provision of school health services that promote the health status of the pupils based on Primary Health Care principles, parental involvement in school health matters and the formulation of policies aimed at controlling absenteeism in schools. / Health Sciences / M.A. (Nursing Science)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Although interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities can help prepare students for future practice and patient-centered care, many health professions students in the country are not educated in an environment with opportunities to learn with, from, or about students from other health professions. With upcoming curricular changes at the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) and the Indiana University School of Nursing (IUSN), IPE remains at the forefront of these changes in both schools. To date, few studies have explored student, faculty, and administrators’ conceptualizations of IPE prior to formal implementation. Additionally, previous studies have not compared IPE conceptualizations across these groups. This multiple-case study explores and compares how groups of stakeholders from the IUSM (Indianapolis) and the IUSN (Indianapolis) conceptualize IPE. Data collection included the examination of discipline-specific public documents and one-on-one interviews (N=25) with pre-licensure students, clinical faculty, and administrators from each school. Coding and extraction of themes transpired through within-case and cross-case analysis and data supported the following findings: the ‘business of medicine’ may prevent IPE from becoming a priority in education; stakeholders’ conceptualizations of IPE are shaped through powerful experiences in education and practice; students desire more IPE opportunities at the institution; stakeholders at the IUSN have a long-standing investment in IPE; and the institution requires a ‘culture shift’ in order to sustain IPE efforts. The findings suggest that IPE belongs in all education sectors and IPE efforts deserve reward and reimbursement. The findings also insinuate that leadership, roles, and team training education belong in IPE and IPE culture requires all individuals’ (e.g., student, faculty, administrators, patients) commitment. Importantly, the institution must continue IPE development, research, and dissemination. These findings can help shape curricula as time progresses, increase the likelihood of developing a successful new curriculum, and prompt ongoing reflection about IPE. This information can influence how institutions approach IPE and may lead to a more successful and informed IPE curriculum in the first years of implementation. And, hopefully what is learned through IPE will be translated into healthcare practice environments.