<p> Professional confidence is an essential trait for new graduate nurses to possess in order to provide safe and effective patient care in today's complex hospital setting. However, many new graduate nurses are entering the workforce with a lack of professional confidence and it was unclear why this is so. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to find out and understand how new graduate nurses accounted for their lack of professional confidence during their first year of practice in the hospital setting. The primary research question asked about new graduate nurses' experiences during their first year of practice related to the development of professional confidence in the hospital setting. Two sub-questions were used to address circumstances that hindered and promoted the development of professional confidence. Data collection involved two individual, semi-structured, audio recorded interviews which were transcribed verbatim. Each transcript was analyzed through a manual content analysis approach and ultimately, seven themes emerged which answered the research questions. Findings confirmed that seven themes related to a lack of professional confidence in new graduate nurses' experiences: (a) "communication is huge," (b) "making mistakes," (c) "disconnect between school and practice," (d) " independence," (e) "relationship building," (f) "positive feedback is important," and (g) "gaining experience." These findings revealed that new graduate nurses lacked professional confidence upon entry into practice which had implications for both undergraduate nursing education programs and workplace support for new graduate nurses in the hospital setting. Undergraduate nursing education programs may have a duty to improve strategies that prepare graduates for entry into professional practice. Nurse leaders in practice, specifically, nurse managers and preceptors must be mindful of the fact that new graduate nurses are entering the workforce with a lack of professional confidence and that it is in their power to promote the development of professional confidence during the first year of practice.</p>

<p> The focus of recent attention in healthcare is the increasing population of people with chronic condition and the increasing cost of managing the health of this population. To improve care outcomes and increase cost effectiveness of managing the health of these patients their care needs to be directed by evidence-based approaches. One of these approaches could be wellness health coaching directed toward helping patients self-manage their chronic condition. The problem however, is that the research on the role of wellness health coaches with helping patients self-manage their chronic condition is limited. Therefore, research that focuses on the role of wellness health coaches and their approaches to facilitate self-management are needed. </p><p> To gain understanding of the role and approaches of these wellness health coaches a phenomenological method was used. By personal interviews with six wellness health coaches, the researcher sought to answer the two research questions by describing their perceived role and their approaches to facilitate self-management of individuals with chronic conditions. </p><p> Wellness health coaches in this study perceived their roles as educators, motivators, guides, supporters, facilitator, collaborator, and coordinator. With all their clients they help set goals and develop a plan to meet their goals. The wellness health coaches' approaches to help improve their clients' self-management skills include providing them with written educational materials, resource information, and other tools such as websites on health information. All of these wellness health coaches' activities are aimed at empowering their clients to be able to improve their lifestyle and overall health.</p>

<p> This qualitative study was successful in utilization of grounded theory methodology to ascertain nurses' decision-making processes following their awareness of having made a medical error, as well as how and/or if they corrected and reported the error. Significant literature documents the existence of medical errors; however, this unique study interviewed thirty nurses from adult intensive care units seeking to discover through a detailed interview process their individual stories and experiences, which were then analyzed for common themes. Common themes led to the development of a theoretical model of thought processes regarding error reporting when nurses made an error. Within this theoretical model are multiple processes that outline a shared, time-orientated sequence of events nurses encounter before, during, and after an error. One common theme was the error occurred during a busy day when they had been doing something unfamiliar. Each nurse expressed personal anguish at the realization she had made an error, she sought to understand why the error happened and what corrective action was needed. Whether the error was reported on or told about depended on each unit's expectation and what needed to be done to protect the patient. If there was no perceived patient harm, errors were not reported. Even for reported errors, no one followed-up with the nurses in this study. Nurses were left on their own to reflect on what had happened and to consider what could be done to prevent error recurrence. The overall impact of the process of and the recovery from the error led to learning from the error that persisted throughout her nursing career. Findings from this study illuminate the unique viewpoint of licensed nurses' experiences with errors and have the potential to influence how the prevention of, notification about and resolution of errors are dealt with in the clinical setting. Further research is needed to answer multiple questions that will contribute to nursing knowledge about error reporting activities and the means to continue to improve error-reporting rates.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the most frequently utilized teaching strategy of lecturing followed by discussion and to compare it with lecturing followed by role playing to determine how to best prepare nursing students both in terms of knowledge and self-efficacy. The primary goal of the study was to learn how to educate nursing students who will be better prepared to meet societal needs by learning to become confident, knowledgeable, and therefore competent healthcare providers. The study revealed there was not a statistically significant relationship between type of teaching strategy to which the students were exposed and either of the final self-efficacy or knowledge posttest scores of the students. This was true even after controlling for pretest scores as well as for any other potentially influential demographic variables. There were significant increases in both the knowledge and self-efficacy scores of the students for both of the teaching strategy groups. Three associate nursing programs were utilized and all the participants completed two pretests and two posttests, one for self-efficacy and one for knowledge, related to geriatric care. Analysis of covariance was utilized because significant extraneous variables were considered in this quantitative nonrandomized quasiexperiment. For example, the number of years of college education was not a significant predictor of pretest or posttest scores. Demographic data were analyzed in this study to investigate if they affected the results in any way. The study revealed that an individual's age, school, and exposure to geriatric care in a work environment were related to pretest knowledge scores. In addition, self-efficacy posttest scores were not different according to the research groups, even after adjusting for any potential demographic or pretest influences. Both of the research groups increased their knowledge and self-efficacy tests significantly even after adjusting for any potential demographic and pretest influences. The study revealed the pretest scores were predictors of the posttest scores.</p>

<p> The purpose of this case study was to determine which activities factor into transformational learning that may occur as a result of completing a perioperative preparation program for registered nurses. Through the process of describing the lived experiences of the participants who have completed a perioperative nurse training program, it also assisted in informing pedagogical practice by helping to establish the extent of transformational learning that occurs. The role of a perioperative nurse is one that is demanding, knowledge intensive, and highly collaborative. Perioperative nurse educators need to understand the process of transformation in order to assist new perioperative nurses in successfully completing a perioperative nurse-training program. The Learning Activities Survey, a follow-up survey, and individual interviews were used to accomplish a mixed method sequential study design. The research established that half of the participants had experienced transformational learning while half did not.</p>

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1961.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1996. / Added t.p. with thesis statement (in English) inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1961.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1996. / Added t.p. with thesis statement (in English) inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (PH.D.)--Syracuse University, 2003. / "Publication number AAT 3081631."