In the United States, cigarette smoking is the main contributor to preventable death in all populations; and, among the mentally ill, the prevalence of smoking is a clinical practice concern. Nearly half of all smokers also have a diagnosis of mental illness compared with 23% of the general population. In an effort to reduce the problem of tobacco use within mentally ill populations, this project sought to create an educational module on smoking cessation for staff in a mental health clinic. The theory of planned behavior was used to guide the project that focused on implementation of a behavior change approach to counter smoking dependence. With evidence obtained from a comprehensive literature search of medical databases and textbooks, the education module was developed for teaching staff in a 30-bed outpatient mental health facility. Staff were taught to administer the education module on smoking cessation and to evaluate the plan. Evaluation of the project effectiveness on the knowledge of clinical staff was determined through the use of questions directed toward understanding professionals' perceptions of the module development and implementation, and the evidence-based educational materials developed for the program. Post tests administered after the staff education showed an increase in knowledge. The full education program was provided to the unit and will be used for staff training and for working with patients in the future. Positive social change is expected to occur because of the increased knowledge among clinical staff who care for mentally ill individuals who smoke. The result should be a safer, healthier setting for both smoking and nonsmoking patients in mental health clinics.

Certain Operative Dentistry skill sets, such as bonding procedures, do not require a refined psychomotor skill level as much as a mastery of the concepts, placement and timing requirements of the bonding procedure. Procedures such as these may lend themselves well to the interactive media style that today's students are so familiar with in a computer module "gaming" format.

Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) is a technology-supported nursing tool that has become the standard of practice for medication administration. When used effectively and efficiently, this tool has the potential to reduce medication errors in acute care settings. In a pediatric unit at a major urban hospital in the northeast region of the United States, the absence of a BCMA nursing staff educational module affected the use of this safety tool leading to an increase of medication errors. The purpose of this DNP project was to develop a comprehensive educational module to promote BCMA in the pediatric unit of the hospital. Two theories were used to guide the translation of research into practice. Lewin's theory of planned change was used as a conceptual model to understand human behavior related to change management. Also employed was Benner's novice to expert theory to define the learning process. The research question for this project involved whether a staff education module of BCMA would optimize the medication administration process and prevent medication errors. The research design included an expert panel that used a 5-point Likert scale to evaluate the BCMA education module for clearness, effectiveness, relevance and utilization in practice. Subsequently, the effectiveness of the module was determined through a descriptive analysis. Findings that resulted from the analysis of the evidence revealed 80% percent felt the education module will increase BCMA compliance and all agreed the education module would help identify areas of needed improvement with the current process. The social change of this study will impact nurses to deliver medications safely with the use of BCMA resulting in improved patient outcomes and safe medication administration.

Compassion fatigue is viewed as a disconcerting issue facing healthcare professionals in the clinical care milieu, and nurses are identified as the most susceptible population among healthcare professionals. The purpose of this project was to create positive social change by helping oncology nurses find ways to enhance self-care and self-awareness, thereby reducing the risk of compassion fatigue and burnout among healthcare professionals. This project investigated an educational module on compassion fatigue that focused on (a) identifying the occurrence rates of compassion fatigue among oncology nurses, (b) evaluating the demographic features that were associated with the most frequent rates of compassion fatigue, and (c) educating nurses about ways to decrease or alleviate this problem. The 5 participants for this project included oncology nurses working at a healthcare facility in east Texas. The project was conducted using a quantitative methodology with a descriptive design. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire consisting of 5 Likert-type items. The analysis of the information received shows the high levels of compassion fatigue among nurses include (a) staff shortages that require working for long hours under unusual strenuous conditions, such as shifts lasting more than 12 hours without allotted breaks; (b) wearing heavy protective gear that results in a number of adverse reactions; and (c) the fear of contracting the potentially fatal diseases and/or bringing such illnesses back to the families of staff members. The outcome of the project consisted of an education module for oncology nurses that provide information about issues related to compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction. Positive social change may occur by improving the quality of patient care and self-transcendence for healthcare professionals.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is used worldwide to improve the quality of patient care to provide cost-effective care. EBP is a mandate for nursing practice combining individual clinical judgment with available expertise to generate a positive outcome for the patient. Investigators have documented that nurses have varying degrees of confidence and knowledge about EBP. The purpose of this project was to improve knowledge of EBP among registered nurses (RNs). The ACE Star Model of Knowledge transformation was used as the conceptual model. The key project question was to assess the level of knowledge and confidence about EBP among RNs in a cardio-thoracic (CT) intensive care unit (ICU) before and after viewing a computer-based EBP educational module. The quasi-experimental project used a 1 group pretest-posttest design. In the pretest, a convenience sample (n = 29) completed ACE-ERI competencies to self-assess confidence in EBP and an EBP Knowledge Test. The participants then viewed an EBP educational module based on major steps in EBP practice. Afterward, they repeated both tests. As a group, the paired t test showed a significant increase in scores for the ACE-ERI competencies between pretest and posttest scores. Using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, knowledge scores increased but were not statistically significant. These findings suggested that there was improvement in both confidence and knowledge supporting the use of the educational module. In order to effectively implement EBP, nurses require knowledge to assess the quality and evidence for improved patient outcome. These results can guide administrators and educators to enhance RN EBP by the use of educational modules to improve the quality of patient care creating positive social change.

O ensino das disciplinas de fundamentos de programação e teste de software não é trivial. Várias iniciativas têm sido investigadas a fim de amenizar os problemas associados a essa atividade. Uma dessas iniciativas é o ensino conjunto de conceitos básicos de programação e de teste de software em disciplinas introdutórias dos cursos de Ciências da Computação. Este trabalho insere-se nessa perspectiva, tendo como principal objetivo fornecer subsídios para o ensino integrado de fundamentos de programação OO e teste de software. Para atingir esse objetivo, foi desenvolvido um módulo educacional integrado de fundamentos de programação OO e teste de software, utilizando uma abordagem integrada para modelagem de conteúdos educacionais. Ênfase é dada na modelagem dos aspectos conceituais, instrucionais e didáticos dos domínios de conhecimento envolvidos. Além disso, também foi desenvolvido um ambiente, denominado ProgTest, baseado na Web e na concepção de software livre, para submissão e avaliação de trabalhos práticos dos alunos. O ambiente foi integrado com ferramentas de teste de modo que a avaliação dos trabalhos seja realizada com base em atividades de teste. Os programas e os resultados são avaliados com base em padrões de consistência, eficácia e eficiência uniformes. Os professores também podem ter uma redução na sua carga de trabalho, uma vez que o sistema avalia automaticamente tanto os casos de teste quanto o código do programa. / The teaching of fundamentals of programming and software testing is not trivial. Many attempts have been investigated in order to reduce the problems associated to this activity. One of these initiatives is the teaching of basic concepts and techniques of programming in conjunction with software testing in introductory courses of the Computer Science. In this sense, this work aims at providing mechanisms to the integrated teaching of fundamentals of OO programming and software testing. To achieve this goal, we developed an integrated educational module of fundamentals of OO programming and software testing, using an integrated approach to model the educational contents. We focus on conceptual, instructional and didactic modeling of the knowledge domains. Furthermore, an open source Web-based environment, named ProgTest, was also developed for the submission and evaluation of practical assignments to the students. The environment was integrated with testing tools, so the evaluation of the assignments is performed based on testing activities. The assignments and the results are evaluated based on the uniform standards in terms of consistence, efficacy and efficiency. The professors can have their workload reduced with this environment, once the system automatically evaluates both the code of the assignment as well as its test cases.

O ensino das disciplinas de fundamentos de programação e teste de software não é trivial. Várias iniciativas têm sido investigadas a fim de amenizar os problemas associados a essa atividade. Uma dessas iniciativas é o ensino conjunto de conceitos básicos de programação e de teste de software em disciplinas introdutórias dos cursos de Ciências da Computação. Este trabalho insere-se nessa perspectiva, tendo como principal objetivo fornecer subsídios para o ensino integrado de fundamentos de programação OO e teste de software. Para atingir esse objetivo, foi desenvolvido um módulo educacional integrado de fundamentos de programação OO e teste de software, utilizando uma abordagem integrada para modelagem de conteúdos educacionais. Ênfase é dada na modelagem dos aspectos conceituais, instrucionais e didáticos dos domínios de conhecimento envolvidos. Além disso, também foi desenvolvido um ambiente, denominado ProgTest, baseado na Web e na concepção de software livre, para submissão e avaliação de trabalhos práticos dos alunos. O ambiente foi integrado com ferramentas de teste de modo que a avaliação dos trabalhos seja realizada com base em atividades de teste. Os programas e os resultados são avaliados com base em padrões de consistência, eficácia e eficiência uniformes. Os professores também podem ter uma redução na sua carga de trabalho, uma vez que o sistema avalia automaticamente tanto os casos de teste quanto o código do programa. / The teaching of fundamentals of programming and software testing is not trivial. Many attempts have been investigated in order to reduce the problems associated to this activity. One of these initiatives is the teaching of basic concepts and techniques of programming in conjunction with software testing in introductory courses of the Computer Science. In this sense, this work aims at providing mechanisms to the integrated teaching of fundamentals of OO programming and software testing. To achieve this goal, we developed an integrated educational module of fundamentals of OO programming and software testing, using an integrated approach to model the educational contents. We focus on conceptual, instructional and didactic modeling of the knowledge domains. Furthermore, an open source Web-based environment, named ProgTest, was also developed for the submission and evaluation of practical assignments to the students. The environment was integrated with testing tools, so the evaluation of the assignments is performed based on testing activities. The assignments and the results are evaluated based on the uniform standards in terms of consistence, efficacy and efficiency. The professors can have their workload reduced with this environment, once the system automatically evaluates both the code of the assignment as well as its test cases.