Lessons Learned from a Mentored Graduate Program in Gerontological Nursing

Mentorship and Training to Increase Diversity of Researchers and Practitioners in the Field of Aging and Alzheimer's Disease: A Scoping Review of Program Characteristics

Objectives: Diversity is needed within the aging and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) research and practice workforce to comprehensively address health inequities faced by underrepresented minority (URM) older adults. We conducted a scoping review of training programs designed to diversify the pool of researchers and practitioners in the field of aging and ADRD. Methods: Online database searches yielded 3976 articles published from 1999 to 2019. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Results: All programs were from the United States and included URM populations. Nine programs included students, one targeted university faculty, and four targeted clinical staff. Only five programs were guided by theory. Discussion: Our review identified URMs' desire for culturally diverse and representative mentorship, the need for career development support at various training stages, and the importance of incorporating theory to program design. It also identified key characteristics for future program development, creation of systematic evaluation standards, and opportunities for promotion.

A 5-Year Evaluation of Faculty Use of Practical Within-Course Writing Development Strategies in a DNP Program

BACKGROUND

Nursing students are underprepared for the rigors of graduate writing. The lack of sufficient writing opportunities and skill development in prelicensure nursing education creates barriers that threaten course and program progression.

APPROACH

This study used a prospective, repeated-measures design to evaluate 5 years of faculty-implemented writing development strategies in a DNP program.

OUTCOMES

Faculty adopted 12 strategies in 10 courses. The strategies addressed skill building in content, construction, format, plagiarism, and citation use. The most frequently used strategies were rubrics, plagiarism detection software, multistep assignments, and examples of well-written papers, all strategies that increased in use over the 5-year study.

CONCLUSIONS

Graduate faculty interact with students and assess writing development outcomes firsthand. Changes in faculty practices over time can indicate the strategies they consider most valuable for writing development.

Emotional Support for New Graduated Nurses in Clinical Setting: a Qualitative Study

Introduction: Newly graduated nurses experience many stressful situations during transition to practice. The provision of emotional support from more experienced nurses can ameliorate such work-related tension. Studies have not clearly specified the means through which such support could be most effectively provided; therefore the present study was conducted to explore the experiences of qualified nurses around the provision of emotional support to newly graduated nurses.

Methods: This qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 18 qualified nurses. A purposive sampling approach was used for selection of participants. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed by the conventional content analysis method. The study took place from 2014-2015 in six teaching hospitals in the northwest of Iran.

Results: Emotional supports emerged in four following main-categories: Assurance, creating a sense of relaxation and security, lifting spirits, and emotional belonging and involvement.

Conclusion: These results can help to establish an effective source of emotional support for newly graduated nurses. This can play an important role in reducing their stress and anxiety, in increasing their self-confidence and in forming a constructive relationship between them and qualified nurses.

Professionalisation of gerontological nursing--the development of an international online gerontological master degree programme

Due to demographic changes and the growing demand for a nursing workforce in the gerontological field adequate nursing curricula are required. This paper describes the development of the international online gerontological master degree programme GEROM. Health and nursing science institutions from six European countries are collaborating in this EU-project. The project milestones as well as the study programme architecture are introduced. Furthermore, the evaluation concept is illustrated. Collaboration across the partners is affected by some problems; varying accreditation procedures and cultural differences inhibit the implementation of a joint degree. Institutional commitment and communication between the partners are essential for a successful process.

The nature and implications of support in graduate nurse transition programs: an Australian study

It is widely recognized that support is critical to graduate nurse transition from novice to advanced beginner-level practitioner and to the integration of neophyte practitioners into safe and effective organizational processes. Just what constitutes support, however, and why (if at all) support is important, when, ideally, support should be given, by whom, how, and for how long, have not been systematically investigated. Building on the findings (previously reported) of a year long study that had, as its focus, an exploration and description of processes influencing the successful integration of new graduate nurses into safe and effective organizational processes and systems, the findings presented in this article strongly suggest that support is critical to the process of graduate nurse transition, and that integration into "the system" is best provided during the first 4 weeks of a graduate nurse transition program and thereafter at the beginning of each ward rotation; that "informal teachers" and the graduate nurses themselves are often the best sources of support; and that the most potent barriers to support being provided are the untoward attitudes of staff toward new graduates. Drawing on the overall findings of the study, a new operational definition of support is proposed and recommendations are made for future comparative research on the issue.