College students' perceptions of telemental health to address their mental health needs

Objective: To understand the feasibility of using telehealth for mental health services among college students. Participants: College students (N = 16) attending a university in Southern California, 18 years or older, and living in the residential halls. Methods: Two face-to-face semi-structured focus groups were conducted using a semi-structured moderator guide. Written consent and a demographic survey were completed. Descriptive thematic analysis was conducted independently by members of the research team. Results: Participants reported mixed feelings about their level of comfort using technology to access mental health services. Some participants acknowledged the value of using technology, while many voiced issues of distrust and privacy, in addition to the loss of empathy and personal connection with the mental health practitioner. Conclusion: Offering a menu of telehealth options including a hybrid approach (in-person/telehealth) may be necessary to address the issues of comfort, privacy, and trust to effectively reach college students with technology-based mental health services.

Evidence-based Care of the Human Trafficking Patient

Human trafficking is the intentional exploitation of vulnerable individuals for the personal gain of the exploiter and is now recognized as an emerging public health care priority. Health care providers are well positioned to identify and assist trafficked individuals as well as those who may be at risk for exploitation. Trauma informed care is essential to identify victims and evaluate the impact of traumatic stress while highlighting survivors' strengths and supporting their resiliency. Human trafficking demographics, including mental and physical health problems, health considerations, risk factors, screening, implications for practice, and national resources, are reviewed.

Succession Planning: Creating A Case for Hiring New Graduates

With an aging nursing workforce and rising patient acuity levels, healthcare institutions are challenged to meet the demand for competent nursing care Swedish Medical Center (SMC) adopted an aggressive approach for building a new graduate residency program to promote new graduates' opportunity to tap into the valuable expert knowledge and wisdom of retiring nurses. Nursing leadership chose to take an unorthodox approach by identifying new graduates as their hires of choice, citing the ability to create and influence the values and professional practice of the novice nurse as a desired advantage. The program's success focused on adding three key elements to the traditional 1:1 preceptor support model: cohort hiring, monitoring progression to competence, and simulation. SMC is confident this strategy for workforce succession planning will continue to be successful both financially and with regard to patient care quality.

[Ambulance transportation time of obstetrical patients]

OBJECTIVE

To examine the time the ambulance needs to transfer women in labour, or immediately after delivery, from home to hospital.

DESIGN

Descriptive.

SETTING

Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

METHOD

Ambulance data from the 'Centrale Post Ambulancevervoer', region Amsterdam, were analysed over a period of one year (1992/1993).

RESULTS

Of the 287 women who were transported during labour with urgency code A1 (critical condition) 244 (85%) arrived within 0.5 h in hospital, of 124 who were not in a critical condition (urgency code A2) 66 (53%) (chi 2 = 47.2; p < 0.00001). The average duration for A1 transport of the 51 women who were transferred immediately after delivery, was 32 min. Of those who went by ambulance with urgency code A2 (n = 86) the average duration was 37 min. For A1 transport the ambulance is legally bound to arrive within 15 min. In 7 women (2%) the transport time exceeded 15 min. This was not associated with time of day or distance to hospital. Factors that influenced the duration of ambulance transport included the allocated emergency code, the timing of transport in relation to parturition and the distance between the home and hospital.

CONCLUSION

In the municipality of Amsterdam transportation by ambulance of obstetrical patients from home to hospital can in most cases be realised within 0.5 h. The difference in average total time between A1 and A2 transport during labour is only 7 min, but the likelihood of arriving at the hospital within 0.5 h is much greater with A1 than with A2 transport.