Innovative Opportunities for Nurse Practitioner Education Uncovered by the Pandemic

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic resulted in the abrupt withdrawal of clinical sites for nurse practitioner (NP) students during the Spring semester of 2020. This situation necessitated the identification of innovative clinical opportunities to ensure advanced practice nursing students met course objectives and program requirements.

METHOD

This article describes innovative clinical opportunities that met the needs of the community, including those impacted by the pandemic, and enabled NP students' progression toward completing clinical requirements.

RESULTS

Participation in these unique opportunities provided more than 130 NP students with meaningful clinical experiences to increase competence in the care of vulnerable populations and communities during a public health crisis.

CONCLUSION

Experiences supported competency development in the areas of leadership, clinical management, population health and infection control, policy and advocacy, informatics, telehealth, and ethical considerations while providing essential services to the community. These innovative clinical opportunities may be useful for graduate clinical programs worldwide. [J Nurs Educ. 2022;61(3):153-155.].

Psychometrics of the Gratitude Questionnaire-6 in African-Americans at Risk for Cardiovascular Disease

Psychometrics of the Gratitude Questionnaire-6, which measures dispositional gratitude, was originally estimated in healthy college students. The purpose of this study was to examine the scales' factor structure, convergent/divergent validity, and reliability among 298 AA adults at risk for CVD in the community. Analyses were performed using bivariate correlations, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. The scale demonstrated acceptable estimates for internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.729). Our exploratory factor analysis results yielded a one-factor structure consistent with the original instrument, and the confirmatory factor analysis model was a good fit. Convergent/divergent validity was supported by the association with positive affect (coefficient = 0.482, 95% CI = [0.379, 0.573], spiritual well-being (coefficient = 0.608, 95% CI = [0.519, 0.685], and depressive symptoms (coefficient = -0.378, 95% CI = [-0.475, -0.277]. Findings supported the scale's reliability and convergent/divergent validity among AAs at risk for CVD.