The "Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice" (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008) seek to communicate standards that will prepare graduates to function within a complex healthcare system. The document highlights concepts from patient-centered care to evidence-based practice (Commission on…

Background: The United States Census Bureau stated that there were 76.1 million children aged birth to 17 years in the United States, and 13.9% of these children are estimated to have special health care needs. In California, 9.9% of children have special health care needs. This background information leads to question the pediatric nurse…

High-stakes testing in undergraduate nursing education are those assessments used to make critical decisions for student progression and graduation. The purpose of this study was to explore the different ways students experience multiple high-stakes tests for progression in one undergraduate BSN program. Research participants were prelicensure…

This study investigated public health nurses' perceptions regarding an information management training program at a for-profit nursing agency in South Florida. Despite mandates from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, HIPAA, and the Institute of Medicine to incorporate informatics in healthcare, research on its impact on…

Aim/Purpose: This study investigated the potential use of Second Life (SL) to facilitate nursing students' confidence and motivation, as well as its impact on their self-regulated learning development. Background: The current emphasis on nursing education in general has resulted in more consideration of different virtual learning environments as a…

The health care field has become increasingly more complex, requiring new nurses to be prepared upon graduation to respond to a variety of complex situations. Unfortunately, many graduates from associate degree nursing (ADN) programs are not able to think critically upon entering the work force. This presents a major problem for the nurse and for…

Nursing education must evolve with the ever-changing forms of communication and technology and recognize generational differences in learning. The use of technology has created many opportunities to develop new teaching strategies in nursing education. Students today require and demand new educational approaches. The need to prepare students for a…

Currently, C Hospital lacks a standardized nursing informatics competency program to validate nurses' skills and knowledge in using electronic medical records (EMRs). At the study locale, the organization is about to embark on the implementation of a new, more comprehensive EMR system. All departments will be required to use the new EMR, unlike…

The retention of nursing students remains a challenge in higher education, and the need for nurses in the United States is projected to increase. The purpose of this study was to investigate nursing student persistence in an associate degree program by examining differences in the presence of key social, environmental, and academic factors across…

This study used the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS) to examine attitudes of pharmacy and nursing students before and after an interprofessional education activity at a health science center campus. Results were analyzed using a matched pairs design to detect changes in attitudes from pre- to post-survey. Findings showed statistically…

This qualitative narrative descriptive study focused on nine successful Latino nursing school graduates. Five participants were interviewed twice and four participants were interviewed once for a total of fourteen interviews. Participants and their families immigrated from Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Mexico. Participants attended school in North…

It is well documented that engagement in arts and cultural activities contributes to improving and maintaining the health and well-being of older people. Despite this, many health and social care professionals do not recognize or accept arts and cultural activities as relevant to their care remit. To address this, a team of 17 individuals…

An essential hypothesis of modern language assessment theory pertains to the interaction between strategy use ability (strategic competence) and second language knowledge. However, how they interact with each other is rarely explored. Drawing on relevant research in the literature, in this paper we proposed three interaction patterns (i.e.,…

As part of our research on the community college baccalaureate (CCB), we studied the prospects of adopting and scaling CCB degrees in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Higher education leaders in these six Great Lakes states recognized the potential for CCB degrees to increase academic, geographic and financial access to…

The purpose of this study was to test a model using Rosabeth Kanter's theory (1977; 1993) of structural empowerment to determine if this model can predict student nurses' level of critical thinking. Major goals of nursing education are to cultivate graduates who can think critically with a keen sense of clinical judgment, and who can perform…