Purpose: This study describes Florida's model of Medicaid nursing home (NH) reimbursement to compensate NHs for disaster-related expenses incurred as a result of 8 hurricanes within a 2-year period. This Florida model can serve as a demonstration for a national model for disaster-related reimbursement. Design and Methods: Florida reimburses NHs…

Purpose: Theories of the policy process recognize that policy proposals are typically generated, debated, redrafted, and accepted for consideration through the gradual accumulation of knowledge within communities of specialists. Thus, to inform long-term care (LTC) reform efforts, we conducted a Web-based survey of 1,147 LTC specialists…

The importance of numeracy for professional practice in nursing is increasingly recognized in the USA, UK and elsewhere, but there is no consensus on what is meant by numeracy for nursing, nor on how it should be taught, learned and assessed. Meanwhile, studies in various countries indicate a lack of proficiency in numeracy of some students and…

This article describes the recently established Massachusetts School Nurse Research Network (MASNRN) which has a mission of establishing a practice-based research network (PBRN) comprised of a representative, collaborative group of professional school nurses, nurse academicians, and other interested parties for whom school health is a priority.…

This article presents this year's Top 100 institutions that conferred the most bachelor's degrees to students of color in academic year 2009-2010. It shows the total number of bachelor's degrees for a specific minority group or for total minorities, with subtotals for women and men in that ethnic group. The author also includes the prior year…

Computer-based clinical simulations are a powerful teaching and learning tool because of their ability to expand healthcare students' clinical experience by providing practice-based learning. Despite the benefits of traditional computer-based clinical simulations, there are significant issues that arise when incorporating them into a flexible,…

Elder abuse in long-term care has become a very important public health concern. Recent estimates of elder abuse prevalence are in the range of 2% to 10% (Lachs & Pillemer, 2004), and current changes in population structure indicate a potential for an upward trend in prevalence (Malley-Morrison, Nolido, & Chawla, 2006; Post et al., 2006).…

Emotion recognition is a critical life skill children need for mental health promotion to meet the complexities and challenges of growing up in the world today. Five nursing students and their instructor designed "Emotion Locomotion," a program for children ages 6-8 during a public health nursing practicum for an inner-city parochial school.…

We report here on an exploratory formative evaluation of a project to integrate mobile learning into a Western Canadian college nursing program. Third-year students used Hewlett Packard iPAQ mobile devices for five weeks in a practice education course in April-May, 2007. Koole's (2009) "Framework for the Rational Analysis of Mobile…

The purpose of this research study was to determine the use of humor as a teaching strategy among a sample of nurse educators employed by community colleges and universities in Northern and Central California nursing programs. The study also identified the types of humor used, how humor is used in the classroom, and nurse educators' perceptions of…

State law directs the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) to review and comment on the need for new degree and certificate programs proposed by the public higher education systems. The California Legislature, the Administration, and the Legislative Analyst's Office consider the review of proposals for new degree and certificate…

Nursing homes are considered lagging behind in adopting health information technology (HIT). Many studies have highlighted the use of HIT as a means of improving health care quality. However, these studies overwhelmingly do not provide empirical information proving that HIT can actually achieve these improvements. The main research goal of this…

The Minimum Data Set (MDS) is a uniform instrument used in nursing homes to assess residents. In January 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published a draft of a new MDS--version 3.0. This article traces the instrument's development and the design decisions that shaped it, discusses the MDS's manifest functions--data collection…

School nurses are in a unique position to provide care for students with special health care needs in the school setting. The incidence of chronic conditions and improved technology necessitate care of complex health care needs that had formerly been managed in inpatient settings. Delegation is a tool that may be used by registered nurses to allow…

This executive summary highlights several findings about healthcare. These are: (1) Healthcare is 18 percent of the U.S. economy, twice as high as in other countries; (2) There are two labor markets in healthcare: high-skill, high-wage professional and technical jobs and low-skill, low-wage support jobs; (3) Demand for postsecondary education in…