How registered nurses balance limited resources in order to maintain competence: a grounded theory study

Utilizing a Learning Management System to Provide Nursing Professional Development

The provider unit involved in this project was based in a university setting within a school of nursing and serves both the university nursing faculty and nurses within the community. To support effective online content design principles, usability, a connection to the content, and a method for participants to provide sound feedback, a nurse planner for the unit and an instructional designer in the university collaborated to transition nursing professional development activities to an online format utilizing a learning management system. Virtual learning is viable and a potentially effective option to provide interactive and innovative professional development.

Conducting rapid qualitative interview research during the COVID-19 pandemic-Reflections on methodological choices

As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, setting up studies in time to gather relevant, real-world data enables researchers to capture current views and experiences, focus on practicalities on the ground, and deliver actionable results. Delivering high quality rapid studies in healthcare poses several challenges even in non-emergency situations. There is an expanding literature discussing benefits and challenges of conducting rapid research, yet there are relatively few examples related to methodological dilemmas and decisions that researchers may face when conducting rapid studies. In rapidly-changing emergency contexts, some of these challenges may be more easily overcome, while others may be unique to the emergency, magnified, or emerge in different ways. In this manuscript, we discuss our reflections and lessons learnt across the research process when conducting rapid qualitative interview studies in the context of a healthcare emergency, focusing on methodological issues. By this we mean the challenging considerations and pragmatic choices we made, and their downstream impacts, that shaped our studies. We draw on our extensive combined experience of delivering several projects during the COVID-19 pandemic in both single and multi-country settings, where we implemented rapid studies, or rapidly adapted an existing study. In the context of these studies, we discuss two main considerations, with a particular focus on the complexities, multiple facets, and trade-offs involved in: (i) team-based approaches to qualitative studies; and (ii) timely and rapid data collection, analysis and dissemination. We contribute a transparent discussion of these issues, describing them, what helped us to deal with them, and which issues have been difficult to overcome. We situate our discussion of arising issues in relation to existing literature, to offer broader recommendations while also identifying gaps in current understandings of how to deal with these methodological challenges. We thus identify key considerations, lessons, and possibilities for researchers implementing rapid studies in healthcare emergencies and beyond. We aim to promote transparency in reporting, assist other researchers in making informed choices, and consequently contribute to the development of the rapid qualitative research.

Experiences of dysphagia trained nurses in the screening and early management of swallowing in acute stroke: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Nurses often carry out swallow screening when patients are admitted to hospital following a stroke, some receive further training to conduct more comprehensive tests. Little is known about how they perceive their role. The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of Dysphagia Trained Nurses (DTNs) in acute stroke who conduct the comprehensive tests. METHODS: Nine DTNs were recruited from one UK hospital. They were identified by maximum variation and convenience sampling ensuring a broad demographic. Semi-structured interviews were carried out during usual shift patterns, in a quiet room on the acute stroke unit by a research and clinical SLT. Thematic analysis was conducted by two researchers and a summary of themes was verified by the participants. RESULTS: Four main themes were identified relating to the role, screening tool, training and pathway. The role was highly regarded, bringing professional benefits such as job satisfaction and career development. Nurses also identified that it was an essential role in acute stroke for the health and wellbeing of patients. The tool was easy to use but needed adaptations at times and the pathway was difficult to adhere to during busy periods when the use of the test with certain patients was questioned. Training and support was deemed crucial for the role and confidence developed with experience. CONCLUSIONS: Dysphagia Trained Nurses who conduct comprehensive dysphagia screening tests in acute stroke value the role. Further research is needed to quantify the impact that the nurses have on patient outcomes and stroke pathways.

Application of online case-based learning in the teaching of clinical anesthesia for residents during the COVID-19 epidemic

OBJECTIVE

COVID-19 prevention and control demand a reduction in crowd gathering, which has a significant impact on traditional teaching and offline case-based learning (CBL). In order to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on clinical teaching, we aimed to compare the effects of an online CBL with traditional teaching model on learning outcomes of anesthesia residents.

METHODS

Residents rotated in the Department of Anesthesiology in Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital from January 2020 to February 2021 were included in Group W (n = 19), which implemented the W-CBL teaching model. The performance of residents was evaluated with theory test and 2 survey questionnaires (A and B) were conducted after 1 month of rotating. All 20 residents rotating in the Department of Anesthesiology at our hospital from January 2018 to December 2019 were included in Group C, which implemented the traditional teaching model. Their examination results were acquired through the teaching files and survey questionnaire (A) were administered through WeChat.

RESULTS

During the 1-month rotation, a total of 10 cases were discussed in Group W. The average score for theory test was higher in Group W than that in Group C (84.57 ± 4.87 vs. 79.35 ± 3.70, P = 0.001). The satisfaction rate was also in favor of Group W regarding to clinical thinking, communication skills, learning interest and self-learning ability (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Online CBL based on WeChat platform is an effective and acceptable teaching strategy in comparison to lecture-based learning (LBL) among residents embarking on clinical anesthesia courses.