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The cumulative stress toll on nurses increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. An evidence-based practice (EBP) project was conducted to understand what is known about the impacts of cumulative stress within nursing and if there are ways to mitigate stress during a nurse's shift.
A project team from three clinical units completed an extensive literature review and identified the need to promote detachment while supporting parasympathetic recovery. Based on this review, leaders from three pediatric clinical units (neonatal intensive care unit, cardiovascular intensive care unit, and acute pulmonary floor) implemented respite rooms.
Follow-up outcomes showed a statistically significant stress reduction. For all shifts combined, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test revealed that perceived stress scores from an 11-point Likert scale (0 = no stress and 10 = maximum perceived stress) were significantly lower in the post-respite room (Md = 3, n = 68) compared to in the pre-respite room (Md = 6, n = 68), Z = −7.059, p < .001, with a large effect size, r = .605. Nurses and other staff frequently utilized respite rooms during shifts.
Clinical inquiry and evidence-based practice processes can mitigate cumulative stress and support staff wellbeing. Respite rooms within the hospital can promote a healthy work environment among nurses and promote a self-care culture change. Evidence-based strategies to mitigate cumulative stress using respite rooms are a best practice to promote nurse wellbeing and mitigate cumulative stress.
Using self-management interventions in type 2 diabetes care helps to regulate blood sugar levels, reduce caregiver burden, improve health outcomes, and improve expense management. Despite these benefits, the efficacy of self-management interventions for type 2 diabetes care remains uncertain, with studies showing inconclusive results that are open to interpretation.
The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the available data to determine the effectiveness of self-management strategies for individuals with type 2 diabetes.
The search method was restricted to the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed, ProQuest, Science Direct, and Scopus from January 2012 to December 2022. SPSS version 28 was used for the meta-analysis.
Seven studies fulfilled the eligibility criteria, with 697 individuals with type 2 diabetes included. Six papers were designed as randomized control trials and one as a quasi-experimental study. Meta-analysis showed a significant difference between the self-management and control groups, with a standardized mean difference (Cohen's d) of −0.40, (95% confidence interval [−0.60 to −0.20]), p = .00.
This meta-analysis showed that self-management interventions in type 2 diabetes patients successfully reduced HbA1c. Self-management improves type 2 diabetes treatment by helping people stay healthy and adapt to their illnesses.
Nurses have long received recommendations to employ self-care behaviors to ensure their ability to remain in the profession; however, nurses are rarely asked what self-care behaviors are beneficial. This literature review aimed to map studies on nurses' self-care strategies to provide an understanding of how these strategies are addressed in the literature and to identify gaps in need of additional exploration.
Searches were conducted in accordance with published mapping review methodologies across MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and identified influential nursing journals. Included studies were from the United States, peer-reviewed, and described self-care strategies related to nurses or the nursing profession.
Thirty-five articles were identified for inclusion and were evaluated based on agreed-upon criteria to define how the concept of self-care was studied and applied to nurses. Three main categories were identified in this review: self-care and stress; self-care and burnout; and self-care and leadership, workplace factors, and physical activity.
This mapping review revealed an abundance of literature related to self-care recommendations for nurses; however, there remains a dearth of studies investigating how nurses utilize self-care behaviors independently to improve their own professional well-being. Recommendations for next steps in research in this area are included.
Today's nursing workforce is expected to know how to identify and understand research methods and procedures and apply the most current evidence into daily practice. However, teaching evidence-based practice (EBP) in an undergraduate nursing curriculum poses unique challenges in overcoming students' perception of content relevancy to their educational experience, but also offers opportunities for innovation to facilitate critical thinking and clinical application.
The aim of this article is to report on how teaching and learning innovation was infused into a research and evidence-based practice course and the effect on students' perceptions of course values and effectiveness.
We used a Plan-Do-Study-Act approach to introduce innovation in an undergraduate course within a university setting. Final student course evaluations were used to measure outcomes on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = low and 5 = high) on the following dimensions: (1) value of overall educational experience, (2) relevancy of course content, (3) improvement in critical thinking, and (4) level of student-instructor interaction.
Overall course evaluation scores improved greatly from 2.69 to 3.90 between Spring 2020 and Fall 2021. This finding remained relatively consistent across subsequent semesters (3.79 [Spring 2022], 3.84 [Fall 2022]). Students also reported appreciation and increased engagement and interest with the material after transitioning from examinations to a project-based assignment that allowed them to walk through the steps of EBP in class.
We identified and implemented several innovative strategies to improve student outcomes and increase the relevance of the course content. These innovations can be easily incorporated at other universities to enhance delivery and student engagement in this content that is essential to advancing quality care in nursing and developing future nurse scientists and practice leaders who care, lead, and inspire.
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