Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R J McGregor.
Patients with emphysema suffer continuously with dyspnea which ultimately can affect their activities of daily living. Lung volume reduction is a surgical procedure that is effective in relieving the dyspnea and improving the patient's quality of life.
It has been the intent of the authors to describe a management development method which has as its basis a way to differentiate methods for skill development based on levels of skill acquisition. The intent is to provide an efficient and effective framework within which management development can occur as well as to test the utility of the Drefus model in the critical arena of developing management talent in health care environments. Further work and experience with both the model and the skills identified will continue.
The author discusses an undergraduate course that provides students with a clinical experience focusing on setting priorities, managing time, and organizing assignments and responsibilities, with the support of, and under the direction of, an experienced RN preceptor. In addition to building confidence and making students more competitive during job interviews after graduation, the preceptorship course promotes collaboration between academia and service, provides students with the opportunity to implement their professional practitioner role, and promotes the personal and professional development of the preceptors and nursing staff.
Patient care redesign is a process of reorienting healthcare institutions to a more patient-centered process. Inova Health System, a large Northern Virginia system, recently instituted such a redesign. The System's department of education was charged with designing a curriculum to introduce the new concept to all staff. This article analyzes the results of a survey that evaluated self-reported behaviors and attitudes of staff following attendance at the mandatory classes and discusses methodological aspects of the evaluation. The approach to evaluation discussed in this article provides a practical model for staff development educators when confronted with the task of evaluating results of educational programs.
Nursing science is progressing at such a rapid rate that it is difficult for nursing professionals to remain current with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide quality patient care. To assure that staff members demonstrate the required competencies, a framework composed of eight steps and a master plan for implementation is presented in this article. The framework offers staff development educators structure and direction in planning and conducting educational programs to achieve the goal of competency development.
Staff nurses are responsible for providing care to acutely ill patients, therefore, educators and managers can no longer be comfortable with developing staff to a basic level of competence; they have the responsibility to develop expert practitioners. To achieve this goal, a program using the "novice-to-expert" model for developing educational programs for each level of proficiency is described.