BSN Exam Scheduling across Same Semester Courses-Improving Student Success: A Retrospective,Comparative, Descriptive Research Study

Exam administration is an important topic for nurse educators. One aspect is the scheduling of course exams across nursing courses in a semester. The purpose of this study was to explore exam scheduling for first semester nursing students. Exam scores from two cohorts were compared. The first cohort was administered exams for two courses on the same day, while the second cohort was administered exams for each course one week apart. Findings indicate students' exam performance improves significantly when exams are scheduled on different days.     

Newly approved antibiotics and antibiotics reserved for resistant infections: Implications for emergency medicine

Millions of patients are evaluated every year in the emergency department (ED) for bacterial infections. Emergency physicians often diagnose and prescribe initial antibiotic therapy for a variety of bacterial infections, ranging from simple urinary tract infections to severe sepsis. In life-threatening infections, inappropriate choice of initial antibiotic has been shown to increase morbidity and mortality. As such, initiation of appropriate antibiotic therapy on the part of the emergency physician is critical. Increasing rates of antibiotic resistance, drug allergies, and antibiotic shortages further complicates the choice of antibiotics. Patients may have a history of prior resistant infections or culture data indicating that common first-line antibiotics used in the ED may be ineffective. In recent years, there have been several new antibiotic approvals as well as renewed interest in second and third line antibiotics because of the aforementioned concerns. In addition, several newly approved antibiotics have the advantage of being administered once weekly or even as a single infusion, which has the potential to decrease hospitalizations and healthcare costs. This article reviews newly approved antibiotics and antibiotics used to treat resistant infections with a focus on implications for emergency medicine.     

The Texas Gulf Coast Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration: Collaboration in Action

Advance Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) are increasing in number and their value is becoming more evident as Texas and the region face a severe shortage of primary care physicians. APRNs can assist in meeting the needs of a growing and complex healthcare system. Increasing the pool of APRNs will allow healthcare providers to improve access to care and deliver quality outcomes. Hospitals and other healthcare providers have been limited in the number of APRN students they could accept for clinical training due to cost. The Graduate Nurse Education (GNE) Demonstration project was mandated by Section 5509 of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The primary goal of this demonstration is to increase the number of APRNs who will provide primary care, preventive care, transitional care, chronic care management, and other services for Medicare beneficiaries. To meet this demand, it is necessary to increase the number of qualified clinical training sites. As part of a collaborative effort, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center was one of five healthcare systems that participated in the $200 million funded Demonstration, which offsets the reasonable cost of clinical training for APRNs. Memorial Hermann partnered with four schools of nursing - Prairie View A&M University, Texas Women's University, University of Texas Medical Branch, and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston - as well as area hospitals and non-hospital community based centers to provide APRNs clinical training. This article describes the collaborative efforts of the Texas Gulf Coast GNE Demonstration as well as the implementation plan, results, and benefits of all participating partners and schools of nursing.