compilation of 90+ videos on technology and media literacy

I have just come across a very cool podcast site which has made an excellent compilation of videos ( mostly youtube) available to anyone as education tools on the topics of technology and media literacy. More than 90 links to videos are freely available and would be excellent additions to education presentations. Kudos to Dr. Alec Couros, a professor of educational technology and media at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina who created EdTech Posse .

Clinical Narratives

Clinical Narratives are nurse stories of caring. At St. Joseph Hospital, clinical narratives are submitted to the Clinical Development Council as part of the Clinical Advancement process to move up the ladder from Clinical Nurse II to Clinical Nurse III (CN III) or Clinical Nurse IV (CN IV). As each proficient (CN III) and expert (CN IV) comes before the Clinical Development Council for advancement, they read their narrative aloud and have an opportunity to answer questions. The richness of their stories are shared.
The clinical narratives are also written by New Grads during the New Grad program. These narratives are submitted to the Clinical Development Council anonymously, and as we read them, we identify themes. The themes help to define nursing practice at St. Joseph Hospital. Over the years, the themes identified have opened up dialog and changes in our practice.
The Clinical Nurse IIs (CN II) are asked to write narratives during the months of July and August. The majority of RN’s at St. Joseph Hospital are CN IIs, but we tend to get fewer narratives from the CN IIs. In an attempt to encourage the CN IIs to write their stories, we are trying something new: Clinical Narrative Mentoring sessions. We are hoping that offering encouragement and 1:1 writing assistance will help to bring forth more nurse stories to share. I suppose the motivation to write a narrative is less for the CN IIs than the rest of the nurses, and as a consequence, we are missing hearing the voice of the majority of our wonderful nurses.

AHRQ Evidence-Based Practice Update

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which is part of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, recently posted a report entitled : The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force : An Evidence-Based Prevention Resource for Nurse Practitioners.
According to the abstract "Purpose: To describe the work of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and to encourage nurse practitioners (NPs) to use its evidence-based recommendations for clinical preventive services.
Sources: Evidence reports, recommendation statements, and journal articles published under the auspices of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force since its establishment in 1984.
Conclusions: A core competency for NPs working in primary care is knowledge about and provision of appropriate preventive services for their patients. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care, is an important resource for NPs.
Implications for Practice: NPs can use Task Force recommendations to guide their screening, counseling, and preventive medication decisions. They can also educate patients about the missed prevention opportunities related to underuse of effective services and the potential harms of overuse of inappropriate preventive services.
Keywords: Advanced practice nurse (APN); primary care; prevention, clinical practice guidelines; evidence-based practice.Purpose: To describe the work of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and to encourage nurse practitioners (NPs) to use its evidence-based recommendations for clinical preventive services.
Sources: Evidence reports, recommendation statements, and journal articles published under the auspices of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force since its establishment in 1984.
Conclusions: A core competency for NPs working in primary care is knowledge about and provision of appropriate preventive services for their patients. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care, is an important resource for NPs.
Implications for Practice: NPs can use Task Force recommendations to guide their screening, counseling, and preventive medication decisions. They can also educate patients about the missed prevention opportunities related to underuse of effective services and the potential harms of overuse of inappropriate preventive services."

Trinite T, Loveland-Cherry C, Marion L. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: An Evidence-based Prevention Resource for Nurse Practitioners. Originally published in Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 21(2009):301-306. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf09/epbnursep/epbnursep.htm

Survivorship Education for Quality Cancer Care

Survivorship Education for Quality Cancer Care
News Release for Participants of SEQCC
Disseminating Survivorship Education to Cancer Settings

Interdisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, social workers, and other health professionals such as psychologists, radiation technologists, chaplains, and administrators are involved in the multitude of treatment options for cancer patients during the course of their illness. These professionals however are inadequately prepared to meet the follow up needs of cancer survivors.

I recently attended a comprehensive three-day course for interdisciplinary teams from cancer settings on survivorship care. The City of Hope (COH) Comprehensive Cancer Ceneter received a 5-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to conduct this course. The project is led by Marcia Grant, RN, DNSc, FAAN, principal investigator, Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD, FAAN, and Smita Bhatia, MD co-investigators, and Denise Economu, RN, MN, CNS, project director.

I was one of over 2-person teams from 53 institutions competitively selected from cancer settings across the United States to attend this course. The prinicipal goal of the course is to provide interdisciplinary teams with information on survivorship care issues and resources to implement goals aimed at improving survivorship care in their cancer institutions.

The course was conducted by a distinguised faculty of researchers, educators, authors, and leaders in the field of survivorship care. Topic areas targeted the recommendations from the 2006 Institute of Medicine report, "From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor-Lost in Transition." State of the Science lectures addressed quality of life decisions and identified areas of need for survivorship care as well as issues related to insurance coverage, developing survivorhsip clinics and quality care issues. Additional questions or information about future courses can be directed to deconomou@coh.org.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Institute of Medicine Launch Unprecedented Initiative on the Future of Nursing in America

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Institute of Medicine Launch Unprecedented Initiative on the Future of Nursing in America

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3 new search engines compared:Wolfram/Alpha, Bing and Google Squared

Kudos to the Disrupted Library Technology Jester for doing an excellent comparison of 3 new search engines: Wolfram/Alpha, Microsoft's new Bing and Google squared

Bing is the most like existing search engines whereas the other two search engines are
geared to "fact retrieval". I'm sure you've all seen a lot about these new search engines in
the media but this review is particularly well written and easy to follow.

Check it out!!

Top 50 Nurse Practitioner blogs; we're represented!

Kudos to the Online Nurse Practitioner Schools site for pulling together an excellent list of the top 50 Nurse Practitioner blogs. Besides seeing our own blog listed, I have learned of several blogs that I'd like to follow including Running a hospital a blog by Paul Levy who is President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston .