The purpose of this study was to compare the disinfection rate of a laboratory environment before and after glow powder exposure and training of sonography students (n = 23) and establish if glow powder was an effective teaching technique for infection protection and control (IPC). Fourteen locations at four scanning stations were contaminated with glow powder, visible under ultraviolet light. Students were shown contaminated areas and debriefed on the importance of disinfection. This activity was repeated to ascertain effectiveness of the training. In total, 204 areas were examined for contamination. Observation 1 revealed 21 locations (30.8%), and observation 2 detected glow powder on 12 locations (17.6%). Overall decrease in contamination rate was 13%. The gel bottle was the most frequently contaminated. The curved 3.5-MHz transducer was consistently cleaned. Disinfectant spray, time gain compensation, bed, stool, screen, and handles of the machine remained contaminated. Students’ IPC increased significantly after glow powder training, and secondary spread was reduced by 16%.

No abstract

No abstract

A mini-study was conducted to collect self-reported employee turnover rates in U.S.hospitals. The results indicate many hospitals are struggling with high employee turnover rates.Wide-spread variances in ratings were observed across hospitals which may be due to lack of consistency in how they each calculate their employee turnover. This makes benchmarking for the purposes of performance improvement challenging.

No abstract

Background: The American Nurses Association recognizes the specialty practice of Clinical Research Nursing, but many new nurses are unaware of the specialty and lack knowledge to effectively interact with research teams. Method: Participants completed a novel online survey to describe the level of awareness and understanding of the clinical research nursing specialty and the effect of clinical studies on nursing practice in fourth-year baccalaureate nursing program students. Results: Ninety-three participants completed the survey. Most were aware that some nurses specialize in the care of clinical study participants, and most did not know how to effectively support research teams. Years of nursing experience was associated with an understanding of how to effectively collaborate with clinical research nurses and an interest in a career as a clinical research nurse. Conclusion: Entry-level nursing programs should expose students to the clinical research nurse role and provide the knowledge needed to collaborate with researchers when caring for patients in clinical studies. [ J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(10):598–603.]

Research performed on soldiers in the military far exceeds that of research performed on military health care providers. The focus of this study was to explore the prevalence of burnout among the health care providers of the 101 st Airborne Division in relation to deployments. A cross-sectional survey was electronically dispersed to 158 health care professionals including combat medics, physician assistants, and physicians. Over one-third of these professionals completed the online anonymous survey successfully. Results revealed that the majority of those surveyed were, in fact, burnt out. The study showed no correlation between burnout and deployment, though it did demonstrate correlation to the number of leave days accrued. More in-depth research and analysis is needed to further explain this correlation of health care providers in the military, the amount of leave days they have accrued, and burnout. Further research is also needed to see if this high level of burnout is present among military providers of other services, in different locations, and between different professions.

Sex, patient positioning, length of procedure, and BMI are determinants for upper extremity neural compromise during thoracolumbar and lumbosacral spine surgeries.