Collaborative partnerships between nursing faculties and health service providers are the cornerstone of successful clinical experience for nursing students. The challenge of providing an optimal learning environment can be enormous given the turbulent and rapidly changing environment in health. The present study uses the business literature to examine what nursing can learn from business about the development of successful collaborative partnerships. The characteristics of sound partnerships are described and a set of best practice guidelines is developed. The guidelines summarize the factors considered to be essential for the effective development of collaborative partnerships. In these times of nursing shortages and high turnover high quality, collaborative partnerships between nursing faculties and the health care sector are seen as a possible solution to optimize clinical learning and therefore graduate preparedness.
BackgroundThe detection of insulin autoantibodies (IAA) aids in the prediction of autoimmune diabetes development. However, the long-standing, gold standard 125I-insulin radiobinding assay (RBA) has low reproducibility between laboratories, long sample processing times and requires the use of newly synthesized radiolabeled insulin for each set of assays. Therefore, a rapid, non-radioactive, and reproducible assay is highly desirable.MethodsWe have developed electrochemiluminescence (ECL)-based assays that fulfill these criteria in the measurement of IAA and anti-insulin antibodies (IA) in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice and in type 1 diabetic individuals, respectively. Using the murine IAA ECL assay, we examined the correlation between IAA, histopathological insulitis, and blood glucose in a cohort of female NOD mice from 4 up to 36 weeks of age. We developed a human IA ECL assay that we compared to conventional RBA and validated using samples from 34 diabetic and 59 non-diabetic individuals in three independent laboratories.ResultsOur ECL assays were rapid and sensitive with a broad dynamic range and low background. In the NOD mouse model, IAA levels measured by ECL were positively correlated with insulitis severity, and the values measured at 8-10 weeks of age were predictive of diabetes onset. Using human serum and plasma samples, our IA ECL assay yielded reproducible and accurate results with an average sensitivity of 84% at 95% specificity with no statistically significant difference between laboratories.ConclusionsThese novel, non-radioactive ECL-based assays should facilitate reliable and fast detection of antibodies to insulin and its precursors sera and plasma in a standardized manner between laboratories in both research and clinical settings. Our next step is to evaluate the human IA assay in the detection of IAA in prediabetic subjects or those at risk of type 1 diabetes and to develop similar assays for other autoantibodies that together are predictive for the diagnosis of this common disorder, in order to improve prediction and facilitate future therapeutic trials.
Home healthcare nurses play a critical role in pain assessment and management in elderly patients. People 65 years of age and older are the largest consumers of prescription and nonprescription pain medications in the United States and are at increased risk for adverse reactions and inadequate pain management. This article seeks to explore strategies to assist hospice and home healthcare nurses in assessing and managing elderly patients' pain. The goal is to provide tools to assist nurses in streamlining elderly patient care and improving quality of life while decreasing mortality and morbidity for this patient population.
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