Background: This article describes how a college of nursing (CON) converted its traditional undergraduate academic program to a 100% online program within 2 weeks of being informed of the need for curricular modifications due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: The college faculty met online prior to implementation to discuss student needs and special considerations. Clinical simulation experiences were developed based on International Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) standards and delivered through virtual simulation. Results: Students evaluated the clinical simulation experiences in each course using Likert-style measures and reported positive experiences overall. Each cohort of students, including the May 2020 graduating seniors, successfully completed all of their classes for progression to the next semester or graduation. Conclusion: The successful conversion of traditional academic programs into a virtual environment requires leadership, collaboration, and teamwork. This CON had positive outcomes and offers lessons learned for future implementation. [ J Nurs Educ . 2021;60(7): 397–399.]
Breast cancer research and therapies have significantly advanced in recent years. However, Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC), the second most common histological type of breast cancer and the sixth most frequently diagnosed cancer of women, has not always benefited from critical analysis, missing opportunities to better understand this important subtype. Recent progress understanding the biological and behavioral differences of ILC demonstrates that it is a unique subtype of breast cancer which can respond differently to common therapies. These new insights have increased interest in researching lobular breast disease. Concurrently, the formation of motivated patient-led advocacy organizations working in partnership with basic, translational and clinical researchers creates new opportunities, including connecting a dispersed patient population to research, encouraging new research funding and connecting patient advocates to researchers to advance common goals. This commentary will explore the unprecedented opportunity to drive multidisciplinary, multicenter and international collaborative research into lobular breast cancer that builds on recent research progress. Collaborative research partnerships that include advocates can result in a better understanding of ILC, identify targeted therapies and refine standard of care therapies that are currently equally applied to all breast cancers, resulting in improvements in the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care for patients with ILC.
Background Health sciences students who report low/equivocal hepatitis B titers may be required to repeat the immunization series, even though the result may not indicate non‐immunity. Method To describe hepatitis B immunity patterns, this retrospective, descriptive study utilized de‐identified vaccination records and anti‐HBs titers of three cohorts of sophomore nursing students entering clinical rotations in 2018–2019. Results Only 33% of students had initial anti‐HBs quantitative serum titer ≥10 mIU/ml, demonstrating immunity. After students with low/equivocal titers (n = 191, 64%) were re‐immunized per institution protocol, only 2% (n = 7) were identified as non‐responders. Cumulative costs incurred by students for revaccination and repeat titer exceeded $20,000, with a process time of up to 8 months. Conclusion While rates of exposure to hepatitis B in acute care settings have steadily declined in the United States, students who go on to practice in community and public health settings have increased risk of exposure. Following best practices in demonstrating hepatitis B immunity, which include a single challenge dose followed by titer 4 weeks later, would decrease per student costs, wait time, and administrative burden associated with documentation and student counseling.
Introduction The Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA) was founded in 2017 by patient advocates attending the First International Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer Symposium sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh. The conference underscored that invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC) is an understudied unique subtype of breast cancer requiring refinements in treatments. ILC is the sixth most frequently diagnosed cancer of women and the second most common histological subtype of breast cancer with more than 39,000 patients diagnosed a year in the U.S. LBCA’s goals are to advance research and educate about ILC. Challenges An early goal of LBCA was to address the absence of a central source of quality information about lobular breast cancer. A website, lobularbreastcancer.org, launched December, 2017 with over 98,000 hits to-date. It is maintained by patient-advocate volunteers with content reviewed by LBCA’s Scientific Advisory Board. Methods A survey of users was conducted from May 1 to June 3, 2019 to determine value of the website to users and identify potential ways to improve it. Specific goals were: Understand who was visiting the site, identify the information sought, obtain feedback on the usefulness of content, and seek input on content and navigation. Results The online survey was taken by 950 participants. Current or former patients treated for lobular breast cancer comprised 94.7% of respondents. 75.8% were from U.S. Health professionals/researchers represented 3.04% of responders. Patients ranged in age from under 35 to over 75 years; 71.5% were 46-65 years. Most (66.5%) had Stage 1-2 disease at time of diagnosis; 7% reported de novo metastatic disease. An additional 9% reported a metastatic recurrence. LBCA (43.8%), other cancer organizations (43.2%),and Internet searches (38.3%) were the most frequently used sources for information about lobular breast cancer; doctor/health care provider ranked fourth (35.3%). The survey confirmed that LBCA goals for the website were aligned with the reason responders visited - i.e., general information (33%), research/clinical trials (21.9%) and treatment information (17.8%). Most consulted the site 2-4 times (46%), 11% visited more than 10 times. Nearly all responders (83.7%) found the information they were seeking, and (45.4%) agreed that the LBCA website provided information they could not find elsewhere. There were 249 participants who responded to an open ended question with 273 recommendations for the site. The largest category of requests (17%) was for more frequent updates of research and treatment guidelines; requests for a list of providers with expertise in treating ILC patients and for LBCA to provide additional education about ILC to MDs/clinicians ranked second and third (11%). Conclusions LBCA is driving increased awareness of lobular breast cancer by sponsoring a website devoted to providing research-based information about lobular breast cancer. There were a number of actionable suggestions regarding organization and navigation of the LBCA website. Results confirmed that the LBCA goals for the website are aligned with the reason responders visited. Primarily, users searched for general information about ILC (33%), research/clinical trials (21.9%) and treatment information (17.8%). The need for a central online source for information about lobular breast cancer was confirmed by findings that the most frequently used sources of information about lobular were the LBCA, other cancer organizations and Internet searches. Doctors/health care providers ranked fourth as a source of information about lobular disease. Many responders wanted the website to list ILC treatment specialists, address the gap in provider expertise about ILC detection and treatment, and report research and treatment guidelines specifically for ILC. Citation Format: Lori Petitti, Janice Axelrod, Margaret Campbell-Kotler, Julia Levine, Flora Migyanka, Elizabeth Viggiano, Steffi Oesterreich, Leigh Pate. Survey of Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance website users confirms value and identifies unmet information needs [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-16-02.
For COPD patients, 519/2359 (22.0%) remained on the WL, 844/2359 (35.8%) had SLT, and 996/2359 (42.2%) had DLT, with 5-year OS of 48.4%, 50.6%, and 57.1% respectively. Again, the highest cumulative number of QALYs and lowest cost per QALY for COPD patients was obtained with exclusive allocation to DLT. Conclusion: From a societal and payer's perspective, exclusive allocation to DLT increased overall QALYs and provided a lower cost per QALY. This is likely due to the substantial increase in mean utility values for DLT recipients, and improved 5-year overall survival.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.