The physical symptom experience and the cognitive and emotional response to HF symptoms were inadequate for timely care seeking for most of this older aged sample.

An intervention that incorporates the core elements of motivational interviewing may be effective in improving HF self-care, but further research is needed.

Hospitalizations are common in heart failure (HF). Multimorbidity, defined as ≥2 comorbid conditions, drives many readmissions. The purpose of this pilot study was to test the effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI) in decreasing these hospital readmissions. We enrolled 100 hospitalized HF patients into a randomized controlled trial, randomizing in a 2:1 ratio: intervention (n = 70) and control (n = 30). The intervention group received MI tailored to reports of self-care during one home visit and three to four follow-up phone calls. After 3 months, 34 participants had at least one hospital readmission. The proportion of patients readmitted for a condition unrelated to HF was lower in the intervention (7.1%) compared with the control group (30%, p = .003). Significant predictors of a non-HF readmission were intervention group, age, diabetes, and hemoglobin. Together, these variables explained 35% of the variance in multimorbidity readmissions. These preliminary results are promising in suggesting that MI may be an effective method of decreasing multimorbidity hospital readmissions in HF patients.

Background: Collaboration between physicians and nurses is key to improving patient care. We know very little about collaboration and interdisciplinary practice in African healthcare settings. Research question/aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the ethical challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration in clinical practice and education in Botswana Participants and research context: This qualitative descriptive study was conducted with 39 participants (20 physicians and 19 nurses) who participated in semi-structured interviews at public hospitals purposely selected to represent the three levels of hospitals in Botswana (referral, district, and primary). Ethical considerations: Following Institutional Review Board Approval at the University of Pennsylvania and the Ministry of Health in Botswana, participants’ written informed consent was obtained. Findings: Respondents’ ages ranged from 23 to 60 years, and their duration of work experience ranged from 0.5 to 32 years. Major qualitative themes that emerged from the data centered on the nature of the work environment, values regarding nurse–doctor collaboration, the nature of such collaboration, resources available for supporting collaboration and the smooth flow of work, and participants’ views about how their work experiences could be improved. Discussion: Participants expressed concerns that their work environment compromised their ability to provide high-quality and safe care to their patients. The physician staffing structure was described as consisting of a few specialists at the top, a vacuum in the middle that should be occupied by senior doctors, and junior doctors at the bottom—and not a sufficient number of nursing staff. Conclusion: Collaboration between physicians and nurses is critical to optimizing patients’ health outcomes. This is true not only in the United States but also in developing countries, such as Botswana, where health care professionals reported that their ethical challenges arose from resource shortages, differing professional attitudes, and a stressful work environment.

Background Despite vast evidence describing risk factors associated with falls and fall prevention strategies, falls continue to present challenges in acute care settings. Objective To describe and categorize patient and nurse perspectives on falls and nurses’ suggestions for preventing falls. Methods To improve transparency about the causes of falls, nurses interviewed patients in a 48-bed progressive cardiac care unit who had experienced a fall. A content analysis approach was used to examine responses to 3 open-ended items: why patients said they fell, why nurses said the patients fell, and nurses’ reflections on how each fall could have been prevented. Results Over a 2-year period, 67 falls occurred. Main themes regarding causes of falls were activity (41 falls, 61%), coordination (16 falls, 24%), and environment (10 falls, 15%). Patients said they fell because they slipped, had a medical issue, were dizzy, or had weak legs. Nurses said patients fell because they had a medical issue or did not call for assistance. Conclusions Nurses and patients agreed on the causes of assisted falls but disagreed on the causes of unassisted falls. Nurses frequently said that the use of a bed alarm could have prevented the fall.

To forge strong relationships among nurse scholars from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, PA (USA); University of Botswana School of Nursing, Gaborone, Botswana; the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Princess Marina Hospital (PMH), Gaborone; and the Ministry of Health of Botswana, a strategic global partnership was created to bridge nursing practice and education. This partnership focused on changing practice at PMH through the translation of new knowledge and evidence-based practice. Guided by the National Institutes of Health team science field guide, the conceptual implementation of this highly successful practice change initiative is described in detail, highlighting our strategies, challenges and continued collaboration for nurses to be leaders in improving health in Botswana.

Despite standard fall precautions, including nonskid socks, signs, alarms, and patient instructions, our 48-bed cardiac intermediate care unit (CICU) had a 41% increase in the rate of falls (from 2.2 to 3.1 per 1,000 patient days) and a 65% increase in the rate of falls with injury (from 0.75 to 1.24 per 1,000 patient days) between fiscal years (FY) 2012 and 2013. An evaluation of the falls data conducted by a cohort of four clinical nurses found that the majority of falls occurred when patients were unassisted by nurses, most often during toileting. Supported by the leadership team, the clinical nurses developed an accountability care program that required nurses to use reflective practice to evaluate each fall, including sending an e-mail to all staff members with both the nurse's and the patient's perspective on the fall, as well as the nurse's reflection on what could have been done to prevent the fall. Other program components were a postfall huddle and guidelines for assisting and remaining with fall risk patients for the duration of their toileting. Placing the accountability for falls with the nurse resulted in decreases in the unit's rates of falls and falls with injury of 55% (from 3.1 to 1.39 per 1,000 patient days) and 72% (from 1.24 to 0.35 per 1,000 patient days), respectively, between FY2013 and FY2014. Prompt call bell response (less than 60 seconds) also contributed to the goal of fall prevention.

was focused primarily on terminal stroke patients; however, this population reported needs that could benefit from PC throughout the stroke trajectory. Intervention research is needed to examine models of care that integrate PC and stroke to improve QOL in stroke.