Informal caregiving is a prevalent phenomenon in the United States. A review of the literature reveals that, although much research has been done regarding the areas of informal caregiver burden and the effect of sleep disruption on healthy adults, little has been done in the area of caregiving and sleep disruption, especially as it relates to older informal caregivers. Older informal caregivers represent a significant portion of the informal caregiving population and are a population at risk for high levels of sleep disturbance. Further research designed to investigate sleep disruption in older informal caregivers is needed to move toward the development of evidence-based assessment tools for practice and interventions aimed at restoring normal sleep patterns in this vulnerable population.
AimThis paper describes an innovative approach to tackling the shortage of qualified nurse educators, which is a major constraining factor or ‘bottle‐neck’ to improve the global supply of nurses, especially in low‐ and middle‐income countries.BackgroundThe World Health Organization commissioned experts to develop Nurse Educator Core Competencies that describe expectations for this cadre of workers. In their deliberations, the WHO experts cited the challenges affecting the adoption of these competencies, particularly the lack of resources available for implementation. To address this specific challenge, a USA‐based non‐government organiization, Nurses International, has developed Open Education Resources (NI‐OER) to support nurse educators with freely accessible curriculum materials and remote mentoring support.MethodsThis paper applies item analysis to consider how the NI‐OER could assist higher education institutes and individual faculty members in meeting each of the WHO Nurse Educator Core Competencies.FindingsThe NI‐OER is a good fit with six of the Nurse Educator Core Competencies and a partial fit with the other two.DiscussionCongruence with the WHO Nurse Educator Core Competencies is an important validity check for the NI‐OER. The ultimate goal of the NI‐OER is to promote sustainable development through intermediate goals related to supporting faculty as they prepare nurses for current and future service needs. Technological solutions like the NI‐OER cannot solve all aspects of a complex problem like the global nursing shortage but are an important tool.Implications for Nursing and Health policyThis resource has significant implications for nursing and health policy because it tackles several constraints to the global goal of increasing production and capacity of nurses. Combined with the organization’s remote mentoring and communities of practice, the NI‐OER appears to have the potential to support novice nurse educators with accessible, adaptable resources.
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