Prioritisation skills in patient care for newly qualified nurses

Use of management skills by a paediatric nursing student, demonstrated in a case study concerning the assessment and care of a child with asthma in the emergency department. Skills including problem-solving, prioritising care, communicating with the patient and family and working with colleagues are described. [Original] 18 references Source: BNI Available in print at ULHT journal article requests. Complete the online form to obtain articles. 2. Extending iterative matching methods: an approach to improving covariate balance that allows prioritisation. Author(s) Ramsahai, Roland, Grieve, Richard, Sekhon, Jasjeet Citation: Health Services & Outcomes Research Methodology, 01 December 2011, vol./is. 11/3/4(95-114), 13873741 Publication Date: 01 December 2011 Abstract: Comparative effectiveness studies can identify the causal effect of treatment if treatment is unconfounded with outcome conditional on a set of measured covariates. Matching aims to ensure that the covariate distributions are similar between treatment and control groups in the matched samples, and this should be done iteratively by checking and improving balance. However, an outstanding concern facing matching methods is how to prioritise competing improvements in balance across different covariates. We address this concern by developing a 'loss function' that an iterative matching method can minimise. Our 'loss function' is a transparent summary of covariate imbalance in a matched sample and follows general recommendations in prioritising balance amongst covariates. We illustrate this approach by extending Genetic Matching (GM), an automated approach to balance checking. We use the method to reanalyse a high profile comparative effectiveness study of right heart catheterisation. We find that our loss function improves covariate balance compared to a standard GM approach, and to matching on the published propensity score. Source: Health Business Elite Available in print at ULHT journal article requests. Complete the online form to obtain articles. 3. Are medical graduates ready to face the challenges of Foundation training?. Author(s) Tallentire VR, Smith SE, Wylde K, Cameron HS Citation: Postgraduate Medical Journal, September 2011, vol./is. 87/1031(590-5), 00325473;1469-0756 (2011 Sep) Publication Date: September 2011 Abstract: PURPOSE OF STUDY Previous research demonstrates that graduating medical students often feel unprepared for practice and that their perceptions of preparedness correlate only partially with those of their supervising consultants. This study explores the components of preparedness for practice from the perspectives of both newly qualified doctors and their educational supervisors. STUDY DESIGN A questionnaire study was undertaken at the University of Edinburgh, involving feedback on preparedness for practice over three consecutive years from 2007 to 2009, against 13 major programme outcomes,