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The economic well-being of nations is associated with positive daily situational experiences
Get PDFPeople in economically advantaged nations tend to evaluate their life as more positive overall and report greater well-being than people in less advantaged nations. But how does positivity manifest in the daily life experiences of individuals around the world? The present study asked 15,244 college students from 62 nations, in 42 languages, to describe a situation they experienced the previous day using the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ). Using expert ratings, the overall positivity of each situation was calculated for both nations and individuals. The positivity of the average situation in each nation was strongly related to the economic development of the nation as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). For individuals\u27 daily experiences, the economic status of their nation also predicted the positivity of their experience, even more than their family socioeconomic status. Further analyses revealed the specific characteristics of the average situations for higher HDI nations that make their experiences more positive. Higher HDI was associated with situational experiences involving humor, socializing with others, and the potential to express emotions and fantasies. Lower HDI was associated with an increase in the presence of threats, blame, and hostility, as well as situational experiences consisting of family, religion, and money. Despite the increase in a few negative situational characteristics in lower HDI countries, the overall average experience still ranged from neutral to slightly positive, rather than negative, suggesting that greater HDI may not necessarily increase positive experiences but rather decrease negative experiences. The results illustrate how national economic status influences the lives of individuals even within a single instance of daily life, with large and powerful consequences when accumulated across individuals within each nation
A Commentary on Qualified Immunity in the Aftermath of City of Tahlequah v. Bond
Get PDFIn this Article, we argue that the Bond decision continues a line of judicial decisions that make it difficult for plaintiffs to seek civil redress against officers who cause serious injury or death to private citizens. We note that this judicial trend runs counter to public demand for police accountability and thwarts the legislative intent behind the enactment of 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983. We suggest that police practice, policy, standards and training-not judicial opinions should govern whether officers will be immune from the consequences of their actions, especially in areas where a substantial amount of empirical evidence exists to alert officers to behaviors that unnecessarily cause serious harm. We suggest that when cases involve any of these specific behaviors known to endanger life, that fact should constitute prima facia evidence that qualified immunity will not apply. In addition, we contend that a proportionality analysis is essential to any consideration of qualified immunity. Under this analysis, cases that involve police contact for low-level, non-violent offenses, but that result in serious injury or death to the private citizen, should presumptively exclude officers from making a qualified immunity claim. In light of the U.S. Supreme Court\u27s restrictive rulings that we believe unduly favor the police, we conclude by reporting the actions that states have taken to limit the applicability of qualified immunity within their jurisdictions
The Role of General Mental Ability on a Virtual Reality Prospective Memory Task
Get PDFProspective memory is the ability to carry out specific actions at a future point in time. The relationship between prospective memory and general mental ability- otherwise known as intelligence, is complex. Existing prospective memory measures are limited, particularly in regard to their ecological validity. Furthermore, little research has investigated the role of general mental ability on prospective memory performance. In order to build upon extant literature on the prognostic value of general mental ability on prospective memory assessment, this study investigated the extent to which general mental ability relates to adults and older adults ability to complete and virtual-reality based prospective memory task- The Virtual Kitchen Protocol for Prospective memory (VKP-PM)
Evidence-Based Change to Address Newborn Pain during Painful Procedures
Get PDFThis evidenced-based practice project sought to provide evidence to change a hospital policy on addressing pain during painful procedures on newborns with the use of nonpharmacological interventions. A literature search was conducted on three databases: PubMed, Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Cochrane. Twelve pieces of literature were included: nine randomized control trials, one systemic review, one meta-analysis, and one correlational study. The literature reviewed showed a strong positive correlation between using nonpharmacological interventions and lower pain scores of newborns during painful procedures
Prophylactic Foam Dressings and HAPUI Prevention Benchmark
No full textEvery hospital has it challenges in combating ongoing issues. Hospital acquired pressure injury (HAPUI) is a preventable problem that many hospitals face every day. Many hospitals have implemented skin bundles, which are policies in place, to help reduce HAPUI rates, but why does it still exist? HAPUIs account for about 60,000 deaths per year in the United States (Padula et. al., 2019). Protecting patients’ skin should be the utter most importance when a patient enters the hospital. When a patient develops a pressure injury while in the hospital, the hospital is responsible for the cost of treatment to treat the pressure injury. This can cause financial strain on the hospital and nursing units if these continue to occur, especially because this is a preventable issue. Many facilities have been using evidence-based practice to update their skin bundles, and in recent news, the use of prophylactic foam dressings has caught the attention of many nurses. The literature supports the use of applying foam dressings to patients, to protect them from acquiring pressure injury. Applying these dressings to boney prominences such as the coccyx and sacrum have shown to reduce the risk for HPAUI. This would not only save the hospital money, but it would also keep patients safe and healthy. Therefore, it is recommended that the use of prophylactic foam dressings in an acute care setting can be used to aid in the reduction of HAPUI
Job Satisfaction and Burnout in Nursing
Get PDFJob satisfaction, or lack thereof, can directly lead to burnout. Nursing is known globally as a high-stress career, thus leading to an increased level of burnout. Job burnout is among the most important occupational disorders and phenomena which have received great attention in the recent century (Nabizadeh et al., 2020). Multiple studies have proven that subtle, low-cost interventions can decrease the burnout experienced by nurses, leading to reduced turnover rates and an increase in the quality of patient care. Higher quality of care leads to improvement in patient satisfaction scores and also to increased reimbursement rates (Jun et al., 2021).
A plan to improve job satisfaction by providing nurses with an uninterrupted 30-minute lunch break was implemented at a small rural family care clinic to determine the effects of such an intervention on the level of burnout nurses experienced over a 2-month period. Using a sample of three nurses employed at the clinic, participants were given a 15-item questionnaire pre-and post-intervention. Of the three participants, all had lower burnout scores, substantiating the evidence that job satisfaction can be improved by an uninterrupted 30-minute lunch break, thus decreasing the burnout nurses experience
Quality Improvement (QI) Data’s Impact on Departmental Collaboration and Healthcare Outcomes Benchmark Study
No full textThe plan for this benchmark project is based on healthcare outcomes, or collaboration among departments when having access to Quality Improvement (QI) data. This topic addresses how healthcare leaders in an integrated healthcare system can improve patient outcomes by driving practice and description of the clinical issue to improve processes. To create a culture of quality and safety, a nurse administrator must recognize, analyze, and mitigate errors to ensure the effectiveness of the department. The adoption of evidence-based quality improvement practices will lead to improved patient outcomes.
The suggested benchmark project would create a database of patient feedback surveys for patients who are being treated for type 2 diabetes. Creating monthly interdisciplinary review meetings, in which the nurse administrators will discuss these quality improvement initiatives and results, will address the unmet need, and lead to informed decisions that will positively affect healthcare outcomes or collaboration among departments. These survey findings, which would be evaluated monthly by the nurse leadership team, would help determine needed changes in processes and practices, leading to increased patient satisfaction, improved outcomes, and reimbursement by payers. I recommend that after discussing the results at these monthly meetings, the lead nurse administrator should make changes to practices in the following month.
A plan of action will be proposed to the hospital’s executive leadership team. By utilizing QI, this project’s results will improve healthcare by increasing patient satisfaction, leading to improved safety and quality outcomes and a unified multidisciplinary response. Outcomes will improve by implementing this change over the next several weeks. The business case is strong, and the clinical evidence will confirm that we would be the only hospital system in this area, thereby setting the stage for success. The results of this proposal will be cost-effective, improve clinical outcomes, and save the hospital money. I therefore seek administrative support for your endorsement
DNP Final Report: PROMOTING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN NURSE STUDENTS
Get PDFUndergraduate nursing students experience educational rigor and challenging clinical experiences that potentially affect stress levels and increase the risk for adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Prolonged stress is associated with emotional exhaustion, unhealthy coping mechanisms, unhealthy behaviors, and impaired functioning. This evidence-based practice project aimed to decrease undergraduate nursing students\u27 perceived stress levels by promoting physical activity. The PICOT question that led this project was in undergraduate nursing students (P), how does the promotion of physical activity (I) compare to no promotion of physical activity (C) affect perceived stress (O) across one semester (T)? The evidence supports physical activity as a non-pharmacological therapy that can reduce stress and positively impact academic performance and resilience.
During the implementation process, students self-enrolled in an online course, completed the Qualtrics Perceived Stress Scale, and reported their weekly minutes of physical activity before and after the intervention. It included evidence-based strategies to increase physical activity, the Move Your Way® campaign resources, and weekly synchronous online belly dance classes.
The outcomes and evaluation confirmed that various kinds of moderate-intensity activity decrease stress. Following eight weeks, participant’s stress levels reduced significantly, as in the body of evidence. Three ten-minute physical activity study breaks sessions a day can help the students attain the minimum physical activity guidelines for Americans of 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity
ADEQUACY OF EXISTING LIGHT TIMBER SHEAR WALLS TO BRACE STEEL FRAMES IN RENOVATION CONSTRUCTION
Get PDFA lateral load resisting system (LLRS) is an interconnected framework in the building that works together to resist the lateral loads, both wind and seismic, acting on the building. A shear wall is a part of the LLRS which transfers the lateral load to the foundation of the building. Currently, the provision from IBC and ASCE 7-16 suggests the selection of adequate stiffness, dimension, and type of shear walls based on the given lateral loads. There has been a rise in the amount of building renovations since the 1980’s. In 2019, expenditures in home improvements were around 17 billion spent in major structural work. These numbers have increased by roughly 3% in 2022. One common type of renovation is to open a floorplan by removing an interior load bearing wall and replacing it with a steel frame structure. This frame will require adequate lateral stability to be provided by the LLRS of the building structure. Currently, the AISC Steel Construction design code requires a certain amount of lateral stiffness based on the geometry of the frame and the gravity loads being carried by the frame. However, many times it is just assumed that the LLRS of the building provides this required stiffness without it being vi checked. This thesis will examine the adequacy of light framed timber shear walls, designed in accordance with IBC specifications based on wind loading, to provide adequate stiffness, based on AISC specifications, to a steel frame structure used in a common retrofitting of a building. Variables related to building location which impacts gravity loads (e.g., dead load, live load and snow load) and lateral loads (e.g. wind), building size and tributary area of the steel frame were used to determine if shear wall design based on the IBC code is adequate for lateral stiffness of the steel frame in all cases. The numerical analysis showed that for each of the cases analyzed in this thesis that the timber shear walls designed in accordance with the IBC under a given wind loading will provide the required lateral stiffness to an interior steel frame used in renovations of a structure
Targeting BRD4 in the Treatment of Pleural Fibrosis
Get PDFPleural fibrosis (PF) is a respiratory disorder that refers to the thickening and scarring of the pleura. Currently, there is a lack of pharmaceutic treatment options for PF. Pleural mesothelial to mesenchymal transition (MesoMT) is a critical process that contributes to the development of PF. Bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), a transcriptional and epigenetic regulator, has recently been implicated in a wide range of lung injuries. However, whether BRD4 is involved in regulating MesoMT and the development of PF remains unclear and was explored in this study. Primary human pleural mesothelial cells (HPMCs) were used to test the role of BRD4 in regulating MesoMT. Western blotting and qPCR were conducted to examine protein or mRNA alteration of BRD4 and MesoMT-related markers, such as alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen type I (Col-1), and fibronectin (FN). Small molecular inhibitors of BRD4 (JQ1 and ARV-825) and small interfering RNA (siRNA) were also employed. We found that BRD4 was induced by TGF-β in HPMCs. Blockade of BRD4 with JQ1 or ARV-825 inhibited TGF-β-induced MesoMT marker expression (α-SMA, Col-1, FN) at both protein and mRNA levels. Consistently, knockdown of BRD4 using siRNA also attenuated MesoMT marker expression (α-SMA, Col-1, FN) induced by TGF-β in HPMCs. In conclusion, BRD4 is involved in MesoMT regulation and may contribute to the development of PF. Future experiments will determine whether BRD4 mediates the induction of MesoMT through the regulation of oxidative stress and the efficacy of targeting BRD4 in the progression of PF induced by Streptococcus pneumoniae