30820 research outputs found
Sort by
Enhancing Pediatric Nurses’ Education Delivery on Fever Management: A Quality Improvement Project
Full text linkFever is a leading cause of urgent care visits for children. These visits are often due to parental anxiety and a lack of understanding regarding appropriate fever management. Pediatric nurses are important educators for families during these visits, yet they usually face challenges such as time constraints, a lack of standardized materials, and varying confidence levels. A visually engaging tool may support nurses in providing more efficient and confident fever education.
The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate whether implementing a color-coded fever education brochure, compared to standard discharge instructions, improved pediatric nurses’ confidence and reduced perceived barriers in delivering fever education at the urgent care center.
This project utilized a pre- and post-survey design to assess changes in pediatric nurses’ self-reported confidence and perceived barriers to fever education delivery. A sample of 15 nurses at Nicklaus Children’s West Kendall Urgent Care Center participated in the project. First, a pre-intervention survey was administered to gather baseline data on nurses’ confidence and the challenges they face when educating parents about fever.
Following this, nurses were introduced to a newly developed color-coded fever education brochure designed to support quick and effective parent education. The brochure featured green, yellow, and red sections, representing different fever severity levels and corresponding recommended actions. This visual structure aimed to simplify fever management information for both nurses and parents. Nurses were given time to review the brochure, but it was not implemented in clinical care during the project.
After reviewing the brochure, a post-intervention survey was administered to evaluate perceived usefulness, anticipated impact, and changes in nurses’ confidence and perceived barriers. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a review of open-ended responses.
Nurses reported an increase in confidence after the intervention and review of the brochure, particularly they found that it would be useful to explain fever management clearly to parents. The brochure was rated as highly useful for its visual design, color-coded structure, and simplicity. Furthermore, nurses believed the brochure could help reduce time spent on education and improve parent understanding.
Although the brochure was not implemented in practice, pediatric nurses at the West Kendall Urgent Care Center perceived it as a valuable tool. The evaluation suggests that a color-coded fever brochure has the potential to improve nurses’ confidence and reduce common barriers to fever education. These findings support future clinical implementation of the brochure when discharging patients
Enhancing Patient Outcomes through the Integration of the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Questionnaire in Initial Patient Assessments: A Quality Improvement Project
Full text linkAdverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) include abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction experienced from ages 0 to 17. These events are linked to long-term physical and mental health issues (CDC, 2024). The ACE questionnaire identifies many forms of trauma, such as exposure to violence, family mental illness, substance use, or incarceration. However, it does not capture all potential adverse experiences, highlighting the importance of comprehensive assessments.
Research by Hughes et al. (2017) and Colich et al. (2020) has shown strong associations between ACEs and later mental illness, substance use, and chronic disease. Thakur et al. (2020) emphasized the importance of tools like the Pediatric ACEs and Related Life-Events Screener (PEARLS), while Dumke et al. (2024) identified barriers to ACE screening in pediatrics, such as limited clinician training and workflow issues.
This quality improvement project integrated the PEARLS tool and trauma-informed education into an outpatient psychiatric clinic for children and adolescents. Clinicians completed a pre-test, attended an educational session, and then completed a post-test, which showed increased knowledge and confidence. The PEARLS questionnaire was added to the standard intake process and completed for all new pediatric patients over four weeks. While the standard trauma question identified trauma in 10 percent of cases, PEARLS identified 40 percent, with 10 percent reporting four or more ACEs. These results suggest that structured screening tools, alongside provider education, enhance trauma identification and support the implementation of trauma-informed care practices in psychiatric settings
Women, Peace and Security in Brazil: Progress at a Crossroads
Full text linkLike many other countries, including the United States, Brazil has taken two steps forward and one step back when it comes to furthering gender equality in support of national security. While rhetorical support comes easily, including the passage of the 2017 U.S. Women, Peace and Security Act, implementation has been slow and cumbersome. As of 2024, for example, U.S. efforts to educate those in the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), one of four U.S. organizations specifically charged with implementing the act, remain nascent despite clear evidence linking gender equality and national security. As of April 2025, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on social media that he was canceling the Women, Peace, and Security program. Official reiteration of that intent is expected to follow. Globally, the gap between rhetorical support for supporting gender equality and funding efforts to do so remains significant.1
Decades of empirical research demonstrate the linkage between gender equality and national security. For example, researchers Mary Caprioli and Mark Boyer began looking at the linkage between gender, violence, and international crisis in 2001.2 They found that the severity of violence in crisis decreases as domestic gender equality increases. In 2005, Caprioli continued that research, looking at the role of gender inequality in predicting internal conflict, controlling for other possible influences on domestic conflict, including “transitional polities, polity type, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, GDP per capita growth rate, prior domestic conflict, peace years, and the existence of and number of at-risk minorities.”3https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/jgi_research/1081/thumbnail.jp
Workshop/round tables: Development of a Technical Manual of NCD Surveillance in the Americas
No full text
Session 3: From Data to Action: Training and Tools for Strengthening Chronic Disease Surveillance in the Americas
No full textMás allá de la vejez: determinantes del deterioro cognitivo en la adultez media en Sabaneta, 2023
Full text linkMás allá de la vejez: determinantes del deterioro cognitivo en la adultez media en Sabaneta, 2023
Objetivo: Determinar la prevalencia del deterioro cognitivo y sus factores asociados en adultos de 45 a 65 años residentes en Sabaneta, Antioquia, en 2023
Métodos: Estudio observacional y transversal en 460 participantes seleccionados mediante muestreo por conglomerados, con representatividad urbana y rural. El deterioro cognitivo se evaluó con la prueba Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), utilizando puntos de corte ajustados por nivel educativo. Se aplicó una encuesta estructurada para recolectar variables sociodemográficas, clínicas, conductuales y nutricionales. Se calcularon razones de prevalencia (RP) crudas y ajustadas mediante modelos lineales generalizados con distribución Poisson y enlace logarítmico.
Resultados: La prevalencia de deterioro cognitivo leve fue 31,1% (IC95%: 27,0–35,4) y de demencia 2,8% (IC95%: 1,6–4,7). En el análisis ajustado, el riesgo de deterioro cognitivo aumentó con la edad (RPa=1,03; IC95%: 1,01–1,05), residir en zona rural (RPa=1,36; IC95%: 1,08–1,70), tener ≤12 años de escolaridad (RPa=1,30; IC95%: 1,00–1,17), haber sido víctima del conflicto armado (RPa=1,62; IC95%: 1,16–2,27) y presentar patrones dietarios inflamatorios (RPa=3,39; IC95%: 1,78–7,80).
Conclusión: La elevada prevalencia de deterioro cognitivo en la adultez media muestra que los procesos de vulnerabilidad cerebral comienzan antes de la vejez y están ligados a factores sociales, educativos y nutricionales. Estos hallazgos refuerzan la urgencia de estrategias de prevención temprana y políticas públicas intersectoriales que trasciendan lo local y respondan a un desafío creciente en América Latina y otros países de ingresos medios.
Palabras claves: deterioro cognitivo, adultez media, conflicto armado, salud públic