Say hello to our new blog team

Say hello to our new nursing research blog team!! From left to right are: Kathy Dureault, Stacey Fischer, Victoria Morrison, Dana Rutledge, Vivian Norman and Julie Smith. Not pictured is Theresa Ullrich. We are looking forward to active participation and lots of new blogging from our new team members.

Our nursing research blog receives recognition!!

I'm just writing to let you know that Nursing Research: Show me the evidence! has been named to our list of our top 50 nursing blogs here at ONDG. I thought you and your readers might want to check out the rest of the list. Let me know if you have any feedback, or feel free to leave a comment on the blog post. -- http://onlinenursingdegreeguide.org/2009/top-50-nursing-blogs/

Thanks Online Nursing Degree Guide for the recognition. It's also nice to see the variety of other nursing blogs being recognized.

Article published in Cancer Nursing by St. Joseph Hospital of Orange Authors

Congratulations to our nurse authors at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange for their newly published article currently listed in the "advance of publication" section of Cancer Nursing. St. Joseph Hospital of Orange and CHOC staff may access this article via our library's "A-Z list of online journals" on our library web site.

Cancer Nurs. 2009 May 13. [Epub ahead of print]
Secondary Traumatic Stress in Oncology Staff.

Quinal L, Harford S, Rutledge DN.

Authors' Affiliations: St. Joseph Hospital, Orange, California (Mss Quinal and Harford and Dr Rutledge); and California State University, Fullerton (Dr Rutledge). The authors can be reached at the following emails: Leonida.Quinal@stjoe.org , Stephanie.Harford@stjoe.org, Dana.Rutledge@stjoe.org

As empathetic caregivers, oncology staff may be prone to secondary traumatic stress (STS). Secondary traumatic stress results from exposure to persons who have experienced trauma and from giving care to such persons. The presence of STS among oncology staff has not been documented. This correlational descriptive study examined STS among oncology staff at a 500-bed Magnet-designated community hospital by determining the presence of individual symptoms and frequency with which diagnostic criteria for STS are met. Also determined were associations between STS demographic characteristics and specific stress-reduction activities.In this study, 43 staff members from an inpatient oncology unit completed mailed surveys. The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale assessed the frequency of intrusion, avoidance, and arousal symptoms associated with STS; also assessed were use/helpfulness of stress-reduction activities. In this first study to document the prevalence of STS among oncology staff, prevalence ranged from 16% (Bride's method) to 37% (cutoff-score method). Most common symptoms were difficulty sleeping, intrusive thoughts about patients, and irritability. Least common were avoidance of people, places, and things and disturbing dreams about patients. Current use of massage was significantly predictive of not having STS. Ethnicity of staff member was related to having STS. Further research is warranted evaluating STS prevalence in different groups of oncology staff along with the effect of STS on burnout and job retention.
PMID: 19444086 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Aurora de los Santos, clinical nurse III, St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California; Memories that heal

Congratulations to Aurora de los Santos, a Clinical Nurse III at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California for the nice writeup in Advance for Nurses on January 19, 2009. This article describes the personal journey that Aurora and her familt went through which ultimately ended her creation of a "memory bag" to be given to young children of dying patients.

3 more nursing research articles from St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California

Efforts led by Dana Rutledge, RN, PhD, Nursing Research Facilitator and the Nursing Research Council at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California are reaping rewards. Three recent articles published by nursing staff at St. Joseph Hospital are :

1. Holist Nurs Pract. 2008 Nov-Dec;22(6):324-35.Uncovering and recognizing nurse caring from clinical narratives.

Norman V, Rutledge DN, Keefer-Lynch AM, Albeg G.St Joseph Hospital, Orange, California 92868, USA. Vivian.Norman@stjoe.org

In an exploratory descriptive study using nurse-written clinical narratives,dimensions of Watson's Theory of Caring are reflected in nurses' descriptions of specific clinical events or situations, and narratives of nurses who are lessexperienced differ in terms of the caring dimensions than do those of moreexperienced nurses.

2. MEDSURG Nursing 2008 Oct;17(5):312-316. Medical Emergency team Implementation: experiences of a mentor hospital.

Jamieson Eleanor, Ferrell Carmen, Rutledge Dana N. St. Joseph Hospital, Orange, California 92868, USA. Eleanor.Jamieson@stjoe.org

Rapid response teams (RRTs) provide assessment and early intervention for patients not in critical care.The implementation of RRT using an evidence-based practice framework, which led to decreased resuscitations, critical care transfers, overall mortality, and cost, is described.

3. Journal of Emergency Nursing 2008 article in press. Guesting area: an alternative for boarding mental health patients seen in emergency departments.

Winokur Elizabeth J, Senteno, John M. St. Joseph Hospital, Orange, California 92868, USA. Beth.Winkour@stjoe.org

SJH/CHOC staff may access all of the above articles full text by calling the medical library at 714 771-8291 or via our website http://www.burlewmedicallibrary.org/

Congrats all!!

Taking research posters to the units

The Nursing Research Council at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California is activating its plan to take research to the units. Members of the Research Council were charged with finding a current nursing research article which might have special application to their specific unit. Leaders of the Nursing Research Council developed a template poster which summarizes a key article into the following sections:

The Research Question

• Methods


• Results


• Discussion


• Implications for SJH Nursing Practice

Of special note is the section noting implications for St. Joseph Hospital nursing practice. An effort is made to show how the practice implications may mesh with our hospital's values and with our Watson nursing model. The posters will be placed in a unit's lounge area and are intended to make the salient points of a complex research article more accessible and increase interest in nursing research. This photo shows team members at a working meeting in which they identified an article of interest and then summarized it into this reseach poster template.

Nursing Research Project on Staff Breastfeeding Education

Mary Wright, RNC, BSN has completed a research study entitled :
Attitudes, Knowledge and Beliefs of Perinatal Staff Related to Breastfeeding Success This study examines staff attitudes to breastfeeding and knowledge deficits and has some interesting implications for improving breastfeeding rates. If you have questions, you can contact Mary Wright at St. Joeseph Hospital in Orange, California via email at Mary.Wright@stjoe.org

Nursing Research Project on Nursing Presence

Ellen Gruwell RNC, NSN and Maryanne Garon, RN, DNSc have completed a research project entitled : Nursing Presence : a secondary analysis of nursing narratives. This study utilized a qualitative, descriptive, phenomenological research method to analyze a sample of 36 narratives written by both novice and experienced nurses. If you have questions or want further information on this project, you can reach Ellen at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California by email at Ellen.Gruwell@stjoe.org

Nursing Research Project: Newborn palliative care: experiences of participants in a perinatal comfort care program

Kathryn B. Davies, RNC, BSN, a staff nurse at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, has completed a research project entitled: Newborn palliative care: experiences of participants in a perinatal comfort care program. This research project was completed in pursuit of her Masters in Nursing at California State University, Fullerton. You can view Kathryn's PowerPoint of her poster presentation here. If you have questions, you can email Kathy at Kathy.Davies@stjoe.org

Nursing Research Project: use of anti-emetics and nausea and vomiting in the ambulatory post-operative patient

Lorilee Amlie, Rn, BSN, a staff nurse at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, has completed a research project entitled : A chart audit: use of anti-emetics and nausea and vomiting in the ambulatory post-operative patient. This project was completed in pursuit of her Masters in Nursing at California State University, Fullerton. You can view a PowerPoint of her poster presentation here. If you have questions for Lorilee, you can email her at Lorilee.Amlie@stjoe.org