This book is a must-buy book, particularly for creating and integrating clinical simulations in nursing program. It presents step-by-step guidelines for nursing faculty to design, develop, and implement clinical simulation scenarios in diverse settings, with diverse patients, and for different levels of students, from the novice in a fundamentals course to the student in a senior-level critical care or capstone course, to a nurse practitioner in a graduate program. The book is organized into four parts: (a) setting the foundation, (b) innovative nursing scenarios in diverse settings for diverse students, (c) interdisciplinary and inter-professional scenarios, and (d) simulation journey containing fifty-six chapters. Part I provides an introduction to simulation-focused pedagogy with an explanation and updates on the Framework for Simulation Learning in Nursing Education©. Part II presents a collection of 27 exemplars divided into five key areas of specialty undergraduate nursing: (a) medical-surgical; (b) obstetric and pediatric; (c) older adult; (d) thematic scenarios on cultural humility, Quality and Safety Education in Nursing, and mental health; and (e) advanced practice nurses. Part III focuses on 16 scenarios that capture many of the key themes in nursing, including ethics, spirituality, palliative care, communication, and cultural humility. Part IV explores the continuing simulation journey in nursing education. The role of certification in simulation for nursing education has been updated to incorporate the changing landscape. It also presents a model for “writing across the curriculum” that focuses on how to write like a nurse in clinical simulation environments, support for publishing simulation work, and evolution of simulation and its integration in nursing curriculum and practice. The book provides concrete information about the use of simulation in a variety of programs, courses, and schools with flexible simulator uses, including static and live actors, and low-, medium-, and high-fidelity human patient simulators.

This book is an effort to combine the presentation of chronic health conditions experienced by aging patients with pharmacologic considerations that are unique to this population. Nurse practitioners are increasingly responsible for delivering care to elderly patients in primary care who present with complex conditions, medication regimens, and numerous specialty providers. This reference will provide a “big picture” look at how to approach pharmacotherapy and present principles to guide decision-making so that adverse drug events may be prevented. An evidence-based, quick-access reference for adult gerontology nurse practitioners and related health care providers, this book describes a holistic, patient-centered approach to prescribing drugs to older adults. Comprehensive yet concise writing distills timely guidance on the complexities of safely prescribing to this unique population. The book opens with physiologic changes and assessment considerations for older adults, followed by a discussion of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, then a final section on guidelines for drug selection, drug interactions, and multimorbidities. Each chapter presents information in a consistent, easy-to-read template. Patient Care Pearls alert readers to crucial information and relevant case studies with examples of inappropriate medical prescribing provide context for drug delivery. Key points and chapter summaries help reinforce information. Additional features include the provision of guidelines for psychotropic medications in long-term care facilities, special considerations for frail older adults, and the role of pharmacists as a resource for other practitioners.

The doctor of nursing practice (DNP) capstone project is a scholarly method to directly impact quality of care and health care outcomes. Translating knowledge into practice and disseminating outcomes for care and policy are consistent with the call for action in the Institute of Medicine report. This book adds to the dialogue by presenting exemplary capstone projects that have provided leadership for change in clinical practice, enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration, promoted advocacy and policy changes, or contributed to quality improvement in health care systems. Each exemplar presented is linked to one or more of the DNP essentials. After a presentation on the impact of DNP degree on clinical practice, the book addresses issues related to the development of the bachelor’s in science of nursing to doctor of nursing (BSN-DNP) capstone curriculum. DNP education is heavily focused on innovative and evidence-based practices (EBPs), and the capstone exemplar describes how a DNP student was guided to design and implement an EBP capstone project. Subsequently, the book discusses burnout as a barrier to practice among nurse-midwives, describes a systems-level change in implementing diabetic group visits in a primary care clinic, and explains the development of a training program for emergency nurses to prevent compassion fatigue and strengthen resiliency skills. One of the chapters is devoted to the development of a data collection tool for microcosting provision of care within the freestanding birth center (FBC) model of maternity care.

This book teaches readers about becoming an nurse practitioner (NP) and invites them to consider topics of importance to both NP students and engaged NPs. The role of the NP is a hot topic in today’s ever- changing, ever- challenging, and economically driven health care system. This book explores reasons to become an NP, provides insight on issues related to NP education, clarifies hot topics related to NP practice, and proposes how the role of the NP is continuing to evolve. It guides the reader through the entire process of becoming an NP, from the initial decision to the selection of the right educational program to licensure. It discusses the contractual relationship with institutions and related health providers, along with legal and administrative issues. Currently practicing NPs offer words of wisdom on how to survive the first year of practice, and stories from the author and her colleagues provide an intimate look at everyday realities. The book is the all-in-one reference for potential or current NP students as well as newly practicing NPs. Its chapters contain learning objectives, checklists to facilitate important decision making, charts and tables highlighting hot topics or key elements, and testimonials from currently practicing NPs, as well as the author’s own poignant moments as a new and experienced NP that will be helpful to any new or soon-to-be- new practitioner. Significant points are set in boldface type throughout, and pertinent information is summarized in boxes that offer “Fast Facts in a Nutshell”.

This book can serve as a guided learning text for any student, practitioner, educator, or administrator needing a graceful and inviting guide to translate and integrate the complexities of the abstract, philosophical-ethical worldview underlying the Human Caring Theory; finding ways to live out into concrete daily self-caring practices. It is organized into two sections containing 15 chapters. The book is arranged to provide a simple and direct method for learning about and working with Watson’s Theory of Human Caring. The first chapter describes the use of mindfulness to cultivate understanding of Watson’s Theory of Caring. Chapters two to four presents overview of Watson’s theory, Nhat Hanh’s mindfulness practices and perspectives, and Layers of Caring and Mindful Influence. Chapters five to fourteen describe each of Watson’s 10 Caritas Processes along with project abstracts that illustrate integration of the theory into professional practice in a variety of areas. The 10 Caritas Processes are as follows: embrace altruistic values and practice loving kindness with self and others; enable faith and hope, and honor others; be sensitive to self and others by nurturing individual beliefs and practices; develop helping-trusting-caring relationships; promote and accept positive and negative feelings as you authentically listen to another’s story; use creative scientific problem-solving methods for caring decision making and creative solution-seeking; share teaching and learning that addresses individual needs and comprehension styles; create a healing environment for the physical and spiritual self that respects human dignity; assist with basic physical, emotional, and spiritual human needs; and open to mystery and allow miracles to enter. The concluding chapter provides caring touchstones to support caring consciousness in day-to-day settings.

Common dermatological problems seen frequently in primary care practice can be difficult to identify. Becoming educated about the descriptors provides an important foundation for building clinical skills in assessment, differential diagnosis, and preferred management of common skin conditions. This book features dermatology diagnostics, treatments, and management strategies. Dermatologic diagnostics include skin assessment, specimen collection, and the use of mechanical devices. Evidence-based topical, systemic, and surgical treatment options for skin conditions are provided. Additionally, wide-ranging management strategies are included. An especially unique feature of this book is the dermatological decision trees. These decision trees are clinical tools that were developed to provide a graphic representation to guide the user from known information, at the apex of the tree, to a final choice based on observation and logic. To facilitate the practitioner’s ability to more quickly identify which of the 60 conditions a patient has, the section covering these conditions is organized using a standard format that includes overview, epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentation, histology, differential diagnosis, treatment and management, special considerations and appropriate referrals, patient education, patient follow-up, and clinical pearls. The skin conditions that are covered in this book include abrasions and skin tears, acne, burns, cysts, dermatitis, impetigo, insect bites, nail conditions, psoriasis, skin cancer and vasculitis.

Education of the advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), especially as clinical application becomes more complex and clinical sites become more challenging to locate, requires additional expertise on the part of the educator. This book provides some insight into the additional methodologies that are available to the educator to address some of these challenges. Unlike other simulation books, this book is dedicated to advanced practice nursing students, their faculty, and the simulation staff that support their training. One third of the content is dedicated to narrative entries written for APRN students, faculty, and simulation staff, each with timely topics surrounding APRN training as well as sound advice from recent graduates, faculty experts, and leaders in the simulation field. The remaining two thirds of the book is dedicated to detailed clinical simulation cases arranged by APRN specialty. These simulation scenarios are designed to promote critical thinking and clinical reasoning in advanced practice nursing students, new APRN graduates preparing for boards, novice APRNs enrolled in onboarding or internship programs, experienced nurse practitioners looking to transition to a new clinical practice area, and advanced practice nurses seeking a review. The prepared simulation cases in this book will aid in alleviating the faculty/staff workload for design and allow the focus to primarily rest on support and implementation to enhance and measure outcomes. The book provides a method and firm foundation for transforming graduate nursing education to competency-based clinical evaluation, empowering programs with standardized templates and interprofessional education options for each case to advance graduate simulation education and research. This comprehensive guide includes all of the most commonly seen and most clinically prevalent clinical scenarios for all APRN specialties. It also includes a broad range of scenarios not commonly found in other simulation books.

This book presents clinical scenarios that involve various chief complaints and reasons for consults that typically confront cardiovascular clinicians in an acute care setting. It helps the novice and experienced clinician alike particularly those evaluating patients with potential cardiac problems identify and extract key features of the chief complaint in order to formulate an accurate diagnosis. The book prepares new providers in acute care settings to ask the right questions, ask questions early, immediately begin to form a differential diagnosis, and take the best care of the patient who presents with chest pain, shortness of breath, and syncope. It is a must-read for all physician assistants and nurse practitioners who need a handy tool to meet the needs of their patients when they enter the acute care setting. The book presents a case scenario format, contrasting the history obtained by an emergency department provider from that of a cardiovascular provider, helps readers identify critical findings simply and clearly. It exposes key questions and lines of questioning systematically for the most common complaints for which hospital-based cardiologists are consulted. The book is organized into three parts containing thirteen chapters. The first part describes common presentations of acute cardiac conditions such as chest pain, shortness of breath, syncope and elevated troponin. The second part discusses uncommon presentations of acute cardiac conditions such as fatigue, cough and abdominal pain. The final part provides a bonus section on writing up complete history and physical examination finding.

This book is an overview about how cannabinoids can play an integral part in a patient’s pain management treatment plan. It is a resource for anyone working with patients experiencing chronic noncancer related pain, including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and bedside nurses. The book provides an unbiased look into how cannabis has helped with pain management for thousands of years and what is driving the resurgence in patient use. The opioid crisis has reached epidemic proportions with 130 people dying daily from complications of opioid use. Cannabis may be a way to combat the crisis, help relieve pain, and reverse opioid addiction rates. Right now, patients are self-medicating throughout the country with no supervision from their medical providers. It is estimated there are 3.5 million patients in the United States who are using medical marijuana to treat a myriad of ailments. The book is intended to be a tool to answer basic questions about medical cannabis and how it works in the body and gives an overview of the endocannabinoid system. The goal is to give the tools to provide unbiased, accurate information that one can share with one’s patients. Cannabis has many benefits being discovered daily, but it is also a drug, not a miracle cure. The book is structured into six parts. Part I discusses the opioid epidemic. Part II provides an overview of cannabis. Part III discusses cannabinoids, terpenes, synthetic cannabinoids, and cannabinoid isolates. Part IV describes medical marijuana. Part V is on chronic pain management. Part IV explores the role of cannabinoids in the opioid crisis.

This book is intended as an approachable reference guide for one of the most common neurological conditions, Parkinson’s disease and the spectrum of Parkinson-like syndromes. Parkinson’s disease is a slowly progressing neurodegenerative disease that primarily affects older adults. The book outlines the new advances in the management and treatment of the Parkinson patient, comparing risks and benefits as well as efficacy of new and older anti-Parkinson’s disease drugs. The task of diagnosing Parkinson’s disease and providing comprehensive guided treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach. Those involved in the diagnosis and care of the patient include neurologists; nurse practitioners; nurses; physical, occupational, and speech therapists; sleep medicine specialists; neuropsychologists; psychiatrists; radiologists; nutritionists; and social workers. The book is divided into seventeen chapters spread across four sections. The first section, Parkinson’s Disease, describes the following: neurobiology of Parkinson’s disease, patient exam, idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, imaging and advanced studies, neuropsychological analysis, and additional evaluations. The second section, Parkinsonisms, discusses Parkinson-plus syndromes and other Parkinsonisms. The third section, Treatment of Motor and Non-Motor Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease, describes treatment of motor symptoms and non-motor symptoms such as autonomic dysfunction, sleep disturbances, disturbances of thought, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. The final section, Alternative Therapies and Other Considerations, talks about exercise, complementary and alternative therapies, nutrition, and caregiver burden. The book provides additional details such as Hoehn and Yahr Scoring scale, drugs that should be avoided in patients with Parkinson’s disease, patient-prepared information, standardized intake questions for evaluating a Parkinson’s patient, standardized questions for evaluating the patient in a follow-up visit, and resources in the appendices.