Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) play a critical role in ensuring the implementation of high-quality evidence based care, improved patient outcomes, and reduced health care delivery costs. Professional certification is one way we distinguish our unique contributions and advanced practice nursing expertise from other advanced practice roles. This first edition of the book represents a compilation of Clinical Nurse Specialist practice knowledge contributed by respected clinicians from across the nation for certification examination preparation. The book incorporates content from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist (AGCNS) Population Focused Competencies and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Scope and Standards for CNS Practice. It begins with an introduction to the current AGCNS examination options, test plans and processes, as well as test taking strategies for success. The remainder of the book organizes test plan subject matter according to the three spheres of impact of CNS practice. The book includes twelve chapters presenting the overview, pathophysiology, etiology, assessment, diagnosis, treatment/management, and related pharmacology content according to each body system. It addresses the nurse and nursing practice sphere of impact. Relevant content includes age-related response to illness and adult-gerontology population specific practice standards for care and advocacy of the older adult. Emphasis is placed upon culturally competent care and safe care transitions. Nursing practice content includes consultation, collaboration, education, mentoring and communication skills. Nurse and nursing practice advocacy topics review public policy, professional practice issues, and ethical concerns. The book covers systems and systems leadership competencies of the CNS. Relevant content involves quality improvement principles, safety initiatives, financial stewardship, organizational level program development and systems change. Clinical inquiry subject matter covers evidence- based practice, research methodology, and skills for dissemination of CNS work.

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 unique, because there are no current textbooks on the market that are aimed at communication, assessment, and treatment goals of the obese patient from the perspective of an advanced practice nurse (APN). The first part of the book focuses on the disease of obesity in the United States and worldwide. The current trends and causes of obesity are addressed in detail. Obesity terms and numerous definitions used are also discussed. The first part describes the multifaceted roles of the APN. The second part describes nursing at its best. It focuses on common “dos and don’ts” with regard to the overweight or obese patient. A section on therapeutic communication is also provided. Real patient stories are shared to allow appreciation of the patient’s perspective. The third part focuses on the technical aspects of obesity genetics and pathophysiology. The addiction of obesity and eating disorders are discussed. Physical assessments of both adult and pediatric patients from the APN point of view are seen. Exercise and dietary assessment and recommendations with examples will be of interest to clinicians. The fourth part focuses on the numerous comorbid conditions associated with obesity. This includes the assessment and treatment of each disease in both the pediatric and adult populations. Diseases addressed in the adult population include hypertension (HTN), dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes mellitus (DM), obesity and the pulmonary system, osteoarthritis (OA), polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and metabolic syndrome. Obesity in combination with pediatric HTN, dyslipidemia, DM, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and asthma is also addressed. Prevention efforts for obesity, as well as methods to avoid weight cycling, are discussed. The final part of the book explains the treatment of many comorbid conditions related to obesity.

This book is a response to the need for nursing students to have resources about core Evidence-based practice (EBP) knowledge and competencies for each level of nursing practice degrees. It addresses critical essentials that nursing students must master as they move from one nursing degree level to the next. The book takes an inclusive view of EBP from the perspectives of direct care nurses, advanced registered nurse practitioners, healthcare systems leaders, researchers, and faculty. It aligns EBP content with specific Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) essentials outlined by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and addresses leveling EBP process and content across curricula. The book is organized into four major parts containing 20 chapters. Part I: Conceptual Foundations of Evidence-Based Practice contains five chapters and provides readers with necessary foundational knowledge on which to build clinical decision-making skills based on the best available evidence. Part II: Designing And Implementing Evidence-Based Practice Projects contains six chapters that systematically explore the critical elements of conceptualizing, developing, implementing, and evaluating EBP projects. PART III: Science-Based Decisions and Evidence-Based Practice contains three chapters that emphasize the importance of translational research and quality improvement for the implementation and evaluation of EBP. The final part, Evidence-Based Practice: Empowering Nurses contains six chapters that address the importance of an EBP culture and structural empowerment strategies required to achieve and sustain a culture that fosters EBP.

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 introduces an innovative model of care coordination clinical reasoning that builds on past work with the Outcome-Present State-Test (OPT) model of reflective clinical reasoning. It includes contemporary knowledge, skills, and abilities required to work effectively as a member of an interprofessional care team in the current health care arena. The OPT model has been described as a third-generation nursing process model that responds to the need for patient-centered nursing care coordination challenges. The fundamental aspects of the OPT model of clinical reasoning are explained and linked to care coordination challenges at several levels—those related to patient-centered care planning, team-centered negotiation, and service or health care system considerations. The book explains the Care Coordination Clinical Reasoning (CCCR) model and discusses some of the distinctions, system dynamics, and relationship issues that emerge when health care team members have different points of view with regard to care coordination. It also presents a series of case studies to illustrate how the CCCR model is activated and applied across the lifespan and in a number of healthcare contexts. Cases across the health care continuum related to primary care, acute care, rehabilitative care, and long-term care are presented with patient scenarios that are in need of care coordination. The book further summarizes the benefits of the CCCR model and suggests future evolution and development of the model and discusses the need for health care team members to develop competencies related to ongoing innovations.

The practice of nursing is both art and science. It requires a broad range of skills and capabilities. This book takes complex topics and legal theories, explains them in no-nonsense, understandable language, and makes them relevant to the current world in which nurses practice their profession. The book is organized into twelve chapters. Each chapter begins with a statement of objectives, which will make the reading of the chapter most meaningful. The first chapter presents an overview of law relevant to nurses’ interests, including basic legal principles that underlie and form the framework for the practice of nursing. The second chapter describes the challenges facing advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in a rapidly changing health care delivery system. It focuses on the practice areas of the APRN and the pivotal roles they play in the delivery of health care. The third chapter is about nursing malpractice and negligence. Chapter four presents the fundamentals and principles of documentation and systems of documentation, including electronic systems, and contains numerous legal cases. The fifth chapter covers patient rights with regard to care, decision making, and privacy issues. Chapter six talks about risk management and continuing quality improvement. Chapter seven outlines the major laws governing disaster and emergency events. Chapter eight covers the law of corporations and provides information on the types of business structures that can be used for health care business and facility operations. Chapter nine addresses the developing area of corporate compliance and the nurse’s role in regard to it. The tenth chapter provides comprehensive information on employment and employment-related law. Chapter eleven focuses on both civil and criminal trials. The final chapter discusses alternate methods of dispute resolution: arbitration, mediation, and negotiation.

This book on nursing care of adoption and kinship families begins with a chapter, which focuses on the historical, cultural, and legal landscape that has shaped adoption and kinship care in the United States and describes the types of adoption, trends in adoption, and processes involved in adopting a child. This is followed by a discussion highlighting the common health care needs of both adoptive and kinship children. Some birth parents do not voluntarily release parental rights of their children and experience grief and postpartum depression after relinquishing a baby. Parental postadoption depression (PAD) should be screened for by advanced practice nurses (APNs) to optimize parental functioning and avoid negative outcomes. The book discusses the broader issues like maltreatment of children, educational and social issues, and transracial adoption, and the outcomes of children adopted by same-sex individuals. It explores the role and needs of kinship parents, a unique, vulnerable, diverse population with health risk factors compounded by the responsibilities of raising children as older adults. Complex and diverse relationships exist among birth parents, their children, and the kinship caregivers who have stepped in as surrogate parents. Children under the care of kin experience maltreatment and traumatic events. The book also provides an overview of systems and practices that surround adoption and kinship triads.

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 is an excellent introduction to nursing at the master’s level. It addresses a gap in literature regarding nonadvanced practice nursing degrees. The book focuses on key roles in both direct and indirect care settings as identified by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). It provides a different perspective on the role of the nurse functioning within an interprofessional or interdisciplinary team, while providing tools that can be applied quickly. The book is organized into five sections comprising 16 chapters that can be extremely helpful to nurses moving toward the next level of their careers. Section one describes nursing history, nursing process, nursing theory selection, nursing research ethics, and clinical ethics and the role of the master’s-prepared nurse (MSN). Section two discusses the various roles of MSN such as clinical nurse leader, nurse educator, and advanced practice nurse. Section three presents the indirect care roles of MSN: public health nurse, informaticist, and nurse executive. Section four discusses MSN as change agent, AACN essentials, and Interprofessional collaboration. The final section focuses on special topics such as considerations for lifelong learning, self-care, and mentoring. The book could be introduced to students at the BSN level to help them make career choices as they move forward with their careers.