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Biomedical subjects

Linda M Ferguson

Publications and source records attributed to Linda M Ferguson.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Challenges for new nurses in evidence-based practice.

AIM: The purpose of this article was to examine issues that new nurses encounter as they enter nursing practice, particularly in an evidence-based practice environment. BACKGROUND: These issues are not new. In part, these issues arise from our failure to acknowledge the developmental issues that new nurses experience on entry to practice and the lack of role models in evidence-based practice and holistic care. EVALUATION: This article synthesizes research reported over the last decade to delineate the issues of transition to practice and strategies that have proven effective in addressing them. KEY ISSUES: The key issues relate to the need to support new nurses in evidence-based and holistic practice, the strategies needed to do so, and the nurse manager's role in this process. CONCLUSIONS: We must invest resources in assisting new nurses into practice, which may have benefits in terms of both recruitment and retention of new nurses in practice.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Ethically involving students in faculty research.

Students in nursing education programs have a right to privacy as they engage in their learning. At the same time, their faculty may be engaged in nursing education research in order to facilitate student learning. These two goals may conflict when faculty engage students as participants in nursing education research while at the same time facilitating their learning. Faculty as researchers with their students may encounter a conflict of interest in collecting data for their research while providing learning experiences for the same students. As a basic principle, students must be engaged as participants in an ethical manner that respects their rights for privacy. In this article, we explore the issues of faculty as researchers of their students and suggest strategies for addressing these issues.

Confidentiality↗

From practice to midrange theory and back again: Beck's theory of postpartum depression.

This article presents a brief overview of theory as background for a more detailed discussion of midrange theory-its origins, the critical role for midrange theory in the development of nursing practice knowledge, and the criteria for evaluating midrange theory. We then chronicle Cheryl Tatano Beck's program of research on postpartum depression (PPD) and advance the thesis that her theory of PPD, titled Teetering on the Edge, is an exemplar of a substantive midrange nursing theory. We demonstrate Beck's progression from identification of a clinical problem to exploratory-descriptive research, to concept analysis and midrange theory development, and finally to the application and testing of the theory in the clinical setting. Through ongoing refinement and testing of her theory, Beck has increased its generalizability across various practice settings and continually identifies new issues for investigation. Beck's program of research on PPD exemplifies using nursing outcomes to build and test nursing practice knowledge.

Attitude to Health↗