Nursing Research Guide:Open Resources for Nursing

Career Cornerstones: Establishing a Foundation for a Career in Healthcare is an Open Educational Resource (OER) that focuses on career skills required for students entering their respective health profession's program. This book is designed to help students be successful not only in their health profession's educational program, but also as they start to intern or work in healthcare settings. This resource is targeted for Healthcare Administration, Health Sciences, and Pre-Professional students.

Epidemiology is an openly licensed text designed for medical degree–seeking clinical students without a prior background in public health. Using sports medicine and injury prevention examples and applications, it aims to provide students with the basics of epidemiology terms and concepts and is intended to guide medical school students as they prepare for the USMLE Step 1 Exam and to transition from student to clinician. It includes an introduction to general concepts and terminology of epidemiology, study designs and their relationship to clinical questions, and the use of epidemiology in clinical diagnosis and screening of disease. Concluding sections of the book present sources of errors in epidemiologic studies, including bias, confounding, and effect modification. The book is notable for its use of accessible, inclusive figures and examples, and end-of-chapter study guides that summarize the chapter visually.

Exploring the U.S. Healthcare System introduces students to foundational characteristics of the U.S. healthcare system. It begins with an overview of the healthcare system that includes a brief history and a description of the current state of health in the U.S. The second chapter describes health delivery systems, including inpatient, outpatient, post-acute, long-term, palliative, and hospice care. An introduction to health insurance in the third chapter will include an overview of basic concepts, private insurance, public insurance, and recent trends. The fourth chapter presents issues related to the triple aim of improving access to care, increasing the quality of care, and lowering the cost of care. The fifth chapter reviews how the government intervenes in healthcare and presents current policy issues related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and value-based contracting. The final chapter on the topic of technology in healthcare provides an overview of health information technology, health information legislation, emerging technologies, and the future of health information technology. Chapter content is supplemented with additional material such as reports, briefs, figures, infographics, definitions, and key terms. Chapters two through six end with a “knowledge check” exercise to actively engage students with the content.

Leading Change in Health Systems: Strategies for RN-BSN Students is designed for practicing nurses pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. This book is focused on building upon previous knowledge, skills and attitudes Registered Nurses (RNs) related to leadership in healthcare systems. Readers will be able to apply the theoretical knowledge gained from this course in their clinical practice environment.

Content is based on the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) statewide nursing curriculum for the Nursing Mental Health and Community Concepts course (543-110), the NCLEX-RN Test Plan, and the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Education Council’s Crosswalk Toolkit: Defining and Using Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Skills in Undergraduate Nursing Education. Mental health and community health concepts are discussed while emphasizing stress management techniques, healthy coping strategies, referrals to community resources, and other preventative interventions. Nursing care for individuals with specific mental health and substance use disorders is examined, and the nurse’s role in community health needs assessments and caring for vulnerable populations is introduced.

Nursing Care at the End of Life: What Every Clinician Should Know should be an essential component of basic educational preparation for the professional registered nurse student. Recent studies show that only one in four nurses feel confident in caring for dying patients and their families and less than 2% of overall content in nursing textbooks is related to end-of-life care, despite the tremendous growth in palliative and end-of-life care programs across the country. The purpose of this textbook is to provide an indepth look at death and dying in this country, including the vital role of the nurse in assisting patients and families along the journey towards the end of life. There is an emphasis throughout the book on the simple, yet understated value of effective interpersonal communication between the patient and clinician. The text provides a basic foundation of understanding death and dying, including a brief historical examination of some main conceptual models associated with how patients cope with impending loss. An overview of illness trajectories and models of care, such as hospice and palliative care are discussed. Lastly, the latest evidence-based approaches for pain and symptom management, ethical concerns, cultural considerations, care at the time of death, and grief/bereavement are examined. The goal of this text is to foster the necessary skills for nurses to provide compassionate care to individuals who are nearing the end of life and their families. Every chapter contains a “What You Should Know” section which highlights and reinforces foundational concepts.

This book introduces the entry-level nursing student to the scope of nursing practice, various communication techniques, and caring for diverse patients. The nursing process is used as a framework for providing patient care based on the following nursing concepts: safety, oxygenation, comfort, spiritual well-being, grief and loss, sleep and rest, mobility, nutrition, fluid and electrolyte imbalance, and elimination. Care for patients with integumentary disorders and cognitive or sensory impairments is also discussed. Learning activities have been incorporated into each chapter to encourage students to use critical thinking while applying content to patient care situations.

This book introduces concepts related to nursing leadership and management, prioritization strategies, delegation and supervision, legal implications of nursing practice, ethical nursing practice, collaboration within the interprofessional team, health care economics, quality and evidence-based practice, advocacy, preparation for the RN role, and the avoidance of burnout with self-care. Several online, interactive learning activities are included in each chapter that encourage application of content to patient-care situations. Additionally, the Appendix includes a “suite of patients” with suggested prompts for classroom discussion to assist students in applying concepts from the book to real patient-care situations.

This open access Nursing Pharmacology textbook is designed for entry-level undergraduate nursing students. It explains basic concepts of pharmacology and describes common medication classes. This book is not intended to be used as a drug reference book, but direct links are provided to DailyMed, which provides trustworthy information about marketed drugs in the United States.

This Nursing Skills textbook is an open educational resource developed for entry-level undergraduate nursing students. It is aligned with the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) statewide nursing curriculum for the Nursing Skills course (543-102) that describes techniques for obtaining a health history and performing a basic physical assessment using a body systems approach. It also includes evidence-based clinical skills with related mathematical calculations and conversions.

This workbook was established with nurse educators and nursing students in mind to provide knowledge, guidance, and support for integrating social determinants of health (SDOH) across the nursing education spectrum. Contents from this workbook are applicable to pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing programs, RN-to-BSN programs, and graduate education.