Care coordination has received increased attention in recent years because it critically affects patient safety and care quality across services and settings. The effectiveness of systematically developed nurse navigator interventions for newly diagnosed cancer patients was evaluated. Seventy-eight patients participated in a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design study. The study design spanned a 3-month period for all participants. Patient outcome measures included quality of life, satisfaction with care, and length of hospital stay. Participants in the experimental program reported significant increases in several components of quality of life and with satisfaction with care and experienced fewer hospital stay days compared with the control group. This study provides evidence that standardized nurse navigator programs can improve patient outcomes in cancer care. Positive outcomes of the reduced length of stay and improved quality of life and patient satisfaction may help transform the cancer care delivery model toward more nurse-initiated cost-effective model.

Lee T, et al. J Korean Acad Nurs Adm. 2014 Jan;20(1):106-116. http://dx.doi.org/10.11111/jkana.2014.20.1.106

Systematic studies on the relationship between health literacy and health outcomes demonstrate that as health literacy declines, patients engage in fewer preventive health and self-care behaviors and have worse disease-related knowledge. The purpose of this study was to identify effective intervention strategies to improve health outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease and low literacy skills. This study employs the following criteria recommended by Khan Kunz, Keijnen, and Antes (2003) for systematic review: framing question, identifying relevant literature, assessing quality of the literature, summarizing the evidence, and interpreting the finding. A total of 235 articles were reviewed by the research team, and 9 articles met inclusion criteria. Although nine studies were reviewed for their health outcomes, only six studies, which had a positive quality grade evaluation were used to recommend effective intervention strategies. Interventions were categorized into three groups: tailored counseling, self-monitoring, and periodic reminder. The main strategies used to improve health outcomes of low literacy patients included tailored counseling, improved provider-patient interactions, organizing information by patient preference, self-care algorithms, and self-directed learning. Specific strategies included written materials tailored to appropriate reading levels, materials using plain language, emphasizing key points with large font size, and using visual items such as icons or color codes. With evidence-driven strategies, health care professionals can use tailored interventions to provide better health education and counseling that meets patient needs and improves health outcomes.

It is essential to ensure the readiness for practice among undergraduate nursing students since the purpose of such education is to cultivate competent nurses who deliver high-quality and safe nursing. Astin's theory of student involvement suggests that this is affected by their personal factors and learning environment. We conducted a cross-sectional study between November 16, 2020 and December 21, 2020 which examined personal factors and aspects of the clinical learning environment among senior nursing students (n = 838) enrolled across 54 nursing schools in Korea. The participants were asked to fill out a self-administered online survey, which assessed demographic characteristics, self-esteem, depression, work-life balance, clinical learning environment, anxiety during clinical practicum, and readiness for practice. Readiness for practice was measured using the Casey-Fink Readiness for practice survey. We used structural equational modeling to test our hypothetical model. The nursing students' readiness for practice was significantly affected by their self-esteem, work-life balance satisfaction, and clinical learning environment. Anxiety during clinical practicum directly influenced their readiness for practice. Increasing self-esteem and work-life balance satisfaction, and improving their clinical learning environment by providing sufficient educational and clinical support, could help facilitate the transition from nursing schools to real-world practice for nursing students.