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Tai chi is an ancient Chinese internal martial art that has increased in popularity across the United States over the past 2 decades. Tai chi combines gentle physical movement, mental imagery, and natural, relaxed breathing. There is increasing scientific evidence showing the impact of tai chi exercise on multifaceted areas of health and well-being, including positive effects on cognition, depression, anxiety, sleep, cardiovascular health, and fall prevention. A review of the health benefits of tai chi exercise is presented, as well as recommendations for nurses seeking to answer patient questions about tai chi.Nausea and vomiting are complex symptoms related to many disease processes. With many pharmacologic interventions noted to have adverse effects, many patients are turning to alternative therapies, including acupuncture and acupressure. Their efficacy has been proven for nausea and vomiting related to pregnancy, in patients receiving chemotherapy, and in postoperative, pediatric, and female patients. There are minimal to no side effects with the use of acupuncture and acupressure for the treatment of nausea and vomiting. Providers should be encouraged to discuss the efficacy, benefits, and side-effect profile of acupuncture and acupressure with patients who suffer from nausea and vomiting.This pilot study investigated the association between patient-specific, therapeutic music listening as a nursing intervention for mechanically ventilated patients, and the proportion of time those patients were considered to have intensive care unit delirium. The pilot study used the person-centered nursing framework as its theoretic foundation. Findings from an intimate prospective cohort design encourage an expanded look at potential benefits of therapeutic music listening in large, multisite, randomized clinical trials. Research and practice implications are discussed.Evidence supports exercise as a first-line option for many chronic diseases. Although recommendations suggest 150 to 300 minutes a week of moderate-intensity or 75 to 150 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, replacing sedentary behaviors with light-intensity activities reduces risks of all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and incidence of CVD and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Exercise has positive effects on brain function, cognition, and depressive symptoms. Based on such evidence, health care providers should incorporate evaluation of physical activity into patient care. Patients should be evaluated for readiness and ability to exercise and encouraged to increase activity level.The efficacy of using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is supported by the literature to decrease preoperative anxiety, postoperative pain and opioid requirements, as well as nausea and vomiting and to improve severity of headaches and increase wound healing. Nursing care includes interventions using CAs for treatment of a range of patient needs. Being supportive while educating parents and patients demonstrates altruism, which also is beneficial for improving health outcomes with CAM.More Americans are embracing complementary and integrative healing modalities such as Reiki to enhance the efficacy of allopathic medicine. It is important that nurses and other health care professionals be knowledgeable about these modalities. Reiki is a wellness practice that offers whole-person healing of body, mind, and spirit. The study of Reiki offers nurses an opportunity to care for themselves as well as create an optimal healing environment for their patients. This article offer nurses a comprehensive overview of the system of Reiki; it includes the core elements of Reiki, its history, Reiki training, and examples of its applications.Health care organizations are responding to consumer demand by offering more complementary and integrative health services in inpatient, outpatient, and clinic settings. Nursing has long embraced energy-based modalities such as Reiki and has been at the forefront of introducing body, mind, and spirit healing practices into health care settings. This article describes how nurses can integrate Reiki into both their personal lives for self-care as well as their professional patient care practices. An overview of Reiki’s integration into hospital systems is presented as well as Reiki’s use with various patient populations. The status of Reiki research is discussed.Clinical aromatherapy is an alternative medicine therapy that can be beneficial in the inpatient or outpatient setting for symptom management for pain, nausea, general well-being, anxiety, depression, stress, and insomnia. It is beneficial for preoperative anxiety, oncology, palliative care, hospice, and end of life. Essential oils can be dangerous and toxic, with some being flammable, causing skin dermatitis, being phototoxic with risk of a chemical burn, or causing oral toxicity or death. The article investigates history, supporting theories, guidelines, plant sources, safety, pathophysiologic responses, and clinical nursing aromatherapy. Recommendations for developing a best practice clinical nursing aromatherapy program are provided.Many nurses, although expert caregivers for their patients, often overlook extending this expertise to themselves by neglecting to implement self-care activities to nurture their own well-being. This neglect can precipitate a myriad of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social consequences potentially leading to burnout or even an exit from the nursing profession. #link# Initiating self-care using compassionate purposeful reflection (CPR) journaling, a kind of cardiopulmonary resuscitation for the soul, offers an antidote for self-care neglect and can foster self-compassion creating a protective shield against burnout. CPR journaling can aid in replenishing depleted stores of resilience and compassion enhancing nurses’ well-being.Guided imagery is a therapeutic approach that has been used for centuries. Through the use of mental imagery, the mind-body connection is activated to enhance an individual’s sense of well-being, reduced stress, and reduced anxiety, and it has the ability to enhance the individual’s immune system. There are research and data to support the use of guided imagery for these patient outcomes.Presence and therapeutic listening are complementary therapies that are incorporated into daily nursing practice. This article presents the nurse’s role in facilitating complementary therapies of presence and therapeutic listening, barriers encountered, and the behaviors and techniques to be used. Also discussed is the impact that using presence and therapeutic listening has on patient outcomes. link2 AR-42 have the potential to significantly alter patients’ perceptions of care and improve patient outcomes. Presence and therapeutic listening are vital to developing a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship. This relationship is what drives positive patient outcomes and increases overall satisfaction and quality of care.

Colleges of pharmacy are currently required to implement a remediation program within their curricula, but no specifications are provided on the ideal methodology. While the need for successful remediation strategies continues to grow, literature describing positive or negative outcomes of different approaches is significantly lacking. The objective of this literature review was to describe and evaluate remediation methodologies in pharmacy education.

This literature review was completed following PRISMA criteria. A search of the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health, Academic Search Complete, PsycInfo, Scopus, and ProQuest Central databases was conducted in July 2019. Studies were included if they involved pharmacy student education and described either remediation or reassessment.

The evaluated studies discussed a range of course types being remediated, a large variety of remediation strategies and timeframes, and differing overall outcomes. No studies provided comparnd consistency in the reported outcomes would be beneficial to students and help clarify remediation for colleges of pharmacy.Problem description When course evaluations and student feedback demonstrated a decline in student perceptions of a Top 200 Drugs course, proposed modification focused on curricular alignment to impact those perceptions in a positive manner. Quality improvement methods Student course evaluations and feedback from student leaders were reviewed to determine elements of course structure and design for modification. The following areas were identified quantity of assessment content, frequency of class meetings, in-person vs. online, and self-paced vs. instructor-guided learning. Changes in student perceptions were determined through comparison of subsequent course evaluations to those of the previous four years. Course evaluations focused on coordinator availability, course organization, exam management, and achievement of course objectives. Results of CQI inquiry The review of course evaluations showed improvement in all focus areas following modifications to course structure and design. Student free-text comments provided further insight for descriptive analysis. link3 Interpretation and discussion The evaluation score improvement was consistent with student comments. Contributing factors included curricular alignment, frequency of examinations, examination content, and faculty-guided learning through lecture and active learning. Alignment to pharmacology courses highlighted the relevance and value through the union of pharmaceutical sciences, clinical sciences, and pharmacy practice instruction. Conclusions The alignment versatility of Top Drugs makes it ideal for bridging pharmaceutical and clinical sciences to bring relevance and value to students. The instructors will continue to offer the Top Drugs course in this format. Further plans for research include additional layers of curricular alignment and innovative active learning.

With a prevalence of about one million d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HOH) patients that utilize American Sign Language (ASL) and the strong potential for communication barriers to adversely influence patient care outcomes, strategies must be developed to support health care professionals and students in learning to better care for d/Deaf and HOH patients. The primary objective of this project was to implement and assess a co-curricular course focused on helping student pharmacists become more confident and comfortable in communicating with d/Deaf and HOH patients.

The co-curricular course (ASL for the Pharmacy Professional) consisted of four 90-min classes, each covering different words/phrases and Deaf cultural competence. Students were taught basic ASL including the alphabet, numbers, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Deaf culture and d/Deaf patient interaction was also covered. Students interacted with a Deaf physician over Skype and with d/Deaf and HOH individuals from the local community.

Pre- and post-surveys that contained an identical set of questions were administered before and after course completion. Surveys assessed confidence and level of comfort of first- and second-professional year student pharmacists surrounding Deaf culture and interacting with d/Deaf and HOH patients. Following the course, students reported significantly improved confidence in communicating with d/Deaf patients directly and with a translator.

Following completion of a co-curricular ASL course, doctor of pharmacy students perceived an increase in confidence in working with d/Deaf and HOH patients. Program logistics were simplified through collaboration with an outside entity.

Following completion of a co-curricular ASL course, doctor of pharmacy students perceived an increase in confidence in working with d/Deaf and HOH patients. Program logistics were simplified through collaboration with an outside entity.