Aurora College, formerly Arctic College, is a college in the Northwest Territories, Canada with campuses in Inuvik, Fort Smith and Yellowknife. They have learning centres in 23 communities in the NWT. The head office for Aurora College is located in Fort Smith. Wikipedia.
Effken J.A.,University of Arizona
CIN - Computers Informatics Nursing | Year: 2011
The purpose of this research was to compare nurses' perceptions of the strengths and limitations of the electronic health record with and without nursing languages for documenting and retrieving patient information regarding a clinical event. The effectiveness of the electronic health record to facilitate nurse-to-nurse communication is not well understood. Furthermore, little is known how nurse-to-nurse communication influences patient safety and failure-to-rescue events. This qualitative study used a descriptive design in which open-ended, semistructured interviews were conducted with 37 registered nurses. Qualitative content analysis produced 260 thematic units from which five categories emerged: usability, legibility, communication, workarounds, and collaboration. Nurses perceived aspects of usability as strengths (retrievability) and limitations (lack of efficiency and barriers) of the electronic health record. Furthermore, within the category communication, lack of relevance of the documentation was also viewed as a limitation by the nurses. Nurses suggested that they be involved in electronic health record decisions and that hospitals try to reduce the identified barriers to electronic health record use. © 2011 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Yen P.Y.,Ohio State University |
Sousa K.H.,Aurora College |
Bakken S.,Columbia University
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA | Year: 2014
In a previous study, we developed the Health Information Technology Usability Evaluation Scale (Health-ITUES), which is designed to support customization at the item level. Such customization matches the specific tasks/expectations of a health IT system while retaining comparability at the construct level, and provides evidence of its factorial validity and internal consistency reliability through exploratory factor analysis. In this study, we advanced the development of Health-ITUES to examine its construct validity and predictive validity. The health IT system studied was a web-based communication system that supported nurse staffing and scheduling. Using Health-ITUES, we conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate users' perception toward the web-based communication system after system implementation. We examined Health-ITUES's construct validity through first and second order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and its predictive validity via structural equation modeling (SEM). The sample comprised 541 staff nurses in two healthcare organizations. The CFA (n=165) showed that a general usability factor accounted for 78.1%, 93.4%, 51.0%, and 39.9% of the explained variance in 'Quality of Work Life', 'Perceived Usefulness', 'Perceived Ease of Use', and 'User Control', respectively. The SEM (n=541) supported the predictive validity of Health-ITUES, explaining 64% of the variance in intention for system use. The results of CFA and SEM provide additional evidence for the construct and predictive validity of Health-ITUES. The customizability of Health-ITUES has the potential to support comparisons at the construct level, while allowing variation at the item level. We also illustrate application of Health-ITUES across stages of system development. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to .
Puhan M.A.,University of Zürich |
Lareau S.C.,Aurora College
Clinics in Chest Medicine | Year: 2014
The aim of this article is to appraise the quality of evidence reported for important outcomes in pulmonary rehabilitation using the approach of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation Working Group. This appraisal was carried out by identifying Cochrane systematic reviews and systematic reviews that have been subsequently reported since the last Cochrane report. The focus of this appraisal was to determine the effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation programs versus control therapy in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. This analysis did not evaluate other aspects of the pulmonary rehabilitation intervention. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.
Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common chronic, relapsing inflammatory skin disease of children and is a global public health problem. National and international AD guidelines address AD care in a stepwise fashion. Wet wrap therapy (WWT) is a therapeutic intervention for moderate-to-severe AD. Objective: This cohort study evaluated the effectiveness of WWT as part of a multidisciplinary AD treatment program toimprove disease severity. Patients treated in this unique outpatient program had moderate-to-severe AD and had multiple therapies that failed. Methods: An observational cohort study was completed. The primary outcome was improvement in AD severity as measured by SCORAD (Scoring Atopic Dermatitis). Demographics; clinical management of AD, including use of antibiotics and systemic treatments; and WWT methodology were comprehensively described. Results: Seventy-two children with a mean ± SD age of 4.6 ± 3.12 years were included. By using a paired t test, the SCORAD at admission and at discharge showed significant differences in mean ± SD values, of 49.68 ± 17.72 versus 14.83 ± 7.45, respectively (t, 18.93; df, 71; P < .001). None of these patients required systemic immunosuppressive therapy during the treatment program. By using a previously published parent-administered outcomes tool, patients were shown to maintain clinical improvement of their AD 1 month after discharge. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this study is the largest to date of WWT for pediatric patients with moderate-to-severe AD by using a validated outcomes tool. None of the patients required systemic immunosuppressive therapy, and only 31% were treated with an oral antibiotic. This study demonstrated the benefit of incorporating WWT as an acute intervention in a supervised multidisciplinary AD treatment program with lasting benefit 1 month after discontinuing this intervention. © 2014 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
ABSTRACT: providers. To assist in providing women quality healthcare, recently published new guidelines help provide direction for NPs.
Francomano J.A.,Aurora College |
Harpin S.B.,Aurora College
CIN - Computers Informatics Nursing | Year: 2015
Social networking site use has exploded among youth in the last few years and is being adapted as an important tool for healthcare interventions and serving as a platform for adolescents to gain access to health information. The aim of this study was to examine the strengths, weaknesses, and best practices of utilizing Facebook in adolescent health promotion and research via pragmatic literature review. We also examine how sites can facilitate ethically sound healthcare for adolescents, particularly at-risk youth. We conducted a literature review of health and social sciences literature from the past 5 years related to adolescent health and social network site use. Publications were grouped by shared content then categorized by themes. Five themes emerged: access to healthcare information, peer support and networking, risk and benefits of social network site use in care delivery, overcoming technological barriers, and social network site interventions. More research is needed to better understand how such Web sites can be better utilized to provide access to adolescents seeking healthcare. Given the broad reach of social network sites, all health information must be closely monitored for accurate, safe distribution. Finally, consent and privacy issues are omnipresent in social network sites, which calls for standards of ethical use. © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Agency: NSF | Branch: Continuing grant | Program: | Phase: S-STEM:SCHLR SCI TECH ENG&MATH | Award Amount: 570.00K | Year: 2015
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) project at the Community College of Aurora in Aurora, Colorado will provide scholarships to students enrolled full-time in STEM disciplines. Twelve scholarships will be offered at the beginning of each academic year to begin a new cohort of STEM scholars. The program includes comprehensive support and transition services, with a particular emphasis on cohort development and support. These activities will increase STEM course success, program retention, and graduation and four-year transition rates. Program graduates will contribute to the continued success of the aerospace, software, and other technology-based industries in the region. Scholarships for academically strong students, who may not otherwise be able to afford college, will increase the number of graduates prepared to support national, regional, and local companies. The success of the program will produce a well-trained workforce that will contribute to the economic growth of Colorado and the nation.
Through this S-STEM program the Community College of Aurora (CCA) will conduct a five-year effort to recruit, support, and graduate students with academic talent and demonstrated financial need. The program will provide twelve scholarships in years one and five of the program, and twenty-four in years two, three, and four. A new cohort of STEM scholars will begin at the start of each academic year. Scholarships will renew for a second year provided scholars meet academic targets and other program requirements. CCA will encourage applications from first generation, women and students from groups currently underrepresented in STEM professions. Improved retention and increased graduation rates will be achieved through comprehensive support and transition services, with a particular emphasis on CCA-based STEM faculty and cohort support. Mentoring will include regular meetings with an assigned STEM faculty mentor. Learning community activities organized around cohorts will focus on study and tutoring needs, guest lectures on STEM careers, visits to STEM companies and four-year academic programs, and other career development activities. Lessons learned and effective practices that emerge from the program evaluation will be disseminated to the STEM education community and help increase widespread understanding of the attributes and practices of successful student scholarship and support programs.
Agency: NSF | Branch: Standard Grant | Program: | Phase: ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. | Award Amount: 86.82K | Year: 2016
The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program provides funding to alliances of institutions that implement comprehensive, evidence-based, and sustained approaches to broadening participation of students from racial/ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM (African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders) primarily at the undergraduate level. These approaches facilitate the production of well-prepared students highly-qualified and motivated to pursue graduate education or careers in STEM.
With the ultimate goal of forming a Bridge to the Baccalaureate alliance in the Denver metropolitan area, the Community College of Aurora (lead institution) is partnering with four other community colleges in the Colorado Community College System to determine how to collectively build on the successes in STEM at the individual campuses and expand the evidence-based practices implemented at the collaborating colleges. Thus, the five partner institutions(Community College of Aurora, Arapahoe Community College, the Community College of Denver, Front Range Community College, and Red Rocks Community College) in their proposed Mapping a Pathway project will use the pre-alliance planning grant to collect baseline data, identify barriers that are inhibiting the progress and graduation of students underrepresented in STEM, analyze the recruitment and retention strategies as well as transfer processes, and evaluate institutional infrastructure for supporting alliance objectives.