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Purpose:To develop an interprofessional student-led, faculty-guided clinic in a rural, medically underserved area in Wisconsin through applying an existing innovative clinical education model.A local university provides a system for training and practice of interprofessional students in a rural community increasing access to preventive health care to individuals and families in rural medically underserved communities. The primary aim of the project was to qualitatively describe perceptions of interprofessional students after completing community assessment, planning, and implementation phases and secondarily to understand student learning experiences in adopting and leading a community model within a rural practice setting.Sample: Participants were interprofessional undergraduate and graduate students placed within an interprofessional clinical education model for an assigned clinical, field, or practicum rotation (n=64).

Maintaining scholarship while delivering an undergraduate nursing program is a challenge for nursing faculty. In this paper, we describe an approach that involves undergraduate nursing students in a program of faculty research, which evaluates new approaches to teaching and learning. Students work with faculty to develop a research proposal, identifying specific questions and exploring relevant literature. Projects may include original data collection with faculty supervision, or secondary analysis of existing datasets. Foci have included partnership learning between nursing students and older adults, models of sustainability for a traveling health clinic, and experiences of aging. Findings and recommendations feed into the broader faculty research agenda, provide a foundation for subsequent projects, and inform further development of educational programs. Students have presented at local and national conferences and developed papers for publication based on this joint work. We describe the benefits and challenges of these partnerships, drawing upon student and faculty reflections.

Preparing nursing students to work effectively with older adults is an important element of undergraduate nursing education. Reflective journals written as course assignments represent a source of data about students' learning. The aim of this study was to analyze nursing students' reflective journals based on conversations with older adults who are community dwelling, to identify learning in relation to experiences of living with a chronic condition. This was one element of a wider study to evaluate learning partnerships between older adults who are community dwelling and nursing students as an alternative to traditional clinical placements in long-term care settings. Nursing students worked with faculty to complete a qualitative secondary analysis of 47 journals utilizing framework analysis. Students learned about three main aspects of living with chronic conditions: beliefs about chronic conditions, managing chronic conditions, and experiencing chronic conditions, with some evidence that these themes may be interconnected. Findings suggest that learning partnerships with older adults combined with reflective journaling enable nursing students to understand the experience of chronic conditions in later life as reflected within current literature and to identify interventions for gerontological nursing practice. Enabling nursing students to recognize the highly skilled nature of working with older adults with chronic illness has the potential to influence their future career choices.

This review analyzes the research literature on physical therapy management of patients anticipating or recovering from total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Using databases and keywords, several relevant studies were found. Twenty-four studies met the criteria and were classified according to Sackett's levels of evidence. Fifteen studies were graded as level I, five studies as level II, one as level IV, and three as level V. From the levels of evidence, seven grade A, four grade B, and one grade C recommendations were developed, with grade A being the most significant. The results of this review found that there is a potential benefit to using accelerated procedures (initiation of rehabilitation within 24 hr after TKA). Encouraging patients to perform active range of motion exercise would be a better option than passive range of motion and that physiotherapy can focus on more functional rehabilitation, such as preparing to return to daily activities. Eccentric exercise of the hamstring is one of the effective methods to recover knee extension after TKA. A multidisciplinary rehabilitation program, including a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, a physical therapist, a psychologist, a social worker, a nutritionist, and an orthopaedic surgeon in the outpatient setting, does not reduce the use of rehabilitation services or yield faster achievement of functional recovery or quality of life. Functional training and balance training are safe treatment methods and have the potential to decrease functional limitations. Clinical recommendations and future research directions also are provided.