Test anxiety may cause nursing students to cope poorly with academic demands, affecting academic performance and attrition and leading to possible failure on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®). Test-anxious nursing students may engage academic procrastination as a coping mechanism. The Test Anxiety Inventory and the Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students were administered to 202 prelicensure nursing students from diploma, associate, and baccalaureate nursing programs in southwestern Pennsylvania. Statistically significant correlations between test anxiety and academic procrastination were found. The majority of participants reported procrastinating most on weekly reading assignments. Students with higher grade point averages exhibited less academic procrastination.

Effectively treating critically ill patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a challenge for many intensive care nurses. Multiple disease processes and injuries contribute to the complexity of ARDS and often complicate therapy. As a means of supportive care for ARDS, practitioners resort to rescue therapies to improve oxygenation and salvage the patient. The pathophysiology of ARDS and the use of prone positioning to improve pulmonary ventilation and oxygenation in ARDS patients are described. Educating nursing and medical staff on the use of prone positioning allows ease of patient placement with an emphasis on safety of both patients and staff. Scrupulous assessment of patients coupled with judicious timing of prone positioning expedites weaning from ventilatory support and contributes to positive outcomes for patients. (Critical Care Nurse. 2015;35[6]:29-37)

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This article is one in a series on the roles of adjunct clinical faculty and preceptors, who teach nursing students and new graduates to apply knowledge in clinical settings. Even students nearing the end of their educational program may struggle in the clinical setting and lack the knowledge and skills necessary to provide safe care. The preceptor serves as a role model and helps ensure that only students who are adequately prepared transition to professional practice. This article discusses the role of the nurse preceptor, identifies examples of unsafe student behavior, and shares strategies for preventing and managing such situations in the clinical setting.