Malabsorption syndrome refers to the small intestines' inability to absorb certain nutrients and fluids. There are several common associated disorders, which may present with subtle and/or overt symptoms. With subtle symptoms, it is difficult to determine the cause, making diagnosis difficult or even inaccurate. Malabsorption can originate from an immune response, an inflammatory process, or alternation of the small intestines by surgical methods. This article reviews common malabsorption disease processes of the small bowel and the resulting pathophysiology. Diagnostic studies, treatment, and prognosis of various conditions within the malabsorption disease state are discussed.

COVID-19 causes severe respiratory and multiorgan failure, including liver damage and elevated transaminase levels. This article addresses the potential causes of liver function abnormalities in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and management approaches for NPs focusing on preventing and alleviating liver injury.

Despite increasing attention to concussion safety, many young athletes still do not report concussion-like symptoms to athletic staff. This systematic review was conducted to identify barriers and facilitators to reporting of concussions by high school and collegiate athletes. The review was conducted using PubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL Complete, and Cochrane Library. Original research articles were deemed eligible if they contained either qualitative or quantitative data on barriers and facilitators of high school and collegiate athletes self-reporting concussion symptoms to athletic staff. For those articles that met inclusion criteria, both authors critically read each article, summarized reasons given by the authors, and then categorized this information into a barrier or a facilitator of concussion-reporting behavior. Of the 878 articles returned, 24 articles met inclusion criteria. Major facilitators were female sex and younger age. Major barriers were a fear of losing current or future playing time, a misconception that concussive injury is not serious, a fear of letting one's team down, and a lack of knowledge of concussion signs and symptoms. Future interventions should address these issues, incorporate primary and secondary prevention strategies, and emphasize the long-term risks of playing while concussed.

Background: Family nurse practitioner (FNP) students often lack the confidence to develop diagnostic skills and convey patient information to their clinical preceptor. Preparing FNP students for these tasks is essential to their clinical success. Objective: To describe the adequacy of interactive case studies to increase confidence in making clinical decisions and presenting patient information to the clinical preceptor. Methods: The authors developed three interactive case studies for student analysis during an on-campus intensive week prior to the students’ first clinical rotation. Student confidence was examined pre and post to determine if the interactive cases had any effects on their diagnostic reasoning and skill in presenting patients to the preceptor. Results: The pretest survey found that students were least confident in presenting a patient to the preceptor (21% not confident). After the three interactive case studies, students demonstrated a significant increase in confidence. Conclusion: Interactive case studies and role-playing the patient presentation prior to an initial clinical rotation is a successful educational methodology for improving FNP students’ confidence for the clinical environment. Implications for Nursing: Faculty can implement interactive case studies in traditional and online courses to foster student confidence.