The establishment of trust in the registered nurse (RN)-patient relationship promotes patient engagement and improves the likelihood that the patient will be an active member of the patient care team. The purpose of this article is to examine nursing literature to identify the antecedents, attributes, and outcomes of trusting relationships between RNs and patients in home healthcare. Antecedents of trust for the RN-patient relationship included 1) meeting a need, 2) respect, 3) attention to time, 4) continuity of care, and 5) the initial visit. Attributes of trust between RN and patient in the home healthcare setting were identified as communication, connection, and reciprocity. For the RN and patient who established mutual trust, patients demonstrated better adaptation and collaboration for improvement of health, expressed a sense of security, and indicated a willingness to engage in additional trusting relationships. Barriers to a trusting relationship included a lack of respect and incompetent and/or unethical care.

Cultural competence education is essential for all nurses to better prepare them to address the underlying social environment of patients, families, and communities. This article describes a study with second degree nursing students that tested 6 teaching strategies for their effectiveness in raising cultural awareness, a key aspect of cultural competence. The results demonstrated that the interventions had a positive effect.

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we often hope that our students are learning the material we are presenting and that our course structure and assignments are clear and relevant in assisting them with the learning process. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. The purpose of this report is to present a simple formative course assessment technique that may help improve this situation: quality circles (QCs). 1-4 QCs are a modified version of quality "control" circles used in industry, which allow the stakeholders, in this case the students, to have input into how to improve their working environment (i.e., the classroom). 1 Transferring the QCs concept to the classroom setting allows instructors to gain insights about teaching effectiveness throughout the course, rather than waiting until the end of the course for summative reports. This formative assessment can greatly assist the instructor in making immediate changes to instruction, assignments, and student assessment.