Esther Bernhofer

• PhD, MA, RN, PMGT-BC
• Professor (Associate) at Case Western Reserve University

People with opioid use disorder (OUD) are a vulnerable population who face unique risks of harm when participating in research. Despite a long-standing dialogue, written research codes of ethics, and institutional review board oversight for the conduct of ethical research in vulnerable populations, protections for study populations with OUD is rare...

Purpose To analyze differences in health confidence levels regarding discharge instructions between two groups of same-day surgery patients. Design Comparative and descriptive design. Methods Phone surveys to two groups: those who received follow-up phone calls from a registered nurse (RN) and those who received standard care instructions at disc...

Pediatric pain assessment in the hospital traditionally involves the patient's self-report of pain intensity using a numeric rating scale, which does not capture the complexity of the pain experience. No valid, comprehensive measure of pain in hospitalized youth exists. This study was designed to develop and conduct initial psychometric testing of...

Background: This was a retrospective chart review of procedural pain assessments and interventions during arterial catheter insertion in an adult neurological intensive care unit where patients with impaired consciousness are common. Overall, pain assessment was well documented (100%) by Registered Nurses, but not specific to arterial line inserti...

This article provides the nursing professional development practitioner an overview of effective development and evaluation of a commonly used measure of knowledge: the multiple-choice test. Basic principles of test development and assessment are important for evaluating learning outcomes. When the steps needed to determine the fairness, validity,...

Aims and objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of a multi-method venous thromboembolism prevention patient education plan on participants' knowledge retention. Background: A potential complication of surgery requiring general anesthesia, worldwide, is the development of life-threatening venous thromboembolism. Patients need education on p...

Adhering to a prescribed course of medication can be problematic for patients who take multiple prescriptions to manage chronic illnesses. This study explored the prevalence of medication adherence among patients in a cardiology ambulatory care setting using a survey-based, descriptive-comparative design. We begin this article by reviewing the medi...

All nurses care for patients with pain, and pain management knowledge and attitude surveys for nurses have been around since 1987. However, no validated knowledge test exists to measure postlicensure clinicians’ knowledge of the core competencies of pain management in current complex patient populations. To develop and test the psychometric propert...

Background and purpose: Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) continue to be a persistent problem in the acute care arena. The purpose of this retrospective quality improvement study was to examine if the introduction of nurse practitioners (NPs), as wound care consultants (WCCs), without other interventions, impacted the HAPI rates in a com...

Providing optimal pain care for patients is essential to the work of nursing and a measure of patient satisfaction prompting some hospitals to offer pain management classes for clinicians. Although nurses generally do well on knowledge tests after attending a pain class, actual improvement in pain care for patients may not occur. The personal value...

Aims: To report an analysis of the concept of rest; to determine the conceptual maturity (consistent use and meaning) of rest in the current scientific literature and to present a theoretical definition of rest, providing a strong basis for research and practice. Background: Rest is a physical, mental and spiritual human need, common to all huma...

Pain is personal, subjective, and is best treated when the patient's experience is fully understood. Hospitalization contributes to the physical and psychological complications of acute and chronic pain experienced by patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to develop an understandi...

This article provides nursing professional development specialists with a concise resource on conducting literature reviews: the essential first step of a research project, quality improvement initiative, or the implementation of evidence-based practice. The literature review cannot be overlooked because it sets the foundation for an investigative...

Bedside nurses care for patients with pain every day but the task is often challenging. A previous qualitative study that investigated nurses' experiences as they treated patients with pain suggested that nurses may suffer from moral distress if they are unsuccessful in providing adequate pain relief. As 20 of the original 48 nurses interviewed des...

To describe light exposure, sleep-wake patterns, mood, pain and their relationships in adult medical inpatients. The hospital environment may contribute to patient discomfort by providing a lighting structure that interferes with circadian rhythmicity, sleep, mood and pain. A descriptive correlational design was used in this preliminary study. Betw...

In the United States it is estimated that over 30% of the population suffers from some form of chronic pain (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Report, 2011). Therefore, it is likely that 30% of patients who are admitted to the hospital for acute care needs also have an underlying chronic pain issue. When patients are admitted for conc...

Despite the sophisticated pharmaceutical agents and technologies available today, many people, including older adults, continue to experience chronic pain. Inadequately treated chronic pain can seriously affect one's quality of life. Health care providers are only beginning to understand the structural and functional changes that occur in older adu...

Postoperative pain is a major physiological and psychological stressor. Studies have shown that stress and pain leave patients more susceptible to infection and complications. The purpose of this study was to determine whether two interventions, relaxation/music (RM) and patient teaching (PT) for pain management, reduce stress in postoperative abdo...