Using Video iPods to Teach Nursing Skills to BSN Nursing Stu

The use of technology has increased in several teaching institutions. These technologies include podcasting, webbased teaching and simulation. The purpose of this project is to compare student performance between students who are taught nursing skills by faculty demonstration and those taught nursing skills delivered via video iPods. [See PDF for complete abstract]

NANOPARTICLE AGGLOMERATES FOR PULMONARY DRUG DELIVERY

The Pulmonary route has been traditionally used to treat diseases of the respiratory tract. However, important research within the last two decades have shown that in addition to treating local diseases, a wide range of systemic diseases can be treated by delivering drugs to the lungs. The recent FDA approval to market Exubera, an inhalable form of insulin developed by Pfizer, to treat Diabetes, may just be the stepping stone that the pharmaceutical industry needs to market other drugs to treat systemic diseases via the lungs. However, this technology still needs repeated drug doses to control glucose levels, as the inhaled drug is cleared rapidly. Technologies have been developed where inhaled particles are capable of controlled release of drug from the lungs. An important feature of these technologies is the large geometric size of the particles that makes it difficult for the lung macrophages to clear these particles, which results in longer residence times for the particles in the lungs. Owing to the porosity, these particles have lower densities making them deliverable to the deep lungs. However, no modulation of drug release can be achieved with these technologies when more drug release may be required. This additional requirement can only be assuaged by additional dosing of the drug formulation, which can have undesirable effects due to excess loading of excipients in the lungs. In an attempt to bring about modulation of release from long residence time particles, a novel concept was developed in our laboratory that has been termed as the Agglomerated Vesicle Technology (AVT). Liposomes with encapsulated drug were agglomerated using well known cross linking chemistries to form agglomerates in the micron sized range. The large particles exhibited aerodynamic sizes in the respirable size range with minimal damage to the particles upon nebulization. By breaking the cross links between the liposomes with a cleaving agent, it was anticipated that triggered release of drug from the AVT particles could be achieved. In vivo studies done in healthy rabbits showed that post-administration modulation of drug release is possible from the AVT particles after the introduction of the cleaving agent. This study has important implications for the future development of this technology, where the AVT particles can be made “sensitive” to the product of disease. It is envisaged that a single dose of AVT containing the appropriate drug when administered to the lungs would maintain drug levels at a controlled rate over an extended period of time. When the need for more drug arises, the product of the disease would trigger the AVT particles to release more drug as needed to control the condition, thus eliminating the need for repeated drug doses and improved compliance amongst patients.

Learn-Achieve-Succeed: New technologies for enhancing student performance

Tegrity Campus 2.0 is the first student achievement system that impacts learning across the entire institution, improving retention and student satisfaction. Tegrity makes class time available all the time by automatically capturing, storing and indexing every class on campus for replay by every student. With Tegrity, students quickly recall key moments or replay entire classes online, with digital notes, on their iPods and cell phones. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Tailored instructional methods for students with diverse levels of computer knowledge and skills

The purpose of this online course is to ensure new nursing graduate students know how to use computer technologies required to complete academic and research activities. Powerful computers, high speed internet, digitalized resources and databases are widely available in educational institutes. New renovation and updates are being released at faster pace than ever. All these developments are necessary for a student to utilize computer programs and synthesize large amount of data in a limited time for any given academic research project. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Master of Education in Teaching Program with an Emphasis in the Health Sciences

Introduction: Concerns about the quality of physician education have changed current medical education practices. Learners must demonstrate competency in core areas, rather than solely participating in educational activities. Academic medical institutions are challenged with identifying leaders to direct curricular and evaluation reforms. An innovative partnership between the University of Houston College of Education and Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston offers a Masters of Education in Teaching degree with an emphasis in Health Sciences. Courses encompass fundamental areas including curriculum, instruction, technology, measurement, research design and statistics. [See PDF for complete abstract]