Publishing History: In 2004, the Excellence publication was once again transformed, this time becoming Excellence in Nursing Knowledge (ENK): Voices of Evidence in Nursing, an online-only, topic-centric monthly edited by subject-matter experts. Nine issues of ENK were published from August 2004 through May 2005. The format represented the views from administration, bedside nursing, and student nursing in a single issue. Topics explored were Synergy (Martha A. Q. Curley)*, The Future of Nursing (Jean Scholz), Beyond Ratios (Karole Mourek and Ken Colbert), Preventing Surgical Infections (Marianne Fredrick and Lisa Pilla), Elevating Nurses (Susan Torres, Terri Wurmser, and Jane Bliss-Holtz), Clinical Scholars at the Bedside (Alyce Schultz, Kelly Lancaster, Tania Strout, Paulette Gallant, and Terri Mathew), In Pursuit of Magnet (Golden Bethune), Creating an Evidence-Based Practice Culture With Business Intelligence (Melissa Fitzpatrick), Building EBP Capacity (Robin Newhouse). *The Synergy issue is not included in this collection as it formed the basis for a later book, Synergy: The Unique Relationship Between Nurses and Patients (STTI, 2007). To purchase or learn more about the book, please visit STTI's Nursing Knowledge International (www.nursingknowledge.org) website and search for the keyword, synergy under the "Publications" tab. Articles appearing in this issue: To the Future A health care model for the year 2013, by Jean Scholz The history of the future: Creating FutureThink, by Jean Scholz and Scott Beckett Empowering nurses as health care leaders, by Scott Beckett and Cathy Day In Practice Developing collaborative competencies, by Deb McKee ESP: Enhancing strategic partnerships, by Linda Miller and Darla Vale Creating healthier consumers, by Cherie Spragg Project BRIDGE: Keeping new nurses, by Karen Gorby The question of consultants, by Jean Scholz In the Schools Developing a core curriculum with FutureThink, by Pam Falasco Educators as FutureThinkers, by Patricia Martin Building a future pipeline in nursing, by Jean Scholz...

Introduction and background: Chikwawa District hospital maternity unit registered a total of 42 cases of post surgery infections (PSI) representing 6.4% of all cases (653) conducted in 2015. These infections contributed ...

Malnutrition is closely linked to maternal and child deaths particularly in developing countries. The causes are linked to inadequate dietary intake and household food security. There is need to improve the nutritional ...

Perinatal and infant mortality remains a serious challenge in developing countries including South Africa. Current statistics indicate that there is high perinatal and infant mortality in the selected district hospital in ...

Introduction and background: The fetal kick count monitoring tool is a valuable tool to reassure a mother of the health of the fetus. It was unknown if parents understand and use the kick count chart correctly. The purpose ...

One of the guidelines for the prevention of mother to child transmission stipulates that PCR should be done on all babies born from HIV infected mothers at 6 and 18 weeks to promote the early detection and prompt management ...

In Malawi the neonatal death rate is at 31/1000 live births with birth asphyxia contributing to 25%. In 2013, Chiradzulu District hospital had an average of 155 neonatal deaths out of 4142 live births of which birth asphyxia ...

The Maternal-Child Health Nurse Leadership Academy Africa (MCHNLA Africa) develops the leadership skills of maternal and child health nurses and midwives who work in a variety of healthcare settings. The academy prepares these nurses for effective interprofessional team leadership as they strive to improve the quality of healthcare for childbearing women and children up to 5 years old.  The program is presented in cooperation with our funding partner Johnson & Johnson. Nurses and Midwives from Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda participate in an 18-month leadership academy. During MCHNLA Africa the mentees create and effectively lead an interdisciplinary team with the goal of improving maternal-child health practice outcomes. At the end of the academy the mentees present a poster detailing the outcomes of their project and how it improved maternal-child health outcomes. The leadership skills component of the academy is based on the research and teachings of Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, as described in The Leadership Challenge®. Their model proposes that leadership is a measurable, learnable, and teachable set of behaviors. The academy believes that these behaviors are learned best when applied to realistic settings. The academy is designed to operationalize these learned behaviors by assisting and supporting the Mentee in developing and implementing an interdisciplinary team project....

Why the Project: During January – July 2011, postpartum patients where admitted in non-obstetrical wards, due to the high bed occupancy in the obstetric department. Although there were no Maternal Deaths in Klerksdorp ...

Purpose: The purpose of this leadership project was to strengthen World Health Organization (WHO) signal functions in all seven-delivery sites in the district to improve responsiveness to routine and emergency care. Abs ...