Honor Society Research Articles

Original Research: Nurses' Perceptions of the Role of Nursing Organizations in Promoting Engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals: A Global Study.

RNs are integral to achieving the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Professional nursing organizations can play a significant role in educating and preparing nurses to work more effectively toward achieving the SDGs. While there is much literature that speaks to the importance of nurses engaging in these goals, there is a lack of research that has explored nurses' perceptions of the role of professional nursing organizations in promoting SDG-related knowledge and engagement. Since 2012, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma) has been formally accredited as a nongovernmental organization with special consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. As such, Sigma is committed to educating RNs about the SDGs and engaging them in working to advance the goals. This study examined RNs' learning preferences regarding the SDGs, and their perceptions of their professional nursing organization's engagement in advancing these goals, its recognition of nursing's contributions to these goals, and its impact on increasing nurses' knowledge of these goals. This descriptive cross-sectional study used convenience and snowball sampling methods to recruit participants from multiple countries. Data were collected via an anonymous online survey. Descriptive and nonparametric statistics were used for data analysis. The majority (84%) of Sigma members enrolled in this study believed Sigma should be actively engaged in advancing the SDGs. Forty-eight percent were aware of Sigma's engagement and 44% reported that Sigma had increased their knowledge of the SDGs. When comparing participants who were Sigma members to those who were not, Sigma members had significantly higher levels of perceived knowledge of the SDGs and higher levels of belief that nurses are integral to SDG advancement. There were no significant between-group differences regarding nurses' desire to know more about the goals, what nurses are doing to advance them, and how to take action themselves. Participants' top 3 preferred means of learning about the SDGs were emailed and online newsletters (28.8%), webinars and online presentations (24.3%), and internet websites (14.9%). The results of this study underscore the importance of professional nursing organizations' efforts to increase nurses' engagement with the SDGs and can be used in developing multilevel strategies to further educate nurses about the SDGs.

Disability Status and Induction Into US Medical Honor Societies

Disability Status and Induction Into US Medical Honor Societies

Application Discrepancies in the 2023-2024 Integrated Plastic Surgery Match.

The Plastic Surgery Common Application (PSCA) was introduced in the 2020-2021 integrated plastic surgery match cycle. We investigated the accuracy of medical student-reported quantitative metrics in the PSCA. Quantifiable data from 1 year of PSCA applications were compared between matched and unmatched students. Discrepancies were identified by reviewing publicly available data and from Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) applications. A total of 330 PSCAs were analyzed and divided into two groups: matched (n = 196) and unmatched (n = 134). Of the 71 medical schools with multiple applicants, 23.9% (17/71) and 31.0% (22/71) had contradicting reports of Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honor Society availability. Three matched applicants, with an average numeric Step 1 score of 228, reported scores as "pass." Four applicants did not disclose a prior failing Step 1 score. More matched students had research discrepancies than unmatched students for first author (56%, 111/196; 50%, 67/132; P = 0.24) and total publications (66.8%, 131/196; 53%, 71/134; P = 0.011). The mean discrepancy number between matched and unmatched students was similar for first author (3.0 vs 3.2, P = 0.61) and total publications (4.3 vs 4.5, P = 0.61). Reasons for discrepancies included counting accepted articles (20.2%), submitted articles (7.5%), non-peer reviewed (3.1%) articles, and other endeavors (6.2%) in publication counts, with 52% of applicants having multiple reasons for discrepancies. Matched and unmatched applicants applying to plastic surgery had honor society and Step 1 score discrepancies, and inaccurate research reporting. NBME score verification and PubMed indexing may be a warranted addition to PSCA applications to guarantee application consistency.

The Meaning of Sarong in Madurese Culture: A Symbolic Analysis of Films on YouTube Mata Pena

The purpose of this research is to examine the symbolic meaning of the Madurese sarong as a cultural symbol in short films featured on the YouTube channel Mata Pena. The background of this research highlights the significance of the sarong as a symbol of identity and a representation of cultural values in Madurese society. The sarong is not only viewed as an item of clothing but also as a marker of social status, tradition, and honor passed down through generations. This research employs a qualitative method with a semiotic analysis approach based on Charles Sanders Peirce's theory, focusing on three main elements: sign, object, and interpretant. This framework is used to understand how the meaning of the sarong is constructed within cultural and social contexts. The findings reveal that the Madurese sarong carries profound meaning, both as a symbol of social status and cultural identity and as a representation of tradition, politeness, religion and honor in Madurese society. Keyword: Sarong, Semiotics, Cultural Identity, Madura, Short Film

Professional moral courage: A necessary trait that needs attention in modern nursing

Presently, nurses employed in healthcare environments encounter intricate moral and spiritual dilemmas as a result of their professional responsibilities. These challenges encompass issues such as aggressive interventions for terminally ill patients, superfluous medical examinations, and instances of deceit. The findings of the study highlighted deficiencies in the quality of care provided, inequitable power dynamics within the workforce, and a deficiency in organizational backing [1-3]. Conversely, given the numerous ethical dimensions within nursing practice such as upholding human dignity, respecting rights, and adhering to ethical standards, it is evident that ethics plays a crucial role in the framework of nursing [4]. One of the important and influential aspects in the discussion of professional ethics is the courage of professional ethics [5]. Moral courage is defined as standing up for what is right and involves a steadfast commitment to moral principles despite potential risks [6]. Moral courage is a virtue that creates the ability to perform moral behavior in a person and makes him perform morally despite obstacles. Courage is one of the most valuable human personality traits and has a central role in moral life. Moral courage is one of the basic values of the nursing profession. This value was introduced with two other values, love, and respect, by the International Honorary Society of Nurses in 1922 [2].

From the Margins to the Center: A Reading of 'Antarah Ibn Shaddad' through Hegel's Master-Slave Dialectic

This study analyzes the Al-Moallaqa, a poem traditionally hung on the walls of the Kaaba, the holiest shrine for Muslims, by the pre-Islamic poet Antara bin Shaddad, through the lens of Hegel’s Master-Slave Dialectic. It explores the status of marginal identity, focusing on the poet’s portrayal of the suffering endured due to slavery, humiliation, and deprivation of honor in a tribal society that devalues the enslaved. It also examines self-awareness and the desire for change, addressing the essential awakening of the 'Self', which drives a rejection of marginalization and a commitment to struggle and risk in pursuit of freedom. A qualitative textual analysis is employed, focusing on the thematic exploration of identity, self-awareness, and the struggle for recognition within the poem. Antara’s poetry illustrates this self-awareness through vivid depictions of bravery, heroism, and chivalry, emphasizing the idea of testing oneself and others in the existential struggle between life and death. The contribution of this manuscript lies in its application of Hegelian philosophy to classical Arabic poetry, offering a new interpretative framework for understanding the dynamics of identity and freedom in pre-Islamic literature.

First-Generation Low-Income Individuals in Medicine: A Scoping Review.

This comprehensive scoping review of the medical literature on first-generation low-income (FGLI) individuals in medicine aimed to synthesize the highest levels of evidence to inform medical education stakeholders. Database searches were conducted in Academic Search Premier, Education Research Premier, ERIC, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Professional Development Collection, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science Core Collection from database inception through March 15, 2023. English-language articles on first-generation or low-income individuals in medicine from U.S. medical schools were included. Articles were evaluated for level of evidence and themes chosen. Database searches resulted in 27,075 citations, 247 of which qualified for data extraction. The articles were classified by evidence level: level I (n = 2), level II (n = 17), level III (n = 90), level IV (n = 78), and level V (n = 60). Publications reported on 9 major outcomes: exam performance (n = 108), medical school performance (n = 63), residency and fellowship performance (n = 7), honor society status (n = 12), leave of absence (n = 9), withdrawal, dismissal, and attrition (n = 20), medical education graduation (n = 37), career choice (n = 109), and intent to practice in disadvantaged and rural communities (n = 60). Compared with their peers, FGLI individuals had lower medical school and standardized exam scores, enrollment in national medical honor societies and multiple degree programs, and graduate medical education performance and higher rates of leaves of absence, incompletion of medical education, pursuing primary care and family medicine specialties, and intent to practice in underserved communities. Despite an increase in the number of FGLI individuals in medicine, there remains significant opportunity to improve their inclusion and support. Multi-institutional, prospective, risk-adjusted, observational studies are required to determine how to best support FGLI individuals through all medical career stages.

The ODE Undergraduate Research Award Competition Sponsored by Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics

The ODE Undergraduate Research Award Competition Sponsored by Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics

The ODE Graduate Research Award Competition Sponsored by Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics

The ODE Graduate Research Award Competition Sponsored by Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics

The Library of the Honorable Society of King's Inns

AbstractIn this article Renate Ní Uigín, Librarian of the Honorable Society of King's Inns Library in Dublin, gives LIM an overview of the library's fascinating history and its collection, while also outlining the service it offers today.

Elevating Residency Match Success: The Potential Impact of a Home Program on the Surgical Match Rate

IntroductionHome residency programs can provide medical students with opportunities for networking, mentorship, research, and exposure to surgeries. The goal of this project was to understand the potential impact of home surgical residencies on student match rates into specific surgical specialties. MethodsThis 5-year retrospective study (2019-2023) analyzed 12,916 matched applicants from 155 United States MD programs through publicly available match lists. Odds ratios (ORs) were used to determine the likelihood of students from institutions with home surgical residency programs (home programs) matching into desired surgical specialties compared to students from institutions without home programs. Additional variables included the Alpha Omega Alpha and the Gold Humanism Honor Society statuses of the medical school, the number of faculty, and the type of residency program. ResultsOf the matched applicants, 11,442 had home programs resulting in a 39.1% match rate into surgical specialties compared to a 22.3% match rate for students without a home program (OR: 1.76) (P < 0.001). Of the applicants with a home program compared to those without a home program, 69.2% matched into an academic residency (OR: 1.06), 7.7% matched into a community residency (OR: 0.90), 13.6% matched into a combined residency (OR: 0.95), and 2.5% matched into a military residency (OR: 1.31). ConclusionsMedical students graduating from institutions with home programs were 1.76 times more likely to match into a surgical residency program compared to those graduating from institutions without a home program. Future studies should look at how access to certain resources may influence a student's match rate.

46th biennial convention of Sigma Gamma Epsilon, University of Tennessee at Martin, September 16-18, 2022

The Society of Sigma Gamma Epsilon (SGE), the national honorary society for the Earth sciences, held its 46th biennial convention (September 16-18, 2022) at satellite facilities of University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin) located in Selmer, Tennessee. The convention was hosted by SGE’s Eta Alpha Chapter and the Department of Agriculture, Geoscience, and Natural Resources at UT Martin. Ten (10) of SGE’s approximately 60 active chapters sent delegates to the convention. The traditional convention field trip, an outing to UT Martin’s Coon Creek Science Center, focused on collecting and preparing marine fossils from the Upper Cretaceous Coon Creek Formation. Key accomplishments of the convention include amending the Society’s constitution to reflect changes in membership categories, the adoption of a new mission statement, and broad-ranging discussions related to the revitalization of local chapters following the COVID-19 pandemic. This report provides details about the convention proceedings and provides the various reports presented by national officers, individual chapters, and student committees.

The Legal Information Sector: Designing and Delivering a Postgraduate LIS Module

AbstractLast year Jake Hearn, Vice Chair of the LIM editorial board, created an elective module on the core components of and types of roles within the legal information profession, which was offered to postgraduate students at City, University of London, with the module being hosted at City, University of London and The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Here Jake gives the reasons for creating the module and tells us how it all came together and how it has progressed since then.

Factors associated with infectious diseases fellowship academic success

ABSTRACT Background A multitude of factors are considered in an infectious disease (ID) training program’s meticulous selection process of ID fellows but their correlation to pre and in-fellowship academic success as well as post-fellowship academic success and short-term outcomes is poorly understood. Our goal was to investigate factors associated with subsequent academic success in fellowship as well as post-fellowship short-term outcomes. Methods In 2022, we retrospectively analyzed deidentified academic records from 39 graduates of the Mayo Clinic Rochester ID Fellowship Program (1 July 2013- 30 June 2022). Data abstracted included demographics, degrees, honor society membership, visa/citizenship status, medical school, residency training program, United States Medical Licensure Exam (USMLE) scores, letters of recommendation, in-training examination (ITE) scores, fellowship track, academic rank, career choice, number of honors, awards, and abstracts/publications prior to fellowship, during training, and within 2 years of graduation. Results Younger fellows had higher USMLE step 1 scores, pre and in-fellowship scholarly productivity, and higher ITE performance. Female fellows had significantly higher USMLE step 3 scores. Prior research experience translated to greater in-fellowship scholarly productivity. Higher USMLE scores were associated with higher ID ITE performance during multiple years of fellowship, but USMLE step 2 clinical knowledge and 3 scores were associated with higher pre and in-fellowship scholarly productivity and receiving an award during fellowship. The USMLE step 1 score did not correlate with fellowship performance beyond year 1 and 2 ITE scores. Conclusions Multiple aspects of a prospective fellow’s application must be considered as part of a holistic review process for fellowship selection. USMLE step 2 CK and 3 scores may predict fellowship performance across multiple domains.

The History of the National Academy of Recreational Therapists: 2011-2021

The profession of recreational therapy first established professional membership organizations in the 1940s and 1950s. The most recent national professional membership organization was developed in 1984, when the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) was formed. The National Academy of Recreational Therapists (NART) was established in 2011 as an honor society to recognize the most accomplished practitioners and educators in recreational therapy and to provide a clearinghouse for the exchange of ideas that would ultimately lead to the advancement of the recreational therapy profession. Efforts to establish NART began in 2009 when David Austin and Ray West drafted a conceptualization of the academy and its operations, as well as proposed a set of by-laws. A steering committee was subsequently established to review and approve by-laws for NART and to establish the Founding Fellows of NART. The central purpose of the Academy was the advancement of recreational therapy by recognition, education, research, scholarly activity, advocacy, and the provision of advice to decision makers. Since its inception NART has established and funded a Future Scholars Fund to support outstanding graduate students considering pursuing a terminal degree, as well as the Marcia Carter Scholarly Manuscript Award for the best annual publication in the Therapeutic Recreation Journal. Over its first 10 years, NART made revisions to its bylaws to refine criteria and categories for Fellows, and by 2021 there were 77 elected Fellows. The invited paper summarizes the first 10 years and considers a number of original goals that remain to be realized to support and advance this honor society.

Trends in the Main Residency Match From 2007 to 2020.

Background The United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE)Step 1 was recently changed from a numerically scored grading system to a pass/fail grading system. Until late 2024, there will be no formal studies about the impact that the grading change will have on the match process. To thoroughly assess the impact that this change will have on the overall match process, it is important to look at what the trends in applicants' objective measures have been in the years before the change. We aim to systematically evaluate the rates of change and mean trend of objective metrics found in residency applications in the main residency match. Methods Objective medical student data of matched and unmatched applicants were queried from the National Matching Program's Charting Outcomes in the Match Reports for the 2007 to 2020 application cycles. Data were used to create linear regression analyses and statistical tests were performed to evaluate trends over time. Results For matched applicants, there were statistically significant positive trends for the mean number of contiguous ranks (m=0.33, p<0.01), having another non-doctoral graduate degree (m=0.67, p<0.01), membership to Alpha Omega Alpha(AOA) honor society (m=0.22, p<0.01), mean USMLE Step 1 score (m=1.01, p<0.01), mean USMLE Step 2 score (m=1.68, p<0.01), mean number of research experiences (m=0.12, p<0.01), and mean number of abstracts, presentations, and publications(m=0.34, p<0.01). Additionally, there was a statistically significant negative trend for the percentage who graduated from a top 40 National Institutes of Health-funded medical school (m=-0.41, p<0.01). For unmatched applicants, there were statistically significant positive trends for having another non-doctoral graduate degree (m=0.83, p<0.01), mean USMLE Step 1 score (m=1.26, p<0.01), mean USMLE Step 2 score (m=2.27, p<0.01), mean number of research experiences (m=0.13, p<0.01), and mean number of abstracts, presentations, and publications (m=0.33, p<0.01). Conclusion Our study shows that there have been statistically significant increases in almost all objective measures in the residency application. Recent changes to the abstracts, presentations, and publications on the Step 1 scoring system will force almost all residency programs to overhaul their application process and potentially increase reliance on Step 2, research, and other nonobjective factors. For students early in their medical education, emphasis on Step 2 and research will yield increased chances of matching into residency in the future.

The ODE Undergraduate Research Award Competition Sponsored by Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics

The ODE Undergraduate Research Award Competition Sponsored by Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics

The ODE Graduate Research Award Competition Sponsored by Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics

The ODE Graduate Research Award Competition Sponsored by Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics

A Comparison of Otolaryngology Residency Applicants Over Time and to Other Surgical Applicants.

Understand how otolaryngology residency applicant characteristics have changed over time and compare them to those of other surgical subspecialties. Retrospective analysis of academic, extracurricular, and application data in the Texas Seeking Transparency in Application to Residency databases. Applicants to otolaryngology, neurological surgery, ophthalmology, plastic surgery, urology, and orthopedic surgery applicants from 2019 to 2023. Kruskal-Wallis, Wilcoxon rank sum, Fischer's exact, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare temporal, match-based, and subspecialty differences in applicant characteristics. Across 4 match cycles and 541 otolaryngology applicants, significant differences were found in the average number of honored clerkships per applicant (P = 0.044), the percentage of matched applicants (P = 0.017), and the average number of research experiences (P < 0.001), peer-revied publications (P = 0.002), applied programs (P < 0.001), and interviews received (P = 0.041). Relative to their unmatched counterparts, matched applicants frequently received more interviews, belonged to higher academic quartiles, and were more likely to belong to academic honor societies (all P < 0.05). Matched applicants exhibited significant differences in the number of research experiences (P = 0.002), peer-reviewed publications (P = 0.004), and applied programs across cycles (P < 0.001). Relative to applicants from other surgical subspecialties, otolaryngology applicants exhibited high amounts of extracurricular involvement, were on par in terms of research output, and received a low proportion of interviews despite applying to a high number of programs. Matching into otolaryngology has become increasingly competitive and is as competitive as peer surgical subspecialties. Strong academic performance, judicious program signaling, increased research involvement, and holistic factors like letters of recommendation may help applicants successfully match.

INVITED EDITORIAL: Using Psi Chi eBooks and Eye on Psi Chi Articles as Readings When Teaching Career Exploration and Professional Development in Psychology Courses

INVITED EDITORIAL: Using Psi Chi eBooks and Eye on Psi Chi Articles as Readings When Teaching Career Exploration and Professional Development in Psychology Courses