Digital Commons Network^™

Promoting The Use For Sugammadex In Robotic- Assisted Surgeries:, Amr Ali

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

Benefits Of The Use Of Probiotics In Preventing Secondary Infections, Sarah Cutcher

Scholars Week

Through evidence based research, the use of supplemental probiotics has been shown to have a positive effect in preventing secondary infections in hospital patients. Although there are other techniques that have decreased the incidence of infections, such as reducing invasive procedures and aseptic techniques, these are external procedures designed to prevent infection. Probiotics are an effective method of internally preventing infection. By studying certain infections and the effect that probiotics have on their prevention, researchers can safely conclude which bacteria strain could help to prevent each infection. Some different types of issues that will be looked at are healthcare acquired …

The Impact Of Spirituality On Patient Outcomes And How Nurses Can Implement Spirituality In Patient Care, Audrey Pittman

Scholars Week

This article studied the impact of spirituality on patient outcomes and how nurses can implement spirituality into patient care. This study looked at peer reviewed articles over the impact of spirituality on patient care. They found a positive impact of spiritual wellness and patient outcomes. Next it looked at how nurses could implement spiritual care into practice. This study found that the implementation of the FICA assessment tool would be a great first step in the right direction on no longer neglecting spiritual wellness.

Implementing Intermittent Fetal Monitoring In Low-Risk Laboring Moms, Kaitlynn Keel, Jessica Manion

Scholars Week

It has become common practice for laboring moms to remain attached to monitors throughout the duration of their labor, known as continuous electronic fetal monitoring (CEFM). Although this is the new normal in the world of labor and delivery, there has been speculation as to whether or not this is evidence-based. Specifically, moms in labor that are considered low-risk should not be bound to the bed for their entire labor for this continuous monitoring, in fact, research actually supports that CEFM leads to unnecessary interventions that negatively impact both mom and neonate.

Emphasizing The Importance Of Clustering Care For Newborns In The Nicu Setting, Callie Hines Sn, Alyssa Howell Sn, Elizabeth Crews Sn

Scholars Week

For our Evidence-Based Project, we have chosen to cover the topic concerning clustering care for premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. In many NICU's across the country preterm infants are taken care of on an as needed basis. Research and Swanson’s theory of caring supports that clustering care has a positive correlation with the improvement of vital signs, physical and intellectual development, and infection control.

Debriefing After A High Stakes Situation ​, Austin Hildebrant, Noah Merriss, Brennon Hamm

Scholars Week

This powerpoint presentation details the importance of debriefing after a high stakes situation in the hospital setting.

Fire Safety In The Or, Raghda Abo Al Haija, Leah Cullop, Keeli Mckeel

Scholars Week

Fire safety in the operating room (OR) is crucial, and so it is important for the OR team to be aware of practices that help prevent and manage operating room fires. This presentation compiles evidence-based research on practices and interventions that promote OR fire safety.

Local Anesthetic Systemic Toxicity (Last): Provider Education, Alexis Johnson

Scholars Week

Abstract

Background: Local Anesthetic Systemic Toxicity (LAST) is a rare but serious complication due to accumulation of local anesthetics. If not treated quickly, LAST can cause detrimental complications such as seizures and cardiac arrest. Therefore, it is important that anesthesia providers are well versed in preventing, recognizing, and treating this adverse event.

Methods: A LAST flowchart written by The American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) was printed and placed in each operating room in a small suburban hospital. Anesthesia staff were also educated on recognizing signs and symptoms, onset time, high risk patients, and prevention.

Results: Ten …

Improving Anesthesia Handoff: Implementing Standardized Handoff Tool For Post-Open-Heart Surgery In Critical Care Settings, Kelly Doyle

Scholars Week

The purpose of this project was to create a handoff tool implemented post-operatively by anesthesia providers during every transfer of care with patients undergoing open heart surgery and transitioning to the intensive care unit. Communication errors have been identified as a primary cause of anesthesia-related sentinel events, particularly during patient handoff, which can lead to negative patient outcomes due to incomplete relay of information. This Quality Improvement Project was conducted at a single facility where Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, (CRNAs) incorporated a handoff tool into their anesthesia handoff following coronary artery bypass graft surgery over a six-week period. Both pre- …

Education Of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Prevention In Adult Intensive Care Patients, Carlin Morgan

Scholars Week

The purpose of this project was to improve knowledge related to evidence-based ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) preventative measures that decrease the prevalence of VAP in adult patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). An educational presentation was provided to twelve critical care nurses at a 349-bed hospital in western Kentucky. A pretest was obtained to measure the nurse’s knowledge prior to the presentation. A PowerPoint and pamphlet containing VAP prevention techniques were presented to the twelve critical care nurses during each meeting. A posttest was then administered after the presentation to measure the efficacy of the educational presentation. The mean of …

Eat, Sleep, Console, Claire Hauke, Grace Hauke

Scholars Week

Eat, Sleep, Console is a scale used to assess opioid withdrawing neonates. This scale focuses on infant function and comfort, rather than treating infants based on signs and symptoms of withdrawal alone.

Enhancing The Safety Of Medication Administration: The Synergistic Role Of Closed Loop Electronic Medication Management And Iv Medication Administration, Kelly Goetz, Angela Schoenung, Lauren Daugherty, Kaitlyn Hornsby

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The high acuity of patients in the ICU results in numerous medications being administered, increasing the risk of medication errors. The purpose of this project is to investigate the impact of integrating consistent closed loop electronic medication management (CLEMM) to decrease medication errors in the ICU for bedside nurses who use electronic health records (EHRs). The project type is a comprehensive literature review, with studies that included a single prospective cohort study, case report, single non-randomized trial, quasi experimental study, single cross-sectional studies, and systematic reviews. The importance of this project is to address the break in the loop of …

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder And Teachers, Samantha Ann Tierney, Samantha Ann Tierney

Honors College Theses

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common disorder, estimated to affect 5% of all children and adolescents. The current rate of diagnosis is steadily increasing. This increase in the number of students with ADHD affects educators, who have a large role in the success of students with ADHD. Despite this, many teachers are not prepared to deal with the extra challenges that come with teaching students with ADHD. Teachers may not be properly taught how to deal with children who have ADHD in their classrooms or the role they have in these children’s lives. The purpose of this study is to …

Preventing Pressure Injuries In Critical Care Settings, Chassidy Eddlemon, Cassady Coomes

Scholars Week

2.5 million people develop a hospital-acquired pressure injury each year, and 60,000 of these result in death as an outcome. Nationwide, hospitals have policies in place to prevent HAPIs, but that does not always stop them from occurring. For this project, we looked at one hospitals policy regarding prevention of pressure injuries. In this powerpoint, we outlined the products we found throughout our research to aide in prevention, as well as our recommendations for practice.

The Addition Of Nature To The Patient's Healing Regimen, Katelyn Lewis, Audrey Henry

Scholars Week

Through our scholarly research, we have found many benefits to the use of nature to help facilitate healing within patients. Our project aims to spread awareness of the positive aspects of nature during the healing process. Specifically, our research focuses on healing gardens and outside therapy for patients. Our presentation is based upon Nightingales' theory of the environment. Our hope is that facilities will implement the addition of nature to the patient's plan of care.

Effects Of Clinical Competency In Nursing Students Following The Implementation Of Student-Led Learning, Cori E. Hack, Jacob N. Hicks

Scholars Week

Research and supporting evidence represent a gap identified in didactic learning between students and faculty. This gap shows emotional factors of the nursing curriculum that may suggest negative impacts on nursing students, but also improvements that can be made to increase students’ clinical competency levels. By adhering to strict definitions of student-led learning theory and clinical competency, we were able to create concrete evidence with measurable data that can contribute to the elimination of this gap in learning. Upon inspection of past text, we identified a need for further research on this topic to bring awareness and encourage this method …

Risks Vs. Benefits Of Animal-Assisted Interventions For Icu Induced Psychosis, Cecily Christie, Hadley Mayes

Scholars Week

For our senior Nursing Evidence-based practice project, we conducted our own research to evaluate the risks and benefits of animal-assisted intervention (AAI's) being used in intensive care units, in the hopes to encourage nurses and healthcare staff to implement these in patient care facilities.

Safer Staffing Ratios For High-Quality Patient Care, Elizabeth Boyles, Jacob Mills

Scholars Week

Every hospital has their own staffing policy which varies based on the department. Research suggests that higher nurse-to-patient staffing ratios are directly related to staff burnout and negative patient outcomes. On medical surgical floors, there is an abundance of different diagnoses that require a vast number of nursing skills. Therefore, when nurses have more than four patients, this can be a safety risk for the nurses and patients. By adding these into a stricter policy, rather than keeping it as a simple recommendation, better patient outcomes would increase and nurse burnout would decrease as proven by research.

Reducing Burnout Among Pediatric Oncology Nurses, Karlie Devore, Madison Jarvis

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

Benefits Of Bedside Report, Konner Spalding, Hannah Mattingly

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

The Benefits Of Telehealth For Rural Communities, Cade Alberson, Taylor Alberson

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Education About Juvenile Diabetes, Sarah Cutcher

Honors College Theses

Juvenile diabetes occurs when a patient under the age of 18 has an abnormally low amount of insulin in his/her body. This is due to the destruction of the insulin producing cells. There are two different types of diabetes, but they both have different risk factors that could lead to the diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes. A diagnosis of diabetes does not only mean that one has to manage this chronic disease, but the patient will now have an increased risk of developing complications later in life. Some examples of these complications are heart disease, skin integrity …

The Importance Of Educating Adolescent Mothers In The Postpartum Period, Sydney Price, Madelyn Travis, Reagan Schwable

Scholars Week

Due to the lack of policy or procedure for individualized education for adolescent mothers, we concluded that a educational checklist in the charting system would be the most effective way to properly educate young mothers during this confusing stage in their life. Specific education helps to improve perceived quality of care, safety/wellbeing in the young mother and newborn, and reducing the risks of complications such as postpartum depression or issues with pregnancy later on. In summary, ensuring that teenage mothers are fully educated before discharge will provide for better mother and baby outcomes.

The Benefits Of Family Presence During Resuscitation, Abigail Harris, Payton Hale, Audrey Jeziorski

Scholars Week

The research provided analyzes the benefits and fears concerning Family Presence During Resuscitation (FPDR) as a standard practice in healthcare facilities. Evidence is available that FPDR supports increased familial satisfaction and psychological outcomes as well as benefits to the patient and healthcare team involved in resuscitation efforts, however this practice is not consistently implemented in healthcare facilities. Three main studies were analyzed throughout this research in order to determine the causation of inconsistent and absent policies regarding FPDR. The analysis of these studies determined that there is a lack of guidelines, education, and policies resulting in absence of family members …

Clabsi Prevention Methods, Noah Heine, Talon Cockrel

Scholars Week

Infection and the risk thereof is one of the major concerns regarding patient outcomes in the health care facility. One of the interventions with the highest causes of infection is the use of central lines. These lines provide necessary venous access for medication administration but can cause infections called CLABSI or Central Line Acquired Bacterial Infection. The purpose of our article was to research CLABSI prevention methods and provide a new policy using these safe effective methods. These new methods include the use of stat locks for central line securement, using antimicrobial lines, and flushing/locking the central line with a …

Orienting Patients To Their Own Care: Implementing Goals And Progress On Whiteboards, Grace Beer, Leah Mcgough

Scholars Week

Introduction: Goal-setting within the hospital setting can be a useful tool for health care professionals. By using a white board in a patient’s room, nurses can work with patients to create goals in their plan of care. Implementing daily goals on these boards can improve patient satisfaction, increase nurse-patient communication, and provide a sense of accomplishment.

Methods: We researched scholarly articles that discuss the use of goal-setting in clinical practice. These articles engage in the idea that patients visually seeing their goals helps them stay focused and motivated in their health care. The researchers used methods such as interviews, focus …

Benefits And Challenges Of Charge Nurses Taking Patient Assignments, Alyssa Kuhl, Jenna Thomas, Karlee Meadows

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of An Artificial Airway Communication Tool, Grace Thacker, Macy Damron

Scholars Week

This evidence based practice research project evaluated the use of communication tools for patients with artificial airways in the hospital setting. It was determined through clinical experiences and article research that no standard communication tool has been recommended for this patient population. Moreover, research has suggested that patient satisfaction has improved with the use of new communication methods. Given the lack of a solution to this issue, we have suggested the implementation of a new hospital policy concerning the use of a communication tool. This communication tool is an eight and a half by eleven laminated piece of paper that …

The Benefits Of Using Patient Transfer Devices In The Emergency Department, Abby Lawhorn, Mikaylen Dearmond

Scholars Week

The Emergency Department (ED) is known as one of the most fast-paced environments in which nurses work. Because of the nature of their responsibilities and daily tasks, ED nurses are at high risk of injury. One of those tasks that occur multiple times throughout the day is patient transfers. The Emergency Department staff is constantly moving patients in and out of the unit. Most often, patients seen in the ED are weak, in pain, elderly, or unable to transfer from vehicles, ambulance, stretchers, or wheelchairs independently or without minimal assistance. Our research focuses on the benefits of using assistive devices …

Why Bladder Training Prior To Foley Catheter Removal Is Not Best Practice, Emily Winstead, Sydny Tucker

Scholars Week

Several studies have been completed on bladder training prior to foley catheter removal via intermittent clamping. While this practice initially appears to be beneficial to patient care, the studies we have researched all found the practice to be insignificant or not indicated for patient care. As we researched, we were able to compile evidence from multiple sources that support bladder training prior to catheter removal is not best practice. After compiling those results, we were able to gather a better understanding of the reasons this practice is not indicated and what risks it will pose to patients. In conclusion, we …