Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Palliative Care Education On Acute Care Nurses, Heather Sadler

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) quality improvement project was to improve acute care nurses’ knowledge of evidence-based palliative care interventions utilizing the framework from the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) training modules. Increasing the knowledge, comfort, and competence of acute care nurses has the potential to improve end-of-life care delivery in the acute care setting. A lack of access to specialized inpatient palliative care service teams was identified in a rural county in the Southeastern United States. This county is served by a small, criticalaccess hospital. The frontline nursing staff of this facility regularly provides end-of-life …

Smoking Cessation: A Nurse-Led Approach To Address Gaps In Patient Care, Katie L. Durham

Master of Science in Nursing Theses and Projects

Currently, the rate of smoking in the US is 13.7%. While this value represents the lowest rate of smoking in documented US history, cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death, disease, and morbidity. Healthy People 2030 has set a goal to reduce the rate of smoking to 5%. Though many patients report wanting to quit smoking, nearly half report they did not receive advice from a healthcare professional to do so. Many recommended smoking cessation tools and resources remain underutilized by both clinicians and patients. To help mitigate this issue, this project sought to develop a nurse-led smoking …

Reducing The Use Of Physical Restraints Of The Elderly In The Acute Care Setting, Rachael Malone

Master of Science in Nursing Theses and Projects

The aim of this MSN project is to identify and improve the gaps in education regarding physical restraint use in the acute care setting on the elderly patient population. When admitted into hospitals, elderly patients are at much greater risk for being placed in physical restraints due to little education regarding alternative measures to physical restraints and inappropriate assessments. The purpose of this project is to implement education about the detrimental factors and consequences patients may suffer once placed in physical restraints and improve the use of alternative measures to physical restraints. This project will be evaluated by acute care …

The Effect Of Training And Recognition On Nursing Assistant Retention In Acute Care Settings, Rachael Austin Swann

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Nursing assistants are being hired in acute care settings to alleviate staffing issues associated with the nursing shortage. This has been a great economical solution to ensure adequate staff because of the large number of trained individuals in this vocation. Turnover and retention with nursing assistants in all settings including acute care is an expensive and reoccurring problem. Although several strategies have been implemented to prevent this, few provide a sustainable positive outcome. This situation requires an approach to look at the causes of turnover and provide interventions to reverse the negative impact. The intent of this research looked at …

Floating Nurses To Specialty Areas, Deborah S. Hickman

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

As the largest group of health care providers, nurses play a vital role in the safety and satisfaction of patients. Despite this vital role, the nursing shortage continues to grow. As a result of this shortage and to fix staffing insufficiencies, nurses are frequently assigned to work in an area that they are not familiar with. This reassignment of a nurse to a different unit from their normally assigned unit is referred to as "floating." Nurses that are reassigned to a different unit from their normally assigned unit are referred to as "float nurses." Some healthcare professionals believe the use …

Evaluating The Knowledge And Attitudes Regarding Pain Management Among Nurses In A Surgical Setting At An Acute Care Facility, Barbara Turner

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

It is estimated that seventy-three million patients undergo surgical procedures each year in the United States. Of these, 80% experience acute post-operative pain, and approximately 20% experience severe pain (Hutchinson, 2007). Benner's Theory from Novice to Expert was used to guide the study, "Evaluating the Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Pain Management Among Nurses in a Surgical Setting at an Acute Care Facility". A convenience sample of twenty-one nurses in an acute care hospital in Southwestern North Carolina participated in the Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain. Results showed a weak correlation between knowledge and attitudes of pain management and years …

The Nurse's Knowledge Of Blood Conservation As A Part Of Blood Management, Lindsey Putnam Austin

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Medicine has historically regarded blood transfusion as an integral component of major surgery or illness. However, clinical studies have shown that allogeneic blood transfusions are associated with increased morbidity and decreased survival. Knowledge of this research and the concepts of blood conservation so as to avoid unnecessary blood transfusions is needed in order to deliver holistic care and serve as patient advocate. This knowledge reaches every specialty of nursing care.

This study of the nurse's knowledge of blood conservation as a part of blood management utilizes The Conservation Model developed by Myra E. Levine in 1973. Levine's work is a …