Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Development Of An Evidence-Based Nursing Leadership Fellowship Program Guide, Jennie Noren

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Faced with an increasing demand for nurse leaders with competencies in effective inter-professional communication, change management, conflict resolution, business and financial acumen, and the ability to lead both within and across systems, the current practice of promoting the highest skilled clinicians into leadership positions is not effective. Leadership skills which have been demonstrated in the literature to generate successful and impactful leaders must be provided through immersive educational experiences in an efficient and effective manner to produce leaders who can promote the transformation of healthcare at all levels with confidence. This DNP Project has created a guide for an evidence-based …

Electronic Health Record Instruction In First-Semester Nursing Students: A Comparative Study, Angela Ruckdeschel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The use of health information technology has been shown to have positive effects on patient outcomes and provider efficiency. New nurses make more than half of the 7 million life-threatening medication errors that occur each year, and electronic health records (EHRs) have been shown to significantly reduce these errors. Nurses now are expected to enter practice with a solid foundation in health information technology and the use of the EHR. Unfortunately, the vast majority of nursing schools do not specifically train their students in effective EHR utilization. Academic EHRs (AEHRs) are software packages with learning features that can be incorporated …

Using Pictorial Action Instructions To Train Low-Literacy Adults To Construct A Basic Humanitarian Engineering Project, Kathleen Paco Cadman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are often disproportionately faced with environmental hazards, which can cause adverse health outcomes. Although humanitarian engineering projects have been created to mitigate these hazards, LMICs are also frequently impacted by literacy deficits, creating a barrier in training low-literacy individuals to construct these projects. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop, refine, and test the usability of pictorial action instructions (PAI) in training low-literacy individuals to construct a humanitarian engineering project. A concept analysis was completed, including the creation of an operational definition, for “lay worker health literacy.” This analysis and definition set a foundation …

Implementing High-Fidelity Simulation To Meet Undergraduate Clinical Requirements, Tammy Lynn Mccoy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Increased demand for clinical experiences, lack of clinical sites, and shortages of qualified nursing faculty are reasons undergraduate nursing programs are seeking to utilize simulation to meet student learning needs. High-fidelity simulation (HFS) gives students the

opportunity to develop technical skills, enhance critical thinking skills, and apply theoretical concepts to clinical presentations in a controlled, safe environment. There is mounting interest in replacing traditional clinical hours with simulated practice experiences, particularly in specialty nursing areas like obstetrics. Despite literature supporting HFS and the positive effects of its use in undergraduate nursing education, faculty remain unfamiliar with the process of integrating …

Implementing Evidenced-Based Tools And Obesity Bias Training When Counseling Overweight And Obese Truck Drivers, Sheryl M. Giordano

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many Americans are either overweight or obese, but commercial truck drivers are at an even higher risk by nature of their occupation. The 2010 Survey of U.S. Long-Haul Truck Drivers found that 22.8% were overweight, 68.9% were obese, and 17.4% were considered morbidly obese. The concern is that obesity is a gateway to multiple medical disorders, to include obstructive sleep apnea, cancer, diabetes, and cardiac disease. Despite growing concerns of obesity, healthcare providers face problems when counseling and discussing the issue with patients. The failure of healthcare providers to discuss obesity or the impending issue with patients (i.e., truck drivers) …

Clinical Instructors' Cultivation Of Pre-Licensure Nursing Students' Pharmacology Ksas, Rieneke Holman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Adverse drug events affect up to 5% of inpatients; half of these events are caused by preventable medication errors (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2015). Nurses are the final checkpoint between a medication being ordered and the patient taking it. This profound responsibility requires nurses to possess well-developed pharmacology knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs). To acquire these abilities, they must not only receive pharmacology content as part of their educational preparation, but also translate what they have learned during student clinical experiences. This is important in bridging the gap between what is learned in the

classroom and clinical practice. …

Implementing Dietary And Physical Activity Guidelines In A College Health Center, Terry Lynn Bartmus

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Obesity has been classified as a major national health care problem that results in a significant increase in morbidity, mortality, and health care related costs. Seventy percent of all adults age 18 and older have a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or greater, indicating they are overweight or obese. Thirty-six percent of college students are overweight or obese. Research has shown that lack of time has further decreased weight-related counseling by primary-care providers. Printed materials have been shown to be effective in cueing individuals to engage in healthy behaviors such as following physical activity and recommended nutritional guidelines. Currently, …

Concept Interview Assignment To Foster Intentional Learning In Nursing Students, Sarah Mollman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Intentional learning is the process of acquiring skills and attributes that facilitate knowledge attainment and application, and this process may foster learning skills and attributes in nursing students so they may thrive in student-centered nursing curricula and competently practice in today’s dynamic and complex healthcare system. The purposes of this study were to determine 1) if there are any associations between academic achievement and intentional learning and 2) if there is an effect of a nursing concept interview assignment on academic achievement and intentional learning scores in second-semester nursing students.

The majority of studies on intentional learning were quasi-experimental designs …

Educating Perinatal Nurses To Promote Bonding Techniques And Increase Support Of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parents, Kandice Perez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

NICU treatment team members and perinatal nurses must strive to educate parents and promote parent/infant bonding; failure to do so can result in poor emotional well-being of the parent. Supportive behaviors of nursing staff, and the promotion of bonding techniques inside and outside of the NICU setting can provide aid to parents throughout their NICU journey. However, perinatal nurses are often not provided the necessary knowledge and skills to promote parental bonding, emotional support, empowerment, and education to parents whose infants are unexpectedly admitted to the NICU. Purpose: The purpose of this DNP project was to increase perinatal nurses’ knowledge …