Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Managing Menopausal Symptoms Through Exercise And Dietary Changes, Ae Rah Kang

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Background: The most critical aging stage for women is the menopausal transition period, which causes various symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, sleeping disturbance, and mood swings that lower women's quality of life. Menopausal symptoms that are not managed can exacerbate severe medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, bone illnesses, neurological diseases, and psychosocial problems. As the first non-pharmacological treatment for menopausal syndrome, several studies have shown that regular exercise and diet control can potentially improve menopausal symptoms and the quality of life.

Purpose: This project aimed to examine the effect of improving the quality of life by reducing …

Get America Talking: Implementing Advanced Care Planning In Primary Care, Sasha Recht

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Advanced Care Planning (ACP) is an essential part of providing adequate care in the primary care setting. Discussing end of life with patients can be a tedious and uncomfortable conversation for many providers, however, its continued avoidance contributes to the stigma of end of life care and may also result in significant healthcare cost expenditure with the use of unwanted invasive treatments. All providers should engage in consistent advanced care planning in order to improve patient and provider communication, improve patient satisfaction, increase advanced directives on file, reduce the stigma of the topic, and improve quality of life.

Enhancing Chronic Pain Management: Motivational Interview Among Lower Back Patients –Phase Ii, Valerie Gates, Melissa Hines-Antico

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Purpose: Chronic low back pain in adults is difficult to manage and can lead to clinical, psychological, and social consequences. Providers often have restricted clinic time that prevents patient education regarding self-care and non-pharmacological therapies.

Design: This nurse practitioner-led, evidence-based project incorporates monthly telephone calls to improve patient pain, enhance quality of life, decrease opioid usage, increase physical activity, and promote the utilization of non-pharmacological multimodal therapies.

Methods: Implementing a monthly telephone call utilizing motivational interviewing and a 5 A’s guided questionnaire assisted in providing individualized treatment plans. Data outcomes include pain scores, quality of life scores, number of opioid …

Optimizing Dry Skin Management Utilizing Np Led Phone Follow-Up, Christine Vazquez Bsn, Rn, Dnp - Fnp/Agnp Student

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to evaluate the impact of a healthcare provider-led standardized dry skin protocol for outpatient geriatric patients to promote overall well-being and improve quality of life.

Background: Current literature supports using the dry skin protocol to help primary care teams identify patients that require xerosis cutis skin care, particularly of the lower extremities. The primary focus of this project will be timely detection of patients with the dry skin condition that will be identified with the standardized Overall Dry Skin (ODS) scale. When the patient meets the ODS criteria, a timely discussion will be …

Creating A Palliative Care Referral To Improve Quality Of Life In Heart Failure Patients, Johnny Garcia

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Background: A transitional care program was developed at a southern San Diego hospital to guide patients dealing with heart failure from an inpatient to an outpatient setting to decrease hospital readmissions. Although, very successful with a quarterly readmission average of 9%, patients that are considered end-stage heart failure categorized by ejection fraction less than 30% and have greater than one visit in a thirty day period do not qualify for transitional care. These patients’ readmission rates average 50%. The literature shows that patients who will not significantly improve within six months would benefit from palliative and hospice care, thus a …