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Impact Of Palliative Care Screening Process Implementation Among Intensive Care Unit Registered Nurses., Logan Marie Griffith

Doctor of Nursing Practice Papers

Background: Palliative care is specialized care for individuals living with serious illness(s), focusing on providing symptom relief and improving quality of life (Center to Advance Palliative Care, 2020), but not all hospitals have a process to assess for palliative care needs.

Significance: Without a well-defined process for assessing patients’ readiness for palliative care, patients’ needs may not be consistently met. Approximately only 14% of people worldwide who need palliative care services receive this care (World Health Organization, 2020).

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to implement a palliative care screening process to identify patients with palliative care …

An Interprofessional Approach To Holistic End-Of-Life., Andrew Aschbacher

Doctor of Nursing Practice Papers

Purpose: The goal of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to develop and evaluate an evidence-based clinical practice guideline (EBP) for an interprofessional approach across four end-of-life care domains (1) ethnocentric spiritual wellbeing, (2) mental wellbeing, (3) symptom management, and (4) value-based goals of care. Design and Methods: The Iowa Model for the Development of Evidence-Based Practice guided the development of the practice guideline. A multi-phase literature review was conducted to establish and grade the best evidence. A two-phase evaluation plan was developed. The University of Louisville Institutional Review Board approved the project. Results: In evaluation phase one, …

Evaluating Family Satisfaction On An Advanced Certification Palliative Care Unit., Ruby Aebersold

Doctor of Nursing Practice Papers

Inpatient palliative care programs with The Joint Commission (TJC) Advanced Certification for Palliative Care are accountable for evaluating multiple health outcomes, including family satisfaction. A midwestern urban hospital’s palliative care unit received certification in January 2019. To comply with TJC standards, a clear data management and evaluation plan for family satisfaction data was needed. Investigation of the previous family satisfaction measure processes revealed areas in need of improvement in the satisfaction survey distribution, data collection, and evaluation processes. Satisfaction surveys were often unable to be distributed to families of deceased patients because the documented mailing address was a nursing facility. …

The Implementation Of An Evidence Based Decision Aid To Improve Self-Efficacy Of Critical Care Nurses In The Recognition Of Need For Palliative Care In Icu Patients., Abigail Southall

Doctor of Nursing Practice Papers

BACKGROUND: Internal and external evidence demonstrates a poor understanding of the definition and scope of palliative care for ICU patients by nurses. Palliative care and hospice care are often viewed as mutually exclusive rather than complimentary. This knowledge gap causes delayed palliative care consultation for ICU patients which has been shown to increase length of stay and cost of care while decreasing patient/family satisfaction. SETTING: The project took in a 36-bed Intensive Care-Open Heart Unit (ICU-OHU) in an urban hospital in the Midwest United States. PURPOSE: The purpose of the quality improvement project was to address misconceptions regarding palliative care …