Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Implementing New Staffing Ratios In The Emergency Room To Improve Nurse And Patient Outcomes, Analicia Solis

MSN Capstone Projects

The significance of appropriate nurse staffing in enhancing patient outcomes and mitigating nurse burnout is well-documented. Inadequate nurse staffing can lead to negative consequences, including burnout, decreased nurse retention, and potential safety risks (Shin et al. 2018; Wynendaele et al. 2019) Research has also established a strong connection between nurse-to-patient ratios, well-being, and job dissatisfaction among nursing staff (Andel et al. 2021; Thompson-Munn et al. 2021).

Given this evidence, there is a compelling rationale for aligning nurse staffing ratios with proposed federal standards to address burnout, improve well-being, and enhance patient outcomes. Implementing these changes necessitates careful planning and assessment. …

Implementation Of Coping Strategies For Compassion Fatigue Through Counseling, Caleb R. Turner

MSN Capstone Projects

Many healthcare organizations are struggling to retain nurses due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding common reasons for decreased retention in nursing begins with evaluating job satisfaction and how it can be affected (Cuartero-Castañer, 2021). Compassion Fatigue (CF) and Burnout (BO) are two leading causes of decreased job satisfaction (Compassion Satisfaction (CS)). The Professional Quality of Life Scale (PROQoL) (see Appendix C) is designed to identify individuals at higher risk of CF and BO. Using this scale in conjunction with the Peer-Support coaches in the hospital setting allows nurses to have conversations and communicate effectively with coaches trained to have …

Improving Safety In The Emergency Department: Utilizing Metal Detectors To Mitigate Weapon Possession, Jonathan Garcia

MSN Capstone Projects

Today’s high risk-healthcare environment has prioritized patient safety with great initiatives and, unfortunately, placed staff safety second. However, safety for both groups should be equal priorities. Evidence suggests that Emergency Departments (ED) often care for patients with a history of crime and mental health diagnoses, creating an environment where the threat of violence and weapons is increasingly prevalent compared to other clinical settings. (Erlyana, 2019) Risk mitigation is possible if we consider studies by Malka et al. (2015) and Laidlaw et al. (2017) that indicate the efficacy of metal detectors in accurately identifying concealed weapons. To improve clinician and patient …

Unit Knowledge And Practice Of Emergency Nursing Interventions At A Tertiary Public Cardiac Health Center In Uganda, Harriet Namukwaya, Cliff Asher Aliga, Grace Nakate, Judith Mutyabule

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Background: Research suggests that many of the millions of deaths and long-term disabilities resulting from acute cardiovascular events and other emergency conditions are preventable if effective emergency care services were readily available. Effective emergency care requires trained and competent staff, including registered nurses. Most educational pathways do not adequately prepare nurses to deliver sensitive health care services for those with acute illness and injury. This includes Uganda, where few capacity-building initiatives have targeted emergency nursing care delivery, leading to knowledge and practice gaps.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess emergency nursing knowledge and clinical practice at a tertiary …

Emergency Department Workplace Violence Against Nurses, Adam Johnson

MSN Capstone Projects

Emergency room nurses are often thought of as the adrenaline junkies of the nursing world. Emergency nurses interact with a wide array of patients and visitors and are often the first clinician a patient may see upon arriving at an emergency department. With this wide array of patients and visitors, also comes a volatile environment with the increased risks of violence against nurses. This violence could include verbal, physical, and emotional violence from patients, visitors, and even fellow staff members. As violence increases, nursing longevity decreases and thus further increases the expense of nursing on a facility. Therefore, this has …

A Compilation Of Written Instructional Practice Reflections On The Acue (Association Of College And University Educators) Course In Effective Teaching Practices, Sheryll Go

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

This is a compilation of written instructional practice reflections on The ACUE (Association of College and University Educators) Course in Effective Teaching Practices, from January – April 2020. This online course has prepared Nurse Educators like me in gaining a foundation in evidence-based teaching practices that increase student motivation, engagement, and learning. The attached assignment include reflections from completed modules.

From The Top Down: Assisting Critical Care Nurses In Coping With Job Stresses, Cynthia R. Bryant

Senior Honors Theses

Critical Care nurses are faced with traumatic scenarios on a daily basis at work and are expected to remain professional in the face of chaos. In the midst of caring for their patients and catering to each family’s emotional needs, their own mental health tends to get pushed aside. Nurses are expected to remain supportive to sick patients and their families while enduring psychologically disturbing images and sounds, witnessing phases of the dying process, and hearing end-of-life care decisions being made. Because these nurses are only human, their energy reserves are rapidly depleted and they are left emotionally exhausted. Nurses …

The Emotional Intelligence Of Registered Nurses Commencing Critical Care Nursing, Yvette Nagel, Amanda Towell, Elzabe Nel, Fiona Foxall

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Critical care is described as complex, detailed healthcare in a unique, technologically rich environment. Critical care nursing requires a strong knowledge base and exceptional clinical and technological skills to cope in this demanding environment. Many registered nurses (RNs) commencing work in these areas may lack resilience, and because of the stress of the critical care environment, coping mechanisms need to be developed. To prevent burnout and to enable critical care nurses to function holistically, emotional intelligence (EI) is essential in the development of such coping mechanisms.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the EI …

Interview Of Margaret Mary Markmann, Ph.D., Margaret Mary Markmann Ph.D, Alexander P. Rowan

All Oral Histories

Dr. Markmann was born in 1948 at the Anderson Hospital in Center City, Philadelphia. She was the fourth of eleven children born into a household of her mother, her father and her grandparents. She grew up in Philadelphia and has lived in the area for her entire life only leaving once after she completed nursing school. During her childhood her extended family lived nearby, her grandmother lived down the street and her Aunt and Uncle lived in the opposite direction. Her father was the direct descendent of Irish immigrants who settled in South West Philadelphia and lived in Southwest Philadelphia …

The Effect Of Breathable Under Pads To Decrease Hospital Acquired Pressure Ulcers: A Nurse Resident Project, Sara Meshino, Bsn, Rn, Bridget Trefz, Bsn, Rn

Department of Nursing papers and presentations

PURPOSE

To reduce the rate of hospital acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU), in June 2013, a large urban academic medical center switched from non-breathable to breathable under pads for incontinent patients lying on either a standard bed (low risk patients) or low-air-loss mattress (high risk patients). Standard pressure ulcer prevention measures were maintained. Staff on two oncology units sought to determine the effectiveness of breathable vs. non-breathable under pads in reducing the rate of HAPU and UAPU.

Oncology Nurses' Obstacles And Supportive Behaviors In End-Of-Life Care: Providing Vital Family Care, Renea L. Beckstrand, Joan Collette, Lynn Callister, Karlen E. (Beth) Luthy

Faculty Publications

Purpose/Objectives: To determine the impact of obstacles and supportive behaviors in end-of-life (EOL) care as perceived by hospital-based oncology nurses.

Design: A 69-item mailed survey.

Setting: National random sample.

Sample: 1,005 nurse members of the Oncology Nursing Society who had provided EOL care for patients with cancer.

Methods: Three mailings yielded 380 usable responses from 912 eligible respondents, resulting in a 42% return rate.

Main Research Variables: Size and frequency of EOL care obstacles and supportive behaviors for patients with cancer in a hospital setting.

Findings: Results of this research demonstrate the need for more EOL education and help in …

Embodied Work: Insider Perspectives On The Work Of Hiv/Aids Peer Counselors, D.K. Messias, L Moneyham, M. Vyavaharkar, C. Murdaugh, Kenneth D. Phillips

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Nursing

Our aim in this study was to explore HIV/AIDS peer counseling from the perspective of women actively engaged in this work within the context of a community-based program in rural areas of the southeastern United States. Based on this research we suggest that the embodied work of HIV/AIDS peer counselors is constructed around their personal identities and experiences. This work involves gaining entry to other HIV-positive women’s lives, building relationships, drawing on personal experiences, facing issues of fear and stigma, tailoring peer counseling for diversity, balancing risks and benefits, and terminating relationships. Peer counselors recognize the personal and collective value …

Symptom Clusters In Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Secondary Data Analysis, Catherine J. Ryan, Holli A. Devon, Rob Horne, Kathleen B. King, Kerry A. Milner, Debra K. Moser, Jill R. Quinn, Anne Rosenfeld, Seon Young Hwang, Julie J. Zerwic

Nursing Faculty Publications

Background: Early recognition of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) symptoms and reduced time to treatment may reduce morbidity and mortality. People having AMI experience a constellation of symptoms, but the common constellations or clusters of symptoms have yet to be identified.
Objectives: To identify clusters of symptoms that represent AMI.
Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of nine descriptive, cross-sectional studies that included data from 1,073 people having AMI in the United States and England. Data were analyzed using latent class cluster analysis, an atheoretical method that uses only information contained in the data.
Results: Five distinct clusters of symptoms …

Predictors Of Quality Of Life In Hiv-Infected Rural Women: Psychometric Test Of The Chronic Illness Quality Of Life Ladder, C. Murdaugh, L. Moneyham, K. Jackson, Kenneth D. Phillips, A. Tavakoli

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Nursing

The Chronic Illness Quality of Life Ladder (CIQOLL) underwent psychometric testing in a sample of 278 women with HIV disease. The CIQOLL, a self-anchoring striving scale based on Cantril’s Ladder, measures seven domains (physical , emotional, financial, family and friends, spiritual well-being, peace of mind, and overall life satisfaction) across four time periods (present, past, future, life without a diagnosis of HIV). The domains were derived from focus groups with persons with HIV disease. Women with a diagnosis of HIV Infection, age 18 or older, residing in rural areas in the southeastern United States, completed questionnaires that measured physical functioning, …

Analysis Of End-Of-Life Content In Critical Care Nursing Textbooks, Karin T. Kirchhoff, Renea L. Beckstrand, Prashanth Reddy Anumandla

Faculty Publications

Nurses have identified a need for improving their knowledge and skills in providing end-of-life care. Critical care nursing textbooks can serve as an important source of information on end-of-life care for critical care nurses. Hence, an analysis of end-of-life content in 14 critical care nursing textbooks was conducted. Critical care nursing textbooks used for review were published in 1995 or later and identified from the libraries at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Brigham Young University. The end-of-life content areas identified by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), under which the AACN end-of-life competencies for undergraduate nursing students can …

A Young Girl With Missile Trauma Near The Eye, Renea L. Beckstrand, Ellen K. Sanders

Faculty Publications

A 15-year-old girl who came to the emergency department holding tissue to her right eye said that she had been shot. She had right eye pain and swelling below the eye, and she was bleeding. As the girl was getting off a school bus, a male occupant in a car that was driving past reached out of the passenger side window and shot multiple pellets at the school bus with a pellet gun. The shooter was unknown to the girl; the shooting seemed to be random. When the girl was shot she felt pain immediately in the area between her …

Health Care Provider's Influence On Hiv-Infected Women's Belief And Intentions Related To Azt Therapy, R.L. Sowell, Kenneth D. Phillips, C. Murdaugh, A. Tavakoli

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Nursing

This study examined how women’s relationship with their primary health care provider (PHP) and their perceptions about how effective their PHPs believe zidovudine (AZT) to be in decreasing perinatal transmission related to women’s AZT beliefs and intentions. It used a cross-sectional design to collect data from 59 HIV-infected African American women. Almost half the women (45%) had given birth since HIV diagnosis. Most of the babies born to HIV-infected mothers (87%) were seronegative. Data analysis with Pearson’s r indicated that the quality of the women’s relationship with their PHP was positively correlated to how important the PHP would be in …

Sexual Orientation: A Cultural Diversity Issue For Nursing, Tr Misener, Rl Sowell, Kenneth D. Phillips, C.M. Harris

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Nursing

Traditional approaches to cultural diversity and the development of a culturally aware workforce have consistently ignored the importance of gender role orientation and sexual orientation as sources of potential conflict in the work environment. To maintain its integrity as a caring profession, nursing must take steps to end personal and professional discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.