Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Honoring Patient Do Not Resuscitate Wishes And Reducing Harm During Transitions Of Care: A Quality Improvement Project, Emily L. Kraus

Doctoral Projects

Objectives: The quality improvement project objectives were to honor documented Do Not Resuscitate wishes in emergency departments by examining and improving workflow during primary care to emergency department transitions. A location for advance care planning documentations was designated for advanced directives, yet not utilized.

Methods: Mixed method, pre-/post-comparison, and thematic design examined clinicians and patients in a primary care office and two emergency departments in a Midwest healthcare system. Data was collected from patient records, clinician surveys, and observation of workflow. Descriptive statistics, frequency counts and non-parametric tests were used to analyze data.

Results: Patient charts were audited (N=261 [pre=124; …

Does Preoperative Ostomy Education Decrease Anxiety In The New Ostomy Patient?, Michelle Suzann Harris

Doctoral Projects

Background: There are approximately 100,000 patients with new ileostomies and colostomies created in the United States each year. These patients have specialized needs that include acceptance of altered body image, psychological stress, learning of difficult tasks, and occasionally an ominous diagnosis leading to the need for surgery. In addition to pre-surgical stoma site marking on the abdomen, ostomy nurses have identified early education to be an important factor in long-term success and management of the patient . Early education and stoma site marking may assist with a better-situated stoma leading to fewer complications related to appliance adherence and leakage. …

The Effectiveness Of A Standardized Positioning Tools And Bedside Education On The Developmental Positioning Proficiency Of Nicu Nurses, Arlene Spilker

Doctoral Projects

Developmental positioning for preterm infants is an essential skill for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses. The benefits of developmental positioning are evident in the literature, but less is known about how NICU nurses learn about developmental positioning. This study examined the effect of the Infant Position Assessment Tool (IPAT) and informal education on the developmental positioning skills of NICU nurses. This quasi-experimental study measured IPAT scores before and after an educational intervention, and found a statistically significant increase in the means of the two groups. The use of the IPAT and bedside education is useful for improving the developmental …