Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Threat Of Hospital Wastewater: An Evidence-Based Call To Action, Ann P. Nguyen

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Introduction: Hospital wastewater carries a unique composition of pollutants, a burden that includes high chemical and biological residuals. These pollutants are discharged into sewage treatment plants and natural environments where they contaminate human water sources and larger ecosystems. Water treatment plants are not designed to treat the high loads of biomedical waste and persistent organic compounds found in hospital wastewater and therefore pollutants survive in conventionally treated water. Evidence of contaminated soil, municipal wastewater, surface water, ground water, and even drinking water have been demonstrated in studies conducted around the world highlighting the ubiquity of the problem. Hospital effluent as …

Paging Dr. Strong: A Call To Action Towards Addressing Occupational Stress And Burnout Among Primary Care Health Professionals, Carmen Olmedo

Master's Projects and Capstones

Purpose: Within a rapidly evolving industry, occupational stress and burnout among healthcare clinicians and staff is becoming a pervasive public health crisis across all subspecialties. The purpose of this project was to use the Compassion Satisfaction-Compassion Fatigue (CS-CF) Theory as a method to assess burnout among primary care health professionals, in addition to developing recommendations to assist the promotion of a staff wellness initiative at an urban community clinic.
Methods: A needs assessment was conducted at a Community Health Center (CHC) in San Francisco. Data collection consisted of anonymous distribution of the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) Survey and semi-structured …

Decreasing Environmental Health Risks In The Philippines: Implementation Of A Culturally Appropriate Screening Tool, Alyssa Samson

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Objectives: The purpose of this DNP project was to increase the knowledge of environmental health risk factors in the Philippines among nurses and doctors located within that healthcare system. The overall goal was to educate providers on local environmental health risks, provide training for the use of a screening tool (Tagalog Environmental Health and Safety Assessment Tool [TEHSAT]), and provide resources aimed at increasing screening of at risk populations and provide opportunities for education and health promotion.

Methods: This project included a two-part educational training session. The first part included a preliminary presentation on environmental health and the use of …

Breast Cancer Fund: Power Mapping For Policy Change, Roxanna Firouzian

Master's Projects and Capstones

The following paper is a summary on a 300-hour fieldwork experience at the Breast Cancer Fund. The Breast Cancer Fund (BCF) is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, CA that partners with organizations across the nation to expand their reach and health education. BCF works to expose and eliminate toxic chemicals in the environment that are linked to breast cancer, immunotoxicity, and reproductive and developmental issues. BCF accomplishes these goals through public awareness and pushing for policy change. In April 2015, Senators Diane Feinstein and Susan Collins introduced the Personal Care Products Safety Act. This is the first bill …

Envisioning A Trauma-Sensitive Public Health Department: Implications For Practice, Policy, And Research, Victoria Lopez

Master's Projects and Capstones

Historically, the concept of trauma and long-term sequelae has rested primarily in the fields of psychology and psychiatry. However, recent attention and research around the health implications of trauma have unmasked this concept as a pervasive public health issue. This has catalyzed a movement to create a paradigm shift that transforms a formerly myopic understanding of trauma towards one that acknowledges the complexity and wide reaching impact trauma. At the core of this paradigm shift is an understanding of the interconnectedness between trauma and socio-ecological constructs at the individual, family, community, and organizational level. Public health departments are well positioned …

Patient Engagement In Transitional Care, Sheeree Dela Pena

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Clinical Nurse Leader Master’s project was conducted about a public health program called the Transitional Care Program that was working in partnership with a county hospital system, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. The specific aim was to reduce hospital re-admissions of high-risk patients by supporting patient motivation and engagement in the Transitional Care Program by May 2015. Over a four-month period, data was collected through ten client visits, interviews with two public health nurses, information available about the program, and current research conducted on transitional care, hospital discharges, and patient engagement. Various aspects of the program were assessed, such …

Nutrition Education And Community Advocacy At Marin Health And Human Services, Anna C. Allison

Master's Projects and Capstones

It would be a mistake to assume that all Marin neighborhoods look the same. The life expectancy in Ross is over 88 years. Less than 10 miles away in Hamilton Novato, the life expectancy is 75 years. That is a 13 year difference in life expectancy, roughly equivalent to the difference between living in the United States and Guyana. Marin is a small county, but it holds a great deal of variation. An effective health intervention in one neighborhood will not work in another, more importantly, there may not be the same health issue from one neighborhood to the next. …

Discovering Community Assets: Master Of Public Health Culminating Experience, Megan E. Sirna

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Sonoma County Department of Health Services, through Cradle to Career, promotes collective impact around educational attainment and workforce development, and has become a leader in developing a framework for community schools. The first step in developing a community schools model is to understand and inventory what is already going on in the community. This process, known more formally as asset mapping, is a participatory process focused on documenting the strengths and resources of a community. The collaborative nature of the process helps to promote community involvement and build community cohesion. In order to assist schools wanting to begin an …

At Risk For Ptsd: The Public Health Implications Of Trauma, Madeline Peyton

Master's Projects and Capstones

The fieldwork experience is the summation of six semesters of graduate level public health training. At commencement, students are to be proficient in basic data analysis and epidemiological principles, in how environmental risks impact health, and demonstrate strong program planning, evaluation and leadership skills. Throughout, students are encouraged to focus their academic work on an area of public health that interest them and on a problem that they hope to impact in their professional work. I continued in an area I began as an undergraduate student of medical anthropology and explored the systems that interact to influence mental health of …