Other Nursing Commons^™

Therapeutic Gardening For Mental Health In Substance Use Recovery, Stephanie E. Schafer

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

As the clinical nurse leader (CNL) in this project, I used the “[CNL]

Essential 1: Background for Practice from Sciences and Humanities” (Competencies and Curricular Expectations for Clinical Nurse Leader Education and Practice, 2013) and its competencies to focus on designing nursing care for a clinical or community-focused population based on biopsychosocial, public health, nursing, and organizational sciences and to synthesize evidence for practice to determine appropriate application of interventions across diverse populations. With the help of the CNL competencies and collaboration with the healthcare team, we created and implemented a therapeutic garden for residents in a substance use …

Bridging The Gap: Educating Medical-Surgical Unit Nurses In A Large Hospital Organization On Sepsis Bundle Elements, Meara J. Matthews

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Sepsis is a life-threatening response to infection that remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Based off results obtained from a pre-education survey of nurses on a medical-surgical unit in a large hospital organization, there is an opportunity to increase knowledge and confidence level regarding sepsis and care of septic patients so that nurses are prepared to detect sepsis early and intervention can begin.

Context: The project is being conducted in a medical-surgical unit at a large hospital organization in Northern California. The data from the survey includes 17 nurses on the unit who completed the pre-education …

Improving Timely Sepsis Care Through Staff Education Within The Emergency Department, Jillian J. Abinader

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: A sepsis protocol and bundle has been implemented in an urban Emergency Department to help screen patients and treat sepsis efficiently and effectively. The benchmarks from the bundle are not being met consistently every month and are below the targeted 90%.

Context: A microsystem assessment and a gap survey sent out to nurses, helped determine that there is room to improve nurses’ knowledge and confidence about sepsis and the sepsis bundle workflow. Sepsis is one of the most expensive and burdensome conditions in U.S. hospitals. Literature supports staff education to improve sepsis bundle compliance.

Intervention: A video was created …

Educating Medical-Surgical Nurses In A Large Hospital Organization On Sepsis: Bundle Elements, Grace Jenks

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Based on the findings of a pre-survey conducted, it was observed that around 6% of the Medical-Surgical nurses who participated from Hospital A possessed "expert knowledge" of the "inpatient handoff sepsis bundle checklist." The results highlight the potential for educating and boosting the confidence of nurses working in a healthcare organization located in Northern California, enabling them to provide better care for patients afflicted with sepsis.

Context: The microsystem is a Medical-surgical unit situated within Hospital A, which is one of the 21 hospitals located in Northern California. Dr. Theresa Mostasisa conducted a survey on February 15, 2023, …

Exploring The Perceptions Of English-Speaking West African Born Registered Nurse Graduates From United States Entry Level Nursing Programs Regarding Academic Factors That Contribute To Retention And Success In United States Nursing Programs, Afua Ampiaw

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Background: The United States (U. S.) population is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. To ensure equity in healthcare access and outcomes between majority and majority populations, there is need for minority representation in the health professions including nursing to reflect their representation in the general population. Nevertheless, ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the nursing profession. One of the many issues identified to compound this problem is the lack of retention and success of ethnic minority people in U.S. nursing programs. While the English-Speaking West African (ESWA) population in the U.S. forms about 5% of the 45 million immigrant population …

Implementation Of Readmission Prevention Pathway To Reduce Skilled Nursing Facility Readmission, Bina Darai

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Background: Individuals admitted to Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) are at risk of preventable hospital readmissions due to complex medical issues. Evidence indicates that many residents are transferred from SNFs to the hospital at least once. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services penalizes facilities with high rehospitalization rates. Implementing an evidence-based strategy could reduce 30-day readmission rates in this setting.

Local problem: This project was conducted in a 34-bed Sub-Acute Care Unit in an SNF. The unit's 30-day readmission rate was high compared to the average rate at the SNF and the national benchmark, identifying a need to reduce readmission. …

Impact Of Maternal Fetal Triage Index On Emergency Healthcare Providers, Samantha Shepard

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Project

IMPACT OF MATERNAL FETAL TRIAGE INDEX ON EMERGENCY HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS

An Abstract of the DNP Scholarly Project by

Samantha Shepard

Care of obstetrical patients in non-delivering facilities is increasing. Obstetrical service availability in rural areas has decreased by more than 50% in recent years, according to Hung et al. (2018). Healthcare providers in these areas lack confidence and competence due to lack of regular training and encounters with obstetrical patients. The Maternal Fetal Triage Index (MFTI) provides a standardized approach for triaging the obstetrical population. The purpose of this project was to determine if staff confidence and competency improves within …

Referral Triage To Improve Neurology Access, Melinda Mata

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

The demand for neurology consultation far outweighs the number of specialists, thus causing long wait-times for consultation. Other contributing factors to obtaining timely consultation include, quality of information sent with the referral, insurance authorization, triage process, and appointment availability. This retrospective quality improvement study explored the effects of a referral triage process on reducing appointment wait time. All referrals were sent to one fax number and a new standard referral and triage process was implemented with specific operators with defined roles and responsibilities. The initial results following intervention implementation did not show improvement in wait times. Comparing the new triage …

Hyperoxemia Education To Nurses To Increase The Adherence To Oxygen Weaning Goals In Inpatient Copd Patients., Katherine Ellingson

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Hyperoxemia in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) are at risk for increased hospital stay, mechanical ventilation, and increased risk of death. Literature supports that establishing increased education to nursing staff on the risks of hypoxemia to increase adherence to oxygen weaning protocols has the potential to improve future practice. Oxygen weaning protocols are often not followed for concern of patient care. Nurses may believe to be helping patients when increasing oxygen, when they could actually be potentially harming them. Increased education on hypoxemia in COPD patients for the nursing staff will assist them to feeling …

Developing An Advocacy Campaign To Minimize Barriers To Srna Political Awareness, Alejandra Villescas

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Continuous advocacy and political participation have secured better working conditions and recognition of certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), translating into better patient care. This project aimed to launch an advocacy campaign targeting student registered nurse anesthetists (SRNAs). A pre-lesson survey was designed to identify SRNAs’ political participation barriers and assess their political literacy. Additionally, a lesson was developed to help SRNAs’ understand CRNA advocacy. To evaluate the educational tool, a post-lesson survey was created. These materials were distributed via email to all SRNAs (n=320) enrolled in a CRNA program in Illinois. Only 51 students completed the pre-lesson survey, and 39 …

Remifentanil In Labor Analgesia, Courtney Silberberg

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Labor has the potential to be the most excruciating and intense physical pain a woman experiences in her life. Neuraxial anesthesia, which includes epidural, spinal, or combined spinal-epidural technique, is the gold standard for pain control in laboring patients (Lee et al., 2017). Seemingly forgotten, a subset of parturients cannot experience the benefits of neuraxial anesthesia due to several absolute and relative contraindications. These women rely on other options for labor pain control. Remifentanil has emerged as a preferred opioid option for labor and delivery due to its rapid onset (peak effect in 1.1 minutes) and rapid metabolism by non-specific …

Utilization Review And Utilization Of Evidence-Based Guidelines, Rosetta E. Hairston

Doctoral Projects

The quality improvement project focused on determining why utilization review nurses submitted epidural steroid injection treatment requests within evidence-based guidelines to peer review. The study reviewed six months of data from June 2022 through December 2022 to develop a pre-training baseline for the number of epidural steroid injection treatment requests approved by the nurse and approved by peer review. Deming's method for quality improvement was identified as the framework for implementing changes. The UR nurses were provided four weeks of refresher training on applying evidence-based guidelines to epidural steroid injection treatment requests. Post-group training sessions reflected a 91% increase in …

Implementation Of Web-Based Patient Education In Newly Transplanted Kidney Recipients, Tabo Mwikisa-Kelly

Doctoral Projects

Kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment for patients suffering from kidney failure. It is a complex process that is intended to improve one’s quality of life by adhering to a lifelong treatment plan of immunosuppressant therapy. Therefore, it is essential for patients or their caregivers to have adequate knowledge to care for themselves following post-transplant, which can contribute to better patient outcomes. In a metropolitan Bay area hospital in Northern California, the current state of practice involves educating newly transplanted kidney recipients through face-to-face interactions with the patient and handing out a transplant booklet during their initial transplant hospital stay. …

Nursing Professional Development Practitioner’S Experience Of Use Of Instructional Design Industry Standards, Denise Renfro

Doctoral Projects

Instructional design (ID) is a critical skill for nursing professional development practitioners (NPDs). Instructional design seeks to solve gaps in knowledge or skill by identifying both the educational issue and the outcomes by designing how to achieve the outcomes. There are complex and advanced instructional design needs for problem solving that requires an educational foundation in instructional design and experience. The purpose of the quality-improvement project was to assess the changes in NPD practitioners’/nurse educators’ adaptation to industry standards for ID pre- and post-implementation of a standardized instructional design model. The Nurse Educator Self-Assessment in Measuring Learning survey was developed …

Implementation Of An Online Suicide Prevention Training Program With Undergraduate And Graduate Students At A California State University, Cheryll May P. Villamor

Doctoral Projects

Background: One of the leading causes of death in the college age population is suicide. While colleges provide opportunities in the acquisition of knowledge and skills for future careers; those same opportunities can also bring about challenges that put students at risk for suicide such as: dealing with their mental health issues, finding and maintaining support system, financial costs, and the pressure from ensuring academic success. One of the ways to help student at risk for suicide is by early intervention by connecting them with mental health support system such as crisis counselors. Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) is a …

Speak Up For Hand Hygiene And Decrease Healthcare Associated Infections, Bernadette Priya Pandya-Orozco

Doctoral Projects

Background: Hand hygiene (HH) is one of the most cost-effective and simplest ways to reduce healthcare associated infections (HAIs). Incorporating Speak Up for hand hygiene enables healthcare workers (HCW) to communicate without fear when they observe noncompliance with HH requirements.
Objective: To increase HH compliance by utilizing Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) TeamSTEPPS education to encourage Speak Up for HH and lead to reduction in HAIs.
Methods: The researcher provided educational training on “Speak Up for Hand Hygiene” and performed regular audits to examine its effects on one hospital unit in a California Bay Area healthcare system. A …

New Graduate Nurse Professional Development Planning, Cassandra Adkins

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

A 150-bed urban hospital in Chicago lacked a formal process to assist new graduate nurses (NGRN) in developing incremental goals as a part of their longitudinal plan during their first year of professional nursing practice. This left NGRNs feeling unsupported in their journey from novice to expert. With many NGRNs choosing to leave the nursing profession within the first year of practice, organizations must invest in programs to support their transition from academia to practice. This project implemented First Year Coaches and regularly scheduled touchpoints with NGRNs to increase intent to stay at the organization, feelings of support, and future …

Type 1 Diabetes In The Classroom, Ursula Herrell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Type 1 diabetes [T1D] is an autoimmune disease that presents in a pathophysiological disorder as insulin deficiency. Managing this illness during childhood is a constant challenge of maintaining blood glucose levels within a healthy range, resulting in increased stress for children and caregivers. School attendance is one factor that may result in increased stress. Studies have highlighted the fact that teachers of students with T1D may receive little education regarding management of the disease and may be required to make accommodations which can result in confusion, miscommunication, and increased psychosocial stress. The goal of this research was to learn about …

An Evaluation Of A Structural Competency Training For School Nurses, Rachel J. Torres

Doctoral Projects

The aim of this quality improvement project was to use structural competency as a tool to highlight the broad social, political, and economic structures that influence health and subsequent inequities and disparities. A one group, pre-and post-design quality improvement project was used to determine whether the Structural Competency Working Group curriculum influenced school nurses’ thought processes regarding the factors that influence health outcomes. The curriculum was adapted to a 1.5-hour training and delivered to a group of school nurses from a highly populated and socially, economically, and culturally diverse urban county in northern California. The results showed that after the …

Just Culture In Undergraduate Nursing Academia, Marcie Leonard

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Understanding the importance of reporting errors, near misses, and good catches by nursing students is not a standard part of the curriculum at the project site. Nursing students lack pre-requisite knowledge of how just culture does not aim to place blame on individuals but focuses on system flaws. Nursing students fear being dismissed from the nursing program if they make and/or report errors. A focus on eliminating the fear of dismissal from a nursing program for error reporting and formally educating how error reporting can help shape practice for many other nursing students and nurses will result in better data …